In the last couple years, I’ve had to find ways to keep affording the cigars I love, while still being able to smoke one or two per day. To that end I started looking for budget-conscious blends that were actually good…because a lot of them just aren’t. I found the Jas Sum Kral brand and quickly fell in love with the quality they gave for a price tag that is almost embarrassingly small. One of the cigars that has ended up on my regular rotation is the JSK Toothpick 2.0, both in Habano and Maduro expressions. Today I’m looking at the Habano version.
There isn’t a lot of information about these cigars online…they are a Cuban sandwich with both short and long filler tobacco. The fillers are Nicaraguan, the binder is Indonesian, and the wrapper is a Habano of unknown origin. And they retail for a whopping $2.25 apiece in the one and only spot you can buy them (I won’t say the name here, but you can figure it out if you know how to use Google). The wrapper is a medium brown color and has a fresh earth and wood note to it. There wasn’t much different on the foot, but that could be due to my slightly stuffy nose while doing this review.
The Toothpick Habano opens up with earth, cedar, and floral notes riding on a medium-bodied smoke. There is a little spice on the finish, as well as a more intense spiciness and nuttiness on the retrohale. I’ve smoked a bunch of these over the last few months and I won’t tell you that every single one was consistently great…or that the construction was perfect every time…if you are expecting that for $2.25, you really should reevaluate your expectations. What my experience has been, though, is that the Toothpick Habano is medium-bodied, with just enough spice, cedar, nuttiness, and earth to provide a good short (about 40 minutes usually) smoking experience.
