Black Label Trading Company: BLK WKS Studio S&R Robusto 2023 Cigars

BLK WKS Studio is the brainchild of James Brown, founder and blender of Black Label Trading Company. Considered another artistic expression of Brown's approach to cigar making, Black Works Studio focuses on complex blends and rarer components. James not only flexes his creative muscles in crafting each stick, however, but also in the modernist, avant-garde artwork accompanying each line, all designed by Brown himself.

First released in 2018, the S&R cigar (which stands for "Serpents & Rainbows" — the technicolor, graffitied, avant-garde snake head on the box clearly embodying the moniker) checks off a couple of firsts for BLK WKS Studio. Firstly, S&R is their first to incorporate a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Secondly, it's also the first to feature a Sumatran wrapper, with this 2023 version showcasing a barber pole of Sumatran and Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade leaves. The results are as delicious and enticing as the box and band are impressive, offering a medium-bodied smoke defined by notes of hay, spice, and graham cracker, all atop a backdrop of white pepper.