Cigar Review: Foundry Talbot
25 Sep 2012
If there’s an award for most unique new cigar from this year’s trade show, I think the runaway winner is Foundry. The one-of-a-kind packaging, inspired by Steampunk style (if you’ve seen League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Wild Wild West—it’s irrelevant that they’re both bad movies—you’ll know the style) with a metal gear around the band, really catches your eye. The cigar itself is just as unique.
Foundry was created by Michael Giannini, the public face of La Gloria Cubana since Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s departure (and Perez-Carrillo’s former collaborator). While Giannini is tight-lipped about the blend, we know it contains no Dominican, Honduran, or Nicaraguan tobacco. The only component revealed is the wrapper, which is called H-47 Pleno Sol and is grown in Connecticut.
The wrapper is golden brown, but not in the way that most Connecticut shade is. It features plenty of tooth, lots of tiny veins, and just a bit of oily shine. It almost looks as if the wrapper is inside out, with the bottom visible.
The cigar comes in four sizes, all named after Steampunk era icons: Wells (6 x 50, $7.95); Lovelace (6.25 x 54, $8.45); Talbot (5 x 60, $8.95); and Cayley (6.5 x 60 x 56 x 43, $9.45). I smoked four of the Talbot vitola, all of which I received as samples at the 2012Â IPCPR Trade Show. It’s a mild cigar with unique flavors. Most notably there is banana bread: yeasty, bready, and slightly sweet. It has a very clean profile that is superbly balanced, very mild, and unlike any cigar I’ve tried before.
Rating such a cigar is difficult. Foundry isn’t trying to be a better version of a cigar already on the market. Instead, it’s trying to be completely different. While it’s not a cigar I’d regularly smoke, I can see myself smoking one every once in a while as a change of pace.
Foundry is not for everyone. It’s different from anything else on the market, which is exactly what Giannini wanted to create. As a cigar that breaks the mold, I really appreciate the unique (there’s a reason I use that word a lot during this review) qualities of the Foundry Talbot, which helps it earn four stogies out of five.
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photo credit: Stogie Guys
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With "no Dominican, Honduran, or Nicaraguan tobacco", any speculation on where the tobacco is grown that would give it a banana bread flavor? Maybe Brazilian? Very unique review. I've been trying to find these around the B&Ms, b/c they look awesome.
I've heard it uses Colombian, possibly Peruvian tobacco, and also some form of pipe tobacco. But that is unconfirmed.
A metal gear band? Are you fucking kidding me? What's next?
I'd be interested to see how much the unit cost of those metal gears, and their application to the cigars, and the increased costs in shipping, etc. play into the cost of the cigar. Because I can do without that…
Very nice cigar!!!! I get them from Carona Cigar Bar. They cost $8 to $9.50 per cigar. The gear is a nice touch that makes them stick out.
Tried it from the Big Smoke last November. Nice change of pace and the gear makes it unique. Pleasant smoke. Ready to purchase a box!
The gear is plastic. I saw these at the liquor store. I'm guessing it's paired well with a bourbon and some banana bread?
I pair mine with everclear and banana bread with raisins in it.