Tasting Note

There is certainly a black market that exists in the cigar trade, but it usually has to do with tax evasion, contraband material or stolen goods. In the case of the Alec Bradley Black Market brand, the sinister-sounding name is more to get your attention. To hold your attention, brand owner Alan Rubin put together an unusual, but memorable blend. This dark cigar is made in Honduras by the Plasencias and covered in a Nicaraguan wrapper. A Sumatra-seed binder from Ecuador holds together a filler that’s mostly Honduran, but there’s another tobacco from one country that Rubin believes defines the cigar—Panama. While there’s nothing illegal or illicit about Panamanian tobacco, it is unusual in the cigar world and brings a unique element to this Churchill that kept us interested and made it shine in this Top 25 contest. Like a good cocktail, however, the blend is balanced and no single tobacco speaks too loudly, though all do indeed get their say. Accents of dried herbs and smoked hickory highlight the rich, nutty smoke, which saturates the palate with every puff. Spice plays its appropriate part as well, occasionally bursting in the right places for a medium-to-full-bodied cigar that brings together the familiar with the exotic.