meanoldbuzzard

I received two of the maduros as a part of a sampler pack from mikescigars.com. Oddly enough, they were listed as Connecticut's on the traveler and the website....not that I am at all complaining haha. I left them to sit in the humidor for two weeks or so, sort of absent-minded as I had never heard of them, and they honestly didn't look all that appealing. The wrapper color was pretty nice, at a Hersheys chocolate brown, but that was where the compliments on appearance would end. The wrapper was quite thick, and rough to the touch—veins galore. It wasn't just toothy either, the thing had a set of choppers that could open a can of tuna. It was probably the ugliest smoke I have ever seen that wasn't labeled "cheroot".

The aroma of the unlit stick wasn't anything special either—mild grassy notes, some sweet tobacco from the maduro wrapper, and almost a bit of a musty/barnyard note that hinted toward the tobacco having a bit of age on it? I found it highly unlikely, as the thing looked almost identical to a dog turd. So I clipped the dicey cap, and took my ritualistic series of prelight draws. The prelight draws revealed more dense, but much sweeter dark tobacco notes. I'd had enough, it was time to light this turd.

I toasted and lit the "turd", not expecting a whole lot. Man, was I wrong. The smoke was immediately layered, with...complex notes of grass, sweet and hearty tobacco, just a touch of white pepper on the back of the throat, and what I thought to be a faint hint of ginger maybe? The smoke was the complete antithesis of this cigar's ugly appearance. It was bright and sweet, with some pleasant earthiness and mild leather coming into the second third. The ash was firm and light grey, holding on throughout the first third, and just a little into the second. The second third almost mirrored the first, with very consistent flavors, and balanced draw-to-smoke output ratio. The maduro wrapper had a rich, sweet aroma that somehow justified it's thick, meaty composition. It began to warm up into the last third, but to my enjoyment, revealed creaminess and some darker earthy tones. There was no back of the tongue, cheap stogie bitterness to speak of. It was a hearty, full, richly sweet smoke all the way to the mushy nub, and was in my eyes at least, a diamond in the rough.

I am now very pleased to have another one of these sticks on hand. The thick wrapper means you could chew on it while shoveling snow without worrying about splitting it all to hell, or sit and savor it with the paper and a hot cup of coffee. A very pleasant, satisfying and VERSATILE smoke, for a very affordable and reasonable price.

I would rate this one a SOLID and well deserved 88.