BACKGROUND: Alec Bradley Family Blend cigars were created expressly for the fathers of the company's three principal executives, Alan Rubin (President), Ralph Montero (Vice President), and George Sosa (National Sales Director).

The cigars are presented in chests of 50 cigars bearing the signatures of the three fathers: David Rubin, Miguel Montero and Reinaldo Sosa.

According to National Sales Director George Sosa, "Alan, Ralph, and I were constantly being begged by our Dads to make a nice medium-bodied cigar in a Robusto size with a Cuban pigtail." "Finally, we decided to create a special cigar just for them. Actually, it turned out to be such a great blend, we started smoking it in the office, and decided to offer it at Alec Bradley cigar events as our promotional 'mystery' cigar. The cigars had no bands, and were so well received, we had a lot of smokers asking to buy them."

Company president Alan Rubin said he was strictly against selling the Family Blend at first because the cigars were made in dedication to their fathers and he wanted it to remain so. However, Ralph Montero was certain that the time was right to release the fathers' blend, or what eventually became known as the "family blend." George agreed, and together they were able to convince Alan to release the cigar.

The Family Blend, which is made in Honduras, uses a Honduran wrapper leaf, an Indonesian binder and a Honduran and Nicaraguan Filler. The smoke is blended to be medium-bodied, creamy-smooth, and full-flavored.

The Family Blend is currently available in only one size, a 5.5 inch x 50 ring Robusto.

TASTING NOTES: This cigar starts out with some herbal notes and a very nice tobacco sweetness and just a hint of cinnamon. The cigar is savory and makes your mouth water as when eating a good steak. In fact, this cigar would go quite well with Italian sausage. Actually, I know that to be a fact because my herf buddy John and I had some Italian sausage during our last herf and we were smoking these cigars and eating the sausage and it was an incredible combination.

The Family Blend is light to medium in body and full in flavor. This is really the way I love my cigars. Most of the time I don't like to be bowled over with fullness in body or strength, but I do like a cigar to have big flavor. And this cigar has it in spades. Really full, rich flavor. The flavors burst in your mouth and give you a experience not unlike roasted meat.

The burn on this stick was uneven at the beginning with a irregular flaky ash and a blistered burn line. The burn straightened out mostly, as the cigar progressed.

The Alec Bradley Family Blend is a cigar that I like. I won't say it's in my top 20 list of all time favorites, but on the other hand, I always enjoy the heck out of this smoke and it goes well with several libations. In particular, I like the smoky savory sweetness of the tobacco and the fact that it doesn't overwhelm with body or strength. This characteristic makes this an easy cigar to smoke and a versatile cigar when it comes to pairing with libations. The rich, mouth filling flavors of black currant, blackberries, blueberries and raisins, provides complexity that can be enjoyed now and in years to come.

~Doc