At this years Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE), I discovered another new cigar brand, straight of Honduras by way of Houston, TX. The brand – Bocock Bros. Cigars is the brain child of two Honduran Brothers Bryant and Douglas Bocock. Bryant was the manager and co-owner of the most prominent nightclubs in Honduras, Club 360, back in 2012 hen he was in his late 20’s.
Bryant explained how the journey to cigars began;
“The nightclub business is a very exciting but complicated industry where folks are looking for new and interesting things every day. From the very beginning, we identified that the space available on the 18th floor rooftop would be bigger than what was needed. Many ideas were tossed around about what we could do with the large space.
I decided a walk-in humidor would be great a addition. At this point I knew little to nothing about cigars except that the best tobacco was grown 1-2 hours away in Danli & Esteli. I also knew that a cigar humidor would offer customers a unique experience and ultimately would help keep the lights on.
The cigar humidor became one of the largest in Honduras. People of many backgrounds would frequent the establishment to enjoy a good cigar and coffee in the afternoons, and at night others would enjoy a good stogie with a bottle of nice whisky or bourbon while enjoying the unbeatable rooftop views of Tegucigalpa.”
That humidor exposed the Bocock Brothers to this fascinating, dynamic, and culturally diverse cigar industry. They had the opportunity to meet most of the local producers and build a unique relationship between them. They also learned the art of pairing the cigar and the value of fellowship that goes with smoking a hand rolled cigar. Club 360 began hosting events involving cigars to embassies, banks and both local and international companies. This afforded Bryant the opportunity to spend time with folks of many different backgrounds while sharing cigars on the rooftop. This experience allowed the brothers to understand and realize that it is not only about the tobacco, but the magical experience that one will embark when you light one up.
Bryant continued;
“It’s not just about what you light up but most importantly, with whom. I grew an affinity and love for cigars, driving weekly to spend most of my time in the fields understanding the process of cultivation and blend creation with the guidance of top blend-masters.
Years later the club closed and with it the humidor. I decided to move back to the US where I crashed at my brother Douglas’ place for months. During this time, I shared my dream idea of creating a brand and Doug was all in. Our plan was to change the way people think of cigars. We decided to get our blends in the hands of people looking to enjoy a perfectly balanced cigar. A new and active brand that zeroes in on those folks that are looking for easy to smoke cigars inspired by unusual circumstances. Very importantly named after our very interesting and inimitable last name “BOCOCK”! A cocky rooster with a bow.”
Douglas noted;
“Inspired by Bryant’s tenure in Honduras we embarked on the difficult task of creating a blend of our own. Bryant had taken some very precise notes after listening to what people liked and didn’t like from the cigars sold at their humidor. Bryant just knows how to communicate taste profiles to master blenders. He’s able to simplify this process and therefore able to create exactly what the smoker wants.”
After years of planning, traveling back and forth to Honduras, blending and tasting, the brothers created the first batch of cigars named and inspired by their love for travel and new experiences. The Bocock Brother’s World Traveler Collection is the first of their portfolio. They released a Connecticut, Maduro & Habano blend in Robusto, Churchill and Toro Vitolas in 2019.
Today I offer the first review of a Bocock Brother’s World Traveler cigar – the Maduro Robusto. For this review I sampled 3 of these cigars.
The Bocock Brother’s World Traveler Maduro Robusto
This is one of three blends offered by the young company. They describe the blend as:
- Wrapper: Nicaragua
- Binder: Connecticut
- Filler: Honduras/Nicaragua
The Bocock Brother’s World Traveler Maduro is offered in 3 vitolas, each packaged in 20-count boxes:
- Robusto (5 x 50) – MSRP $9.35
- Toro (6 x 52) – MSRP $9.80
- Churchill (7 x 48) – MSRP $9.85
Todays review focuses on the Robusto vitola.
Pre-Light Examination
The Bocock Brother’s World Traveler Maduro is cloaked in a dark, reddish brown wrapper that has light toothy feel to the touch. There is some nice marbling running through the leaf and it has a decent packing with just a mild give when pressed between the fingers. A well applied triple cap finishes the presentation.
Two bands adorn the cigar. The primary band uses a black, gold, and white motif and proudly displays the company logo (rooster with a bow tie) in the center encircled with the words “BOCOCK BROTHERS” There are some gold swirls across the band and the words “Hand Made” on the left an “Honduras” on the right. The secondary band is placed just below the primary and declares this as a “WORLD TRAVELER” offering in gold on a black background.
Running the cigar along the nose, I picked up a mild spicy note along the barrel while the foot exuded notes of cocoa and earth.
Slicing the cap straight across the shoulder of the cigar, I proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that I found to be spot on with restriction while offering a crushed red pepper note that warmed the lips and palate. There was also a nuance of butternut in the background.
I used my double flame torch to gently warm the foot and bring it to an even orange glow and drew in the first puffs of peppery and cocoa notes. Follow along as I burn this rooster to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Initial puffs graced the palate with pepper and cocoa notes
- Light grey ash forms on top of a thick wavy char
- Full volume of smoke
- There is a distinctive Honduran flavor coming in from the filler
- Woody notes enter after an inch of burn
- Slight off burn develops
- Ash fell in a nice chunk revealing a decent burn cone
- Cedar nuances begin to please the palate
- Burn gets a bit wonky and requires a touch up
- Toasted caramel nuances appear in the second third
- Cinnamon spice notes add to the pleasure midway
- Another off burn occurs along with one more touch up
- Gets a touch sour before transitioning to increased spice moving through the second third
- Caramel notes reenter in final along with a pleasant syrupy aroma
- Toasted cracker notes take you down to the final
- Medium in strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 35 minutes
Final Analysis
The Bocock Brother’s Cigars – World Traveler Maduro had a pleasant and fairly well balanced flavor profile that had a moderate complexity of notes including such pleasures as pepper, cocoa, cedar, caramel, and cinnamon. I really liked the toasted cracker notes that entered in the final to bring the journey to a finish. What I was not pleased with was the burn quality. It had a number of off burns that required touch-ups and basically was rather wonky through the journey. I feel this may be due to how it was combusting from filler to binder to wrapper. The wrapper is a rather thicker leaf and there just was not enough combustion to get the wrapper to burn properly. I did check each of the three samples with my HumidiMeter and they all registered 65% which should be ok. With the flavor profile, this is one I would suggest grabbing a five pack of. I would also like to try the other vitolas in the blend. I rate this an 89.
Point Deductions: (-2) Multiple Touch-ups; (-2) Multiple Off Burns; (-1) Touch Sour in second third
