Hammer & Sickle Berlin Wall
For the last one and a half months I’ve been smoking my way through a couple handfuls of the Berlin Wall from Hammer & Sickle Cigars. These cigars jumped out at me during a trip to Old Virginia Tobacco. The Berlin Wall is beautifully presented in a white marble box of twenty and are dressed with a shiny copper band. On a shelf of wooden boxes, the Berlin Wall really stands out.
To make this project special Hammer & Sickly sought out the help of Christian Eroia of Camacho Cigars. What they cam up with was a blend of Honduan and Dominican tobaccos, that H&S feel is a representation of pre-embargo Cuban cigars.
Name: Berlin Wall
Company: Hammer & Sickle
Wrapper: Honduran Criollo aged 6 years
Binder: Honduran Habano aged 4 years
Filler: Domincan Navarrette and Jamastran aged 3 years
Comes in: Box of 20
Price: Approximately $7.00/stick
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Pre-Light
The 6-year-old Honduran Criollo wrapper is light shade of caramel and has a very delicate vein structure. The texture/feel of the wrapper was dry and a little furry. The aroma coming off the cigar is very faint and is most reminiscent of wood. The cigar was nicely constructed and finished up with a triple cap. An abundant amount of tobacco was evenly rolled throughout leaving a finished product that felt heavy in the hand. Pre-light draw was flawless and yielded little flavor.
Flavor & Burn
The Berlin wall starts off with a subtle woodiness that blended nicely with hints of earth and spice. As I got further in to the cigar the woodiness and earthiness really ramped up. The spice was generally in the background, however, from time to time it would ramp up adding to the complexity of the cigar. The cigar was medium-bodied and features a full-flavored and balanced blend of flavors.
The cigar burned evenly and produced ample amounts of bluish white smoke.
Final Thoughts
I’ve really enjoyed smoking these cigars of the last month. For me the Berlin Wall is a cigar that can be smoked any time of the day. I see this cigar pairing best with either coffee or a single malt scotch that doesn’t feature a lot of smoke or peat. At approximately $7.00/stick I could definitely see picking up a box of these, but definitely recommend a 5-pack.
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Comments
I went to a H&S event at my local shop about a year ago. I would never think about pairing a cigar with vodka but the H&S brand vodka went well with the Berlin wall. Those glass boxes really stand out, I tried to obtain one but no luck that day.
I agree with you that the Berlin wall is box worthy and I don’t say that easily. This cigar is so tasty and I paired it up with a Dos Equis dark and they went well together. It’s funny that I commented on the short run 2012 because I feel these 2 cigars are very similar in their blends.
I’ve wondered about these for quite some time and had yet to hear anyone’s views on them. Thanks for doing this one. I don’t feel like I’d be wasting money buying some now.