What do you do in the cigar industry when you have an amazing cigar that helped to launch your company? Well, If it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Of course, in the case of Robert Caldwell and A.J. Fernandez, you take what worked and make it new and even better, which is exactly what the dynamic duo did with “The King is Dead“.
Originally released in 2014, when Robert launched the Caldwell Cigars Company, “The King Is Dead” was introduced as a Dominican puro manufactured at Tabacalera William Ventura in the Dominican Republic. As we speed the film up to 2019, Caldwell worked with A.J. Fernandez to release a new Nicaraguan Puro variety and aptly named it “The King Is Dead – Nicaragua” and released them to the market as a limited edition release.
As I noted, this a Nicaraguan puro, so the blend is simply defined as:
- Wrapper: Nicaragua
- Binder: Nicaragua
- Filler: Nicaragua
The King is Dead – Nicaragua is expressed in four vitolas and comes packaged in 20-count boxes:
- Robusto (5 x 50) MSRP $10.80
- Super Corona (7 x 46) MSRP $10.00
- Super Toro (6 1/4 x 54) MSRP $12.00
- Torpedo (6 x 52) MSRP $11.60
For this review, I sampled two of the King is Dead – Nicaragua Super Toros which I purchased from the Corona Cigar Company in Orlando, Florida.
Pre-Light Examination
To start off, The King Is Dead – Nicaragua is a beautiful and shiny dark brown cigar that has a light gritty tooth to the touch. Solid, almost rock solid, to the touch, it is extremely light on veins and finished with a simple cap. The cigar is densely packed and has a nice weight in the hand.
There are two rings on the cigar. The primary uses a blood red, gold, white, and black motif. The center of the band uses the same “split chair” logo of the original with the phrase “The King Is Dead” across the top and “Nicaragua” below. The left side of the band denotes “Est 2014” and the right side states “Caldwell“. A secondary cream colored ring is placed just below and denotes “By AJ Fernandez“.
Running The King Is Dead – Nicaragua along the nose, I detected a leathery note along the barrel and some enticing fruit and cocoa notes off the foot.
Once I sliced the cap straight, with my double blade cutter, I took some cold draws that offered a fine restriction and delivered a cocoa note on the palate and a growing pepper on the lips.
Using a triple flame torch, I gently warmed the foot and drew in the first puffs of thick cinnamon and naturally sweet smoke. Sit back and follow along as I burn this beauty to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- First puffs right off the light offers cinnamon and natural sweetness
- Light grey ash forms on a medium to thick char line with a light wave
- Decent draw – thick creamy smoke
- Graham Cracker aroma early in burn
- Dry fruit notes
- There is an awesome core of natural sweetness
- Cream notes accentuated by the sweetness
- Increased fruit notes with an added cocoa nuance
- Pleasant smoke so far
- Solid chunk of ash fell revealing a well formed burn cone
- Savory notes enter moving into the second third
- Cocoa increases
- Aroma shifts to a caramelize meat note
- Spice notes entering final third
- Medium to Full in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 40 minutes
Overall, I found The King Is Dead – Nicaragua to be an extremely pleasant smoke with well developed flavor and aromas from foot to nub. This is an extremely well balanced cigar that the finest cigar enthusiasts would certainly enjoy. The burn was spot on through most of the journey with just a slight wave along with a mild off burn deep in second third but did not require any touch ups. A.J. Fernandez and Robert Caldwell have teamed up to make a spectacular cigar with this one. I feel this is a box worthy experience and I rate this an 95.
Point Deductions: (-1) Mild Wave; (-1) Slight Off Burn
Bonus Points: (+1) Buy a Box; (+1) Pleasurable Across Multiple Samples; (+1) Complex and Well Balanced
