Wrapperless Taste Test. Maduro 5 Genios V Cohiba Robusto

[Colt45]

» What I would love to do is take a Cohiba Robusto, take off the wrapper and

» apply a Maduro wrapper. I will attempt this when we have some Magicos come

» in. I will then apply the Cohiba Robusto wrapper to the Magicos.

The mad scientist......

[stever]

Great read, and fascinating results! Looking forward to your future experiments.

Herr Doctor, ven vill you be summoning Igor?

[log1k]

wow great work Rob

[Mel]

» Really interesting, thanks! Wouldn't it have been a bit easier to take a

» knife and cut the wrapper at the half way mark and then just peeled off

» the first half though?

You tell him mate. Rob's high powered amazing brain is a thing to behold. Smart as a tac and dumb as a coal bucket all at the same time.;-)

I have argued for some time now that the wrapper is not a significant factor of flavor. I am reconsidering that opinion however. The other day I had a Punch SS#2 that the wrapper came off so I put on a Rocky Patel Maduro Vintage 1992. It was a different cigar but I did like it.

[Mr.T]

Bravo..Bravo..encore, encore!! That was great and truly a delight to read. Is there no end to his genius

[El Presidente]

» You tell him mate. Rob's high powered amazing brain is a thing to behold.

» Smart as a tac and dumb as a coal bucket all at the same time.;-)

»

As I repeatedly tell Lisa "....only the mediocre are always at their best" ;-)

[gacigarman]

This is fantastic stuff! Thanks for the great information.

[88keys]

Brilliant job Rob. It's great to have someone who has unlimited access, unlimited funds, and unlimited craziness to try stuff like this.

I felt a sense of vindication to read how much you found the wrapper affected the smoke. I have usually read or been told that it doesn't matter and always been sure that it affected my experience a lot. I've smoked a few wrapperless cigars in my life when I couldn't bear to throw away the body after wrecking the skin. They always seemed a lot different.

It was sort of surprising to read you draw a distinction between the EL wrappers which everyone calls maduro and the new Cohiba Maduros. Come to think of it, is this the first time they themselves have called a wrapper maduro? I always thought that the EL wrappers were cooked or processed differently, but you seem to be saying that they're merely darker, higher on the plant, left out a little longer, whatever. I actually have never been thrilled by the dark ELs, and as I think back on them the ones I enjoyed the most were the lightest ones (Monte Robustos '00 which were just a little darker chocolate). If you say the new line is a completely different product, it gives me more of an urge to try them.

[Well Armed]

This is by far the most interesting post I have ever read - EVAR! Great job Rob. It takes a lot of cigars and guts to pull this off. You are a scientist!

[El Presidente]

So how much flavour does the wrapper impart? This is a question which has dogged me and many others. With the arrival of the Cohiba Maduro 5 series, the question was also raised as to how similar the filler was to say a Cohiba Robusto or Cohiba Siglo VI?

I decided to try and kill two birds with one stone. I selected a Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios as my Maduro 5 example and the Cohiba Robusto (07). I selected the Cohiba Robusto because I think that its core flavour closer resembles the Maduro 5 Genios than the Cohiba Siglo VI.

Yesterday I smoked both the Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios and the Cohiba Robusto fom the same samples (box) as todays test. I took significant notes in order that I could legitimately compare wrapper on and wrapper off.

To test further the difference, at the final half of the wrapper off test, I re-applied the wrapper of each cigar for the final section of the cigar.

Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios

I have come to love this cigar in the short time that it has been with us. Yesterdays cigar was simply a medium bodied chocolate/cocoa stick and there is simply no other way to describe it. The Chocolate notes are intense. The cigar is smooth but also has a mid palate intensity which is enticing. Ken does a good review here and I don't disaggree. [link=http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/board_entry.php?id=57539#p57539]Link[/link]

Removing the wrapper is a simple task. It is a supple oily wrapper of the highest order. Once you remove the wrapper the smell at cold is all tobacco. No sweet highlights at all. Draw is perfect.

Test draw on the lips still reveals a cocoa bent but nowhere near as intense as when the wrapper is on. Fired up the foot and the intensity appears fuller than the cigar yesterday with the warpper on. This surprises me. This cigar is now medium full. I let the cigar find its feet which did not take long. Big mouthfeel, chocolate and charred wood core (I never noted the charred wood significance previously), good white pepper through the nose. Some real forest floor flavours developing...mushrooms, wet wood. Overall "rougher" than yesterdays example, not as rounded and significantly less sweet.

Even without a wrapper this is an excellent cigar. Real body and significant complexity. Balance is lacking as I am seeing more rough edges, more feral behavior but they are still enticing. still a chocolate core but if on a supermarket shelf it would be called "Choclate BBQ Log" The burn't wood characters and mushrooms really shine through.

So now it is time to re-apply the 5 year aged Maduro wrapper. Easier than I anticipated. It took a while for the burn to correct with the looser applied interloper but....what a difference it made! Immediately the cigar becomes balanced with introductions of cream, cocoa and a sweetness on the lips. The body of the cigar also appears to now be strictly medium. Impossible surely....but lie I not. The impact of the wrapper has changed the whole perception and flavour delivery. By taking the edge off the burn't wood...by providing a stark contrast it has effectively added 2+2 and come up with 5....a whole new dimension.

If this test on the Cohiba Maduro 5 has done anything it has purged any doubts that this cigar will age beautifully. The core, the heart, the guts, the balls of this cigar are there in spades but "hidden" by the significant influence of the wrapper.

My subjective estimate is that the Maduro wrapper on the Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios contributes 40% to the flavour of the cigar. This is far and beyond what I would have thought possible as it flies in the face of the actual physical %. However, its impact is not so much a distinct one off flavour....but how it's addition affects the entire interplay and balance of the cigar.

Cohiba Robusto

I could tell this cigar from any other Robusto within three draws. We love each other :-P . I don't know how many Cohiba Robusto's I have had in my life but we are counting in the thousands.

Yesterdays wrapper "on" example was classic mid body with streaks of Cohiba grass, honey, cream and a hint of cocoa.

So today I removed the wrapper which was a classic Cohiba hue, light tan, supple and oily. Smell at cold is all tobacco.

I fired up the binder/filler and was left in no doubt that this was a high end cigar with plenty of white pepper through the nose.

Lets rule out one thing right now. The fillers/blends between the Maduro 5 Genios and the Cohiba Robusto are not identical. The Binder/filler of the Cohiba Robusto shows absolutely no cream or chocolate notes. The cigar in wrapperless form is mid to full bodied with a core of .....here we go..."burn't/charred wood, grassiness, hints of honey. Again the cigar appears fuller in body than when smoked yesterday but there is no mistaking that it is a Cohiba and a Cohiba Robusto at that.

The dry grass, honey and charred wood continue to dominate the cigar as it should. There are some black coffee notes which get confused with the charred wood but has a bitter sweet edge to it.

What is missing is a rounding out of the flavours. Everything flavour wise appears to "spike" in turn. What is lacking is a ringmaster which brings to the table the Cohiba smoothness. Still an excellent cigar, still without question a Cohiba Robusto.....just one that needs to go to finishing school.

I applied the Cohiba Wrapper just past the halfway mark. The effect was again quite remarkable if not as pronounced as the Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios. The first thing I noticed was the taming of the "burn't wood" characters and the immediate return of smoothness and sophistication. Yet again the wrapper pulled in and re-organised the flavour nuances to achieve a balanced delivery. While certainly smoother and now a shade lighter on the palate, the end result of wrapper application was marked. Subjectively my gut feel is that the addition of the wrapper changed the flavour profile by 20%.