Brand: Helix
Vitola: Corona
Length: 5.00 Inches
Ring Gauge: 42
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Mexico
Filler: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Honduras
County of Origin: Danli, Honduras
Price Breakdown: $2.04 per single
Brand:
Helix Cigars are hand made at the Centro American Cigars S.A. factory in Danli, Honduras. The company is part of the General Cigar Company empire which consists of many brands such as Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and Macanudo.
The wrapper is Connecticut Shade while the binder is made up of tobacco grown in the St. Andres Tuxtla Valley of Mexico. The filler is a blend of Brazilian Mata Fina, Honduran Talanga Valley, and Dominican Piloto Cubano tobaccos.
Information courtesy of Cigar World
Pre Light:
During my pre light inspection I found my Helix Natural to have a long slender appearance with several tiny veins. The wrapper exhibited a lightly oily sheen with a smooth texture. When pinched the stick felt very firm with little to no give.
After a quick cut I found the draw to be open and producing a mild floral flavor. Once the draw was checked I reached for my lighter and began toasting the foot. After a short time I had my cigar evenly lit and producing a good volume of smoke.
First Third:
To kick things off, my Helix Natural was burning nice and even at an average rate of speed. The ash was firm and compacted as well as light in color. The draw was free with some resistance and produced a good volume of smoke. The smoke itself was light and airy (as opposed to dense) which made it a little tough to pass through the sinuses.
The body started off in the Mild range while the finish was slightly dry and short on the palate. The base flavor was interesting and comprised of a dry toast flavor with a nutty aftertaste. After following a puff with a sip of black coffee it seemed to add a richness to the smoke that made it very enjoyable.
Second Third:
During the second third my Helix made a turn for the worse. The body remained in the mild spectrum while the finish became more dry and became a distraction to me. The base flavor remained that of dry toast while the nutty aftertaste was replaced by a combination of salt and sour that really turned me off.
While the flavor department was letting me down I was impressed by the construction of the smoke. The ash continued to be firm and compacted while remaining light in color. The burn rate was about average and the burn line was nice and even. The draw continued to produce a good volume of smoke but remained a little light and airy for my taste.
Final Third:
After several attempts at purging, with varying results, I was unable to completely rid the cigar of the sour and salty flavors that came into the picture during the second third. The flavor of dry toast remained but was being drowned out by the above mentioned flavors.
The finish became less dry from this point forward while remaining easy and short on the plate. The body continued to be mild and never built up even close to the mild-medium spectrum.
My Thoughts:
Overall I think that this was an enjoyable cigar to start, definitely something I could see myself smoking as a morning cigar. Unfortunately by the time I hit the second third I lost a lot of interest in it due to its sour and salty flavors which came across as harsh and unenjoyable. Had this turn for the worse happened further down in the stick I could live with it and would smoke more, but I felt as though I lost out on a lot of potentially good cigar and will most likely pass on buying them in the future.
I always kind of wrote these off as a cigar for the non-cigar smoker. The packaging just seems to designed to catch the eye of someone wandering around a humidor with no clue what they want.
I agree nothing ever seemed appealing about these cigars; I kind of in my own mind grouped them with Acids and the MAXX. I guess that they are trying to set themselves apart from the more traditional “classically styled” bands of other makers, but that seems to be the very thing that makes me overlook them. After Walt’s review I won’t be going out of my way to try one anytime sooner either.
Funny thing you mention that.
two years ago my then Girlfriend (not wife) was out picking up an anniversary gift for me. She decided to go the route of cigars. Among the cigars was a Helix Maduro Tubo.
She said she wasn’t going to buy the Helix originally and bought it at the last minute because it looked appealing to her.
In that case, the situation was exactly how you described it. She saw a cigar that had a simplistic and neat look that appealed to her as a new (or in her case, non) cigar smoker.
-Walt
Thanks for the review Walt.
Nice review Walt. I have had a Helix Natural Tubo couple of years ago in Florida. The only reason why I bought it was because it was the only cigar in the hotel shop that I have heard of. I overpaid for it big time. I think that I paid $7.95, and it was fair for the first 1/3, then it got harsh. I guess we can’t like every cigar. After I smoked it, I wish that I had bought something else, but eveything was overpriced and I didn’t want to pay $5-7 for a bargain or bundle cigar with no label. Hotels can be a rip off, especially when they know that they can get away with it.
My first Natural was like smoking air. Just no flavor at all. The maduro line is better and I would say that they are an average cigar. These might make an ok morning smoke. I have some of the maduro robustos for a lunch time smoke at times.
Thank you for the review Walt, i was tempted to buy oneof these just purely out of wanting to try something new, that was mild, (i never want to jump in the deep end with a new brand that i’m unsure of) They were rather cheap, looked great, but now after seeing what you thought of them i wont touch one. The packaging isn’t errmm.shall we say traditional unlike most cigar packaging is (compare the box with other brands boxes)
It looks like some of these ‘Acid cigars’ that i’ve heard a bit about recently. Again i thank Walt for the review.