The Henry Clay line has a rich history that started in 1840 and was revived a few years ago by Altadis USA. The Henry Clay line has always been a line of modest cigars that have a more rustic appearance. In March of 2019, the Henry Clay line was expanded to include the War Hawk. The War Hawk is a nod to the US senator Henry Clay that the line is named after. Henry Clay was considered a war hawk which refers to someone that believes a military response is better than a diplomatic solution to national threats. Henry Clay was one of the original war hawks that convinced President James Madison to go to war with England over their aggressions against the newly formed United States and started the War of 1812. He was also a proponent of the expansion of the United States by military force, including Canada, Texas and Florida. The War Hawk cigar was blended to still have the full flavor of the rest of the Henry Clay line yet be much more smooth as well.
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
- Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
- Filler: Honduran
- Vitola: Toro
- MSRP: $8.00
Pre-Light
The Henry Clay War Hawk has a gorgeously smooth wrapper with a golden brown hue. The War Hawk has a perfect draw edging to a slightly looser draw. The cold draw has notes of cedar, hay and nuts.
First Half
The Henry Clay War Hawk starts off very smooth and mild-medium body with a good amount of smoke. I get notes of cedar, almonds, white pepper, butter and cinnamon with a hint of sweetness. The flavors are blending quite well together and leave a long finish. As the War Hawk nears the midpoint, I get some citrus notes and more spice. The retrohale has more of the pepper flavor as well. The burn was a little off, but it corrected itself in short time.
Last Half
As the Henry Clay War Hawk nears the end, the notes remain relatively the same. I get notes of the cedar, pepper, almonds, citrus, but with less cinnamon and the butter flavors are move savory than sweet. I also get a hint of cocoa every now and then as well. The War Hawk is medium bodied with a long finish on the final half.
Conclusion
I was pretty impressed by the Henry Clay War Hawk. The Henry Clay line uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper on the their other lines, but uses it as the binder here. It really works with the Connecticut shade wrapper that hints at more classic cigars. The spicy and savory flavors were really good with a nice medium bodied cigar. I’ve been really impressed with the latest releases with Altadis and this is no exception. These are box worthy cigars.
Good, succinct review, as usual. FYI, it’s Altadis, not Altidis.
Thanks for the compliment! Yes, my spell checker ALWAYS changes it to that from some reason. I have to manually go back and fix it, but this time I forgot. Thanks for the catch.
I like your review format using first and last half of the cigar rather than thirds.
That looks like another stick to add to the list. Thanks for the review.