Kinky Friedman Cigar Review Series

After a fellow BOTL posted a request for reviews on a line of cigars developed and marketed by the famous Texan Kinky Friedman, and my subsequent, somewhat childish wisecracks over the names of said cigars, I found, and immediately grabbed at the oppurtunity to sample one each of the five cigars in this lineup.

Now, although I have heard the name from time to time, I am not at all familliar with the works of Kinky as an entertainer. All I can tell you is what I've learned from the small amount of research done on the interweb.

The cigars in this series are:

Texas Jewboy, Named for Kinky's band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, and the object of the first review of this series.

Willie, A Shaggy foot stogie, named after Kinky's long time friend, Willie Nelson.

Utopian, Named after Kinky's animal sanctuary ranch, to which all profits from the cigar line are donated.

Kinkycristo, Needs no explaination.

Governor, Commemorating Kinky's run for Governor of Texas.

Each of these cigars are adorned with very attractive bands, in a southwestern theme, (Bucking Bronco, Coyote, Horseshoes, cactus, Texas Flag ), with an embossed gold image of the Texas Jewboy himself prominently displayed in a large crest. Each cigar also sports a secondary band with the name of the cigar, flanked on each side by the Star of David.

http://www.cycleguy.com/kinky/Aug_18_2007/DSC_0005.jpg

Heard Enough? ON WITH THE REVIEWS!

TEXAS JEWBOY

This one is an impressive 6-1/8" X 54 Torpedo shape of magnificent construction. It's dark leathery thick skin showing minimal veins, firm to the touch. (please keep the smart@$$ comments at a minimum, this IS a cigar I'm reviewing):smiley9:

Sniffing the Texas Jewboy, I get the overall sensation of raisins, something that's kinda new to me, but very pleasant.

Snipped the end of this beauty with a trusty El-Cheapo double cutter, leaving a perfect draw. Light with the Colibri torch. No problems at all!

First 1/3 of this smoke confirms my impression of fruit with a very sweet flavor of dried raisins, along with some woody, earthy sensations. Nice medium bodied cigar, with not quite the volume of smoke one would expect of a cigar this size. Burn is slightly uneven, with a pronouncer "U" shaped area getting about 1/4" ahead of the rest of the cigar. Ash is medium gray, with dark blotches, kinda flaky, but hanging on strong.

Second 1/3, This cigar is really picking up some steam, with the fruit giving in to more pronounced woody, earthy taste, with a nice hint of black pepper on the back of the tongue. Starting to slide into the full side of medium. Burn has corrected itself, no help from me, and smoke volume has increased to the expected levels. Ash finally fell off with a resounding thud when it reached an impressive 1-3/4" in length.

The last portion of this cigar actually started to get a bit bitter, almost to the ammonia level, but a good long purge seemed to eliminate this, and allowed me to smoke it down to the nub.

Overall, this was an enjoyable smoke. A very well constructed, Beautifully presented cigar that's just one in a series of five well made smokes. The issue at the end may be due to the fact that I was horking on this Texas Jewboy pretty hard in the beginning, leading to nicotine buildup, which the purge seemed to alleviate nicely.

On my informal scale of one to ten, the Texas Jewboy has earned a rating of 8.5

Up Next: Willie

I've had several of each. The best one was the Utopian, and I still wouldn't buy another. I can tell from smoking them he does not have a very good blender working for him, or the blender is a good blender that failed to make the right decisions.

All five cigars had too much of a bitter taste for me, were monotone and unimpressive.

Excellent review. I'll have to try one of these. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigwhiteash

TEXAS JEWBOY

This one is an impressive 6-1/8" X 54 Torpedo shape of magnificent construction. It's dark leathery thick skin showing minimal veins, firm to the touch. (please keep the smart@$$ comments at a minimum, this IS a cigar I'm reviewing):smiley9:

Sniffing the Texas Jewboy, I get the overall sensation of raisins, something that's kinda new to me, but very pleasant.

Snipped the end of this beauty with a tryst El-Cheapo double cutter, leaving a perfect draw. Light with the Colibri torch. No problems at all!

First 1/3 of this smoke confirms my impression of fruit with a very sweet flavor of dried raisins, along with some woody, earthy sensations. Nice medium bodied cigar, with not quite the volume of smoke one would expect of a cigar this size. Burn is slightly uneven, with a pronouncer "U" shaped area getting about 1/4" ahead of the rest of the cigar. Ash is medium gray, with dark blotches, kinda flaky, but hanging on strong.

Second 1/3, This cigar is really picking up some steam, with the fruit giving in to more pronounced woody, earthy taste, with a nice hint of black pepper on the back of the tongue. Starting to slide into the full side of medium. Burn has corrected itself, no help from me, and smoke volume has increased to the expected levels. Ash finally fell off with a resounding thud when it reached an impressive 1-3/4" in length.

The last portion of this cigar actually started to get a bit bitter, almost to the ammonia level, but a good long purge seemed to eliminate this, and allowed me to smoke it down to the nub.

Overall, this was an enjoyable smoke. A very well constructed, Beautifully presented cigar that's just one in a series of five well made smokes. The issue at the end may be due to the fact that I was horking on this Texas Jewboy pretty hard in the beginning, leading to nicotine buildup, which the purge seemed to alleviate nicely.

On my informal scale of one to ten, the Texas Jewboy has earned a rating of 8.5

Up Next: Willie

---

Doesn't the JEWBOY come already cut???:smiley8:


DG

Good review BigWhite. You took this one on unbiased and with an open mind. I hope the "Willie" fares better. This is a CI interview from last October: http://www.stogieguys.com/2007/10/10...-friedman.html

Oh yes, I think that is very ingenius of Kinky to blend a few raisins in with the Honduran tobacco, but apparantly cause black blotches in the ash because they don't burn well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DeeDubya

Oh yes, I think that is very ingenius of Kinky to blend a few raisins in with the Honduran tobacco, but apparantly cause black blotches in the ash because they don't burn well.

---

Are you serioous? I didn't see that in the article, I guess that would explain the prelight aroma, huh?
I'm really not a fan of smoking anything other than pure tobacco, so I may have to knock a pioint off if that's true. :smiley2:

Willie

This is a 6" X 48 shaggy foot toro sized cigar of very nice build, somewhat toothier than the 'Jewboy, firm to the touch, and heavy in the hand. Nice pigtail cap. Siffing the Willie, I get a nice sense of hay-farmland-woodsy-tobacco, very pleasant, and reminds me of the aroma of some of the better smokes I've had. Not always EXPENSIVE cigars, just ones that pleased me flavor-wise. Prep for smoking is the standard cheapo cutter, and torch light.
Interesting thing with shaggy cigars is being able to taste the change when the wrapper begins to burn... I can't really describe the flaveors, but there was a definate change at that time.

This cigar started off almost exactly as the prelight aroma indicated, nice earthy tobacco flavors with a hint of sweetness. again medium boddied, with just a hint of spice on the pallate. The burn is straight as can be, and the ash is very similiar to every isom I have ever smoked, you know that dirty gray, loose on the outside, tight on the inside ash. It was holding on very well until I got a little rough setting it in the ashtray :smiley26:

I really didn't notice this cigar changing at any point, more like it slowly faded into a more robust, medium-full flavor. never got harsh or bitter, but kept on with the great tobacco taste. If anything, it picked up a bit on the spiciness just a hair. After the Jewboy got bitter on me last night, I decided I would purge this one more often. Not sure if that was it, but it seemed to keep it under control.

Overall, this was a cigar that I found very enjoyable... the kind of cigar I like to smoke while loitering around a campfire with friends. A well built cigar that doesn't need a lot of attention, just light it and smoke it. The flavor profile may have been a bit one dimensional, but I don't have a problem with that, as long as it's pleasant to me.

Now, I know that Willie Nelson usually prefers leaf of sweeter origins, but this is a rugged cigar that IMO is worthy of carrying his name.

On the informal rating scale, I give Willie a 8.7


Next up, Utopian

Good review. I think maybe a no-nonsense type cigar is what Kinky was striving for. I wonder if Willie actually had any influence on his namesake? Also, you didn't say anything about any seeds poping or euphoric hunger spasms or the like?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DeeDubya

Good review. I think maybe a no-nonsense type cigar is what Kinky was striving for. I wonder if Willie actually had any influence on his namesake? Also, you didn't say anything about any seeds poping or euphoric hunger spasms or the like?

---

Maybe he saved it for the Utopian!!

Willie hasn't rolled a seed since 1968 :smiley2:

Utopian

The Utopian is another Toro size cigar, this one is 6" X 52, again of marvelous construction. Thick leatherlike wrapper, almost shiny, dark habano color. Very firm, no yield to finger pressure. Prelight aroma at the foot is nearly identical to the Jewboy, sweet with sense of raisins being the most dominant scent.
Cut and lit same as previous cigars, although this one had an ever so slightly tighter draw, it was well within my preferences.

First third of the Utopian was barely distinguishable from the Jewboy, in terms of flavor, burn, however was much improved. staying right on track, producing a nice white ash with none of the black blotches. Unlike the previous two cigars, this one didn't build in strength at the middle. Rather it seemed to smooth out along the upper medium bodied lines, staying very civilized. like Willie, never getting hot or bitter. The last portion of this cigar did seem to pick up a bit on the "tobacco-y" flavors, but as with the willie, it did seem rather one sided.

Overall, I would say I enjoyed this one also, but I see a trend developing in the fact that none of these so far have blown me away. I purchased this sampler from anpother BOTL at what was probably very close to MSRP, if not less, about $8.00 a stick, and most will tell you there are MANY world-class cigars in this price range. I'll reserve comments in this area untill I have finished the series.

On the ole rating scale, I'm giving this one another 8.5


On Deck.. Kinkycristo

I happen to be checking these out and did a search and saw you were doing review on theses once upon a did you ever finish the series's?:smiley14:

I actually used the other two cigars as ammo. :smiley2:

The Kinkycristo was just on cigarmonster. I saw this thread was bumped but by the time I came back looking for your review the deal was gone.