Kinky Friedman Cigar Review Series

[bigwhiteash]

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.



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)

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