Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 – Perfecto (4.5 x 60)
The Particulars
| wdt_created_by | cigarkey | brand | cigarname | vitola | strength | wrapper | binder | filler | infused | sweettip | origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mcclossm | Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) | Principle Cigars | Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 | Perfecto - 4.50" x 60 | Medium | Brazilian Cubra, Natural | Dominican Republic (Cotui) | Dominican Republic (Two Regions) / Nicaragua / USA | No | No | Kelner Boutique Factory, Dominican Republic |
| COMPANY / BRAND: | Principle Cigars |
| CIGAR: | Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 |
| VITOLA: | Perfecto - 4.50" x 60 |
| STRENGTH: | Medium |
| WRAPPER: | Brazilian Cubra, Natural |
| BINDER: | Dominican Republic (Cotui) |
| FILLER: | Dominican Republic (Two Regions) / Nicaragua / USA |
| INFUSED: | No |
| SWEET TIP: | No |
| ORIGIN: | Kelner Boutique Factory, Dominican Republic |
Prolegomenon and Other Random Thoughts
The Principle Holiday Bauble is an annual winter release that’s part of the Accomplice line. It’s called the Bauble because they’re styled to look like an ornament finished off with Christmas themed bands. To say the Holiday Bauble is a unique vitola is an understatement. It’s a short, fat Perfecto, but both ends are closed and tapered like the head of a traditional parejo. This means the head is finished with a pigtail, while the foot gets a traditional triple cap. You could technically smoke it from either end, as you need to clip both ends of the cigar, unless you want to light a fully closed foot. If it came with a traditional cut foot, I think this would just be a short Gordo. But the double-closed feet do lend to the ornament look, which was the goal.
They’re all made at the Kelner Boutique Factory and notable with this release is the Brazilian Cubra wrapper and Dominican Cotui binder. The USA grown filler isn’t noted for a specific type of leaf, but my assumption is it’s a Broadleaf as the Kelner family seems to have a proclivity for using Pennsylvania Broadleaf in their blends.
| Journaling Date | Cigar | Appearance | Draw | Burn | Flavors | Overall Experience | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-28 | Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) | Good | Good | Good | Great | Great | 4.25 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.50 |
The Review
This review for the Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-12-28
Appearance & Construction (0-3): Good (3)
The Brazilian Cubra is a warm, lighter brown with a hint of orange. It has a good sheen and a lot of mottling; it’s been aging nicely. There are only a couple of very thin veins in the wrapper, and the seams are clean and tight. The Bauble has its signature pigtail head and triple-cap foot with the red and green fabric bands. Another well-rolled cigar with nice firmness.
Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4): Good (3) / Good (3)
I opted for the guillotine to clip the foot this time, trying to take as little as possible. I used the 11mm punch for the pigtail, as I like to do. The draw is spot-on, but the burn quickly starts to go sideways. One section is lagging on the burn, and I have a feeling it’ll need a heavy correction. Amazingly, the cigar self-corrects by the midway point, dropping the piece of unburned wrapper. While it never gets back to even, it also doesn’t require a correction. The ash itself is a very light gray, almost white, with medium, evenly spaced striations.
Flavor Profile (0-5): Great (4)
The Cubra comes in immediately with its signature coffee, dark chocolate, spice, and nuttiness. There’s a good mix of cedar and earth, with a honey-like sweetness that’s very balanced and refined. There’s a lot of baking spice, breadiness, and sweetness in this blend. It’s giving very molasses rye bread vibes in the first third. It’s smooth, but not overly creamy—another drier blend.
The second third doesn’t provide transitions or real changes. This blend seems to have fully melted together with the extra age, and it’s providing a really consistent and refined experience. But getting into the final third, breadiness takes hold. It changes to more of a salty sourdough, giving pretzel vibes. Honey and dark chocolate give way to more earth and cedar, with reduced coffee and pepper. The baking spices pick up, and it’s a little bit more floral. It’s a wonderful transition and a bit of a surprise after the second third, when the coffee flavors and pepper come back in.
Overall Experience (0-5): Great (4)
This one is the mildest blend of the 2021, 2023, and 2025 blends I tried. I believe that some of the punch that may have originally been intended was in the Cubra, and it lost that spice with age. It’s still quite good, but just a little lacking compared to the phenomenal 2023 and spicy chocolate bomb 2025.
Review Base Rating (0-5):
4.25
Would I Buy It Again?
Signs point to yes (recommended)
Review Final Score (0-10):
8.50
Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries
While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example! This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo. Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!
| Times Journaled | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4.25 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.50 |
| Journaling Date | Cigar | Appearance | Draw | Burn | Flavors | Overall Experience | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-28 | Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2021 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) | Good | Good | Good | Great | Great | 4.25 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.50 |
Journaling Photos
The Flavor Wheel
| Category | Strength |
|---|---|
| Baking Spice | 3.00 |
| Pepper | 1.00 |
| Coffee / Espresso | 3.00 |
| Anise / Licorice | 0.00 |
| Sweet | 3.00 |
| Chocolate | 1.00 |
| Bready / Toasty | 3.00 |
| Woody / Charred | 2.00 |
| Grass / Hay | 0.00 |
| Earth | 2.00 |
| Leather | 1.00 |
| Floral / Aromatic | 1.00 |
| Fruity | 0.00 |
| Nutty | 2.00 |
| Salty / Mineral | 0.00 |
| Creamy | 2.00 |
| Musty / Barnyard | 0.00 |
| Bitter | 1.00 |
| Smooth | 3.00 |
| Harsh | 0.00 |
With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience. These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out. When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.
The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.
- 0: No flavor detected
- 1: Mild flavor
- 2: Medium flavor
- 3: Strong flavor
Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.
With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience. These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out. When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.
The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.
- 0: No flavor detected
- 1: Mild flavor
- 2: Medium flavor
- 3: Strong flavor
Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.
| Category | Strength |
|---|---|
| Baking Spice | 3.00 |
| Pepper | 1.00 |
| Coffee / Espresso | 3.00 |
| Anise / Licorice | 0.00 |
| Sweet | 3.00 |
| Chocolate | 1.00 |
| Bready / Toasty | 3.00 |
| Woody / Charred | 2.00 |
| Grass / Hay | 0.00 |
| Earth | 2.00 |
| Leather | 1.00 |
| Floral / Aromatic | 1.00 |
| Fruity | 0.00 |
| Nutty | 2.00 |
| Salty / Mineral | 0.00 |
| Creamy | 2.00 |
| Musty / Barnyard | 0.00 |
| Bitter | 1.00 |
| Smooth | 3.00 |
| Harsh | 0.00 |
Questions on how the ratings work?
Check out the detailed explanation here.
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