JC Newman: Julius Caeser

The cigar features a medium brown wrapper that is almost seamless, nicely packed with minimal veins, and displays a light, oily sheen.
This cigar offers excellent construction and a pleasing flavor profile with a core of woods, chocolate, caramel, and earthiness. Despite its minerality and somewhat monotonous progression, its standout moments compensate for these shortcomings.  Overall, it’s a great cigar that I would gladly revisit.

Julius Newman was born in 1875 in a small Hungarian village and immigrated to America in 1888, seeking the American Dream. Due to a clerical error during his immigration processing, he was mistakenly named Julius Caeser Newman. Opting against becoming a tailor like his brothers, J.C. instead learned cigar making from an experienced cigar maker for $3.00 a month. He founded the J.C. Newman Cigar Company in 1895, which remains the only original cigar maker from that time still operated by his descendants.

In 2010, to commemorate J.C.’s 135th birthday and the company’s 115th anniversary, the Diamond Crown Julius Caeser cigar was launched. These cigars are meticulously crafted by hand in small batches at Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic, maintaining the highest standards of quality control.

Vitola: Toro/ Size: 6×52

Wheat bread, Cedar, Earth, Barnyard

Chocolate, Brown sugar, Walnuts, Earth

Damp woods, Moss, Nuts, Toasted bread

The cigar has an excellent draw with near perfect resistance. Early puffs reveal woods, chocolate, earth, and faint pepper spices, while the retrohale offers notes of cocoa, and cream, with lingering pepper spices at the back of the throat. The smoke texture is creamy and coats the mouth. Faint vanilla bean and gritty earth emerge on the medium-length finish. Occasionally, there is a hint of minerality on the finish. Further in the first third, a sweet tea aroma appears, followed by roasted coffee, almonds, and black pepper. The ash is flaky but holds on well.

Initial flavors of the middle third include cedar, cocoa, earth, leather, and pepper spices, with some bitterness on the finish. The retrohale brings out cream, decadent chocolate, earth, and woods. By the midway point, the smoke texture and chocolate sweetness overshadow the cigar’s bitterness. There are hints of coffee beans and a dry, earthy flavor on the palate. A faint caramel sweetness makes an appearance. At its best, the flavor profile evokes a Twix chocolate candy bar.

The cigar now features caramel, chocolate, and earth on the palate, with caramel coating the mouth. I noticed that if the first sample was left over a minute without puffing, it needed some revving, risking higher temperatures but remaining enjoyable. The denser reveals hot chocolate fudge, damp woods, earth, and faint pepper spices with a denser smoke texture. The second sample has more minerality than the first. A flavor that reminds me of creamy peanut butter emerges, with bolder pepper spices in the last third.

If you’re interested in picking up a few for yourself you can find them at PrivadaCigarClub.com