Diamond Crown Black Diamond Emerald (6 x 52)

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)

Much like it did with the recently-released El Baton, J.C. Newman has updated its Diamond Crown Black Diamond line with new packaging and a stronger blend.

On paper, the blend appears the same as the one used when the cigar was introduced in 2016: it uses a Connecticut habano-seed wrapper over a Dominican binder and Dominican fillers, made by Arturo Fuente in the Dominican Republic. That said, J.C. Newman says it tweaked the blend to make the Black Diamond stronger and more refined.

Packaging changes include less purple—which was previously used as the main accent color—a foot band, a matte finish to the boxes amongst other changes.

“My grandfather, Stanford J. Newman, told me that his father, J.C. Newman taught him that we should aim to do something better every day,” said Drew Newman, general counsel and fourth generation owner, in a press release in July. “Although our Diamond Crown Black Diamond cigars have been savored by cigar enthusiasts around the world for six years, I was not satisfied and wanted to make them better.”

It continues to be offered in the same three sizes:

Diamond Crown Black Diamond Radiant (4 1/2 x 54) — $18 (Box of 20, $360)

Diamond Crown Black Diamond Marquis (5 1/4 x 56) — $20 (Box of 20, $400)

Diamond Crown Black Diamond Emerald (6 x 52) — $21 (Box of 20, $420) REVIEWED TODAY

While the blend and packaging have changed, the prices remain the same.

The cigar is well made and very dark. It has a nice feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The initial flavors at light up were cedar, brown sugar, citrus, and leathery black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2 to 8. The cigar has a lot of dark notes but a lot of sweet notes also.

At the first third (21 minutes) the cigar continued with the sweet and dark notes. The notes are the same except there are also dark chocolate notes. The finish is brown sugar and dark chocolate with very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is very tasty. I rated the first third 95.

Moving through the second third (42 minutes) the dark chocolate came out a little more. There are equal amounts of black coffee and dark chocolate with some leather. The citrus/cedar/brown sugar notes dipped just a touch. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is dark chocolate, brown sugar, and a touch of cedar with very good lingering black pepper. I rated the second third 94.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 4 minutes. The citrus/cedar/brown sugar came back out and the dark chocolate dropped back. In essence, the cigar got back to the way it was in the first third. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is brown sugar and dark chocolate with very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is very balanced; sweet to dark. Whatever they did to tweak the blend works. I rated the final third 95. A very good cigar from J.C. Newman.

Overall Score: 94.67