Today, we review the Knuckle Sandwich Strike Force. The Strike Force is a small batch release made by Espinosa Cigars that falls under the Knuckle Sandwich brand. As many know, Knuckle Sandwich is a brand produced and distributed by Espinosa Cigars for Guy Fieri. The cigar was released in late 2024 as a collaboration with Cigar Dojo, the online social community, and sold exclusively through online retailer Smoke Inn.

The Cigar Dojo collaboration platform has been quite successful. Over the years, Cigar Dojo has collaborated with some of the leading manufacturers on special releases. They have teamed up with Espinosa Cigars for six releases, but there was also a release done as an event cigar for Smoke Inn’s 2022 Great Smoke event. The Strike Force is the first Espinosa release produced in collaboration with Cigar Dojo under the Knuckle Sandwich brand.

Sensei’s Sensational Sarsaparilla
Sensei’s Sensational Sarsaparilla II
Feng Shui
Psychedelic Turtle
Psychedelic Turtle II
Espinosa Diet Sarsaparilla (TGS 2022 Event Cigar)
Knuckle Sandwich Strike Force

The Dojo collaborations have been a series of limited editions; in some cases, these cigars have graduated into ongoing releases (such as the original Sarsaparilla). Strike Force utilizes a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, and I could see Espinosa/Knuckle Sandwich considering this as a potential future release.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Strike Force.

Knuckle Sandwich Strike Force – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Blended by Hector Alfonso, Knuckle Sandwich Strike Force consists of a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, a Nicaraguan Corojo binder, and fillers from Nicaragua, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. It is produced at AJ Fernandez’s San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: Pennsylvania Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo
Fillers: Nicaraguan, Mexican, Dominican
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: San Lotano

Vitolas Offered

Strike Force comes in one size—a 6 x 54 box-pressed Toro—and was sold in ten-count boxes.

Appearance (*)

The Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper of Strike Force featured a classic, cocoa-bean colored, darker brown wrapper. There wasn’t much in the way of oils on this wrapper. At the same time, this was quite a toothy wrapper. The Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper had a slight grittiness to it, which gave it some charm. It had some visible veins and visible wrapper seams. Strike Force had a classic soft Cuban box-press with slightly rounded edges.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

Before lighting up the Strike Force, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered notes of earth, mineral, and a slight amount of cocoa. Usually, I am not a fan of a mineral-centric pre-light draw, but some of the cocoa sweetness offset this and made it a satisfactory pre-light experience. At this point, it was time to remove the ribbon of the Strike Force, toast up the footer, and move into the smoking experience.

Tasting Notes

Strike Force opened with notes of mineral, cocoa, earth, black pepper, cedar, and cherry. The mineral notes had a slight edge early on, but they quickly subsided, giving way to the cocoa and earth notes. The mineral settled in the background, complemented by the notes of black pepper and cedar. The cherry notes also settled in the background, but occasionally popped into the forefront. Meanwhile, there were additional layers of cedar and black pepper on the retro-hale.

Strike Force continued into the second third with the earth and cocoa notes still primary. During this stage, the cherry notes settled in the background. At the same time, there was an increase in the mineral, cedar, and pepper notes. Just past the midway point, the mineral notes merged with the earth. While not an ideal combination, the background notes of cocoa, cherry, cedar, and pepper rounded things out nicely.

The final third saw the mineral and earth notes remain the primary focus. The cedar notes were now prominent. The cocoa, cedar, and pepper were secondary, but still contributed, maintaining the same effect. As the Strike Force came to a close, it finished up with a soft and cool nub.

Burn

The Strike Force was able to maintain a straight burn path and line, but it required frequent touch-ups to keep it that way. In particular, the touch-ups were mainly applied after the first third. While the touch-ups did the trick, this cigar required more touch-ups than I preferred. The resulting ash had multiple shades of gray. This was an ash skewed toward the firmer side. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

Draw

The draw of the Strike Force had a touch of resistance to it. This is something I like on a draw. Often, with box-press cigars, the draw can be too loose, but that’s not the case with the Strike Force. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

Strike Force opened with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors. Both the strength and the body gradually increased along the way. By the second half, the body crossed into medium to full territory. The strength, although more pronounced in the second half than in the first, remained in the medium range.

In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained a slight edge over the strength.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

Strike Force features the same gold, black, and red band found on the Knuckle Sandwich core line of cigars. What is unique to Strike Force is the secondary band, which features the Strike Force logo and includes the Cigar Dojo name. In particular, I appreciate how nearly every Cigar Dojo collaboration has identified it as such.

I also appreciate that Strike Force is packaged in a box, rather than a craft paper bundle.

Knuckle Sandwich Strike Force Packaging (Photo courtesy of Cigar Dojo/Espinosa Cigars)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

The cigar industry has effectively persuaded numerous enthusiasts that single-store releases are superior to national releases. However, in many instances, this assertion is simply unfounded. What I have found with the Cigar Dojo guys, along with Smoke Inn and Espinosa, is that they do a good job of delivering a single-store release that lives up to the billing. Strike Force was an interesting case, as Pennsylvania Broadleaf is not a tobacco that I consider one of the better wrapper leaves. Hector Alfonso and the Espinosa team deserve credit for their effective collaboration on this wrapper. Strike Force still has some of the mineral qualities I get with Pennsylvania Broadleaf, but it offers so much more. This got me wondering if Espinosa or Knuckle Sandwich should consider a regular production release with this wrapper. Overall, Strike Force is a good cigar. It’s one I’d recommend to any cigar enthusiast, but unfortunately, these have been out of stock at Smoke Inn for some time. If it’s back, it’s a cigar I would buy and smoke again.

Summary

Key Flavors: Cocoa, Earth, Mineral, Cedar, Cherry, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium Plus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Very Good