The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Surpassion King of Battle - Toro (6 x 50) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-06-16

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

Like the rest of the Surpassion line, the King of Battle offers a beautiful presentation. It starts with a reddish-hued, rich dark brown Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper that is covered with tooth, oily, and heavily mottled. There are a couple of thicker veins running through the leaf that result in a little edge lift around the seams, but overall, everything is clean, tight, and well-rolled. The cigar feels a little spongy in my hand, but not too soft. There’s a slight aromatic quality to the unlit cigar that’s pleasant, but it immediately makes me think of potpourri or similar natural air fresheners. The primary band has been the exact same on all three Surpassion cigars, and the King of Battle uses an intense red secondary band with the name emblazoned in gold print. It perfectly complements the wrapper’s color while providing a strong accent to the primary band.​

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Average (2)

The draw is a little loose, but still good. The burn starts unevenly with one side burning a hair faster, but I’ll give it time to see if it canoes or self-corrects. The downside to cigars that explicitly honor military service is that I’m extra disappointed when they don’t have a good burn. It’s like, come on… Command and Control for operational effectiveness! 😂 There’s just one little bastard point that doesn’t want to burn, but I feel like once it does, the rest of the wrapper will catch up because the burn line is circling around from the sides and the back. What’s interesting is that it’s leaving a charred strip following the seam. Otherwise, it’s burning decently, and that charred strip eventually fell off at the first-inch mark, leaving a more even—but still wavy—burn line.

The ash is a very light gray that’s fairly solid with fewer cracks in it. There are oil crystals, but they’re nearly invisible as they blend right in with the ash. The ash holds just past the first inch before I gently rolled it off into the ashtray, and at this point, I’m finding the cigar is canoeing and will need a heavy correction. After the correction, the burn stays uneven but controlled.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Immediate notes of charred oak and hickory, cocoa, espresso, and earth hit the palate. There’s a light, raisiny sweetness alongside nutmeg, while red and black pepper slowly starts to creep in. I’m getting a really nice mix of sweet, spice, savoriness, and woodiness in this blend, and by the first inch, it’s really coalescing into a nuanced, flavorful, and slightly floral profile.

Getting into the second third, there are no transitions—and that’s probably the best thing. This blend is singing. It’s dark with a charred oak and hickory sweetness, featuring a wonderful mix of baking spice and pepper without too much kick. There are light, natural bitter notes of dark chocolate and creamy espresso; it’s earthy, slightly leathery, and has a great powdery aspect to the creamy finish.

Other than a slight increase in the natural bitter notes and the pepper ramping up, the final third is largely unchanged. And that’s perfectly fine, because this blend is on point. I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the final third, and if you’re a fan of Connecticut Broadleaf, you’re going to dig this one.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

This has been a great year for Connecticut Broadleaf cigars. The challenge is that so many of the recently released Connecticut Broadleafs have been absolutely fantastic. This has a lot of similarities to the ChiMolly Pioneer and the Ohana Left Hand High Maka Maka, which makes choosing just one of the three a pretty tough choice. But if you’re more budget-oriented, this is easily the least expensive of the bunch, coming in at about a 15 to 20% lower cost. So if you’re a fan of Connecticut Broadleaf, you know what to do: go grab this one. 🔥

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.