Today I decided to smoke and review a cigar I got in the CRA Sampler #2 and have had for awhile. Alec Bradley is not in my normal rotation and a line I have only smoked one other of (Maxx). The bit on this cigar from the CRA sampler site is:
Derived from the Latin word meaning time, the Tempus cigar from Alec Bradley Cigars has been carefully crafted with time as one of the most important factors.
The Alec Bradley Tempus is made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras. Only 20% of the cigar rollers at the factory are chosen to make the Tempus brand. Select tobacco is used from a farm in the Trojes region of Honduras, just north of the border of Nicaragua, and some of the finest tobacco from Jalapa, Nicaragua. All the cigars are rolled in the traditional Cuban style, tubing each filler tobacco and using a triple cap finished wrapper. The Tempus 6 x 52, a Toro size, is made exclusively for CRA members to enjoy!
The pre-light aroma is heavy tobacco. The cigar has a very dark brown wrapper that is firmly packed with no soft spots. It is a great looking cigar that appears to be well constructed.
I took a very small cut off of the triple cap and the draw is perfect to my tatse. A little bit of black pepper comes through but the dominant flavor is heavy tobacco. I fired it up and was immediately hit with pepper and that same heavy tobacco taste I had smelled. Just about an inch in and the pepper has faded out and is replaced by those same heavy tobacco flavors with an incredible amount of thick, creamy smoke with an amazingly long finish. The burn to this point is a bit erratic but nothing that requires any touch-up. The ash is dark and flakey and fell off right after this picture.
With the first 1/3 down the flavor profile seems to be changing to more of a charred oak and earthy taste. The ash remains the same dark gray and very flakey but the burn seems to be correcting itself.
1/2 way through and right up to the bottom of the first band the strength of this cigar is starting to sneak up. I was just thinking to myself that i was surprised it wasnt a bit stronger.:lookaroun
Well into the final 1/3 and the flavors have remained steady. The last 1 1/4" and it started to get a bitter for my tastes so I called it quits.
Final Thoughts:
The total smoking time was just over an hour and I was surprised that it smoked that fast for its size. The retail on the closest size to this is about $9 and seems to be worth that but probably not something I would seek out due to the large number of other cigars that share that same price point. I would however smoke it again if the opportunity presented itself and its definitely something worth trying. All of this is just my limited opinion but I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Derived from the Latin word meaning time, the Tempus cigar from Alec Bradley Cigars has been carefully crafted with time as one of the most important factors.
The Alec Bradley Tempus is made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras. Only 20% of the cigar rollers at the factory are chosen to make the Tempus brand. Select tobacco is used from a farm in the Trojes region of Honduras, just north of the border of Nicaragua, and some of the finest tobacco from Jalapa, Nicaragua. All the cigars are rolled in the traditional Cuban style, tubing each filler tobacco and using a triple cap finished wrapper. The Tempus 6 x 52, a Toro size, is made exclusively for CRA members to enjoy!
The pre-light aroma is heavy tobacco. The cigar has a very dark brown wrapper that is firmly packed with no soft spots. It is a great looking cigar that appears to be well constructed.
I took a very small cut off of the triple cap and the draw is perfect to my tatse. A little bit of black pepper comes through but the dominant flavor is heavy tobacco. I fired it up and was immediately hit with pepper and that same heavy tobacco taste I had smelled. Just about an inch in and the pepper has faded out and is replaced by those same heavy tobacco flavors with an incredible amount of thick, creamy smoke with an amazingly long finish. The burn to this point is a bit erratic but nothing that requires any touch-up. The ash is dark and flakey and fell off right after this picture.
With the first 1/3 down the flavor profile seems to be changing to more of a charred oak and earthy taste. The ash remains the same dark gray and very flakey but the burn seems to be correcting itself.
1/2 way through and right up to the bottom of the first band the strength of this cigar is starting to sneak up. I was just thinking to myself that i was surprised it wasnt a bit stronger.:lookaroun
Well into the final 1/3 and the flavors have remained steady. The last 1 1/4" and it started to get a bitter for my tastes so I called it quits.
Final Thoughts:
The total smoking time was just over an hour and I was surprised that it smoked that fast for its size. The retail on the closest size to this is about $9 and seems to be worth that but probably not something I would seek out due to the large number of other cigars that share that same price point. I would however smoke it again if the opportunity presented itself and its definitely something worth trying. All of this is just my limited opinion but I hope you enjoyed reading it.
