Today I offer a review of a new brand – Drunk Chicken Cigars – I came across at this years Tobacco Plus Expo and also the Cigar Heritage Festival. Desiree Sylver, owner of the company was also a guest on a recent episode of Taking It To The Nub, which you can view here.
Drunk Chicken Cigars was established in 2019 and all their craft is hand made in the U.S.A. Their mission is to produce cigars that can be smoked any time of the day and describe their cigar as “Nubalicious“.
For a young company, they have a full portfolio of offerings, each in multiple vitolas. The names are based on chicken references, which is a fun story to here Desiree explain. (See Video Above).
- Drunk Chicken Original (DCO)
- Homicidal Hen
- Fat Hen
- Living the Dream
- Sweet Dreams
- Mother Clucker
It is the last on the list, the Mother Clucker, that I will focus on today. We will have more reviews of the full line in the coming weeks.
The Mother Clucker
The Mother Clucker is described as the “Top of the Pecking Order”. Anyone who has ever had a chicken pen knows what’s up. The company notes that it is a rich, medium to full bodied cigars and has a blend described as:
- Wrapper – Nicaraguan Habano
- Binder – Ecuadorian
- Filler – Ecuadorian
The Mother Clucker is expressed in three vitolas and each come packaged in 20-count boxes:
- Gordo (6 x 60) – MSRP $12.50
- Robusto (5.5 x 50) – MSRP $10.00
- Box Pressed Robusto – MSRP $11.50
I sampled one of the box pressed Robustos for this review, which I received from the company for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press.
Pre-Light Examination
The Drunk Chicken Cigars – Mother Clucker Box Pressed Robusto, is a draped in an oily, marbled, dark. brown wrapper. The wrapper is a though smooth tot he touch does have some noticeable veins and a few bumps along the barrel. They is a just a little give when squeezed between the fingers but in no way would I describe it as underfilled. It has a well applied cap to finish the presentation.
A large band adorns the cigar that uses a gold and tan motif. When removed you will see that it is a large circle that has a colorful image of a clucker messing with a hen I suppose in the center. The name “Mother Clucker” imprinted in black on a gold scroll below. I will say it is a little hard to read the name. The left side of the band includes the statement “Drunk Chicken Cigars Hand Rolled in the USA”.
Running the Mother Clucker along the nose, I picked up a light spice note along the barrel while the foot exuded notes of fruit and sweet butter.
Using my double blade cutter, I sliced the cap straight across the shoulder and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that I found to be nicely restricted and offered a growing white pepper that hit the throat and coated the lips. There was also a touch of fruity tanginess.
With the pre-light examination leaving me a bit intrigued, I used my double flame torch to warm the foot to an even orange glow and drew in the first puffs of pleasantly smooth smoke. Follow along as I burn this Clucker to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Initial puffs were smoother than I thought they would be – with no bite or heavy pepper burn
- After a few puffs I gave it a retro hale and which delivered just a slight peppery note on the nose
- Light grey ash forms on top of a thick wavy char line
- Pepper grows a tad and slowly moves to more of a red pepper note
- Mild fruity tang joins the mix
- Woody notes add the profile
- Floral notes replace the fruit
- Extreme solid ash finally fell revealing a decent and centered burn cone
- Dark cocoa notes appear midway through wrapped in growing cedar
- Off burn developed but no touch up was required
- Increased spice returns deep in second third
- Burns a tad hot in final
- Medium in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 40 minutes
Final Analysis
The Drunk Chicken Cigars Mother Clucker was an excellent cigar at a reasonable price considering they are made right here in the U.S.A. It started smooth and easy and slowly introducing the plate ot a evolving pepper notes and before greeting the palate with fruit, wood, and floral notes. The dark cocoa midway was a treat to plate but only lived for a few puffs before introducing a growing spice to close the experience. I have to agree that at least this one so far was Nubalicious. It had a terrific array of nuanced and balanced flavors from foot to nub and kept me interested throughout the journey. There were some minor burn issue but nothing that drastically effected the experience and the ash carried for a long time. It did burn a tad hot in the final. I rate this a 92.
Point Deductions: (-1) Wavy Burn in spots; (-1) Off Burn Deep in second third; (-2) Burned hot in final
Bonus Points: (+1) Extreme Solid Ash; (+1) Box Worthy
