#NowSmoking: Ted’s Rhum

#NowSmoking: Ted’s Rhum 650 Cigar Review (Video)

Blend Details:

Factory: Tabacalera Victor Sinclair—Dominican Republic
Size: 6” x 50 Toro Tubo
Strength: Mellow
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: U.S. Connecticut
Filler: Dominican Republic

Presented in boxes of 25 cigars.

Ted’s Rhum Backstory

Ted’s Cigars, for about 25 years now, has been making premium cigars for the everyman. You won’t see guys in Rolexes using $500+ lighters smoking them. You certainly won’t see them on any flashy cigar magazine’s “best of” lists—or featured in its pages for that matter. They’re down to earth smokes—simply good cigars that you can enjoy in your backyard among friends. Or anywhere.

Rhum is a new release following Ted’s Cigars other ‘spirit seasoned’ blends. These premiums are rolled in the Dominican Republic using long filler tobaccos and aged, dark Caribbean rum. As Ted’s says, “We season our cigars just like the island traders of the past…genuine ingredients. No shortcuts.

Cigar Basics

Ted’s Rhum uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a U.S. Connecticut binder and long fillers from the Dominican Republic. The Rhum cigars are hand-rolled and  ‘seasoned,’ not infused or flavored, with aged, Caribbean Dark Rum.

Rhum 650 is a standard Toro measuring 6” x 50 and is well packed with a few veins. Additionally, Rhum cigars are packaged individually in humidified tubes.

Ted’s Rhum Review  

If each cigar smoked tells a story, then Ted’s Rhum weaves one of a relaxing vacation. I mean this on two levels—smoking a non-traditional cigar is a ‘vacation’ from my usual choice, and the experience delivered by Ted’s Rhum was a leisurely adventure.

Sweet and spicy rum-barrel notes spring to attention and make themselves known as I open the humidified tube—no humidor necessary for the Rhum—and give the stick a whiff. I clipped the cap and set this blissfully boozy blend aflame.

I like that Ted’s Rhum doesn’t have a sweetened cap—the type that makes you want to keep licking the sugar off your lips (and that’ll draw you some odd looks in a crowded cigar lounge). But the sweetness is there from the get-go, along with notes of toasted oak. Then, coming along about an inch or two some baking spice—cinnamon with brown sugar actually—and a vanilla/caramel note join in. You know when you take a shot of hard liquor—rum or otherwise—there’s always a burn (as a buddy used to say, that’s how you know it’s the good shizz)? So, while there’s no burn, other than at the lit end of the Rhum, there is a hard-to-place heat—like hot pepper for lack of a better term—lingering like the inevitable red stain whenever you eat pasta in a clean white t-shirt.

There’s not much else going on throughout the remainder of the Rhum 650. And sometimes that’s just what’s needed. A smoke that won’t fatigue your palate, or one that’s so ‘fancy’ that you feel like you have to pay attention each and every moment, lest you miss out on something. Ted’s Rhum is a kind of ‘set it and forget it’ blend—it tastes and performs like a quality mellow premium cigar but with the added flavors of a dark, Caribbean rum.

Are Ted’s Rhum Worth Buying?

A cigar enthusiast who only smokes traditional blends might balk at the suggestion of picking up a Ted’s Rhum 650 or two. But they should anyways. Having a couple on hand isn’t a bad idea. The upside is that they arrive in humidified tubes, so there’s no worrying about affecting your other cigars or having to find an alternative storage solution. Also, you can stick one in a pocket and go without having to worry about it getting damaged or dried out.

While I wouldn’t necessarily reach for Ted’s Rhum as a celebration cigar (and that’s just me), there are plenty of other circumstances where I would. Think outdoors activities like golfing, fishing, hunting, or camping. In a backyard by a firepit when you’re in the mood for a cigar but can’t decide. On vacation where you don’t want to bring a travel humidor and all. Or just as a change of pace.

I’ll end my review of Ted’s Rhum with the words of Hunter S. Thompson, ‘Buy the ticket, take the ride.’