Quiet day around here, Dallas and I finally got an hour to just sit down.

So we did. The cigar I grabbed tonight is a C.L.E. Habano. If you've never had one, it's Christian Eiroa's. A Honduran puro from the man whose family used to make Camacho.

Here's the part worth knowing. The Eiroas built Camacho into one of the biggest full-flavored boldest names in the business, then sold it to Davidoff back in 2008. 

Christian could have walked away and never rolled another cigar. Instead he started over. He put his own initials on the band, C.L.E. is Christian Luis Eiroa, and went back to the Honduran tobacco his family grows in the Jamastran valley.

This cigar is the result. 

The cigar is little peppery when you light it, then it settles into cedar and cocoa and an easy, creamy middle.

This is not Camacho. It doesn't have the strength or the boldness he built that brand on, and it isn't supposed to. This is a daily smoke. The one you light sitting back on the dock at the cottage with nowhere to be for a couple of hours.

Simple, enjoyable, and it's earned a permanent spot in my humidor. A consistent smoke for a laid back day. This one does that.

Alright, let's get into it.

— Norm

P.S. I’ve been working hard on building Blind Label Cigar communities across social media. If you enjoy this newsletter, please check out my subreddit, Facebook, X, and Instagram and let me know what you think!

P.P.S. I’ve also got a BIG announcement coming soon. Stay tuned.

Some cigars I review to introduce them. This one I review to settle the argument.

The Montecristo No. 4 is the best selling Cuban cigar on the planet. A little petit corona that has outsold every Cohiba and Partagas in the case for decades. If you've smoked exactly one Havana in your life, odds are this was it.

One thing to be clear on before we go further. This is the Cuban No. 4, not the Dominican one sold in the States. Same name, two different cigars.

First third, I tasted cream and coffee with light wood. It was a smooth, easy smoke right from the start.

Second third, I picked up cocoa and cedar with a hint of earth. In my opinion, this is the flavour profile people are really after when they think of a Havana.

The last third is the richest of the three. Roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and a smooth, gentle pepper on the retrohale. It stayed smooth all the way to the nub.

I enjoyed the flavour profile. A typical Havana, and it's why these stay in my humidor.

Black Label Trading Co. just rolled out a Toro Fresh Pack, four of its best-selling 6x50 Toros zipped into a resealable bag with a Boveda pack tucked in to hold the humidity. It ships to select shops next week at around $40 MSRP.

If you do not know the brand, Black Label is James Brown's small-batch outfit out of Esteli, Nicaragua, the guy who paints his own bands and names cigars things like Salvation and Last Rites. He makes bold cigars in short runs, and this is the easiest way yet to meet four of them at once.

What I like about it is the arc. Line these four up in the right order and you get a proper tasting flight, from a soft floral start to a full-throttle finish. Smoke them across an afternoon and you will learn more about the house style than any review can teach you, mine included.

1. Royalty  Medium

The gentle opener. A whisper of black pepper gives way to something floral, almost lavender, over a creamy, herbal, wonderfully balanced finish. An Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper doing quiet work.

2. Porcelain  Medium

The Connecticut-wrapped surprise. White pepper and a flicker of chili sit against cedar and herbs, with bright citrus on the retrohale and a hint of sweetness to close. Creamy, but with a spine.

3. Lawless  Medium–Plus

The one that steps on the gas. Dark fruit, earth and cocoa up top, then a chewy, almost meaty finish with black cherry and licorice on the retrohale. An award winner, and the hinge point of the flight

4. Last Rites  Full

The closer, and it earns the name. Intense dried fruit, bitter cocoa and black pepper under an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper, with star anise and black cherry on a long, bold finish. Save it for last, on purpose.

Every one of these is handmade at Black Label's own factory in Esteli. Four cigars, four moods, one zipper bag. If you have been circling this brand and never knew where to start, the Fresh Pack just answered the question for you.

QUICK HITS:

I talked about this over on the Blind Label Cigar site a while back, but it is worth bringing up again, because it finally got settled. For about a decade the cigar world has been arguing with the FDA over one simple question.

What counts as a premium cigar?

Back in 2016 the FDA tried to pull every cigar under its authority, handmade puros and the cheap flavored stuff off the gas station rack, all treated the same.

The premium side pushed back hard, and this past April a federal court in D.C. locked in the answer and called it, hopefully, the final chapter.

Here is the useful part. The court landed on eight things a cigar has to be to count as premium and stay exempt. Miss even one and you are right back under the FDA's rules.

The Eight-Part Test

Tick all eight, or you are not premium in the FDA's eyes.

That is the whole test. Look at what made the list and then look at what did not make it. Price is not on there. Country is not on there. Neither is how fancy the band looks. Premium is about how the cigar is built, not what it costs, which is exactly how we have always talked about it around here.

This is a federal ruling, so states can still write their own rules and the FDA could take another swing down the road. For now though, the line is drawn, and it is a good one.

It was The General, released by Cuba Aliados back in 1987. Eighteen inches long, a 66 ring gauge, and yes, it needed two wrapper leaves to cover it. Nobody was smoking that on a Tuesday. It sat in the case as a trophy and a dare.

But monsters like that one planted the question the whole industry spent the next 25 years answering. If a little more ring smokes a little cooler, what would a lot more do? You are living in the answer. There is more on that up in today's big question.

Until next week…

— Norm AKA The Cigar Fossil

P.S. If you’re looking for a great cigar book, check out The Tobacconist Handbook