Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail

Today, we review the Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail. The Boxergrail was a limited-edition cigar that made its debut in 2023. As the name indicates, it is a part of the Diesel Whiskey Row collection. Whiskey Row is a project developed by General Cigar’s Justin Andrews, AJ Fernandez, and Rabbit Hole Distillery. Each Whiskey Row project involves using tobacco for binder and aging it in barrels. The Founder’s Collection Boxergrail involves aging in American oak barrels that aged Rabbit Hole’s Founder’s Collection Boxergrail Rye Whiskey.

The Boxergrail is the third installment of the Diesel Whiskey Row series. The following are the Whiskey Row projects and the type of binder tobacco used.

Diesel Whiskey Row (San Andres, Mexico)
Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask (Brazilian Alagoaso)
Diesel Founder’s Collection Boxergrail (Nicaraguan Habano)
Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Mizunara (Nicaraguan Habano)

The name Boxergrail pays homage to Louisville, Kentucky, and its rich boxing history. Louisville is the home of the Rabbit Hole Distillery and has also been the home of three world heavyweight champions: Muhammad Ali, Greg Page, and Marvin Hart. When Boxergrail was released, it was also planned to coincide with the running of the 2023 Kentucky Derby thoroughbred race.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Box Top

Let’s break down the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail without further ado and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

As mentioned, the Nicaraguan Habano binder leaf aged in the Founder’s Collection Boxergrail barrel is pretty much the “secret sauce” to this blend. The binder also surrounds Nicaraguan Habano fillers. The cigar is finished with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. As with all Diesel Cigars, production is done in conjunction with AJ Fernandez.

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano (Aged in Rabbit Hole Founder’s Collection Boxergrail Rye Whiskey Barrels)
Filler: Nicaraguan Habano
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.

Vitolas Offered

The Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail comes in one size – a 6 x 52 Toro. Each is presented in ten-count dress boxes.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Open Box

Appearance (*)

The Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper of the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail had a rugged look and a dark roasted espresso bean color. There wasn’t much in the way of oils on the wrapper, which was toothy and had prominent visible wrapper seams and veins.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Close-Up

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut was used to commence the cigar experience of the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw experience. The cold draw delivered a mix of earth, coffee, and leather notes. When it came to flavor, the pre-light draw was satisfactory. At this point, it was time to toast up the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail opened with notes of coffee beans, earth, and classic wood. Early on, the coffee and earth notes moved to the forefront. The classic wood settled in the background and was joined by dark chocolate, peppercorn, and mineral notes. Meanwhile, the retro-hale delivered a note of wood early on.

The second third of the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail opened up with the coffee and earth notes that were primary. The mineral notes increased in intensity, displacing the coffee notes in the forefront. There was an increase in the peppercorn notes on both the tongue and retro-hale. The chocolate notes were pretty much gone by the close of the second third.

There wasn’t much change in the final third. The mineral and earth notes remained prominent, while the peppercorn, coffee, and wood notes remained secondary. The one difference was that the flavors were a little muddled. As the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail came to a close, it finished with a slightly lukewarm and soft nub.

Burn

The Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail required frequent touch-ups to keep its burn on a straight path and in a straight line. The burn itself was prone to some meandering. While the touch-ups did the trick, more were needed than I preferred. The resulting ash was light gray. This ash was prone to some minor flaking and flowering. Both the burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

Burn of the Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail

Draw

The draw of the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail also performed exceptionally well. It had a touch of resistance, making it ideal in my book. This was also a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

In terms of strength and body, the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail started out medium. Both attributes had a nominal increase in intensity. In the end, both attributes came close to medium to full territory but didn’t reach that zone. Strength and body balanced each other very nicely, with neither attribute overshadowing the others.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail has one of the nicest box designs I have seen from 2023. The box opens up, and inside the lid is a hard plastic shell case housing the Whiskey Row cigars.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Case holding cigars

The bottom of the box contains background information on the project.

Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail – Inside the bottom of the box

The Diesel logo has a gray and gold primary band and a large, medium gray/dark gray criss-cross style band across it.

There are two slight negatives in terms of the design. The hard plastic shell case is not intuitive to open. Once you figure it out, it’s like riding a bicycle, but you have to get there. The other is that the bands were extremely difficult to remove from the cigar.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

You must acknowledge Justin Andrews for transforming the Diesel brand. Originally a catalog brand, he has done a remarkable job turning it into a brick-and-mortar staple. The Whiskey Row project played a significant role in this transformation. The Boxergrail is a continuation of the Whiskey Row story. While the Diesel Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail is not a bad cigar, it is not better than the original Whiskey Row or the Whiskey Row Sherry Cask. The flavors were more ordinary than extraordinary. On each smoke, I kept waiting for them to “pop,” and it simply did not happen.

One final note and this wasn’t factored into the final score: I did pair the Whiskey Row Founder’s Collection Boxergrail with Rabbit Hole’s Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey (not the Founders Collection). The pairing offered a nice enhancement to the cigar’s flavor profile. However, I did not incorporate the pairing into the review of the Whiskey Row Boxergrail as that is not how Cigar Coop—The Magazine does reviews.

In the end, this is is a cigar I would recommend trying a sample for yourself and seeing what you think.

Summary

Key Flavors: Coffee, Earth, Mineral, Wood, Chocolate, Peppercorn
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good