Episode 29 | Blackened M81 Maduro | Widow Jane Lucky 13

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. We are back for another episode of Sticks and Stones podcast. Sticks and Stones where we talk about life, we talk about love, and we talk about brotherhood of leaf, premium tobacco products. So, what are we talking about today? Well, what are we smoking today? We are smoking the Blackened M81. What are we drinking? We are drinking the straight no chaser Widow Jane Lucky 13. Straight no chaser, baby. We want the full effect. We don't want it watered down with any ice, no chasers, no water. Going to allow you to get a little bit of that ethanol on the finish of the nose there. But, I'll let it breathe a little bit. Definitely get that vanilla-y, caramelly goodness, golden goodness. Okay. So, let's go ahead and give this a snippy snippy. I'm going to start to light this baby up. Now, I'm very excited about this. I've been wanting to light this up for the longest time. So, so happy right now. This is rolled by Drew Estates, but it is a collaboration. It's a collaboration of multiple parties, and I will get into that soon as I light this bad boy. Ooh, ooh, that's good. Ooh, ooh, I want to say graham cracker? It's It's ooh, that's that's nice. So, what is this cigar? So, this is one of the most talked about cigars in the modern premium cigar world. It is It's even It's on the band says Maduro to the core. Maduro to the core. So, we're going to find out what that means. So, the Blackened M81 is a premium cigar produced by Drew Estates in Nicaragua. It was released in 2022. So, it's the first cigar in the Blackened line, and it was created through a collaboration of James Hetfield, which I knew, you know, he's the frontman of Metallica. I knew he was a cigar fan. Rob Dietrich, which is who's the master distiller at Blackened American Whiskey. And of course, Jonathan Drew, founder of Drew Estates. So, this cigar was designed to match the dark bold style of Blackened Whiskey and Metallica's heavy aesthetic. So, the M81 The M81 stands for M for Metallica. 81 was when Metallica was formed, 1981. So, this is like a fully Metallica cigar. So, this is a triple Maduro blend. So, the leaves are all Maduro. So, the filler, the binder, everything. The wrapper is Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper, which is known for their chocolatey, earthy sweetness, which I definitely get sweetness off of this thing. The binder is Connecticut broadleaf Maduro, which Connecticut broadleaf is another good one. And then the filler is Nicaraguan Maduro, Pennsylvania broadleaf Maduro, Green River one sucker, which is an extremely strong tobacco, but I'm not getting the strength yet. And this was rolled in La Gran Fabrica Drew Estates in Esteli, Nicaragua. Apparently, what they claim is this is the darkest, strongest Maduro blend on the market. So, this is a medium full to full body cigar. The Pennsylvania broadleaf ligero used in the filler is one of the strongest tobaccos Drew Estates uses, which contributes to the power. I mean, obviously. So, most Most reviewers say starts very strong, stays bold the entire smoke. Usually not recommended for beginners, which I'll I'll probably say that. You definitely get a toasty note. Definitely. I was thinking like graham cracker or baker spices, but it says the core flavors are dark chocolate, espresso, or roasted coffee. Yeah. Definitely getting the roasted roasted espresso. Leather, black pepper. I don't get any pepper yet. Toasted oak. So, now that the the chocolate, the dark might be what's giving me that graham cracker type taste. Secondary notes hickory smoke, barbecue sweetness, roasted nuts, charred wood, Mexican hot chocolate. So, for construction and appearance, very dark oily wrapper, slight tooth from the San Andreas leaf. Thick smoke output. It does a decent smoke output, no lie there. Dense light gray ash. Yep. That is correct. Tight but smooth roll. I would say that yeah, that's that's correct. Sizes available in this bad boy are the corona, the robusto, the toro, the corona doble, a lancero, and a cigarillo. That's That's kind of odd. Biggest ring gauge they go up to is in the toro at 52. They're saying MSRP is anywhere from 9 to 11 bucks. I think I paid a lot more than than that for this. So, smoke time is anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and 40. Corona, they're saying 45 minutes. The robusto's 45 to 60 minutes. The toro is an hour to an hour and 40 minutes, and the corona doble is 90 plus minutes. So, this blend took about 2 years of testing before release. Hetfield and Dietrich sampled blends, adjusted the strength and flavor, and they wanted something a little more dark, aggressive, and smoky. The result was a result was a cigar intentionally designed to match the character of heavy metal music, Blackened Whiskey, and strong Maduro cigars. This cigar is best paired with bourbon, rye whiskey, Blackened American Whiskey, of course. Dark rum, Zinfandel wine. Hmm, that's interesting. On the non-alcoholic side, root beer, espresso, Mexican cola, which if anyone has had a Mexican Coke, which I haven't had, I haven't drank Coca-Cola in 30 years, probably. Yeah, about 30 years. 30, 31. But everyone knows that Mexican Coke is sweeter cuz they use natural sugarcane sugar, and a lot of it. Now, of course, the buzz of this cigar is because of the Metallica involvement and the Drew Estates reputation. It is a unique Maduro triple blend. Um, so Halfwheel gave this an 87. Um, 98% users on Dojo Verse various outlets gave it an 85 plus. I mean, so far, I think this thing is great. So, comparable cigars are saying Liga No. 9. I agree with that. The Liga Privada T52. I also agree with that. That's another strong one. But, I mean, right now, I I'm not I'm not getting the full strength. I think the T52 is stronger than this. Now, the Camacho triple Maduro and the Irola CBT Maduro. This comes in boxes of 20, anywhere from $180 to $210. So, from 180 to 210 for a box, depending on who your your retailer is. This does have a Blackened band for the whiskey part of this. Copper M81 secondary band. It's packaged matte black, copper accents, inspired by Blackened whiskey branding, of course. Now, the Maduro to the core is It's a Maduro wrapper. Most cigars have a Maduro wrapper, non-Maduro filler. The M81 is unusual because every leaf in this cigar is Maduro, which is why it's darker, richer, and stronger. So, here are the pros and cons. Pros are very rich in flavor, excellent construction, unique triple Maduro blend, great for Maduro lovers. Cons are it's too strong for beginners, heavy profile, not a morning smoke. I would I would agree with that. Celebrity branding turns some smokers off. I like I like James Hetfield, so I don't I don't mind. So, some fun facts. The cigar was designed while the creators smoked cigars together regularly before partnering with Drew Estate. The Pennsylvania filler is one of the strongest leaves in Drew Estate's inventory. This guy This cigar is often recommended to pair with Blackened Whiskey, which itself is a Metallica collaboration. Okay, so Dietrich and Hetfield also collabed in to come up with the Blackened Whiskey. So, I have not tried the bourbon yet. Yeah, that's a good partnership. That is good pairing. I mean, I like this collaboration. I mean, it's a good cigar. Light gray ash. I mean, it was right on the money. Not every collaboration in the cigar world goes as planned. It's good that this one was a success. I've been seeing this in the shelves for a while, and I've been hearing all the talk and all the buzz and whatever. I've been really excited really excited to see this thing and smoke this thing. So, I don't know. Also, just to share with you guys, our brokerage sponsored book club is the Ninja Selling Subtle Skills, Big Results by Larry Kendall. So, I have to read this because we have book club tomorrow morning. Talks about different psychologies and aspects of selling, kind of mindset of what mindset to get in when you're doing sales, marketing and sales. So far, it's it's very interesting. It It blends sales technique, strategy, along with the scientific. So, pretty cool. Man, it's a good smoke. I mean, it hasn't gotten any stronger. I mean, it is It's a strong cigar, don't get me wrong. But it hasn't gotten like tremendously stronger. Right now, I'm just outside and as you could tell it's a little chilly out. I got a sweatsuit on. Most of the country has been like on Arctic freeze. And then in the Northeast, it's gotten to like 80° the last 3 days. And then it got cold again. It's cold again in Texas. I was just on the East Coast for a couple days. I was in the Carolinas and wasn't very chilly. I mean, it wasn't a couple of the the days it got up to like in the high 70s, uh low 80s. But it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't freezing either, you know, night night time got a little chilly. The weather's going through some some weird stuff right now. But I mean, I guess it kind of does every year. I know sometimes winter of 2020 we came out of winter and it freaking snowed. [ __ ] snowed in May. 2020. Well, I guess it was 2021 at that at that point or 20 I don't remember. I know it was around that time. Really weird. Snowed in May in New Jersey. It's definitely got an earthy an earthy profile to it. That's for sure. Yeah, the cigar is definitely not for the weak willed. You know, if you have a if you have a weak constitution, this this one's not for you. However, I tend to lean toward the medium full to full body cigars. So, this is just like you know, it's another day at the office for me. It's nothing like crazy strong, which is I dig it. I was actually smoking this one yesterday. And I reviewed this one, the Blackbird Unkind. This is a that that's a pretty damn strong cigar. I was definitely getting the I was definitely getting the buzz. Man, I got nothing nothing bad to say about this cigar. I I would definitely I'm going to buy a box of them, that's for sure. But I might buy the Toro to get the longest smoke possible. I don't know about you guys, but when I sit down to smoke, I want to smoke for the longest time possible. I only do short smokes when I'm out and about or I'm working and I'm you know, going from meeting to meeting, whatever. I don't have a lot of time. That's when I I look for a shorter smoking cigar. For the most part, I want at least an hour. I need it at least an hour to smoke to chill out. Smoking kind of calms me down. It's I mean, not that like I'm a wiry, jittery, anxious person. I'm not, but with all of the with all of the rigmarole and the stresses of the day of life that inev inevitably life brings you, I want to be able at the end of the day to sit down, chill out, relax, and unwind. And there's nothing better to unwind with than a cigar. Cigar and a glass of scotch or a beautiful bourbon. My trip just now, I drank exclusively gin and tonics. I mean, technically, if you if you want to if you want to call it a gin rickey, you can because I usually do a few a few muddled limes in my gin and tonic. But uh didn't have any any whiskey on this uh on this recent trip. It looks like I'm going to be going to Dallas quite a bit. I am also planning a business trip to Arizona. Looking forward to hitting some of the lounges there. I will take you guys with me for that. Of course. I was too too short of a trip to the Carolinas. I did not go to any lounges or anything. I actually didn't even bring any sticks with me. It was a quick trip, a short trip. I was actually supposed to be flying there and driving back. That didn't happen and I only brought carry-on. So, I didn't I couldn't bring my cutters, lighters. I couldn't bring all of my tools and stuff. So, I decided you know, maybe if I've got time, I'll go hit a cigar lounge or uh cigar store or something over there. Never got the chance to, but end of next week, I'll be in Dallas. I plan on hitting Industrial Cigar Company, supposedly one of the the best lounges in the country. Yeah, so great stick. Wonderful bourbon. I mean, this is a this is a great afternoon. Sit back, read my book, hang out, chill, starting off the right way. I like this thing. I'm I'm so happy that I bought it and the the hype and the buzz is it's on point. It's right there. But this is a lot shorter smoke than I thought it would be. So, it is a fast fast burning tobacco. Just keep that in mind. But I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not a huge Metallica fan. I mean, I like the band. I like the black album, Enter Sandman, and you know, all of the you know, the popular ones that the popular songs that you know, most of the populace really enjoy. Heavy metal is not my go-to genre. It's not a music that I listen to regularly. When I'm lifting in the gym, yeah, I've got some Metallica in my lifting playlist. Do I listen to it regularly? No. But I've really liked James Hetfield just watching a couple of documentaries on Metallica and the accident where he got burned and he had to relearn how to play the guitar and you know, all kinds of other stuff and then finding out that he's an avid cigar smoker. You see a lot of backstage footage where he's taking a break for whatever between sets or whatever and he's smoking a cigar. That's really cool. I like that. I've been into cigar smoking since the late 90s, early 2000s. And to me, personally, this is this is not a fad, guys. It's not something that you just you go into it and come out of or you fade it you have to really enjoy the product. You have to really enjoy a cigar. And I do. I mean, I've definitely amped up. The bell curve has been way up for me on, you know, how many a person would smoke a day. Who was I just watching a documentary on? Rockefeller? No. JP Morgan and Chase. That [ __ ] guy would smoke Cuban cigars a day. I mean, I'm bad. I'm bad. I'm I'm good for anywhere from one to five, depending on the day. Today, I smoked This is my second cigar for the day. 20 cigars? And the Cuban cigars, you know, Churchills, 2-hour smoke, probably. Hour and a half. 2 hours. You smoke 20 of those [ __ ] a day? Holy [ __ ] man. I don't know where you stand on that on how many you should smoke. I don't think like you should put a limit on it. It is what it is. It's a natural product. You know, they're not they're not coating this [ __ ] with drugs or anything like that. A lot of people are on the stance of like marijuana. I I've never done it. Never smoked weed in my life. I just there's nothing against it. I have nothing against it. It just it's not my thing. It's not my cup of tea. I don't see an appeal to it. But it's a natural product. You know, it's a natural plant, tree, shrub, bush, whatever the [ __ ] you want to call that. I don't see a problem with that. I I think it's natural. I think it's perfectly fine. I think it's perfectly fine. I think there's no issue with it whatsoever. But you know, for some I mean, even for me, 20 cigars is a lot. That's a lot of [ __ ] cigars in one day. But to others, you know, people hear I smoke one to five and they're like, "Holy [ __ ] bro. Do you still have taste buds?" I'm like, "Yeah, I have taste buds." You know, I'm not chain smoking cigars all day long. I used to. I used to be when I was driving my bigger vehicle and I was in the car all day long and I didn't give a [ __ ] My my cigars my my cigar my car smelled like [ __ ] inside. How many cigars I smoked. It was everywhere. It was in the dashboard. It was in the headliner. It was everywhere. That smoke was in there and it was stuck there. Because I would chain smoke them [ __ ] Because I'd be I'd be driving I drove my territory was the entire state of New Jersey, which is not a huge state. You could drive the whole thing top to bottom in 3 hours. But 3 hours is a lot of time to be in the car. So, I'd always be on the phone doing deals and talking to clients and whatever and prospecting and smoking a cigar. So, I I would chain smoke those things. Kill one, throw it out the window and then or kill it in my ashtray. I had a cigar ashtray in my car and light up another one. So, I would chain smoke them. That's that's a lot. It's a lot to be smoking five cigars chain smoked in a day. I smoke one from one to five in a day now, but it's like it's hours in between. I I don't get a lot of sleep. So, you know, I could easily be smoking a cigar at 10:00 11:00 at night. And I'll somedays start with a natural cigar in the morning with coffee. So, basically, I'm spacing them out a lot further apart than one after another in the car. So, I don't know how you're you what your stance is on that, but you know, to each their own is what I say and for what's going on in the Sticks and Stones world, there's just a lot going on, guys. And we're building stuff and we're getting ready to release some stuff, and we're planning stuff. So, bear with us. We've got a bunch of new stuff new websites launching. We're in development on some stuff. And I know it's very vague, and I can't really tell you guys a lot right now, but there's a lot in the works. I'm just telling you that now. There's a lot in the works. You know, we're trying to to build up a platform. We're trying to build a place where we can sit down and chop it up and talk about cigars cuz I really do love tobacco products. I do love the the premium cigar world. So, we're coming up with a bunch of stuff. We're we're coming up with some platforms. We're doing, you know, what we we feel is right, the direction we want to take this, and continue to do the podcast. And and hopefully the studio will be done soon, and we could bring all sorts of guests and stuff like that, and still do the remote thing, but it's it's going to be turning and burning, baby. We we're not we're not stopping. The train's going, you know, ahead full speed, and we're doing our thing. So, to all my listeners and all of the subscribers and everyone listening out there on the audio only, and everyone watching YouTube, I wish nothing but the best for you guys. Stay blessed. And above all else, keep it rolling, baby. Until the next episode, we're out. Sticks and Stones Podcast.