Alec Bradley Black Market Punk Petit Corona Cigar - 1 Single

Very nice. Quite strong, but lots of dark flavours here, cocoa and pepper. Build quality and burn good also - only two ash falls in 25 mins! 5 Stars therefore.

I was starting to give up on new world cigars. This had a nice oily wrapper and looked great. Lighting it up and I had a hit of spice like chilli, which reminded me of the Camacho corojo machitos. This soon quickly mellowed into a mild pepper with a very creamy and slightly sweet smoke. It’s a very flavoursome smoke with hints of peanuts and coffee. Also leaves a pleasant room note. Will definitely buy again.

This is my first ALEC Bradley, we got off to a little bit of a shaky start, but I’m pleased to say that things improved, very much so. Normally at this point, I’d be writing something about the construction, but the packaging itself is stunning, it’s in your face and sticks two fingers up at the traditional cigar bands, giving you something different and unique. Construction is simply excellent with a dark almost Maduro wrapper, and impressive attention to detail around the cap. The unlit aroma is gorgeous, lots of pepper and chocolate, with some molasses and cedar thrown in for good measure and cries out for you to smoke it. After application of a punch, it lit easily after a through toasting, producing a very strong and very peppery finish, that was way too strong for my palette. At this point it’s fair to say that I almost put it down to an incompatible choice, but as I’d loved everything about it, I felt I owed it to persevere. I’m glad I did as a few minutes later it settled in and whist still strong, started to deliver a bit of dark chocolaty sweetness and spice and although the pepper was still there in spades, the harshness has died and the complexity of this fine cigar started to shine through. I paired it with its namesake, an American hop IPA from Brewdog, Punk, which is full of in your face flavours and ended up being one of the best pairings I’ve ever made. What else can I say? Well the draw was near perfect for a cigar of this size, with thick creamy smoke, I hand to keep reminding myself to take a little less than it was happy to give, so as to appreciate the flavour without becoming too much for me, but that’s far from a criticism. The lovely sweet spiciness has made this an enjoyable hour in the company of Alec Bradley’s Punk. I will certainly be ordering more of these, if nothing else to pair with the Brewdog Punk IPA which suits it so well!

Too strong for my mild palate. Wonderful packaging, disappointing smoke. Connoisseurs may feel differently.

I found the draw a little too easy, and had to relight it a couple of times. Flavour wise, black pepper tended to dominate for me, early on I had a sense of cayenne too. Spice throughout, not sure I'd buy another, think I would tend towards sweeter, cocoa and nuts than spice.