We have enjoyed both of Drew Estate’s Blackened releases here in The Corner Of No Hope. The original M81 Maduro to the Core scored a highly respectable 91 and the subsequent S84 Shade to Black scored an even more impressive 92. Blackened Cigars is a passion project that brings together three immensely talented and vastly experienced cigar enthusiasts — Jonathan Drew, Founder and President of Drew Estate; James Hetfield, Metallica co-founder, singer and guitarist; and Rob Dietrich, the Master Distiller and Blender of Blackened American Whiskey.
Jonathan Drew had this to say when announcing the new lancero vitola to the masses:
“This new Lancero is a guitar solo in cigar form. It’s long, lean, and delivers deep, concentrated flavor from foot to head. The M81 Lancero slaps with rich, dark, and heavy notes, while the S84 Lancero is like a clean intro riff—smooth, creamy, and soulful—but with that metallic edge.”
THE CIGAR – BLACKENED S84 SHADE TO BLACK LANCERO by DREW ESTATE
Size: 7 x 40 (lancero)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut shade
Binder: Connecticut broadleaf
Filler: Nicaraguan & Pennsylvania
Price: $12.75
While the Blackened S84’s Connecticut shade wrapper is extremely smooth and velvety in texture, there are several lumps evident and some major veins are pushing outward against the tightly stretched leaf. There is a strong floral aroma matched with a natural sweetness when sniffing the foot of the Blackened S84 directly. A quick punch to the cap reveals hints of chocolate milk and cedar.
Upon ignition, crisp white pepper appears immediately through the nose. It tingles just like a proper peppery retrohale should. A sourdough-like breadiness backed by soft leather and cedar soon follows via the draw. Back upstairs, a fresh lumber note begins to develop underneath the white pepper.
Here in the early goings, the Blackened S84 is mild/medium strength (leaning towards the medium side of the dial) and medium/full bodied. A touch of mineral has now joined the pepper and already diminishing lumber. That sourdough component found in the draw’s flavor profile has all but vanished leaving the well-defined cedar and leather notes all by their lonesome for the time being. The delicate ash falls often, you and your lap have been warned.
Other than the ash, which is no biggie once you’re aware of its fragility, the overall construction of the Blackened S84 has been very good so far with a smooth draw and even burn line. Here in the middle portion of the smoking experience, a flavor that can be best described as unsalted butter begins to coat the retrohale. This somewhat unique butteriness tames the white pepper’s presence at least momentarily. I say “somewhat unique” because I do recall butter used in a TNCC review as a descriptive back when we smoked the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta lancero last year. Maybe it’s a lancero thing? Paging An Phan!
Just past the fifty yard line, a mildly-sweet angel food cake flavor arises both upstairs and downstairs. It’s an airy, barely discernible note but it commingles well with the Blackened S84’s existing profile. My mind wanders to potential pairings and I can’t help but think that a robust, dark coffee would go fantastic with this cigar. With a splash of cream, of course. This isn’t the Old West for Christ’s sake…
Before the burn line reaches the primary Blackened band, the angel food cake note is gone. It vanished almost as quickly as if you were to put an actual slice of angel food cake down in front of me – so it disappears super fast is the point I’m trying to make here. It was fun while it lasted though. Remember all those lumps and rough spots I detailed when describing the Blackened S84’s appearance prelight? Well, these visual imperfections haven’t negatively influenced my enjoyment of the cigar whatsoever. So don’t be fast to judge a book by its cover. I mean, Metallica’s “Ride The Lightning” album featured fairly cheesy artwork but the songs contained within were stellar! And, to be fair, it had to be hard to come up with something that would top what’s maybe the greatest demo album cover of all time (see below).
With the unsalted butter and angel food cake fading away, the white pepper’s strength now jumps into straight-up medium territory here in the Blackened S84’s final act. This increase in strength, however, does not wash out the draw’s highly consistent cedar/leather combination. If the middle section of the cigar was the sweet spot, this final third brings the original trio of core flavors (white pepper, cedar, leather) back around in full force to remind you who’s boss. The only new addition to the roster before things come to a sad ending is a fleeting salt/must combo that adds yet another ingredient to an already winning recipe.
THE NUB
TNCC Final Score = 92
The Blackened Shade to Black S84 lancero is a well-constructed, complex cigar that knows what it is but has fun keeping you on your toes throughout the 83 minute smoking duration. Man, one more minute and that would’ve been really cool. I should have looked at my stopwatch before ending things, I could’ve squeaked out a few more puffs easily… shit. Talk about dropping the ball. Anyhoo, I will certainly try to pick a few more of these up soon as I’m eager to test out my coffee pairing theory. It’s a damn good cigar. Exactly how good is it, you ask? It’s so damn good that you’ll almost forget about “The Black Album”. Almost…
