Smoking Jacket Mini Henkie

The cigar industry, much like the worlds of music, entertainment and seemingly other industries, has a small group of people who are so well-known that they become known by their first name or a nickname. The person for whom this cigar is named is one such individual: Hendrik “Henke” Kelner.

Kelner’s career in premium cigars is long and well-documented, most easily summed up as being the founder and longtime head of TABADOM, the facility in the Dominican Republic that is the home of production for Davidoff and its numerous brands, including AVO, Winston Churchill, Zino and others. Beyond that, he has been instrumental in helping to grow the Dominican cigar industry through his involvement with Procigar, which recently named him president ad vitam in recognition of his 32 years of service to the premium cigar industry.

While he left Davidoff in mid-2020, Henke Kelner is still very active in the premium cigar industry, as his children have also joined the business. Hendrik Kelner Jr. operates the Kelner Boutique Factory and produces the Smoking Jacket line of cigars as well as cigars for other brands, while daughter Monika Kelner grows tobacco in the Dominican Republic. Klaas Pieter Kelner, another son, spent several years with Davidoff before opening his own factory, Kelner Cigars, S.A.S., in April 2023.

In 2017, Hendrik Kelner Jr. created a new line of cigars for his Smoking Jacket brand called Henkie—with an I—named for his father and made in the style of what his dad liked in a cigar using tobaccos he favored. That blend featured a wrapper grown by Monika Kelner on her farm in the Cotuí region of the Dominican Republic, while the binder came from the Monte Plata region of the country. The filler contained four leaves: Dominican HVA, Dominicana San Vicente grown in Amina, Kelner Family Reserve habano, and a ligero from Condega, Nicaragua.

Fast-forward seven years, and a second Henkie has been released: the Mini Henkie. It’s a 4 x 46 vitola that gets a new blend. Hendrik Kelner Jr. says that the Mini is more in line with the cigars that his father smokes now, while the original toro was blended to be like the cigars that his father used to smoke.

The Mini Henkie’s blend features an aged wrapper grown by Monika Kelner on her farm in Yamasá, Dominican Republic, and a binder from Cotuî, also grown by Monika Kelner. The fillers include Dominican criollo 98 and San Vicente, along with HVC from Ecuador.

The blend and the packaging were created by Hendrik Jr.’s son, Henrik, and Hendrik Alexander, another of Henke’s sons. The packaging varies slightly from that of the original Henkie, but keeps the signature orange color, which is a nod to Kelner’s birthplace of The Netherlands.

The suggested pricing is set at $8 per cigar and $160 for a box of 20 cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: Smoking Jacket Mini Henkie
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Kelner Boutique Factory
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Yamasá)
• Binder: Dominican Republic (Cotuí)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Criollo 98 and San Vicente) & Ecuador (HVC)
• Length: 4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 46
• Vitola: Petit Corona
• MSRP: $8 (Box of 20, $160)
• Release Date: March 2024
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

From a first glance at the roll, all three of the Smoking Jacket Mini Henkies that I smoke for this review are good-looking cigars. A closer look has me thinking that the band and wrapper leaf don’t coordinate quite as well as I would like, and then I notice some prominent veins in weird spots, like right under the band of the second cigar. The covered foot is also a bit funky, as it looks like there are some stray strings of tobacco on the first cigar, and while some factories really work to fold the tobacco into a tidy covering with the technique of origami, this appears to be more of a smush job on all three. The first cigar is firm, though notably firmer at the head than at the foot, and getting firmer in an almost linear fashion from foot to head. Each cigar tends to be on the firm side but also has a softer spot or two. The foot has aromas of dry leaves, root beer, creamer and orange gummies; while each individual cigar selects a few from that list, the dry leaves are the most consistent selection. The cold draw can lean a touch firm, but all are smooth, and it seems to be due more to the construction than the covered foot. The flavor is pretty tame, almost so smooth and glossy that my taste buds aren’t able to latch onto any specific component. I pick up a bit of oiliness, popcorn or rice cakes, and a heavy, peppery rye.

The first puffs remind me of a habano-seed profile in that it’s a dry flavor with black pepper, dry wood and dry earth that engages the taste buds and nostrils right away. There can be a touch of creaminess found lingering in the background, and while it occasionally has a thickness approaching condensed milk, it is quite mellow and easy to overlook. As the first puffs linger on my taste buds, I feel like I’ve just had a handful of dry Cheerios, followed by some half-and-half, but the two only overlap for a brief moment. A bit of creaminess emerges as a primary flavor, now leading my taste buds to the pepper and wood, while the earth is diminishing a touch. Flavor starts out medium-full before backing down towards medium, while body is consistently medium and strength is mild. Construction is good thus far with a very smooth draw, even burn line, good smoke production and no combustion problems.

Other than that the creaminess dials back a bit and lets the other flavors take the reins, there’s not much change in the Mini Henkie’s profile as the second third gets underway. The earth tastes just a touch richer than in the first third, but there’s also something emerging in the profile that leaves a bit of irritation at the top of my throat, along with a slightly funky flavor. I’m not sure exactly what to call it as it’s not inherently sour, vegetal or chalky, and a pepper sensation masks most of what is being offered, but it just doesn’t taste quite right. In the first cigar, it’s a woody funkiness emerges around the midway point, making me think of taking a bite out of a tree branch. In the second, it’s more chalk and loamy soil, while the third is hardest to pin down. Combustion issues begin to emerge around the midpoint, delivering an all-too-familiar experience of puff, puff, relight. This section closes out with more earthiness and a lingering irritation at the top of my throat. Flavor is medium-plus, body is medium and strength is mild. The draw remains good, the burn line is still even, and when burning, the smoke production is respectable. But combustion problems are quickly derailing the experience and, beginning around the midway point, all three cigars need multiple relights.

The return of some creaminess kicks off the final third of the Smoking Jacket Mini Henke, though not enough to smooth out the earthy base that hits my palate with waves of texture. It seems as if the creaminess and earth are tied together, as when one is more prevalent, the other fades into the background, though neither completely disappears. While the flavor is good, combustion is abysmal, as it feels like I have to keep the cigar in my mouth and actively being puffed on in order to avoid it going out, otherwise the puff-puff-relight experience continues. Somehow the flavor doesn’t seem to be adversely affected, and if anything, the funkiness has been traded for a touch of char, which I’m more than fine with. A sprinkling of black pepper finishes off the cigar as it gets dragged across the finish line like a car with four blown tires. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is mild. The combustion issues persist, while the construction is otherwise fine.

Final Notes

• We like to praise consistency in terms of flavor, but the consistency of combustion issues here is anything but praiseworthy. They start right around the midway point and continue down to the very end of the cigar, with each cigar needing a near double-digit number of relights.
• There’s something about referring to this cigar as a corona extra that feels a bit off to me, as I think of coronas as longer and just a tick thinner, yet CubanCigarWebsite.com, which I refer to for vitola names when not immediately apparent, says this is a corona extra.
• If pressed, I’d be in favor of calling this a half corona or petit corona before calling it a corona extra.
• None of the three cigars hit me with much, if any, nicotine strength.

• The company lists these as a 4 x 46 corona extra. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• KBF is distributed in the U.S. by Casdagli.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 10 minutes on average, a number inflated by the number of relights needed.