Macanudo Maduro
Thanks to General Cigar for sending me a few of these to review. My first experience with premium cigars was with the Macanudo Vintage lines. They were mild, simple, well refined, but expensive. I do enjoy the Cru Royal from time to time, but for the most part I rarely smoke Macanudo’s. Armed with fine filtered Florida tap water, I got to smoking…
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Mexico San Andrean
Filler: Dominican, Mexican
Size: Gigante 6 x 60
Price: $7.99
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The wrapper had a toothy and somewhat blotchy appearance, but didn’t have any flaws that I could find. The smell of the wrapper and foot was earthy with sweet notes. The cigar was rock solidly packed. When squeezed, there was no give. Luckily the draw wasn’t too tight. It was a bit snug, but fell just within my tolerance. The pre-light draw had a woody and dark bitter flavor.
The ash held for almost two inches, and the burn required one minor correction.
Flavor:
The first third had a pretty straight forward flavor profile. A nice sweet bitter chocolaty core with some wood and earthiness. A slight spice was present in the sinus and mouth.
The second third kept that dark chocolaty flavor, with a tinge of bitterness and coffee. The spice was sweet and left a tingle in the mouth and sinus. At about the half way point, the earthiness took on a hay or musty tone, if that makes sense. It wasn’t bad, just different.
The last third crept up in strength, maybe upper medium to lower full. The tingly spice worked it’s way to the front of the flavor profile. It didn’t taste like cinnamon but had that cinnamony feel. Dark bitter sweetness, earthiness and some wood fell in line after the spice.
Conclusion:
This was a good medium to full bodied/strength cigar. The flavors were pretty straight forward, but I enjoyed the 1.5 hours it took to smoke. Sure there was no WOW factor, but it wasn’t bad, and I think it met the price point. The only negative thing I can think of is the snug draw. But again, it fell within my tolerance, it could have just been a tad looser. Otherwise, it’s worth a try.