Black Label Trading Company Morphine 2020
Posted on February 24 2021
Vitola: 4.5x50
Smoking Time: 74 Minutes
Cigars Smoked: 3
Body: Full
Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés & Ecuador Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan
MSRP: $10.50
Black Label Trading Company is a boutique line that specializes in small batch runs. Coming out of Nicaragua, BLTC is one of the many brands from their factory, Oveja Negra.
Morphine is a Limited edition cigar, 2020 marking its 7th release. Featuring a redesigned band, and a double wrapper, this is expected to be a bold and powerful cigar. “The dual wrappers work together to make this vintage very unique and one of the best so far," said James Brown, Owner of BLTC.
Visual Inspection: The wrapper on this cigar is a unique barber pole, in the sense of it doesn't quite look like a barber pole. Due to the color of the Mexican San Andres, mixed with the color of the Ecuadorian Maduro, they basically look the same. That being said you can tell where the seams are, very easily. It looks rustic and is rough to the touch with a few noticeable veins running the length. Because of how dark this cigar is, the small veins are almost unnoticeable. And finally topped off with a flag on the cap.
The aroma of the foot is powerful. Immediately putting off strong notes of dark chocolate, earth and leather. A cold draw reveals fig, black coffee, and marzipan. With a RH of 60%, the cigar is a bit firm but still provides some give.
First Third: Immediately, this was a powerful cigar. Blasted by flavors of pepper and spice. Quickly, it “mellowed” out, with flavors of black cherry, espresso, and black walnut. With a retrohale, the pepper comes screaming back.
The burn line was very clean, then started to canoe, and then cleaned itself up! Which is a testament to the quality of the cigar. The ash is light grey in color, is slightly flaky, but provides a ton of smoke, both when I take a drag, and when the cigar is sitting in my ashtray. Closing up this third with a retrohale, notes of dry earth, cinnamon, and pepper are very prevalent.
Second Third: Despite the flaky ash (in appearance) it's actually very strong, and hasn't dropped. While the Morphine is undoubtedly a full bodied stick, it has mellowed out significantly since first light. Notes of dark chocolate, cherry, cinnamon, and earth are still the main contenders, flavors keep coming and going. Pepper continues to be very strong on the retrohale, but also brings cherry sweetness.
I do love a roller coaster of flavors, it keeps it interesting. A good San Andres wrapper always brings great flavors, while I don't pick up much from the Ecuadorian maduro, I would have to say it's helping to bring the rolling complexity. A final retrohale brings huge notes of pepper, and bitter chocolate.
Last Third: Fluctuating between a pepper bomb, and a mellow complex smoke, this third is predominantly a huge punch in the chest. Notes or caramel have arrived, and are met nicely with pepper, dry earth, cinnamon and walnut.
The ash has firmed up, and is providing a crazy amount of smoke. Finishing out with a retrohale, strong notes of pepper (as expected), black coffee, and cherry wrap up this amazing experience.
Final Thoughts: BLTC is always a wild ride. I haven’t had a boring stick from them yet. I have smoked the Morphine in the lancero and robusto vitola, and I have to say that while you would expect the lancero to be stronger due to less filler leaf, that is not the case. As I have had ⅔ of the vitolas, they are expertly blended to stay consistent and provide the same experience, in my opinion. If you are looking to try one, I would suggest picking up the vitola you are least likely to smoke on a regular basis, and broaden your horizons!
-Sam