The story of the HVC Black Friday Firecracker begins back in 2007 when David Garofalo came up with the idea for the Firecracker cigar. A cigar that had a fuse attached to it and he tabbed Don Pepin Garcia to make the first one. Since then the cigar which started out as a Two Guys exclusive has been made by other manufacturers and the limited edition cigars are now distributed by United Cigars. In addition to Garcia, the Firecracker has seen releases by Tatuaje (M80), La Flor Dominicana, RoMaCraft, Fratello, Steve Saka, Perdomo and now HVC. In addition the limited releases, there is a ongoing Firecracker from Jose Dominguez that according to Oliver Nivaud, Director of Sales for United Cigars’ instagram feed is about to get a facelift.
Cigar Review: HVC Black Friday
Wrapper: Nicaragua Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicraragua
Length: 3.5″
Ring Gauge: 50
Size: Firecracker
The Look: Packaged in a basic cedar box, the HVC Black Friday Firecracker sits in two rows of 10. The band of black and white denotes the name of the cigar and it also used to hold the pigtail in place. There is a difference to this years firecracker as the fuse is attached to the wrapper making it easier to smoke through which is something I’ve enjoyed doing. The cigar is firm to the touch with a nice oily wrapper and a well packed foot.
The Notes: The cold draw serves notes of cedar and mocha while the aroma off the foot has a nice cedar aroma. The cigar has an enjoyable but tame cold draw experience which is not what I am expecting when I light the cigar. Once the cigar is toasted, BOOM! The initial notes are black pepper with a touch of ever so faint mocha in the background.
As we smoke the first half of the Black Friday Firecracker notes of black pepper remain dominant, but slowly begin to pull back as notes of warm bread become dominant with some black coffee and peanuts. The retrohale serves up some notes of warm bread and some addition black pepper with a fairly long finish.
The second half sees the black pepper fade away only remaining on the retrohale. Notes of mocha, black coffee and earth round things out on this explosive cigar. It’s as flavorful as the 2019 Black Friday from HVC but with a bit more strength which you come to expect from the Firecracker. The retrohale remains spicy with a bit of nuttiness and a subtle bread note. The finish remains fairly long but not to long.
The Finish: When we first got the prototype in for the Black Friday Firecracker our producer Ed Sullivan told me he thought it might be the best Firecracker to date. It’s a hard point to argue even though it sounds so cliche. It’s everything you want from this short format cigar. Strength, flavor and price make this oh so nice. They went on sale Monday, November 16th, 2020 at 10am but we didn’t expect them to last long. Usually I buy a box of Firecrackers, this time around I bought 2.
Score: 97
Price: $6.99 / $119.99
HVC Black Friday Firecracker
HVC Black Friday Firecracker Foot
HVC Black Friday Firecracker Burn
