Partagas Maduro Wow! Wow!.......but what a pity.

[99call]

The pack on this cigar was like rock when I picked it up as a single, and in retrospect, it was a bit of a mistake on my behalf. Quite often you're looking to avoid something thats underfilled, but I really need to turn my brain on for the negatives of overfilling.  There was something so so pleasing to how heavy and lush it was, ultimately it seduced me, and problems ensued. 

Aroma cold is all Partagas, rich roasted pepper, chocolate and twang, and re-assuring amount of manure

Clipped and bugger!, pugged. bamboo skewer poke.....no joy. try to let it sort itself out, but upon lighting it up, the smell, oh my god the smell. I can not miss out on this cigar. The hard spot is the half inch cap, it gets the snip. Its open, yes!! here we go.

1st third.  rich valrhona chocolate and roasted red pepper. not much else and although i'm happy, it's not giving me anything to think about

2nd third.  The chocolate goes quite odd, it turns into a peaty, wet soil, and buttery chocolate ganache. It's like a magic round about of sweet and savoury.

3rd third,   Now this is very very odd. do you know that sweet minerally pea/mange tout flavour. I would never expect a cigar, especially in it's hotter phase to put out a flavour profile which is so clean and fresh and summery. Peanuts are present, not in the flavour of the smoke itself but it's a lingering mouth flavour.

My concluding thoughts are this, what a bloody shame! So much top quality in this cigar, but! this should be a Serie du Connosaissuer No 2.  You could argue age has a massive factor, but this cigar was all over the place. Its speed of burn just didn't support it's format, and it's complexity is massively wasted in how quick it's over. As soon as you light it, your thinking s**t how do i get maximum smoke out of this thing without overheating it, and turning it to mush.

Massive congratulations to HSA for producing such high quality tobacco, but god you're frustrating. This could have been one of the true greats of the next 15yrs.  As it stands it will just be a very very good cigar, that will leave you feeling happy, confused and wanting more.

 

 

[Cep]

Have you smoked more than one of these?

[99call]

10 minutes ago, Cep said:

Have you smoked more than one of these?

Nope, you've got me!

I've heard lots about them being linear and just a one trick pony, as far as being chocolate dominated.  This sample may be against the grain of that, and i'm more than happy to see it as being an exception to the rule.

It was more of a comment to say, I think some tobacco's just don't suit a robusto format. When smoking a dalia or lonsdale format cigar, sometimes I find myself, more than content to just sit with it, with the blue smoke fleeting around like incense, and not too concerned with actually smoking it too avariciously. And this was like that, but all to short, and a frustrating experience.

If you're looking for a Maduro No 1 review thats aware of a broad scope of what its general offerings are, I would say this is probably not it

[planetary]

Nice review.  I agree with your core point -- they're intriguing. 

[99call]

1 minute ago, planetary said:

Nice review.  I agree with your core point -- they're intriguing. 

Hopefully, if its to remain as a solid part of the line up, they can play around with the good aspects of the blend and maybe stretch and shrink it to a corona gorda at the very least. I think it would have a very interesting life as a Partagas marca parallel to a Punch Punch.

[NSXCIGAR]

The one example I had could certainly be described as one-dimensional. Not bland at all, but not very complex. Definitely high quality tobacco going into this one but I put it into the category of a cigar that's not sure what it wants to be.

[alloy]

I made the mistake of buying a box of these. Smoking them was like smoking a nc. One dimensional without much flavor. Will never buy them again.

[99call]

12 minutes ago, alloy said:

I made the mistake of buying a box of these. Smoking them was like smoking a nc. One dimensional without much flavor. Will never buy them again.

Ouch, now that is bad

[canadianbeaver]

Fellas I would put these down for a few years and revisit. We have a box of them and are very pleased with the purchase.

Cohiba Maduro are a favorite of ours, but they are 2007-2010 to make us jump with delight.

We tried the new PM's when they came in, out of curiosity and we thought the same as you did on some points, but on others, saw potential good stuff.

CB