Alec & Bradley Blind Faith Robusto Cigar Review

Alec & Bradley Rubin, sons of Alec Bradley Cigars owner Alan Rubin, have been blazing their own path in the cigar world with blends all their own. The Blind Faith is the first offering from these two. It’s a mixture of Nicaraguan and Honduran leaves that is supposed to offer something different than what their dad’s blends offer. My question is – do Alec and Bradley have what it takes to craft flavorful and balanced blends as the second generation cigar makers in their family?

Light Up

This blend opens up with some real power! The first puffs are filled with black pepper on the retrohale. Notes of cinnamon and coffee with a sweetness that sits in the background. This kind of opening profile is nice. It gives the blend some personality up front, but leaves room to build into a more balanced flavor.

The profile has already set this blend apart from what I’ve come to expect form the Alec Bradley cigars of Alan Rubin. When I light into cigars like the Magic Toast or Tempus Nicaragua, I always find a smoother flavor. Alan is certainly skilled at crafting bold blends. But his boys seem to have their eyes set on pepper, and it’s interesting that their first blend is so bold. Most cigar makers I know would play it safe and go medium and smooth with their first cigar.

First Third

The flavor develops nicely, albeit somewhat predictably. The powerful pepper form light up has dropped to the background. Even large retrohales are yielding little pepper at this point. However, that may be what has made way for the sweetness of this flavor to come forward and become more balanced with coffee and cinnamon. It’s a rasin type sweetness that fits in well with the other notes in the profile.

More than anything, what stands out to me about the flavor is a, for lack of a better term, gritty texture. There’s a rugged finish to the flavor that definitely sets it apart from anything blended by Alan. Typically, when I smoke different blends from one cigar maker, there are notes or flavor characteristics that carry over from cigar to cigar. This cigar isn’t like any other Alec Bradley blend I’ve ever had. It’s a nice departure from a brand that I have traditionally enjoyed.

Second Third

The middle of the Blind Faith continues to improve on already respectable balance of flavor notes. Coffee, cinnamon, sweetness and a mild pepper still come across with a medium plus strength and gritty finish. Only one new note jumps in the mix at this point – graham cracker. It’s a note I love when I can find it. Sadly, in this blend it isn’t balanced as it sits a bit in the background. But other than that minor drawback, I’m getting both barrels of a well rounded flavor.

Final Third

This is another point where this cigar has shown off some impressive performance. When most blends start to peter out with the growing strength of the final third, this blend held onto cinnamon and sweetness for quite a while. By the time I reached the nub, I was left with not much more than strength, heat and coffee. But that’s pretty common when it comes to the last few puffs of any cigar. This blend has displayed some great consistency through and through. And if it’s any indication of what’s to come from Alec & Bradley Rubin, I can’t wait to review their next cigar!