Hoshneer
Drew Estate NotRex
So some news came out yesterday about the KFC that was interesting. It appears that they had to make some modification to the process of rolling these bad boys out. I guess they had to sprinkle some pixie dust in there. I will show you some pics and then Jonathans response. I took these off Instagram so the credit goes to this guy for the dissection. I want to here your guys opinions on this....
In regard to the Kentucky Fire Cured cigars that we recently released, the first thing I wanted to address was the two wrappers that are used on each cigar. Someone had mentioned that there was only one wrapper, but this is incorrect. There are definitely two wrappers, as the longer one that extends to the foot of the cigar is a Mexican San Andreas and the wrapper at the head is Dark Fire Cured. It is true that it is often hard to separate the two wrappers after they have had sufficient aging time, but they do separate - as shown in one of the photos.
The reason that we chose to incorporate two wrapper leaves into the KFCC is essentially the same reason that I am going to address regarding the smaller pieces of tobacco found throughout the body of the cigar. To begin with, below the label/band of each KFCC you can see the line that separates the two leaves, but the Mexican continues all the way to the top of the cigar, so essentially the Dark Fire Cured leaf is placed directly on top of the Mexican capa.
I would have preferred to use a complete Dark Fire Cured wrapper for the full length of the cigar, but after four years of trial and error, we simply couldn't perfect the burn and combustion of the Dark Fire Cured, so we looked for another option to keep the mouth feel of the heavy leaf KFCC but allow the cigar to burn correctly and not ask anyone to relight and relight a material prima that simply won't respond consistently to flame.
The reason for the Dark Fire Cured not having a perfect burn, such as Dark Air Cured tobaccos is due to the unique fertilizers that are used in the process. Dark Fire Cured is grown in a variety of countries for hundreds of years and has always been used as a chew style material, and this is why the material is crafted for a high moisture content. Kentucky, Brazil, Tennessee, Virginia, and Italy are some examples of various Dark Fire Cured regions, and although there is some variation including seeds, the basic components on the fertilizers are the same - made for high humidity.
So, the mouthfeel and experience was definitely desired but burn would have to be sacrificed OR mouthfeel would be sacrificed in order to reach the type of combustion that premium cigar consumers want - this was the dilemma. I guess it's typical in any innovation, and that's why you have generation two and generation three and so on, as the producer continues to update and better their product. In this version of the KFCC, we decided to keep the mouthfeel thereby using the KFCC only at the head, while using the Mexican capa to complete the blend for the longer portion of the cigar.
There are many types of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos and as I said, they are used for chew, but in the 1800's pipe tobacco blenders realized the extraordinary taste of this tobacco and incorporated it into some of their growing and curing styles. This was a major innovation for the time and continues to be enjoyed today, such as Latakia and in English, Balkan, and American classic blends.
These types of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos are traditionally stalk cut and then sun dried. Following this, the tobaccos are hung in curing barns and smoked with a variety of different woods, from maple to oak to hickory, which are the ones that we prefer, but also pine and other aromatic woods.
The Dark Fire Cured leaves are heavy strong leaves and are not broke down in the long fermentation process that Dark Air Cured go through due to the lack of aging time.
The aging time for Dark Air Cured tobaccos can be from six months to three or even for years, but for Dark Fire Cured, it is ready when it comes out of the barn. This means that it typically is thick, strong, not broken down, full of moisture and humidity - and not easily used for a long filler blend due to the poor combustion. This is why some of the Dark Fire Cured is ribbon cut and carefully placed into the KFCC, thereby allowing for burn combustion and for the special taste of the Dark Fire Cured to come through.
We continue to this day to work with the farmers to adapt a Dark Fire Cured leaf that will have the combustion that we are looking for and I think that we have made progress, but are not at a point where we have over 85% perfection on each cigar. If we had reached this point, I think that we wouldn't have gone with the two wrappers. Version one of the KFCC is a step in the right direction that allows consumers to experience this top quality, historically grown and smoked tobaccos while maintaining a burn combustion that won't call for many relights.
There are more than one type of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos used in the KFCC blend, some of which are in the ribbon cut, as well as experimental tobaccos that we are working on.
Some of you mentioned that the smoky taste was not as pronounced as you would have liked the KFCC to display, and I agree with you, but this is not due to the ribbon cut vs long leaf issue. Instead, the inconsistency in the smoky taste has to do with the fact that not all of the first batch of KFCC had a perfect draw.
I know this sounds odd, but when a cigar has too much tobacco or tobacco placed overwhelmingly under the band area of the cigar, than the result is a tight stick - and the smoker is not going to get the desired blend. Instead, the smoker is getting a muddled taste that does not have the highs and lows, such as the way you would think about an equalizer for your stereo.
We have analyzed hundreds of cigars following the first batch and see why and where the problems were with the draw. While two out of ten on average were tighter than we want, very few were plugged. In either case, this is the ONLY reason for 20% of the KFCC smoked by the consumers to not have the FULL SMOKY taste that the other 80% had. We caught the problem during the events and have solved it at this point.
I have been working here in Nica with the employees at the management level to address the leaf placement for perfect draw and the guarantee that each of the KFCC cigars are now weighed individually instead of by the 50 count mazo.
This, along with the additional 90 days of aging to shed excess humidity will address that problem - and allow all 100% of the KFCC to have the full smoky taste that they were intended to have. After my research it was conclusive that 80% of the KFCC had the nice smoky taste that we wanted, and I apologize to those of you who had cigars with the tighter draw that didn't allow the smoky taste to show itself.
In regard to the DE Fanboy comments, I like DE Fanboys and DE FanSisters. I also like Padron Fanboys, and Joya de Nicaragua Fanboys, as well as many of the other brands such as my buddy Alan Rubin. The ties that we have to consumers is something that I will always be proud of. I've shaken a lot of hands, slept at a many of homes around the country, and been there for some people who only needed a little call to cheer them up while they went through some shit.
I'm the same way towards my friends at Angels Envy and Stranahans Whisky. They enjoy paying attention to their consumers and made me a proud fanboy.
I love what I love, whether it's a product, or a place or a person and support the companies that go out of their way to show me that we have connected. This was the underlying reason that Makers Mark become the brand that it is today.
The old man at Makers Mark was responding to 10,000 letters a month and missing spending time with his family and friends. He did it because he loved his product and treated each person with care and concern. Yeah, I'm a Makers Mark Fanboy too, and I'm proud of it.
Much love CATS.
Best
JD
In regard to the Kentucky Fire Cured cigars that we recently released, the first thing I wanted to address was the two wrappers that are used on each cigar. Someone had mentioned that there was only one wrapper, but this is incorrect. There are definitely two wrappers, as the longer one that extends to the foot of the cigar is a Mexican San Andreas and the wrapper at the head is Dark Fire Cured. It is true that it is often hard to separate the two wrappers after they have had sufficient aging time, but they do separate - as shown in one of the photos.
The reason that we chose to incorporate two wrapper leaves into the KFCC is essentially the same reason that I am going to address regarding the smaller pieces of tobacco found throughout the body of the cigar. To begin with, below the label/band of each KFCC you can see the line that separates the two leaves, but the Mexican continues all the way to the top of the cigar, so essentially the Dark Fire Cured leaf is placed directly on top of the Mexican capa.
I would have preferred to use a complete Dark Fire Cured wrapper for the full length of the cigar, but after four years of trial and error, we simply couldn't perfect the burn and combustion of the Dark Fire Cured, so we looked for another option to keep the mouth feel of the heavy leaf KFCC but allow the cigar to burn correctly and not ask anyone to relight and relight a material prima that simply won't respond consistently to flame.
The reason for the Dark Fire Cured not having a perfect burn, such as Dark Air Cured tobaccos is due to the unique fertilizers that are used in the process. Dark Fire Cured is grown in a variety of countries for hundreds of years and has always been used as a chew style material, and this is why the material is crafted for a high moisture content. Kentucky, Brazil, Tennessee, Virginia, and Italy are some examples of various Dark Fire Cured regions, and although there is some variation including seeds, the basic components on the fertilizers are the same - made for high humidity.
So, the mouthfeel and experience was definitely desired but burn would have to be sacrificed OR mouthfeel would be sacrificed in order to reach the type of combustion that premium cigar consumers want - this was the dilemma. I guess it's typical in any innovation, and that's why you have generation two and generation three and so on, as the producer continues to update and better their product. In this version of the KFCC, we decided to keep the mouthfeel thereby using the KFCC only at the head, while using the Mexican capa to complete the blend for the longer portion of the cigar.
There are many types of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos and as I said, they are used for chew, but in the 1800's pipe tobacco blenders realized the extraordinary taste of this tobacco and incorporated it into some of their growing and curing styles. This was a major innovation for the time and continues to be enjoyed today, such as Latakia and in English, Balkan, and American classic blends.
These types of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos are traditionally stalk cut and then sun dried. Following this, the tobaccos are hung in curing barns and smoked with a variety of different woods, from maple to oak to hickory, which are the ones that we prefer, but also pine and other aromatic woods.
The Dark Fire Cured leaves are heavy strong leaves and are not broke down in the long fermentation process that Dark Air Cured go through due to the lack of aging time.
The aging time for Dark Air Cured tobaccos can be from six months to three or even for years, but for Dark Fire Cured, it is ready when it comes out of the barn. This means that it typically is thick, strong, not broken down, full of moisture and humidity - and not easily used for a long filler blend due to the poor combustion. This is why some of the Dark Fire Cured is ribbon cut and carefully placed into the KFCC, thereby allowing for burn combustion and for the special taste of the Dark Fire Cured to come through.
We continue to this day to work with the farmers to adapt a Dark Fire Cured leaf that will have the combustion that we are looking for and I think that we have made progress, but are not at a point where we have over 85% perfection on each cigar. If we had reached this point, I think that we wouldn't have gone with the two wrappers. Version one of the KFCC is a step in the right direction that allows consumers to experience this top quality, historically grown and smoked tobaccos while maintaining a burn combustion that won't call for many relights.
There are more than one type of Dark Fire Cured tobaccos used in the KFCC blend, some of which are in the ribbon cut, as well as experimental tobaccos that we are working on.
Some of you mentioned that the smoky taste was not as pronounced as you would have liked the KFCC to display, and I agree with you, but this is not due to the ribbon cut vs long leaf issue. Instead, the inconsistency in the smoky taste has to do with the fact that not all of the first batch of KFCC had a perfect draw.
I know this sounds odd, but when a cigar has too much tobacco or tobacco placed overwhelmingly under the band area of the cigar, than the result is a tight stick - and the smoker is not going to get the desired blend. Instead, the smoker is getting a muddled taste that does not have the highs and lows, such as the way you would think about an equalizer for your stereo.
We have analyzed hundreds of cigars following the first batch and see why and where the problems were with the draw. While two out of ten on average were tighter than we want, very few were plugged. In either case, this is the ONLY reason for 20% of the KFCC smoked by the consumers to not have the FULL SMOKY taste that the other 80% had. We caught the problem during the events and have solved it at this point.
I have been working here in Nica with the employees at the management level to address the leaf placement for perfect draw and the guarantee that each of the KFCC cigars are now weighed individually instead of by the 50 count mazo.
This, along with the additional 90 days of aging to shed excess humidity will address that problem - and allow all 100% of the KFCC to have the full smoky taste that they were intended to have. After my research it was conclusive that 80% of the KFCC had the nice smoky taste that we wanted, and I apologize to those of you who had cigars with the tighter draw that didn't allow the smoky taste to show itself.
In regard to the DE Fanboy comments, I like DE Fanboys and DE FanSisters. I also like Padron Fanboys, and Joya de Nicaragua Fanboys, as well as many of the other brands such as my buddy Alan Rubin. The ties that we have to consumers is something that I will always be proud of. I've shaken a lot of hands, slept at a many of homes around the country, and been there for some people who only needed a little call to cheer them up while they went through some shit.
I'm the same way towards my friends at Angels Envy and Stranahans Whisky. They enjoy paying attention to their consumers and made me a proud fanboy.
I love what I love, whether it's a product, or a place or a person and support the companies that go out of their way to show me that we have connected. This was the underlying reason that Makers Mark become the brand that it is today.
The old man at Makers Mark was responding to 10,000 letters a month and missing spending time with his family and friends. He did it because he loved his product and treated each person with care and concern. Yeah, I'm a Makers Mark Fanboy too, and I'm proud of it.
Much love CATS.
Best
JD
Last edited:
