The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2022 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-01-12

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) / Average (2)

This time I opted for the punch at both ends. Using the punch at the foot removes less wrapper, but still gives it an immediate open draw without needing to burn through the foot. This means using the PerfecPunch’s 11mm on the head and the 14mm on the foot. This resulted in an easy light-up and a good draw. Perfect. 🤌🏻

The burn starts off evenly but quickly starts to race ahead on one side. Thinking it was possibly my light-up, I make a quick correction on the foot, but that one side is still racing ahead. We’ll see if it self-corrects like the 2021 did. The ash is also similar, with a very light gray, nearly white ash that has small, tight cracks to it, but gets progressively flakier throughout the burn.

And again like the 2021, as I’m worried the cigar is going to canoe, the burn line wraps around the section of wrapper that didn’t burn fully, leaving one little section of charred but not fully burned wrapper. It’s not perfect, but it self-corrected. It’s also in the mid-50s today and I’m getting some small cracks in the wrapper. It does seem to be an odd choice to have a more delicate wrapper in a holiday release that is more likely to be smoked in the cold weather. 🤔

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Much like the 2021, the Brazilian Cubra really defines the beginning of the smoke. You get that signature coffee, spice, and nuttiness, with the earth and cedar notes. There’s less dark chocolate, but it still has that honey-like sweetness. It’s a very flavorful and refined mix to start. I’m getting a lot of honey sweet off this one, but there’s a darker molasses and baking spice aspect to it that’s giving it a lot of depth. This feels like it has a little bit of that extra Cubra punch that the 2021 had seemed to lose. But also like the 2021, there’s a lot of baking spice, breadiness, and sweetness in this blend. It’s giving very molasses rye bread vibes, and it’s smooth with moderate creaminess.

Unlike the 2021, this blend hasn’t really transitioned between the first and second halves. Still a dark rye bread, cedar, and earth base, with coffee, dark chocolate, spice, and a molasses sweetness. Still a fantastic blend, and I’m really digging how this one punched just a little bit harder.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

Well, any doubts I had about the 2021 and 2022 Baubles having different blends have been put to rest. The 2022 retained a little bit more Cubra punch but was still very refined and exceptionally balanced. The bottom line is if you can snag either the 2021 or 2022, you’ll have an exceptionally good cigar!

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!

The Flavor Wheel

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.