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Hiram and Solomon Chabal and Revival Cigar Review
by Kevin Shahan of Cigar prop 01/25/2021
Look, I’ve never written and cigar review in my life so you will have to excuse the mess.
On a recent road trip to Miami, I had the pleasure of smoking two cigars that were given to me by Fouad Kashouty of Hiram and Solomon cigars. Fouad gave me these cigars when we met up at the Ybor City Cigar Heritage Festival in December 2021, but due to a work-related knee injury, I just finally got the chance to smoke them. Unfortunately, instead of my regular video review, I had to take notes on my phone.
At the time of smoking these cigars, I didn’t know anything about them since they had not been released yet.
Boston Jimmie just put up a press release on these cigars today so if you want to check it out, you can read it here. He does give the info on the blend, but no pricing.
I stole these images above from the Stogie Press website. Sorry, Jimmie.
The first cigar I smoked was on my way down to Miami.
Chabal:
Beautiful looking cigar. Habano wrapper?
There is a slight bitterness, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s actually a good bitter if that makes sense.
The first few draws I got a creamy peanut butter. But that went away and now I’m getting a spicy floral note. That’s usually indicative of Dominican fillers.
At the tail end of the first third, that slight bitterness went away. It was replaced by a slight Char, barely noticeable, but quite nice nonetheless.
The floral is still there, though it’s no longer a spicy floral, it’s turned into more of a candy floral. It has a nice sweetness to it. I am not a fan of a floral note in a cigar, but this one is mild enough to where it’s actually quite nice.
Towards the middle of the second third, I’m giving an interesting note along with the floral.
My brain keeps telling me hazelnut, but my taste buds are saying it’s something different.
Since I can’t put my finger on it, and my brain is literally screaming at me that it’s hazelnut, I’m going to go with hazelnut.
The final third wrapped up the same. Very consistent cigar, and a cigar that I would buy again.
The burn line was razor-sharp, the cigar produces ample amount of smoke, although the ash was slightly flaky, it’s still held a good three-quarter inch before falling off.
Smoking time was 90 minutes.
The cigar never needed relighting or touching up.
I would price this cigar around $12.
On my way home from Miami I smoked
On my way back from Miami I smoked what I call the Black Label one because I couldn’t read the lettering on the band. Even after seeing the Stogie Press article on this cigar, I still had a hard time seeing that it said Revival.
The Black Label one:
This cigar is rustic-looking, but elegant at the same time. It does have some noticeable veins, and the seams aren’t invisible, though they aren’t super pronounced either.
The cigar looks like it was wrapped in real leather.
Deep rich luxurious barnyard on the body and foot of the cigar.
The cold draw has an absolutely magnificent spicy menthol. Something I’ve never tasted in a cigar before. It seriously was like a soothing menthol.
Unfortunately, upon lighting the cigar that went away. How cool would it have been to have tasted that menthol throughout the cigar?
On the initial light, I got a blast of red pepper spice.
After two Puffs the red pepper spice died down drastically and was replaced with just a deep musty Earth with a very slight hint of sweet chocolate.
At the end of the final third, it’s starting to burn just a hair crooked, I think that’s got something to do with the pronounced vein that it is hitting.
The middle of the second third and it’s still burning a little crooked, but not enough to where I’m going to touch it up.
The cigar is absolutely delicious.
The ash is slightly flaky, and it has a very dark grey coloring to the ash.
I’m not getting any noticeable hints of anything besides that deep rich musty earthiness.
Every now and then I’ll get a hint of sweet chocolate, but it’s very faint.
The cigar is smoking like it’s been well-aged.
Even though I cannot pick out any defining notes, the cigar tastes complex.
Going into the final third the burn line straightened up and is now razor-sharp.
There is a flavor/mouthfeel of nuts. Like after you’ve eaten a couple of handfuls of peanuts and 10 minutes later you can still taste that creamy nuttiness in your mouth, that’s what I’m getting.
There is a very slight underlying dark coffee note as well.
Smoked to the nub.
Smoking time was 90 minutes.
If the whole cigar smoked and burned like the final third, I would give it a price point of about $14.
But as it’s smoked and burned today, I would put a price point of $11.50.
I would definitely like to try this cigar again.
I would buy this cigar in a 5-pack where the first cigar I smoked, the Chabal, would definitely be box Worthy.
Sorry if this review seems like a jumbled mess, it is the final product of a guy with a knee injury riding in a car.
