Blackbird Cuco

Smoked: Blackbird Cuco

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Blackbird Cuco Gran Toro features Dominican filler, an Indonesian binder and a toothy, somewhat mottled Brazilian Criollo wrapper with a few visible veins.

Wide band that’s silver on black stating “Blackbird Cigar Co.” on one side and black on light grey script of “Cuco” and “Criollo” in print on the other. Be careful removing the band. The bird logo that seems to be part of the “Cuco” side is actually part of the silver and black side of the band. You need to carefully loosen the band at the top of the bird to prevent tearing.

The flavors include cedar, mild pepper, subtle hints of spice, roasted nuts, milk chocolate, and some orchard and citrus fruit notes. My thought is the Criollo is adding many of these notes to the profile. The flavors are soft and balanced without a lot of complexity. Somehow it just works.

The only flaw was that the pepper ratcheted up during the final third along with some saltiness. Rather mild retrohale – some pepper and I pick up faint wisp of mint, I rarely retrohale more than once, but this was so interesting I went back and retrohaled a few more times. It's medium-full bodied and has some strength to it, but not overwhelmingly so.

Decent draw after a once over with the Perfect Draw, fair amount of smoke production, fairly even burn line, and white, grey ash that held to an inch before rolling off.. Only one touchup was required during the final third.

I try to avoid generic terms like “smooth” to describe the taste of cigars. That is so subjective and opens debate on its definition depending upon the smoker. However, “smooth” is the word that comes to mind for the first two thirds of the Blackbird Cuco. I’ve been a fan of Criollo for some time so it’s not surprising that I like this cigar.