“FOR A BETTER LEAF, SMOKE A CHIEF!”
~ Ken Doerrbecker, KJD Cigars
What Makes It Special
Let’s see what happens when a whiskey nut Chicago Copper reviews a New York Firefighter’s personally blended cigar. Yes this is Police versus Fire, this is Chicago versus New York, but most importantly, deep dish is better than thin crust and never ever put ketchup on your hot dog!
Ken Doerrbecker is an active volunteer firefighter in New York. He has thirty-five years of service completed, including five years as Fire Chief. In 2015, he started his own KJD Cigar brand, and released his signature and personal favorite, Chief Cigar, in June of 2016. The cigar’s Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers are blended with Nicaraguan binder, and wrapped with a nice Ecuadorian Habano leaf. This wrapper leaf gets its varying spicy and sweet flavors from the rich volcanic soil and minerals in Ecuador, which are known for growing the most oily and pliable tobacco.
Ken is a well known heavy hitter member of the Boutique Cigar Association (BCA). This Chief cigar was originally produced by Rocky Patel, and then by BCA Founder, Dr. Gaby Kafie, of Kafie 1901 Cigars. Ken is excited to announce that his cigar production has moved to the Dominican Republic’s La Aurora Factory, for more aged and flavorful releases in 2023. Ken said “I was very blessed to be part of Rocky Patel’s and Dr. Gaby Kafie’s teams. My signature Chief Cigar is still one of my favorites, it gives you a little bit of complexity with a traditional medium body that most in the market can enjoy.”
The Chief Habano
Brand: KJD Cigars
Vitola: Toro 6×52
Filler: Nicaragua & Honduras
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Age: 1 Year
Body: Medium Boldness
Price: $10
Visual / Pre-light Draw
The medium brown wrapper has bulky and strong looking toothy veins. It is rough to the touch, but very oily. There is a nice floral exterior odor on the side sniff, with pungent allspice at the foot. The cigar’s red and yellow shield shaped band displays “The Chief” over “KJD”. There is no spice on the palate when prepping the head for my favorite Colibri V-cut. The easy dry draw produces floral notes over interesting dry oat notes. The band slid right off toward the head without disturbing the cigar’s superb construction. After a three day dry boxing of the cigar, it’s time to start “burning down the house!” ~ Talking Heads
First Third
Incredibly smooth and easy first draw. Tons of smoke input and output with big and bold creamy almonds that immediately coat the entire palate. The incredibly smooth retrohale is like smelling a fresh buttery baked biscuit with some baking spice on the finish. The cigar burns nicely with a perfect ash, and that seductive retrohale is nearly addictive. The cigar’s flavor then transitions to vanilla cake batter, with toasted vanilla foot smoke odor approaching the second third. There is so much flavor going on here and now “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!!!” ~ Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three
Second Third
That perfect ash just fell off with dignity. There are more vanilla and buttery biscuit notes with some toasted oats and earthiness coming in. The cigar’s burn is consistent and self correcting, with tons of foot smoke and smoke output. There are nice noticeable transitions to toasted marshmallows, almond milk, and creamy marzipan. Marzipan is a note I often get based on memory, but only evoked when smoking quality cigars. Time to introduce this fireball of a cigar to the Barrel Craft Spirits Vantage whiskey…HOLY SMOKES…this is a ‘boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion’ of flavor! Now let’s add in a little tribute to the men and women of the FDNY, and NEVER FORGET 9/11!
Final Third
This cigar has my palate salivating for more. There is still tons of foot smoke and smoke output with no bitter aftertaste. The cigar just gets creamier with more allspice and french bread palate coating flavors. Then there is a nice transition to light cocoa, earthy oat notes, over toasted and leathery cereal notes. This is a very complex and creamy final third, which became very bold toward the end, and “got me burnin!” ~ Ohio Players
The back end of the cigar to the whiskey produced bolder notes of garden greens, pistachios, and leathery oranges. A very delicious and fascinating pairing experience. Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” lyrics, layered over the FDNY radio frequencies and videos, reminds the smoker of the sacrifices our first responders are willing to make on behalf of the public: “In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene, only then I am human, let me give you my life. Amen!”
The Pairing
Barrel Craft Spirits is an independent blender and bottler, located in Louisville, Kentucky, known for their experimental and next level blends of unique and cask strength whiskies. Their Vantage expression is a blend of three distinct virgin oak aged bourbons, each distilled in Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The Barrel Craft Spirits team then applied their popular three-part barrel finishing technique to the whiskey, by finishing it in Japanese Mizunara, French, and toasted American oak casks. “With Vantage, those same techniques were applied to the oak itself, using different char levels, toast levels, and oak origins to create a multidimensional blend.”
Personally, this blend hits on all levels with its thick viscosity, tingling cinnamon spice, sweet orange vanilla marmalade, brown sugar, and lingering creamy tropical fruits on the finish. It is Whiskey Advocate Magazine’s #3 whiskey of 2022, receiving a score of 95 points from their blind taste panel. As a big fan of their Seagrass Rye blend, I am absolutely in love with this Vantage expression!
Puffing on the cigar and then sipping the whiskey produced a delicious toasted vanilla cream filled creamsicle, or orange flavored popsicle flavor. Sipping the whiskey to the cigar produced burnt brown sugar over a nice red wine flavor. The creamy almond milk flavor of the cigar literally extinguishes the fiery cinnamon spice of the blood orange whiskey, and everything mellows to delicious french bread dipped in cherry juice. The back end of the cigar to the whiskey produced bolder notes of garden greens, pistachios, and leathery oranges. A very delicious and fascinating pairing experience. Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” lyrics, layered over the FDNY radio frequencies and videos, reminds the smoker of the sacrifices our first responders are willing to make on behalf of the public: “In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene, only then I am human, let me give you my life. Amen!”
Happy New Year WBSE.
Cheers to 2023!
Acknowledgment
Thank you Ken Doerrbecker for this amazing Chief Cigar. Be sure to check out his entire line of cigars at www.kjdcigars.com, and his last Great Cigar and Pipe Show appearance.
Thank you Barrel Craft Spirits for your unique three-part barrel finish- experimental technique, and your amazing blends, especially this Vantage.
Thank you to all our first responders. God bless you and all your daily sacrifices!
Photography by: James Archie
