Cigar Review: Alec Bradley Mundial

The Alec Bradley Mundial Punta Lanza No. 5 was featured at our last Smoker Social and was branded as a “Live True” event. Jonathan Lipson, representative for Alec Bradley was on hand to sponsor and discuss AB’s blends with our guest. The Mundial is manufactured at Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubana in Danli, Honduras. Mundial translates to “World-Wide.” It features the same wrapper as the Prensado line offered by Alec Bradley, which was the second offering with a fuller-body profile after the Tempus.

Blend Specifics

Vitola: Punta Lanza No. 5 (Perfecto) 5” x 52

Wrapper: Honduran, Trojes region

Binder: Double Binder, Honduran and Nicaraguan

Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan

Appearance and Construction: The Mundial has a medium dark chocolate wrapper with a very minimal reddish tint. Tight seams that are hidden by the bands, a couple noticeable veins that are also hidden by the bands pretty well. Silky texture, minimal tooth, and slightly oily feel and sheen, make this a very smooth wrapper. An excellent looking triple cap but has the appearance of having a double cap. This cigar also features a lance-looking point on the foot and gives it its perfecto shape.

Smoke and Flavor Characteristics

Cold Aromas: On the wrapper there’s earth and leather with an underlying sweetness, a little tea and slight floral notes. On the foot is also tea and floral, a sweet tobacco, and a touch of cayenne pepper. The cold draw shows earth, a hint of leather, and more of the tea and floral notes. Draw seems just right.

First Third: The first notes are a light earth and tea; the aroma is heavy with leather and earth. There’s a hint of pepper on the retrohale that gives this cigar a warm start. The tension on the draw is somewhat tight, but not too much and also aids to a  warming start in the nose. Great amount of smoke production early on. The profile isn’t heavy at all, though, as the tea and floral are the dominant notes with the leather and earth following. On the retrohale, there’s a sweetness followed by a medium amount of pepper and mostly characterized as cayenne. As the foot opens, the earth and leather come up and there’s a warm spice tingle on the front of the tongue and heavier in the back. Burn line is close to razor sharp, and ash production is a medium warm to darker grey with a lot of even darker grey mixed in. The cayenne becomes more of a black pepper but not overly heavy. The cigar has a paper like drying effect on the palate. Body stands at full, the flavor is medium to full, and strength is medium to full. About an inch in, the pepper dies down, which gives more room to the tea notes. A light lemon / citrus peel come in to play right around the first band point. Removing the first band is a bit difficult but comes off with no harm to the cigar.

Second Third: Transitioning into the second third, there’s also a heavy bread note that comes in and moves far to the front, replacing the tea. The leather and earth are still present. The tarty citrus peel is still around as well, and is very noticeable on the sour buds of the tongue. The ash is hanging on solidly at 1.5 inches, it is slightly flaky but really only in appearance and is holding quite well. Removing the second band was considerably easier than the first. The aroma is still characterized by the earth and leather, with a hint of cedar. Body is still holding at full, flavor has moved up to full, and the strength is close to full but still really at medium to full. There’s also an interesting soapiness lingering, of the floral category and most resembling Johnson’s baby shampoo, or baby powder. Not really chalkiness, just more clean and soapy. Ash falls off as a solid chunk at 1.75 inches. Even though the spice has died down, the tongue still receives a plethora of tingle for the duration of the smoke. At this point the flavors start to transition again, with a dry, slightly sweet dark chocolate coming into the fold, reminiscent of a dark chocolate powder.

Final Third: entering into the final third, the chocolate note is still leading the way, the slight citrus, leather, slight bread, and touch of earth are all still hanging around bringing this up to a very complex concoction. This cigar keeps the palate pretty dry the duration of the smoke, even into this final third. The tea and floral notes are way back, and technically too light in flavor to keep up with the other notes now at play. The body finishes at full, the flavor at close to full but has come down a bit to a high medium to full, but still very complex, and the strength at full with the cigar heating up near the nub.

Final Thoughts

First thing I noticed at the end of this session, which I didn’t pick up on while smoking was how smoky this cigar makes one’s environment. It produces a lot of smoke, not necessarily plumy and creamy, there are touches of that but it’s really just smokier, creating a thick haze and generating large smoke clouds. The Mundial progressively gets more complex as the duration draws on with a myriad of notes ranging from light tea and floral, slight herbs, leather and earth to heavier breads, cocoa powder, soapiness that extends from the floral and citrus notes with touches of cayenne and black pepper. The burn stays consistent and the blend remains powerful, yet balanced in its profile. Has a tendency to be very dry on the palate but is also accompanied with a citrus and pepper tingle on the tongue. The finish last long and the profile hovers around full and high medium to full across the board in body, flavor, and strength for the duration of the cigar.

Smoking time was 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Grade: A