In this first in a new Puff series, we will take a peek at the Alec Bradley Cigar Company, see how they got started, where they stand today, and most importantly, review some of the top cigars to come out of the house. We’ll be looking at a number of cigars, including the following from the Alec Bradley Tempus Line: Centuria, Inceptio, Creo, and the Imperator.

I have to admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to the Alec Bradley house. I am a fan of many of their cigars, and of the ones I have tried, I cannot think of one that I would hesitate to pick up again. I’ll be using my typical rating scale of 50-100 for this article, with the majority of the cigars falling in the mid 80’s to low 90’s. But before we get there, let’s look at the history of this great company.

Profile: Alec Bradley

To understand the origins of a company, you must first understand the origins of the man that created it. When it comes to the Alec Bradley Cigar Company, that means delving into the past of one Alan Rubin. And no, I do not mean the famous trumpeter from the Blues Brothers.

Alan Rubin started off in the business world scraping together a nuts and bolts sort of living – literally. Importing the parts from overseas, he and his father built a business together and eventually sold it. Alan took his share of the money and decided to pursue every working man’s dream: doing something he truly loved.

According to Rubin he fell in love with cigars when he was around twenty years old. He started Alec Bradley in 1996, naming it after his two sons, right before the market fell out of the cigar industry. Top that with not one, but two failing business models (the first was selling cigars exclusively to golf courses, the second was flavored discounted cigars), his company nearly bellied up twice.

Fortunately for him, and the rest of the tobacco world,  he decided to try and salvage his company, and through a series of fortunate events, wound up working with Davidoff maker, Hendrik Kelner to create a new brand. Four years after founding the company and the company finally landed its first profitable year.

The Alec Bradley house produces seven different lines of cigars, with 47 different individual cigars. The lines are: Tempus, Maxx Traditional, Maxx, Occidental Reserve, Trilogy, Special Blends, and the Spirit of Cuba.

Now that we know a little bit about the company, let’s take a peek at the Tempus line of cigars.