Alec Bradley Family Blend M23 Review

Wrapper: Honduran

Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

If there is one thing that I enjoy doing, it is smoking a good cigar early in the morning. Well this past Saturday started off pretty boring. I decided to go out for a little bit and go enjoy some cigars. So I went up to Holts because I knew it would be quiet and I could relax and review some cigars. So as I walked into their humidor to try and find something different, I came across this cigar. I have heard several people say it is their favorite Alec Bradley, so I decided it was time to review this one.

This wrapper has a very nice medium brown wrapper to it. There are a couple thin veins running through it, but none of them pose any threat to the burn pattern. The cap of this cigar appears to be wrapped instead of layered and it comes to a little twist at the end.

The stick itself is pretty solid. The foot is a little softer than the rest of the cigar, but other than that, there are no soft spots. The smell coming off of this cigar was a bit unique. It was slightly sweet, and slightly bitter. This cigar cut very clean, which surprised me because of the wrapper cap. And it was also very easy to light.

As soon as I lit up this cigar, there was a very smooth earthiness. Along with the earth, there was a nice bit of spice. The spice wasn’t peppery though, it was more of a cinnamon flavor that came through. As this cigar progressed the earthiness continued to pick up and take over. Even as the flavors picked up, the smoke stayed very smooth.

Right about an inch of the way in, there is a slight woodiness that comes out. Along with the woodiness came a nice creaminess. Once the creaminess came out the cinnamon flavor became very mellow and almost non-existent. I noticed that the wrapper started to peel slightly, which made me a bit angry, but it wasn’t too bad. I wet my finger, held the leaf down, and the wrapper stayed for the most part.

The middle part of this cigar mellowed out a great deal. The flavor was still very earthy and woody, but the creaminess completely took over. There was now little to no spice left at all by the mid-point of this cigar. As the cigar slowly progresses now, the woodiness keeps picking up.

The last couple inches had a little bit of that cinnamon spice come back out, but it was still very faint. The woodiness and earthiness stay relatively strong throughout the entire cigar. My favorite part of the flavor profile is just how smooth it stayed throughout the entire cigar.

The ash on this cigar was a darker shade of gray that held on for about two inches at a time. The burn was actually pretty even, given the wrapper peeling. The draw was very easy and produced a very earthy, thick, gray smoke.

Although the flavor stayed fairly consistent throughout the entire cigar, there were a few little changes that were good. The flavor changes were difficult to grab because of how minor they were. Had the wrapper not peeled, I would have rated this one a bit higher. But I feel a good rating for this cigar would be a 7.25 out of 10.

I would smoke this cigar again, because I know it will go great with a cup of coffee. I wouldn’t call it a box-worthy cigar, but I surely wouldn’t pass up the opportunity of smoking another one.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man