JC Newman

January 07, 2023

Viaje Honey & Hand Grenades The Katana Maduro (7 x 48)








Video review HERE.


(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)

Viaje has released their newest Honey & Hand Grenades vitola.

The cigar is called The Katana, and it is a 7 x 48 double corona-esque vitola. In 2021, the company added the Honey & Hand Grenades Maduro, using a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper in place of the Nicaraguan criollo leaf. Although Viaje has not confirmed the wrapper I am assuming this cigar has the Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper. The rest of the cigar is Nicaraguan. Production numbers have not been disclosed, but the boxes come with the Edición Limitada secondary band, which has been used to indicate that a particular vitola is getting a small production. In a Facebook post, Farkas called it a “micro production.”

The Honey & Hand Grenades line debuted in 2012 and has previously been offered in three sizes, all of which feature a rounded cap but with a tapered foot reminiscent of a salomon, a vitola known as a diadema. The majority of the cigar is covered in a red foil paper that is designed to evoke the image of blood, as each of the vitolas is named for a bladed weapon, such as a knife or sword.


Personally, I like this long, slender version. Most of the cigar is covered by the red foil. The cigar has an average feel in the hand. It is necessary to cut both the cap and foot of the cigar in order to give it a proper light.






The test draw after cutting the cap and foot was good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus peel, brown sugar, and chocolate fudge. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. Not a bad start.



At the first third (26 minutes) I still had the citrus peel and brown sugar along with the chocolate fudge but now there is also some earthiness and black coffee. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is chocolate fudge and black coffee with good lingering black pepper. The maduro aspects are coming across nicely. I rated the first third 92.




As I moved through the second third (56 minutes) some citrus/cedar notes came out to go along with the citrus peel. I still had the chocolate fudge, black coffee, and earthiness. The finish is fudge and very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is still medium bodied. The cigar made a little improvement with the addition of citrus/cedar so I increased the score to 93.




The cigar lasted 1 hour 24 minutes. Not much changed in this section. There were some increased cedar notes and the black pepper has moved up a little. Other than that the same notes are in play. The finish is unchanged. The cigar is still medium bodied. Not enough changed to move the needle so I held 93 for the final third. Pretty good cigar.




Overall Score: 92.67

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