Black Works Studio Killer Bee Sumatra Pyramid

*As noted above, the sampler has an MSRP of $312, or $13 per cigar, and there are 1,000 samplers. Each sampler contains four Black Works Studio Killer Bee Sumatra Pyramids.

Credit where credit is due: the combination of extra tobacco details and the trumpet vitola makes the Black Works Studio Killer Bee Sumatra Pyramids very unique from a visual perspective. The main wrappers are a milk chocolate brown color with some mottling, and while there is very little oil present, all three cigars are smooth to the touch. The cigars are nicely firm when squeezed, which makes it a little easier to find a small soft spot halfway between the band and the foot on my first cigar. Aromas from the wrappers include sweet oak, barnyard, baker’s spices, earth, dark chocolate, wood chips and vanilla sweetness, but there is quite a bit more of a milk chocolate sweetness coming from my second cigar compared to the other two. The feet on all three cigars are totally closed, so it is no great surprise that the notes are a bit more subdued than normal, but I can still easily make out scents of generic nuttiness, earth, leather tack, fudge, creamy oak and hay. After straight cuts, the cold draws bring very similar flavors that include a combination of mint, dark chocolate, oak, espresso, earth, barnyard, peanut shells, cinnamon, and a very light bubblegum sweetness.

After the overt sweetness that I tasted on the cold draws, I am a bit surprised by the amount of spice on my tongue, which combines with black pepper and gritty earth. Having said that, the spice quickly subsides to a more manageable level, and after about 10 puffs, the flavors of creamy oak and coffee beans take over the profile. Secondary flavors of dried tea leaves, leather tack, nutmeg, chalk, barnyard, hay and a slight charred meat note flit in and out, while the retrohale features some light black pepper and blackberry sweetness. The first and second cigars have an interesting, soapy flavor on the finish, but it is light enough to be both more interesting and less astringent than it sounds. Flavor is full, the body is between mild and medium, and the strength hits a point just under the medium mark. Construction-wise, my first cigar needs a quick correction with my lighter to stay on course, but that is the end of the issues so far.

During the second third, the creamy oak note remains at the top of the profile, but the coffee bean flavor moves to the secondary and is replaced by a strong toasted bread flavor. Additional notes of salted potato chips, herbs, nutmeg, dry straw, generic nuttiness, cocoa nibs and leather show up at various points. While the soapiness has become stronger on the retrohale of my first cigar—strong enough to impact the overall balance—the second and third cigars now have a very interesting jalapeño note that significantly enhances the complexity of the entire profile. Flavor remains at full, the body has increased to medium, and the strength breaks through to a solid medium. Other than a single burn correction on two cigars, the construction is problem-free.

The main flavors in the profiles diverge during the final third: the first cigar continues with the combination of creamy oak and toasted bread, the second cigar features a combination of coffee beans and oak, and the final cigar is dominated by a combination of oak and charred meat. Regardless, the secondary flavors are similar, with notes of leather tack, dark chocolate, nutmeg, gritty earth, pencil lead, creamy hay, and tea leaves, all vying for their chance in the sun. The flavors on the finish are also distinct, with the first cigar being more soapy, the second cigar continuing to feature the jalapeño note, and the last cigar introducing a new coffee bean flavor. There is also an increase in the amount of spice on my tongue for the second and last cigars, but all three cigars feature similar amounts of black pepper and creamy milk chocolate sweetness on the retrohale. Flavor ends at full, the body remains at a solid medium, and the strength increases just enough to land at medium-plus. My first cigar experiences a burn issue that requires attention from my lighter, but the other two cigars feature razor-sharp burn lines, while the draws and smoke production are excellent for all three.

Final Notes

• Black Works Studio is often stylized as BLK WKS as opposed to using the spelled-out version.
• In my opinion, Black Works Studio is releasing some of the most interesting samplers on the market. For example, BOOMBOX, which also debuted this year, was created to commemorate the line’s 10-year anniversary and is packaged in a box designed to resemble a boombox. In November 2021, the company released The Hive, a sampler that bears a striking resemblance to The Five Temples Seven Star Fist of Shaolin, albeit with different cigars included.
• I am often surprised at how visually consistent cigars with this type of added art and tobacco are, especially considering how hard they are to produce.
• The first time I saw this cigar, the combination of vitola and tobacco accents reminded me strongly of RoMa Craft Tobac’s CRAFT 2013 La Campaña de Panamá Soberana release, only smaller.
• The box these come in is very cool, and I would not be surprised if it is a contender for our Packaging Awards.
• I have picked up mint—or mint leaves—notes in numerous Sumatra-wrapped cigars over the years, but this time that note was only on the cold draw and never showed up in the profile.
• The second third of the first cigar had quite a bit of the soap flavor on its finish, enough that it negatively affected the overall balance for that third, and in turn, the cigar’s score. Fortunately, that issue did not persist in the final third.
• Not surprisingly, I found that I had to slow down my puff rate as the cigar became thinner, otherwise I would risk more bitterness in the profile.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are listed as being 5 x 54 vitolas. Above are the dimensions we found when we measured them. Because of the taper, we did not measure the ring gauge.
• The final smoking time averaged out to one hour and 31 minutes for the three cigars.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Black Works Studio Killer Bee Sumatra Pyramid cigars, site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct, Famous Smoke Shop and Fox Cigar sell them on their respective websites.

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.