Cigar Review: Brick House

Corona Larga, 6.25" x 46 ring gauge, $4.50
Why they named a cigar after one of Vernon Coleman's favorite songs is a mystery to me. What? It's not named after the Commodores' song? Oh...I guess the "Brick House" in question here is actually the childhood home of Julius Caesar Newman, founder of the J.C. Newman cigar company, which is known best for its Diamond Crown cigars made in conjunction with the Fuente family. JC's grandsons, Eric and Bobby, have revived the old Brick House brand as an homage to their grandfather and their roots. In the process they broke further away from the company's Dominican traditions, using a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos including a Havana Subida wrapper. This is the second departure from the norm in less than a year for the Newmans--the first being the Nicaraguan El Baton. Unlike some other bargain smokes from established companies, the Brick House is comprised of all long-filler tobacco, instead of being mixed filler or Cuban sandwich style.

The medium brown wrapper on this stick is very, very oily--it almost looks like it was rubbed in cooking oil! There were some very large veins, especially on the side opposite the front of the label. The foot looked a little beaten up even though the cigar was wrapped in cellophane. The aroma from the wrapper was chicken coop; from the foot there was more manure, along with some cocoa. The prelight draw was very good and I detected flavors of raisins and cocoa.

The initial puffs had notes of leather, coffee, nuts and a little pepper spice. During the first third the most dominant flavor was cedar, but there were also healthy doses of coffee and roasted nuts along with just a tiny bit of black pepper underneath.

During the second third, the coffee flavor slowly became more dominant and the pepper picked up somewhat. There were still notes of leather and cedar. Significantly, the wrapper cracked and split twice at the burning end during this section. The first time it was small and passed without incident. The second split was quite large and would require care so it would not expand.

The last third had a build-up of pepper along with a coffee note that was still strong. I consider this to be a very nice cigar, especially for the small amount of cash they are asking for it..and especially considering that it comes from the same people who gave us the Diamond Crown, a fantastic-flavored, but fantastically-overpriced, mild cigar. The Brick House was medium to full in body with a nice complexity and great Nicaraguan-influenced flavor profile. I predict that Vern will like this Brick House almost as much as the old song he is so fond of.

Body: 7/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10