The Diamond Crown brand is synonymous with excellence and was the first cigar of its kind when Stanford Newman launched it for J.C. Newman’s 100th anniversary. Stanford had a dream of launching the company’s first luxury cigar and did not care how much it cost to make or even if it sold. He just wanted it to be the best.
The Black Diamond is the is the newest to the Diamond Crown Family and features carefully aged tobaccos not found in any other cigar in the world. It is hand crafted by the best best torcedors at Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic. The filler leaf used in the Black Diamond has been aged for five years and grown exclusively for J.C. Newman by the Fuente Family. Offered in only 150 retail store nation-wide, it is considered a rare find.
The Diamond Crown Black Diamond blend is described as:
- Wrapper – 8 year -old double-fermented Sun Grown Connecticut Maduro
- Binder – Dominican
- Filler – Dominican
The Black Diamond is expressed in 3 vitolas and comes packaged in 20-count boxes:
- Emerald (6 x 52) MSRP $20.25
- Marquis (5.25 x 56) MSRP $19.25
- Radiant (4.5 x 54) MSRP $17.25
For this review, I sampled 2 Black Diamond Radiant vitolas which I received from J.C. Newman for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press.
Pre-Light Examination
The Diamond Crown Black Diamond is a heavily marbled, dark brown cigar that has a decent sheen and a light grit to the feel. It is well packed and finished with a simple cap.
The Black Diamond is adorned with a single band that that takes up a good part of the 4.5″ Radiant vitola. It is quite ornate using rich colors of silver, and royal blue with accents of ruby red in the crown along with black highlights. “Black Diamond” is boldly printed across the band under the Silver and Red crown.
From a pre-light aroma perspective I got some mild musty notes along the barrel and some faint earth off the foot.
Once I sliced the cap and gave it some cold draw puffs, I was treated to and earthy and citrus set of notes through a nicely restricted draw.
Warming the foot with my double flame torch ignited the foot evenly. The first puffs offered a mixture of notes that seemed to be searching for a core (citrus, wood, pepper, bitter and sweet) Just don’t know what to say yet – so I puffed on.
Cigar Review Notes
- Large array of flavors start the journey – citrus, wood, pepper, bitter, and sweet – all swirl about
- The burn line is a bit jagged and quite thick
- Ash is medium grey
- After a 1/2 inch of burn the flavors begin to settle into a dry leather and tart plum
- Dryness grows through the first third (it gets a bit astringent)
- Good volume of smoke comes in through each puff
- A sweet cracker aroma has developed
- Ash falls showing a flat centered cone
- Spicy notes fill in profile with a dark chocolate nuance
- Sour cherry notes enter
- Cherry moves to dry fruit
- Spice turns more peppery
- Woody notes midway
- Deep in third some licorice
- Smoke gets hot in final
- Medium in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 10 minutes
Overall, I found the Diamond Crown Black Diamond Radiant to be a good cigar that had a decent construction with just a mild jaggedness in the burn in the second half. It took a little while to settle into a core flavor and had a higher astringent profile in the start that kept me going for water to wet the palate. Once past the first third the flavors picked up and delighted the palate down to the nub. The smoke did get hot in the final though. I might pick up another one if I saw it on the shelf or possibly one of the other vitolas in the line. I rate this an 89.
Point Deductions: (-1) Jagged Burn in second half; (-1) Astringent in the first third; (-1) Medium Grey Ash; (-1) Flat Burn Cone; (-1) Buy One Again; (-2) Smoke is Hot in the Final
