Things have been a little tight this year and as a result, I’ve been doing the bulk of my cigar shopping online. The last couple of orders I have placed have been through Cigar Monster. If you started to see a pattern between Famous Sale Items and my reviews, it was no coincidence.

In my latest order, I picked up a 5 Pack of Four Kicks Robusto for less than $25 (shipped). It has been a little while since I’ve smoked the original Crowned Heads release and I thought I was long overdue for a revisit. For the price, I just couldn’t pass them up.

I went into this review with mild concern. We’ve all heard the stories, Boutique brand hits it big and is picked up by a massive online retailer. Would the production quality slip or would it be the stand out cigar I remembered? I’m happy to say that the Four Kicks smoked and tasted every bit as good as I remembered.

The flavor profile wasn’t overly complex but it was solid. I tasted wood, dark fruity sweetness (made me think of raisins), and a subtle vanilla through the retrohale. The finish was creamy and easy on the palate. Tie all that together with a nice spicy component (which just seemed to go with the cooler weather) and I was lovin’ it.

I ran into a construction issue but I couldn’t fault the cigar. The wrapper started to crack and peel away shortly after removing the band. I think this was a result of the environment (cool, breezy, dry air). This issue was cosmetic and didn’t affect the way the cigar smoked. Leading up to this, the draw was near perfect and produced plenty of thick smoke.

I’m glad that I stumbled onto the Four Kicks Robusto on Cigar Monster. I found it to be a wonderful smoke and worth every penny. Now, if I could only keep getting them for less than $5 per stick, they would find themselves in my regular rotation.