Baseball 2017 has arrived and I can’t wait till Monday when the Red Sox open their season at Fenway . Pitching, hitting, running, and dramatic strategy for the next 162 days and nights. Speaking of hits, I am sitting here today watching the Yankees and Rays play the first game of the 2017 season while I puff away on Southern Draw Kudzu Axil, one of the extensions to the Kudzu line from Robert Holt and Southern Draw Cigars.
The Kudzu Axil is a beautifully rolled 6.5 x 40 lancero. I know lanceros are an acquired taste and some burn as badly as a large 60+ ring gauge, but this lancero is one of the best behaved on the market and is loaded with flavor, delivered though a full body of smoke. The Kudzu Axil has an MSRP of $8.99.
The blend for the Kudzu Axil is described as:
- Wrapper – Nicaragua
- Binder – Ecuador (Habano Oscuro)
- Filler – Nicaragua
Looking over the construction you will notice the milk chocolate-brown, thinly veined wrapper around the body of the cigar. The wrapper has a decent marbled look to it. The Kudzu Axil is finished with a closed foot and a simple twisted cap. A sweet fermented leaf aroma is noticeable along the body. It is adorned with two bands, the first is the standard Southern Draw trademark band and the second directly below defines it as the Kudzu Axil.
Let’s take a trip around the bases with the Kudzu Axil and see how it performs.
Cigar Review Notes
- Sweet fermented leaf pre-light aroma
- The cold draw, after biting off the twist, offered earthy notes and a muted red pepper enters on lips
- Once fired up, Watch it! A huge pepper shot hits the nasals on the retro hale.!
- A toasted bread component joins the pepper early on
- Chocolate notes follow
- Smoke volume is incredible for a lancero!
- Butter, citrus, pepper, and spice all play on the palate
- Nice long salt and pepper ash
- Toasted oak aroma
- The wrapper is showing a nice sheen in the light as it burns
- Perfectly formed medium char line – This is a finely rolled lancero
- By the end of secondary band the smoke has blended into a mouth-watering full body smoke
- The spice lays gently in the background
- Candy Spearmint spikes in and out joined with a bitter dark chocolate
- The spearmint builds keeping the mouth watered and then eventually morphs into more of a peppery spice
- The spice continues through the final
- Solid Medium- Full Strength
- Total Smoking time was right around an 1 hour.
Overall, the Southern Draw Kudzu Axil is certainly a welcome addition to the Kudzu line but even more, it is a flavorful and well-behaved lancero that should be in everyone’s rotation. I have enjoyed 3 of these so far and each one was a pleasure to smoke. Great job Robert! The Kudzu Axil is a certainly an extra base hit in my book.
Kudzu Axil