These days you would be hard pressed to walk into a humidor and find an actual quality premium cigar for under ten dollars. It doesn’t seem that long ago when most cigars were in the single digits (my go-to was the Padron 4000 for $4.90!). Alas, those days are long behind us. And today, this cigar at $8 just may be your best option for the price. Made by Foundation Cigar Co., there are now three Charter Oak blends, but in our opinion it’s this one - with the Ecuador Habano wrapper - that really stands out. “I am happy to have been able to blend a beautiful Habano wrapper into an expansion of the Charter Oak line, filling the profile gap between the CT Shade and the CT Broadleaf,” said Nicholas Melillo, founder of Foundation Cigar Co. “This is a medium-bodied, spicy blend with amazing flavor at a great value.” Hard to disagree with you there, Nick. The surprising thing here isn't so much the good taste or the solid construction - you can find cigars for under $10 with decent flavor and good construction. What’s rare is the actual complexity to this cigar. Often when you are paying more for a cigar, your money is going to the complex flavors the higher quality tobacco offers. But here we have a surprising amount of black pepper backed by a wide variety of flavors that fade in and out including cedar, oak, peanut butter and caramel and a floral sweetness that contrasts the black pepper beautifully. Yea for eight dollars each I’d buy another box of these. Or ten.
