Back In September, the mall but growing and persistent cigar company from Atlanta, GA – ATL Cigar Co. – announced their fourth release known as the ATL Magic. The new blend will be officially released to ATL Cigar retailers on October 16th. I was lucky to obtain some pre-release samples of this new blend and today I want to talk about this amazing cigar.
First off, the ATL Cigar team reached out and partnered with Master Blender Luciano Meirelles of Ace Prime – Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí Nicaragua (Mil Dias, Luciano The Dreamer, The Traveler, and many others). They were quite fortunate to be presented tobacco from the very special Pueblo Nuevo growing region of Nicaragua.
The blend is described as:
- Wrapper – Mexican San Andres
- Binder – Nicaragua
- Filler – Nicaragua including Pueblo Nuevo
The ATL Cigar Co. Magic is expressed in a single (6 x 54) Toro vitola and comes packaged in 10-count bundles and 20-count boxes. The MSRP has been set at $9.75/cigar.
For this review, I sampled and absolutely enjoyed 3 ATL Cigar Co. Magic cigars which I received from the company for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press.
Pre-Light Examination
The ATL Cigar Co. Magic is a dark brown, slightly rugged, marbled and veiny vitola that has a toothy oily wrapper. It is solidly packed with no discernable softs spots. A double cap finishes the presentation. Before i continue, allow me to say once again, looks are not as important when grading cigars so don’t judge the book by its cover.
The Magic is adorned with two bands, both of which use a bright purple back ground with gold accents. I like how these bands seem to pop on the background of the dark wrapper. The primary band, like all ATL Cigar Co. craft, proudly displays the company’s logo with the bold ATL in black with gold edging. The secondary band is placed just below the primary and declarers this as the “MAGIC”.
As I ran the Magic along the nose, i quickly noted the pungent fermented leaf aroma along the barrel along with all spice notes off the foot.
My double blade cutter was used to slice the cap straight across the shoulder. Once opened up, I proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that had a perfect restriction and began to show its early complex profile with notes of cinnamon on lips and palate along with a touch of butter and savory spice the more I cold puffed. This is one of those cigars you just want to cold puff for a some time before hitting with a flame.
After some more cold puffs that had me licking my lips, I grabbed my double flame torch and warmed the foot to an even orange glow. The foot took to the flame well and offered a mouth filling puff of peppery smoke with a hint of espresso. Follow along as I burn the ATL Magic to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Light pepper burst to start the journey
- Espresso notes quickly add to the mix
- Great draw with mouth filling smoke output
- White ash forms on top of a medium thick char line
- Natural tobacco sweetness adds to the pleasure
- Ash fell in a nice chunk revealing a flat but centered burn cone
- Rich cedar notes begin to form a core entering the second third
- Dark chocolate enters to further intrigue the palate adding to the sweetness and espresso
- Sweet graham cracker aroma wafts off the foot
- Strength ratchets up midway from mild to medium
- Continued dark chocolate notes
- Mild cinnamon spice and sweetness enter end of second third
- Cedar notes grow in the core
- Sweet spicy finish
- Medium strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 45 minutes
Final Analysis
The ATL Cigar Co. Magic was just that – Magical. From the pre-light down to the nub, this cigar offered a medium strength, complex and balanced array of delectable flavors and aromas. I especially enjoyed the graham cracker aroma midway along with the dark chocolate notes and solid cedar core. This is a cigar that is certainly box worthy as each sample was consistent in both burn and flavor. The partnership with Tabacalera Pichardo proved to be a big hit with this introduction. From a construction perspective, there was a bit of a wavy burn and when the ash fell it revealed a flat but centered burn cone. I rate this a solid 95.
If you would like to order these or other ATL Cigar Co. products, use the code STPRESS10OFF on the company’s store https://atl-cc.myshopify.com/
Point Deductions: (-1) Wavy Burn; (-1) Flat Burn Cone
Bonus Points: (+1) Box worthy; (+1) Consistent across multiple samples; (+1) Complex and Balanced
