The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Principle Cigars Accomplice Holiday Bauble 2025 - Perfecto (4.5 x 60) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-12-28

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

The MSA wrapper used this year is a warm, medium chocolate brown that is absolutely covered with tooth. It has a nice oily sheen and a good amount of mottling. There are a couple of veins running down the length of the cigar, but they are all very thin. The seams are quite visible as it’s a thick leaf, so there is a raised edge along all of the seams, but they’re tight. The triple cap on the foot is a little sloppy, but who cares because you’re going to burn it! The red and green fabric bands with the gold print are a nice holiday touch.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Good (3)

Because the closed head and foot offer flexibility in how you cut and light the cigar, I opted for the PerfecPunch for both ends. I used the 11mm on the head and the 14mm on the foot. No issues getting the cigar lit, and the draw is perfect. The burn is a hair uneven and wavy, but well controlled. Thick MSA never seems to burn perfectly, but this cigar is trying its damnedest. The ash is a light gray with widely spaced striations that develop wide and deep channels. It’s covered with light gray ash crystals. The ash held to the midway point when I dumped it for a correction as one side of the burn started getting away from the other.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Great (4)

Immediate flavors are dry malt, baking cocoa, and a nice honey sweetness. And that’s almost it to start. Then light hay, earth, leather, nutmeg, cinnamon, and coffee start to appear. But in the first third, it’s a very dry, cocoa-heavy blend with that strong honey sweetness. There’s a light, floral, aromatic quality to it that’s really pleasant, like good Mexican hot chocolate. There are some natural bitter notes, but it’s smooth and developing a little bite as the spice picks up.

With the second third, pepper has become a proper medium with a bevy of cinnamon and baking allspice. The complexity that was missing in the first inch is fully here, and this is a righteous and spicy little chocolate bomb. There are just enough sweet and floral notes to really make it interesting, because I’m barely registering some of the other traditional notes like coffee, earth, and leather. But that’s not a bad thing at all. Cedar starts to pick up around the midway point.

But this is a fucking delightful little cigar that’s unfortunately starting to fall off at the finish. Cedar notes have really picked up in the final third as the honey sweetness pulls back, but it’s still very chocolate-heavy with a variety of spice and floral notes.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Excellent (5)

With the holiday-themed design and bands, it could be easy to write this one off as a novelty cigar, but Hendrik Kelner always seems to do a great job ensuring blends from his factory are complex and well-balanced, and this is no exception. While it fell a little flat at the end, this was a banger for 90% of the smoke. You might ask why it’s box-worthy if the flavor profile didn’t get top marks, but the overall value of the cigar is fantastic, and there are only four in a box. Grab a single, grab a box—either way, it’s worth it. 💯

Review Base Rating (0-5):

4.50

Would I Buy It Again?

Without a doubt (box worthy)

Review Final Score (0-10):

9.33

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.