Alec Bradley Coyol

At the 2014 IPCPR Trade Show, Alec Bradley Cigars launched a new regular production line, the Alec Bradley Coyol. The Coyol gets its name from a farm in Trojes Honduras. Alec Bradley has a long standing manufacturing relationship with the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras, but it also has produced many Honduran centric brands. For the Alec Braley Coyol it utilizes tobaccos grown at the Coyol farm. Recently I had an opportunity to smoke the Alec Bradley Coyol in a Toro size. I had smoked this cigar at the trade show and saw it had potential. After the recent round of smoking, I found this to be an excellent offering by Alan Rubin’s company.

The Coyol farm is located in the Trojes region of Honduras. Trojes is actually a municipality located in the department of El Paraiso. El Paraiso is located in the South Central part of Honduras and is situated just above the border with Nicaragua. Trojes is a region where Alec Bradley has secured tobacco for many of its blends.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Alec Bradley Coyol in the Toro size and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

As mentioned, the Coyol utilizes tobacco grown on the Coyol farm. In fact all three components (wrapper, binder, and filler) utilize tobacco from Coyol. There is also Nicaraguan tobacco used on the binder (the Coyol has a double binder) and filler.

Wrapper: Trojes Honduras
Binder: Trojes Honduras; Nicaragua
Filler: Trojes Honduras; Nicaragua
Country of Origin: Honduras (Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L.)

Vitolas Available

The Alec Bradley Coyol was launched in six sizes. The cigars are packaged in 20 count boxes.

Petit Lancero: 6 1/2 x 41
Robusto: 5 x 52
Toro: 6 x 52
Belicoso: 5 1/2 x 58
Double Churchill: 7 x 58
Gordo: 6 x 60

Appearance

The Alec Bradley Coyol Toro has medium brown wrapper with a nice amount of colorado red mixed in. Upon closer examination, there is some darker marbling on the surface. There was a moderate amount of oil on the wrapper. There are some visible wrapper seams as well as some thin veins.

There are two bands on the Alec Bradley Coyol. The primary band uses a simpler, more retro-styled band design than some of the intricate band designs common across Alec Bradley lines. The band has an antique white background with brown, gold, and red coloring. At the center of the band is a retro-variation of the red and white Alec Bradley “AB” shield”. The shield sits on the antique white background and is surrounded by a brown ring. On the upper end of the ring is the text “ALEC BRADLEY” and on the lower end of the ring is “COYOL” – both in antique white font. Surrounding that ring are antique white, gold, and red ring designs. The remainder of the band has gold and red adornments to the left and right of the ring. On the left side is the text “Tabacos Puros” in antique white cursive font on a red background. On the right is the text “Flor Extra-Fina” – also in antique white cursive font.

The secondary band rests just below the primary band on the cigar. The secondary band is a bright yellow band. There is gold colored trim along the top and bottom of the band. The center of the band has the text “La Vega Coyol” in gold font. There is a red pinstripe and a gold dotted pattern sitting above the text. There are gold adornments to the left and right of the text.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

I started off the cigar experience of the Alec Bradley Coyol with a straight cut to remove the cap. After successfully clipping the cap, I moved on to the pre-light draw.   The cold draw was pretty basic for this cigar. I detected a mix of earth and cedar sweet-spice. Overall I considered this to be a satisfactory, but not an overly exciting pre-light draw. At this point I was ready to light up my Alec Bradley Coyol Toro and see what the smoking phase would deliver.

Flavor Profile

The start of the Alec Bradley Coyol delivered a mix of earth and spices consisting of cedar and black pepper. The pepper spices became primary in the early stages. The earth notes moved secondary and were joined by some nut, pepper, and cherry sweetness. The pepper did linger on the tongue on the after-draw and could be detected on the retro-hale.

Later in the first third, the spices separated with the cedar notes staying primary and the pepper joining the nut and earth notes in the background. The cherry sweetness was present, but was more distant.

The second third was similar to the first third. The earth notes joined the cedar. The nut flavors floated back and forth between the forefront and background. The pepper remained a secondary note, but was on the rise.  The cherry notes were more distant.

The last third saw the profile change to a more peppery and earthy profile. There were still some cedar, nut, and cherry notes, but these were much more subtle flavors. This is the way the cigar experience came to an end. The resulting nub was excellent – firm to touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Overall I found the Alec Bradley Coyol Toro scored nicely when it came to burn and draw. There was a little curviness to the burn line of the Coyol, but overall the Coyol maintained a straight path and never was in danger of tunneling or canoeing. The resulting ash was charcoal gray and was very much on the firm side. The burn temperature was ideal. As for the burn rate, it was a little on the show side; but the Coyol did not demonstrate any adverse effects due to the slower burn.

Burn of the Alec Bradley Coyol Toro

The draw was outstanding.  It was not too loose, but not too tight. Overall I found puffing on the Coyol to be a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

In terms of strength, the Alec Bradley Coyol Toro started out in the medium range. There was a gradual increase of strength and by the second half, the strength was in the medium to full range. During the second half, the strength still increased, but it did not make it to full strength territory. As for the body, the flavors had some depth. They pretty much held in the medium to full-bodied range throughout the smoking experience. In terms of strength versus body, both attributes balanced each other nicely. The body had a slight edge early on.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned, I had sampled the Alec Bradley Coyol at the trade show.  At that time, I felt the cigar was quite young, but felt it had some potential. Now looking back some nine months later, this cigar has really lived up to that potential. This is perhaps one of the most low key Alec Bradley releases in quite some time. I’m not sure if the simpler packaging (which I think has some real charm) has anything to do with it, but the cigar inside the packaging is quite good. While it isn’t a revolutionary cigar, it does deliver some good flavor.  This cigar will bring together some classic earthy Honduran qualities with some of the boldness Nicaraguan tobacco has to offer. This is a cigar I’d probably recommend to a more seasoned cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is a cigar I would smoke again. It’s one I’m even curious to see how long term aging impacts it. It’s a cigar easily worthy of a five pack.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 3.0 – The Fiver
Score: 90

References

News: Alec Bradley Coyol
Price: $8.20
Source: Purchased
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