Blind Review: The Blueprint by The Burn Down Podcast
The Burn Down Podcast launched its first podcast on July 11, 2019. Since then, it has provided weekly entertainment for cigar enthusiasts, commuters, and anyone else listening. They have featured many guest stars, from local celebrities to professional athletes, singers to comedians, and veterans within the cigar industry. Justin Heisig and Eric Josefson Jr. founded the podcast with one goal in mind: educate, inspire, and uplift their viewers, and they accomplished that over one of the greatest equalizers, a cigar!
The Burn Down created the Blueprint by teaming up with Black Bird Cigar. Per Justin and Eric, “the Blueprint symbolizes a ‘mental blueprint’ we have in our mind of who we are and what we represent, and ultimately, a roadmap to success.”
For more information, please visit The Burn Down Podcast website to learn about their podcast and where you can find The Blueprint.
Blend Specifics
Cigar Reviewed: The Blueprint by The Burn Down Podcast
Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Filler: Nicaraguan Esteli, Pennsylvania Corojo & Criollo ’98
Size: 5″ x 54 (Robusto Gordo)
Blind Review: The Blueprint by The Burn Down Podcast
Appearance & Construction
This cigar is toothy, and the longer I hold it between my fingers, the oilier my fingers get. Its color reminds me of a nitro cold brew: muddled oaky brown with a yellowish hue. I can barely see the seam on the wrapper. Overall, the construction is near perfect.
Flavor and Smoke Characteristics
I get brown sugar off the wrapper and cedar wood off the foot. So far, this cigar is straightforward. After slicing through the cap, I did a cold draw and got musty old books and fresh apricot, followed by pepper spice tingling at the tip of my tongue.
I light the cigar with my Visol dual torch lighter and taste freshly baked bread instantly. Past that, I can taste coffee, oakwood, roasted peanuts, creamy oats, and a hint of red pepper spice all around my palate. I retrohale the following puff, and black pepper spice floods my nasal passage. The intensity was on the borderline of overkill, but just when I’m about to yell uncle, the spices dissipated, and I got bitter coffee with roasted walnut shell. My reward for surviving the intense retrohale is the delectable aftertaste of creamy sunflower seeds.
So far, this cigar produces a plethora of smoke. The burn line is semi-wavy but even. The draw restrictiveness is about 6 out of 10, which means it is pretty open, but the smoke is nice and cool. I have to reiterate how well this cigar was made; the ash held on 1.5 inches before it fell.
I arrive at the second third, and the profile becomes more floral. I get raw pine nuts, roasted peanut shells, and bitter espresso beans. The spice on the palate is completely gone. I then retrohale and was still surprised by the intense pepper spice with toffee and cedarwood.
As I approached the nub, the profile got creamy and silky. I taste roasted peanut shells, oats, and cedarwood. And like the “carrot and stick” analogy, the pepper spice on the retrohale calmed down a lot, and I got rewarded with creamy peanut, caramel, and cedarwood. This lasted until the very last puff.
Conclusion
The Blueprint by The Burn Down Podcast is an example of what I prefer in the flavor profile. This cigar has great complexity that kept me guessing what the next puff might bring me, but it is also well-balanced with each shift in taste. After being abruptly woken up by the initial pepper spice, the taste of freshly baked bread, roasted peanuts, and creamy oats is pure harmony. The only thing missing for me was a sweet component, whether on the palate or retrohale, which I believe will perfect this cigar. Overall, this is a fun smoke, and I enjoyed it to the last puff.