Alec Bradley Black Market Estelí Goes Diamond
Alec Bradley Cigars’ lauded Black Market Estelí blend is getting a new shape, and while it has the word diamond in its name, you don’t need to be a millionaire to buy it.
Black Market EstelÍ Diamond will be a limited-edition version of the blend whose Torpedo size was named the No. 9 cigar of 2018, but with an interesting twist. Measuring 6 1/4 inches by 54 ring gauge, the new cigar is not traditionally box-pressed into a square shape, but rather has been molded into a unique diamond shape.
If this idea sounds familiar it’s because Alec Bradley first experimented with the diamond-pressed shape when it released the Nica Puro Diamond Rough-Cut back in 2014. The unique vitola was created as an homage to Trilogy, a triangular-shaped cigar that brought attention to the company in 2004. Though consumers were a bit wary of the new shape at the time, Nica Puro Diamond Rough-Cut would go on to earn a 91 point rating in Cigar Aficionado and enjoyed many limited-production runs.
The new Black Market EstelÍ Diamond will actually be replacing the Nica Puro Diamond Rough-Cut.
The Diamond will share the same blend as the other sizes in the line—Nicaraguan wrapper and filler with two binders from Nicaragua and Honduras—but the company has added an extra leaf of ligero Habano from Nicaragua. The company says this makes the blend a little bolder.
Only 1,500, 16-count boxes will be produced at Plasencia Cigars Nicaragua, and the cigars are expected to begin shipping in June. Black Market EstelÍ Diamond carries a suggested retail price of $9.85.
