Kingmakers Cigars: Beast Mode, V3RSA VII and Playboy x Kingmakers

This week's post is a little outside my comfort zone. Being old and cynical, my adventurism in cigars has limits.

Beast Mode by Kingmakers

Size

6″ x 52 toro

Wrapper

Habano rosado

Binder

Criollo Hybrid

Filler

Jalapa Viso, Jalapa Seco and Estelí Ligero

Made

In the Estelí factory that makes El Mago

Price

Around $13

When I heard from Claudio Torres about the Beast Mode cigars from Kingmakers Cigars, I was skeptical. First, I barely know who Marshawn Lynch is, I assume he is/was a football player. My only frame of reference is seeing him on a commercial during hockey games, wearing a Seattle Kraken sweater. I'm to understand he's a minority owner of the Kraken, which means he likes hockey, which is enough for me. We all know how celebrity cigars go, and since he's launching one, I assume he also likes cigars. That's two things he has going for him. The cigar is a 6″ x 52 toro, made in the same Esteli factory that makes El Mago cigars. It has a Habano rosado wrapper, Criollo Hybrid binder, and Jalapa Viso, Jalapa Seco, and Estelí Ligero in the filler. I smoked it after having it in the humidor for a week or two, and I was cautioned to let it rest since they were fresh out of the container from Nicaragua. The cigar performed well, good burn and draw. The flavors were woody and leathery with some cocoa. It was good, and I expect will get better with some more rest. I think pricing this cigar around $13 was a wise move on their part, I can see where a celebrity might want his cigars priced higher, thinking his name is worth the price. Pricing it "normally" makes me think he's taking it seriously and it's not just a vanity project. I'm just not sure why it has a big W on the band! 🙂

V3RSA VII

Size

6″ x 54

Wrapper

Habano 2000

Binder

Sumatra

Filler

Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian

Price

$22.50

Kingmakers Cigars send me a sampler of their portfolio which included a cigar with a big V on the band. I'm a sucker for the letter V, I once bought a box of cigars because ir was in a V shaped box, Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Vanadium. Good thing I liked the cigars, and I still have the box. It wasn't a humidor friendly box though, but it's cool! It turns out this cigar was the V3RSA VII, and, apparently is a collaboration between Kingmakers and Carmelo Anthony. Again, I show my sports ignorance, he's a basketball player? The cigar is 6″ x 54, has a Habano 2000 wrapper, Sumatra binder, and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian fillers. I read the blend after I smoked the cigar and was surprised that I got the flavors that I did. I found the cigar to be smooth and bready with some baking spice in the second half. It was tasty, but with those tobaccos I would have expected a different profile. I find it interesting that JR Cigars carries this, but I guess that gives it some credibility. This one is a $22.50 cigar. Nice cigar.

Playboy x Kingmakers

Size

6″ x 54

Wrapper

Golden Ecuadorian Habano Criollo (EMS shade)

Binder and filler

Nicaraguan

Price

Around $12

I'm looking at the other cigars in the sampler and realize that I should have smoked a different cigar than I smoked, as there is a third "celebrity" cigar that would have continued the theme of this post. It'll have to wait for another Sunday. I selected the Playboy x Kingmakers cigar, that had a Playboy Bunny on the band. I remember having a box of the Playboy by Don Diego cigars about 25 years ago. I won it at an event, it's not a box I would have bought for myself, but they were nice, mild shade cigars. This one is an Ecuador shade that's on the darker side, listed as "Golden Ecuadorian Habano Criollo (EMS shade)". The binder and fillers are Nicaraguan. Once again, it's a 6″ x 54, it's like these guys know what size I like, and it's reasonably priced at around $12. It still irks me that I think $12-13 is a reasonable price for a cigar when it wasn't that long ago when a $10 cigar was pricey. I smoked the cigar while watching the Flyers lose yet another hockey game. They are going to need quite a win streak just to get to .500 at this point! Despite the disappointment of the game, the cigar was tasty. It kind of reminded me of those old Don Diego Playboys in it's smooth, nutty flavors, it was nice, although not terribly remarkable to my rather pedestrian palate. Interestingly, these are also available on Cigars.com, which is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (where JRs is owned by Tabacalera USA).

Coming up

I have some of the Kingmakers Cigars core lines coming up in a couple weeks, so stay tuned. I also need to migrate to a new web host in the coming weeks, which is causing me no small amount of stress. I have jury duty this week and a big inventory at work that I'm not prepared enough for, so this week is going to be a challenge.

That's all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig