Vince, LCA Exclusive by Blackbird Cigar Co.

It’s been months since my last review; as always, there’s a reason or excuse. The difference this time, though, is that it’s not related to deployment— I spent those months not smoking at all.

About a year ago, while I was at sea all summer for a months-long submarine deployment, I had a new neighbor move into the apartment directly above mine. Even before I returned from deployment, the trouble had already started: I got home after months away from home to a notice from the apartment community managers that my new neighbor had lodged a noise complaint against my apartment, despite the fact that it had been empty for no less than five months when the complaint was filed. At the time, I figured it must have been a simple mix up; some other neighbor had probably been too loud, and the new neighbors above me thought they were hearing it from my apartment.

Over the following months, though, the accusations continued, and they became more and more ridiculous. I was “shining lasers” in his windows; I was “staring at him” when he came home or left the apartment; I was “a pervert” who was “standing outside his windows, watching him.”

None of these things were remotely factual; as for the idea that I was somehow standing outside his windows, that was just physically impossible. His apartment is on the fourth floor, in a building with no balconies. And I’m only 5’4”.

Over time, it became more and more obvious that he was most likely suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and he was only becoming more aggressive. Things really escalated rapidly around May, when he started confronting me when I would arrive home from work, before I even had a chance to turn off the engine in my car. He would yell at me from the parking lot outside our building, and on one occasion pounded on my door yelling at me and tried to force his way into my apartment. I had to file four complaints with the apartment managers in a three-week period as his behavior rapidly became more threatening, escalating quickly from accusations, to harassment, to stalking, to outright threats.

I was on my way to work on the morning of June 21, when I spotted him in the parking lot standing beside my car, waiting for me. WIthout saying a word, he rushed me and sucker punched me, which left me with a fractured jaw, a fracture which extended up along the angle of the bone and through the rear-most molar, splitting it in half. I spent the rest of that week in the hospital, on intravenous morphine for pain and requiring surgery to fix my jaw. A plate was implanted to hold the jaw together so it could heal properly, and screws were implanted into my jaws so that I could be wired shut for the following three weeks. After the wires were removed, it was evident that my gums were failing to close over the plate in my jaw, and I had to undergo a second surgery about a month and a half after the initial surgery. That surgery was successful in allowing my gums to close over the initial surgical site and heal properly, but I spent months not only not smoking, but in pain, heavily medicated, and unable to eat solid food. I lost 25 pounds in under a month.

Worse still, my neighbor was never arrested, because, according to local police, without witnesses or security cameras, it was “my word against his” (my assailant’s). He was ultimately evicted from the apartment above mine, but he was otherwise never held accountable, and still knows where I live (until I finish moving out once I return from leave).

Physically, I’m recovering quite well, and finally able to smoke again. Mentally, it’s going to be a long process. I’m in treatment now for PTSD, and maybe at some point I’ll talk about that process. I’m already going on at length, and what I’m really here to talk about is cigars, and to get back in the habit of reviewing smokes!

I’m circling back around to one of my favorites, Blackbird Cigar Co., tonight, since I have a handful of limited-edition, LCA exclusive sticks blended for Privada Cigar Club.

The Vince was named for Tom Cruise’s character in the movie The Color Of Money, directed by Martin Scorcese. I was all set to smoke and review this in late June, and it’s been waiting this whole time, staring at me as I was sidelined from just about everything. But it’s finally time, so let’s get to it!

Cigar: Vince by Blackbird Cigar Co. 

Vitola: Corona Gorda (6” x 50)

Price: $11.00

Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Body: Medium

Rating (out of 10): 10

Appearance:
The LCA-exclusive blends by Blackbird deviate from their norm; these are not named for birds, they cover a wide range of shapes and sizes, and the bands, if and when they exist, are not the standard, large “Blackbird” bands; if I hadn’t read up on them a little, I would probably never guess that these were Blackbird smokes!

Vince specifically is a softly box-pressed stick with a tight, neat, closed pigtail foot. It features a black silk foot band, marked with an 8-ball and the name “Vince.”

The wrapper is a rich, milk-chocolate colored brown, gleaming with oils, and showing light tooth and moderate veins.

Construction:
Construction is perfect— exactly what I’ve come to expect from Blackbird; absolutely invisible seams, perfectly capped, neatly closed at the foot… flawlessly put together, from one end to the other. 

Aroma:
I get some subtle whiffs of cedar and black pepper from the barrel, as well as the foot, closed as it is. However, the foot does give me something else… something almost berry-like.

First Third:
I’m not going to clip the pigtail foot; I’m going to light it and smoke this entire thing. That said, there’s not really any airflow for a true “cold draw” while the foot remains closed; however I do get some sweet hits of butter before lighting.

I can certainly understand why some people prefer to clip closed feet before lighting; until the light takes, it’s more challenging to draw air through the barrel. I’m unbothered by it, though, and the draw will always come through, clipped or not. And when it does on this smoke, there’s an initial pop of cracked pepper, before showing off some sweet fruity notes, like dried apricot and fresh berries.

This is one of the most perfect ash stacks I’ve seen in a long time— almost uniformly white, even burn, and the tight little pigtail at the foot is still completely intact… it’s beautiful!

There’s occasional hits of cracked pepper and cedar, accenting the sweet fruit notes in the flavor profile. A bit of leather aftertaste, as well.

Cedar pretty prominent on the retrohale, too.

Second Third:
Still burning perfectly entering the second third. Just a tiny bit spicier here toward the middle, too, a touch more cracked pepper than before.

Some real clear cherry notes coming in around the halfway point; the smoke is almost “juicy,” even!

A little past the half, I’m getting some faint touches of vanilla. The complexity of this stick is incredible, don’t sleep on it! It deserves all the attention you can give to it!

Final Third:
Last third still has a flawless burn; we’re just hurtling toward a perfect score on this one, and there’s still plenty left to smoke!

That peppery spice is winding back down in the last third, letting the sweet notes of fruit and berries take the lead again.

Still getting hits of vanilla toward the end, and a little bit of salt on the finish.

Finally at the end, and I don’t want to be!

Closing Thoughts:
A perfect score from this rare Blackbird exclusive; I’m going to have to try and get some more before they’re gone forever!