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| Black Label Trading Company Deliverance Corona |
The Deliverance is the eighth blend to be released by Texas-based cigar maker Black Label Trading Company. Black Label Trading Company was founded by James Brown. Brown has built his company around a model of small batch production. Along the way, Brown has also looked to deliver unique blends to the marketplace. As a result, this led us to select the company as one of the Cigar Coop 2014 Five Boutiques to Watch. With the case of the Deliverance, the differentiating factor is its San Andres natural wrapper. While San Andres wrapper has been the rage of the cigar industry in 2014, it has mostly been used around maduro releases. As a result there has not been a lot of San Andres natural releases. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Deliverance in the corona vitola. Overall I have found Black Label Trading Company to be doing some excellent work – and the Deliverance adds to this company’s excellent track record.
When Black Label Trading Company launched in 2013, they ambitiously launched six blends. In 2014, the company added two limited production lines (Deliverance and Morphine) and also released a shop exclusive to Underground Cigar Shop (Catacomb). Throughout these releases, the company has kept true to its philosophy of small batch cigar making. They articulate this philosophy on the web-site:
“Our philosophy is Less is More; Small is Big; Small is Elite; and finally, Fine Tobacco making is Fine Art. Much like when we experience fine art, the Black Label Experience involves slowing down, taking in, being in the moment and letting expectation be replaced by surprise, and ultimately, total satisfaction.”
Without further ado, let’s break down the Black Label Trading Company Deliverance in the Corona size and see what this cigar brings to the table.
Blend Profile
As mentioned the Deliverance uses a San Andres Natural wrapper. The remainder of the blend consists of Nicaraguan tobaccos.
Wrapper: San Andres Mexican Natural
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Vitolas Available
The Deliverance is released in two connoisseur sizes. A production run of 500 boxes per size has been released. The Lancero is available in 12 count boxes and the Corona is available in 16 count boxes.
Corona: 5 1/2 x 48
Lancero: 7 1/2 x 38
Appearance
The San Andres wrapper of the Deliverance Corona has a rich caramel color to it. There is a light oily sheen on the surface of the wrapper. The wrapper itself is quite smooth and not rugged like many San Andres maduro wrappers. There are very few veins, and most of the wrapper seams are well hidden. The Deliverance Corona is finished with a quadruple fume-style cap.
The band to the Deliverance is black in color. On the band is a portrait-style image of white skeleton facing to the left. Above the portrait is a black and white crown. Below the portrait is a white ribbon with the text “DELIVERANCE” in black font. On the bottom of the band is “BLACK LABEL TRADING COMPANY” in white font. There is a white stripe above and below that text.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
I opted to go with a straight cut to remove the cap of the Deliverance. Once the cap was removed I moved on to the pre-light draw experience. The cold draw provided a mix of sweet natural tobacco that almost had a sugar cane taste to it. I also detected a little bit of earth and cedar. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of the Deliverance to be excellent. At this point I was ready to light up the Deliverance Corona and see what the smoking phase would have in store.
Flavor Profile
The Deliverance started out with a spice blast consisting of a combination of cedar and white pepper. As the spice settled down, the primary flavors became a mix of cedar sweetness along with natural tobacco notes. The pepper notes receded into the background. As for the retro-hale, there was a cedar sweet spice which was present throughout the smoking experience.
As the cigar moved through the first half, the cedar sweetness remained primary. There was now also a prominent cinnamon note in the forefront. Meanwhile the natural tobacco and pepper notes were close secondary notes.
In the second half, while the cedar remained, I found the primary notes became more on the spicy side. The cedar notes exhibited some spice and were now joined by the white pepper notes. Meanwhile I found the cinnamon and natural tobacco to be secondary notes. Overall, this is the way the cigar experience remained until the close. The Deliverance remained flavorful to the end and exhibited no harshness. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.
Burn and Draw
From a burn perspective, the Deliverance burned relatively straight. While there was a slight jaggedness to the burn line, but the Deliverance was never in danger of tunneling or canoeing. I did find the San Andres Natural wrapper was slightly prone to blistering on touch-ups, so I advise some tlc when touching this cigar up. The resulting ash was a charcoal gray color. It was on the firm side – and it came off in nice clean chunks with little flaking. The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.
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| Burn of the Black Label Trading Company Deliverance Corona |
Strength and Body
From a strength perspective, I did not find the Deliverance to be a nicotine bomb. Overall I assessed the strength level as being right in the middle of the spectrum – coming in at medium. As for the flavors, the Deliverance had some depth to it. I assessed this cigar as falling into the medium to full-bodied range. In terms of strength versus body, I gave the edge to the body throughout the smoking experience.
Final Thoughts
One thing I have to give credit to Brown and his blends at Black Label Trading Company – they bring unique blends to the table. In a market where there are many “cookie cutter” blends out there, it’s great to see a company like Black Label Trading Company think out of the box. The bonus with the Deliverance is that it is a cigar that delivers excellent flavor and a nice overall cigar experience. I personally found the 5 1/2 x 48 Corona to be ideal for this particular blend. Overall, I found this to be a great cigar for the experienced cigar enthusiast. I also found this to be a great cigar for a novice looking for a medium / medium plus cigar enthusiast. As for myself, I continue to be impressed with the work of this Texas-based cigar company. This cigar is easily worth a box split in my book.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 3.5 – Box Split
Score: 90
References
News: Black Label Trading Company Deliverance
Price: $12.00
Source: Cigars Provided by Manufacturer
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Episode 117
Stogie Feed: n/a
