Until recently, Pier 28 was only sold in the western territories of Tim Wong, an independent sales rep. Pier 28 launched nationally after IPCPR 2017 and is now available in both an Habano and Maduro. Both are produced by Erik Espinosa's La Zona factory in Nicaragua. For more, read our interview with Tim Wong of Pier 28.
Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 52)
Factory: La Zona
Production: Regular
Purchase Link: Pier 28 Cigars
Pier 28 Maduro Review from Oregon
Summary: This dark brown, firmly packed cigar looked really well constructed from it’s outward appearance. Before lighting it, I tested the cold draw and enjoyed a mild combo of hay and cocoa.
Early on, charred oak, grilled meat and a light saltiness were present in the flavors. I also got just a bit of spice in the very middle of my tongue and near the back of the throat. It was just enough to be detectable.
Working towards the middle of the smoke, lots of leather and dry earth notes appeared. The ash also seemed pretty flaky, dropping multiple times by the midway point. Unfortunately as can happen with hand rolled cigars, I found an underfilled area in the cigar: the dreaded tunnel. The draw, smoke output and flavors all suffered from this development.
A mineral note began appearing in the flavors and I wondered if the extra heat from the tunneling helped create it. Fortunately, just past the halfway mark, I passed the underfilled area and the profile lost the mineral and oak notes and became more creamy cedar.
The smoke was leaving a nice coating on my palate. Most all of the spice dropped off the charts with some mild spice and cocoa flavors making a brief appearance near the end of the cigar.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this cigar then you’d probably like Art Deco furniture.
Pairing Suggestion: Pairing suggestions for this one are tough because I felt that the tunnel altered the transitions that I encountered. I suppose coffee and maybe light bourbon would go well with it.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: I’m tempted to say buy a single stick... but, there were really promising moments in the experience with this cigar and I feel like a 5 pack may be warranted. Get a good one that isn’t underfilled and my gut tells me it would be really good.
Pier 28 Maduro Review from Wisconsin
Summary: This cigar started with a blast of black pepper. Creamy smoke also carried gingerbread, clove, dark chocolate, cinnamon, earth, and pine to get it started. Baking spices picked up throughout the first half. Caramel and campfire joined in. The finish was pepper to start, but that progressed into coffee.
And then I was hit by this absolutely beautiful blast of maple syrup. Which kept coming. Deliciously. While I enjoyed that flavor note, a charred meatiness jumped in with it. Meat and maple syrup? Sold.
The cigar continued by adding in cedar, and chocolate picked up quite a bit in the final third.
There were some downsides: the burn required several touch-ups and the flavors were muted in places.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you're into meat or maple syrup (and, let's be honest, you are), you'll find something to like here.
Pairing Suggestion: I wanted to reach for bourbon several times, but couldn't because I was reviewing.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver. Loved the flavors. If the issues I ran into didn't repeat in future smokes, I'd recommend more.
Pier 28 Maduro Review from California
Summary: Pepper bomb from the get-go. Very rich with a dark sweetness that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm ashing it early because it looks as fragile as a fourth grader's homemade model of the Tower of Pisa. A tropical fruit sweetness weaves its way in and closes out the first third.
I'm not generally a fanboy of cigars with a dark, peppery profile but I'm digging this stick so far. Very chewy smoke.
As expected, the strength intensifies as I near the end. Dark and semi-sweet chocolate battle for superiority at the finish.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this, your probably correct people when they call trucks "cars."
Pairing Suggestion: Pair with some Baileys.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver.
Participants in this blind review were completely unaware of the cigar they were evaluating until all submissions were received and processed. Each participant was asked to answer a summary paragraph, an if/than statement, a pairing suggestion, and a purchase suggestion. Cigars were provided by Small Batch with only the expectations of candid responses. All pictures, information, and formatting were completed by a Coordinator outside of the reviewing process.
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