The Good Stuff:
James Brown, co-founder of Black Label Trading Company created a new brand called โBlack Works Studioโ in 2015 which would showcase more experimental blends featuring rare tobaccos and unique manufacturing processes and blends. The first release, the Killer Bee was such a huge success James followed it up by creating an off-shoot of that blend called the Green Hornet.
The Green Hornet is wrapped in an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper with a stiped candela cap as well as a covered candela foot over a Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaraguan filler. The Green Hornet is offered in a single 5 x 48 format which comes packaged in boxes of 20.
Size: 5 x 48
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Maduro / Candela
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Prelight:
The Black Works Studio Green Hornet starts out with a very dark, consistent brown wrapper that carries a very unique green candela spiral around the cap and a covered candela foot. The wrapperโs texture is extremely toothy and gritty with a ton of oils coating it. The cigar is light in weight but packed tightly with no soft spots. There are some very minor veins running through the cigarโs wrapper. The wrapper is laid absolutely perfectly over itself as it leads up to the cigarโs round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then finished off with a black, green, and gold band with a star on it and the โGreen Hornetโ title as well as the โblack works studioโ crest.
The wrapper on the Black Works Studio Green Hornet gives off very little aroma. Mostly light honey and oak while the foot of the cigar carries much of the same only with some added earthiness from the candela wrapper. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great spice and pepper notes over oat and chocolate milk.
First Third:
Right as I lit up the Green Hornet I am hit in the face with a very powerful wave of black pepper which left both my lips and tongue tingling. As the pepper let up I was able to extract notes of spice, rich oak and cedar over dark chocolate, raisin and musk. Each puff carries enough pepper to still leave a tingle on my tongue. The draw is phenomenal as each little puff kicks out a great amount of thick white smoke which dissipates very quickly while the cigar releases only a slight amount of thin stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for about a half an inch before falling into my ashtray.
Second Third:
There is still a ton of spice and pepper in the mix here as I venture into the second third of the Black Works Studio Green Hornet. The oak and cedar have ramped up and now lead the change backed by raisin, graham cracker, dark chocolate and musk. At about the halfway point of the cigar the pepper finally began to drop off however, it is still the dominant flavor in the retrohale. I close out the second third with a minor nicotine kick.
Finish:
Into the final third of the Green Hornet the body and strength began to drop off while the flavor became a creamy mixture of oak, cedar, and chocolate with a great little herbal black tea undertone. Most of the sweetness is gone by now as well. I close out with no extended heat, nor any harshness. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this cigar down to the nub and it left me with only a little nicotine hit.
Overview:
I have been very impressed with how Black Works Studio has been able to consistently put out not only unique cigars, but great cigars. The Green Hornet serves as an extension to the Killer Bee Line but stands as a different experience all together. The flavors are unique, and very complex that it kept me on my toes from start to finish. The cigar was full-bodied yet it didnโt feel it needed to overpower me with strength which is something not easy to achieve. In the end, I feel that I liked this iteration even better than the Killer Bee. What say you?
