Tag Archives: macanudo

June 7, 2026 · 8:59 am

El Mago, West Tampa and Macanudo Cigars

This week we took a little trip up to the finger lakes region of New York State for a wedding.  There are ZERO cigar shops in that area, we were on the middle finger of the lakes, Seneca.  I was concerned that the Glamping property we booked was no smoking, but quickly cleared that up with the host, and I was able to enjoy some cigars at the firepit. We liked the glamping thing, although I can imagine it might be less attractive if the weather hadn’t been perfect!  Running to the bath house in the middle of the night in the rain would have been less than ideal.  We had a good trip. But you come here (I suppose) to read about cigars, and I smoked a few. 

 

First up is the El Mago Mago Vice, which is a Smoke Inn exclusive.  One of those links goes to Smoke Inn’s sales page.  I don’t get any commissions or anything, not that I haven’t tried!  This is a 6″ x 54 toro, with a San Andrés wrapper, Habano binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa.  I haven’t had an El Mago cigar that wasn’t really good yet, I was looking forward to this one.  I got this in a sampler from Smoke Inn, by the way.  I have to point out the band on this, it’s really nice!  It has no impact on the cigar really, but it’s quite the piece of art.  I’d smoke this one again! I noted flavors of unsweetened dark chocolate.  I love dark chocolate, but it triggers migraines so I avoid it, which is why I love finding cigars that remind me of that (the cigars don’t give me migraines).  I recently saw that a local shop has El Magos, while they won’t have this one, I hope to grab a Disco or two one of these days.  Great cigars.  

 

Next up was the new Macanudo Ecuador Shade Robusto.  This is the same blend as the Macanudo Sumatra that I featured last week, only with an Ecuador Shade wrapper: Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers with a U.S. Broadleaf binder. The ones I smoked are 5″ x 50 with a box press. The standard Macanudo has a U.S. Connecticut wrapper and a Mexican binder, and we all know that it’s a very mild cigar.  I have a couple in the humidor, but I haven’t smoked one in years.  This one has a little bit of a punch.  It’s smooth and nutty, it’s not the very mild shade Mac we are accustomed to.  My tastes lean toward the Sumatra out of the two, but this Ecuador Shade is a perfectly serviceable smoke.  I’d smoke it again.

 

Finally, after driving home yesterday I hit the porch with a West Tampa Tobacco Chef Rick.  When I posted this on Instagram/Facebook I accidentally typed Chef Tick, which Ricky called me out on.  It might have been fat fingering on the phone keyboard, or predictive text changing what I typed, or maybe my Lyme Disease kicked in, not sure.  I fixed it, that was embarrassing!   This is the third cigar, likely last, in the Cook Book series, which included the Boliche Blvd, and the Devil Crab.  It has a H2000 wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed binder and Nicaraguan fillers from the Condega, Estelí, Jalapa and Ometepe regions. It is made at Tabacalera Pages de Nicaragua S.A. which also makes cigars for Crux and Lure cigars.  The cigar has a savory tang, and has some earthiness and maybe a subtle sweetness. I enjoyed it and many thanks to Dan of West Tampa for gifting me this cigar!  

 

That’s all for today.  After a long weekend, I have a few chores to do today around the house, and then it’s back to work to catch up tomorrow.  I liked having a two day work week last week a little too much!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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May 31, 2026 · 9:42 am

Sobremesa Brulee Tapa Negra and New Partagas and Macanudo Cigars

When I saw Steve Saka a couple weeks ago at the Smoke-Onos he handed me a couple of his new Sobremesa Brûlée Tapa Negra, a shade cigar with a sungrown Nicaraguan Habano leaf covering the last couple inches of the cigar. This is very similar to the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta, which was based on the old JR Cigars brand,  La Escepcion, I think, although I cannot confirm this memory!  I remember seeing the Cabinettas rolled at the Joya factory in 2011, and smoking the first lanceros there on that trip. I was just talking about that cigar with Selim Hanono (currently with Carrillo, then with Drew Estate), who asked for the Lancero and they made it originally just for him). Steve handed me two Corona Gordas.  I never lose cigars, don’t ya know I lost one of these somewhere.  Craig G, was it in your car?  If it was, smoke it, I tried to give it to you anyway! I swear I didn’t leave it on purpose.  If I dropped it someplace, I hope whoever found it appreciates it!  The Corona Gorda is 5 5/8″ x 48, which is a nice size. It’s also going to be available in a toro. I like the Brûlée and Brûlée Blue well enough, they are exceptional shade cigars.  This takes it to another level.  Besides the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper on the head of the cigar, it has an Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper, Mexican Matacapan negro de temporal binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Condega, Pueblo Nuevo criollo, La Joya Estelí C-98 and Estelí hybrid ligero.  This is a really tasty cigar!  It starts out with an unexpected load of pepper!  It smoothes out after a bit and continues with a citrus tang, which I’ve been experiencing a lot lately. Not complaining. I smoked this past the band because I wanted to see if burning the “Negra” part made a difference, and it was really hard to tell as the flavor changes down that far anyway.  I can’t wait to smoke more of these, I wish I hadn’t lost one, and I’ll buy a couple when they hit stores, even though they will be pricey.  Yet another excellent cigar from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust! 

 

Things got a little busy around here, which gave me an opportunity to smoke some robusto size cigars.  General Cigars recently send a bunch of their new releases, most of which were robustos.  First up is the Partagas Y Nada Mas Cibao.  This is the second in the Nada Mas line, last year featured the Santiago made by William Ventura.  This time they went to La Isla, the factory that also make some of my favorite La Sirena cigars. I think it’s interesting that General Cigars, who has an enormous factory in Santiago, is outsourcing so many different brands now days.  I suppose it’s keeping things interesting.  This Y Nada Mas Cibao has an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, a Sumatra binder, and Habano Vuelta Abajo (HVA), Criollo, and Pennsylvania Broadleaf fillers. I assume some of these tobaccos are from the Cibao valley in the DR.  I have to say that I found this cigar eerily similar to the new La Gloria Cubana, in that it had, once again, a strong citrus tang. Burn and draw were great, and it was quite satisfying.  It was very good, I liked it a lot, and at $8-$10 it’s a great buy. 

 

I expected to sit down with another cigar yesterday afternoon, but I was asked to take a drive, so I changed plans and grabbed a Macanudo Sumatra robusto. It was only an hour drive, so I picked the robusto over a toro, and I only has one of the toros I planned to smoke, so choosing something I have more than one of makes sense to me when I’m outside of my normal smoking area.  Too many things can go wrong car smoking!  Macanudo has two new lines, an Ecuador Shade and a Sumatra, saying they are getting “back to their roots”.  These two lines really couldn’t be further from the mild Macanudos that were made in Jamaica and the DR, which had US Connecticut wrappers and San Andrés binders.  These new blends are made in Esteli, Nicaragua, they have Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and a U.S. Broadleaf binder, the only difference between the two cigar is the wrapper.  I selected the Sumatra version, I haven’t tried the Ecuador Shade version yet.  This was a nice cigar, although the ash was a little flakey for a car cigar.  Listen, when your wife asks you to go somewhere with her,  and says you can smoke a cigar on the way, in her car, you know you have a keeper.  This cigar tasted like it had a Sumatra wrapper.  Some call the flavor “yuck”, I think of it as a hard candy sweetness, something your grandmother always had, but I can’t put a name to it.  I like it.  I actually might smoke the two side by side, but I’ll need to smoke the Shade alone to establish a base line.  The Sumatra isn’t your mild Macanudo, it was really very good! 

 

That’s all for today. I’m not sure what next week’s post will be about, I’m going to a wedding in New York State, and the cigar shop I planned to visit has closed.  I’ll attempt to plan ahead.  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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June 15, 2025 · 9:51 am

Partagas, Macanudo and El Rey Del Mundo Cigars

We have a General Cigar Company centric post today.  General Cigar is kind enough to send me samples of their new stuff from time to time, the curious thing about all these new releases is that I rarely see them on retailers shelves for some reason.  Now, I don’t get out much, and my sample size is pretty small, but it doesn’t seem like a lot of these get a lot of traction.  I can pull out a handful of Macanudos and Partagas cigars from my humidor that most people probably have never heard of or seen. Many of them are really good cigars too, it’s a little bewildering.  I should stop biting the hand that feeds me. I’ll have to do a vintage GCC cigars post one of these days.  Anyway, the latest batch of new releases included new lines from Partagas, Macanudo and El Rey Del Mundo. We’ll start with the Partagas.  Interestingly, the Partagas Y Nada Mas Santiago, isn’t made at General’s factory in Santiago, perhaps that’s what the name alludes to?  It’s made by William Ventura. I’ve not liked a great many cigars I’ve smoked made in this factory. This cigar was a pleasant surprise.  It has a Habano 2000 wrapper, Sumatra binder and a filler blend of Piloto, Corojo, Ecuadoran something and Broadleaf.  I really liked this cigar, it had a toasty spice kind of thing going on.  I smoked a few of these and would be interested in trying the toro and gordo sizes, although I think the 5″ x 50 robusto size burned a good long time. 

 

Next up was the Macanudo Gold Label Limited Edition Torpedo. This is a 6½” x 52 torpedo, with a Connecticut Shade (Capa Especial) wrapper, a Mexican binder, and a filler blend of Mexican and Dominican tobaccos.  The wrapper and binder are lower priming tobacco, second priming for the wrapper.  The first one of these I tried a couple weeks back was a dud, it refused to burn for some reason.  The second one I smoked yesterday was perfect, as 99% of the Macanudos I’ve smoked in my life have been.  It was a good smoke.  It wasn’t overly mild, it had some flavor, it was a little nutty, a little creamy. I guess it’s a Macanudo with the strength bumped up a notch. It was a very pleasant smoke, one that would be good in the morning with coffee.  Speaking of that, it’s midway through June and it hasn’t yet been warm enough to have that morning cigar yet, and that annoys me! 

 

El Rey Del Mundo is a brand that was in my rotation back in the 90’s.  I smoked a lot of the tissue wrapped Rectangulars, and I had one a few years ago and it was still really good.  I think JR Cigars/Santa Clara might be a little peeved that General is taking this brand national and they (JR Cigars/Santa Clara) had an exclusive on this for many years.  There was a size that was named after JR Founder Lew Rothman’s wife, the Flor de LaVonda, with was a pyramid size. I think Lew had a lot to do with the brand.  The El Rey Del Mundo Appointment is a nw cigar made at the HATSA factory in Honduras.  The wrapper is Julio Eiroa’s Cameroon seed grown in Honduras, with a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan and Ecuadoran fillers.  The Partagas also has Ecuadoran filler, with no mention of varietal, which I find odd.  Anyway, it would be hard for me to imagine a cigar burning better than this one did!  All the tobaccos burned at exactly the same rate, leaving the ember flat and the burn straight. For a cigar under $10, this is a real winner.  The flavor was on the savory side, with some wood, spice, and a little sweetness. I really enjoyed it, and the 5″ x 50 robusto smoked for well over an hour.  This is another cigar I’ll look for on the larger sizes.  

 

That’s all for today. Happy Father’s Day. I have my traditional Father’s Day cigar lined up, an Esperanza Para Los Niños from 1999, now 26 years old! The Esperanza Para Los Niños project is mentioned in this Cigar Aficianado article (linked).  These still smoke well, at least the one I smoked last year did!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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April 20, 2025 · 9:23 am

Some Macanudo and Punch Cigars

I wasn’t even really thinking that I only smoked Macanudo and Punch cigars for this week’s post, it just sort of happened that way!  I was really impressed with the Macanudo Emissary España last year, it’s really good, and on the stronger side for a Macanudo.  It has tobacco grown in Spain, and the new one, the Emissary France, believe it or not, has tobacco grown in France! The tobacco cultivated in the Mugron River Valley, where it gets an Atlantic sea breeze.  Emissary France has an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper (10-Year Aged), a USA Broadleaf Binder (10-Year Aged), and a filler blend composed of Dominican Piloto (10-Year Aged), USA Broadleaf (8-Year Aged), Brazilian Arapiraca (7-Year Aged) and French (4-Year Aged). This was a really interesting cigar, another Macanudo that’s up my alley.  It’s bold, it has a lot of espresso, and a hint of Mesquite.  Very interesting and entertaining!  The last few weeks cigars have been more therapeutic than usual, an

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d this one, although too short at 5″ x 50, was a hit.

 

In the spirit of the season, I finally completed an experiment.  Back in March of 2020 I found a Macanudo 1968 that had been inadvertently left out and was on the dehydrated side. It measured only 35% on the Humidimeter.  I labeled it with the date and humidity, and stashed it in a corner of one of the humidors. I hate to complain, but it actually took me a while to find it, I had forgotten which humidor it was i

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n.  This  cigar was from a box that I was given in 2011 when I went to tour General Cigar’s operations in Santiago.  I might still have one floating around somewhere, I don’t think this was the last one.  Anyway, I took a Humidimeter reading and it was right around 60% so I lit it up yesterday while watching a movie. The Macanudo 1968 was probably the first of the stronger Macanudos, so I wasn’t worried it had aged out, more concerned with the dehydration.  It actually smoked really well, tasted like an older cigar, mature, with some spice.  It shows that resurrecting a cigar is possible, and probably didn’t take 5 years, I just kept forgetting about it!

 

Let’s move away from Macanudo and on to one of it’s stablemates, Punch.  Punch is an old Cuban brand, with roots in the English market.  So it stands to reason they would come out with seasonal releases with Chinese themes.  It was food for a bit, then fireworks. This year’s is the Bottle Rocket. It comes in a single size ,  a 4½” x 50 figurado. It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, a Nicaraguan Estelí binder, and Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran fillers.  I have enjoyed ll of the cigars in Punch’s lunar new year series, and they are priced well.  I was in The Wooden Indian Tobacconist yesterday grabbing a few cigars (sadly they were sold out of the WIT60, their 60th anniversary cigar made by Espinosa), and I saw the Bottle Rockets and they really are packed with a stick attached, my samples were sans stick.  My notes said “tasty little bugger”, full bodied, loads of cocoa and a deceptively long burn time.  I think I got over an hour out of this one. Another winner from Punch.

 

While at the Wooden Indian I grabbed a Punch Dad’s Home Movies and smoked it last night while not watching home movies. This is another perplexing branding theme for Punch.  Every year ahead of Father’s Day they come out with some k

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hy themed cigar, this was last year’s and I’m just now getting around to trying it.  I was especially critical of the “Dad Bod”, hated the name, the stupid necktie band, and samples I had were mostly damaged.  I had one last week and it about fell apart. This one is more my speed. It’s a 6″ x 50 box pressed toro, made in Honduras with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and not a hint of Honduran tobacco!  This one started out with a dry cocoa powder flavor, then sweetened slightly.  I’ll tell you what, for under $8 you could do a lot worse, I quite enjoyed this one.  The branding is less egregious than the Dad Bod (which won a HalfWheel packaging award, go figure). 

 

That’s all for today. If you’re given to celebrating the holy days this time of year, I hope they are enjoyable! Don’t forget to check the Flatbed Cigars Daily Deal on the left sidebar (or on their page), there’s always a great deal on some great cigars. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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November 3, 2024 · 9:29 am

A Special Blackbird Cigar and Some New Macanudos

I had the opportunity to purchase some cigars a few weeks in advance of their release thanks to Tyler Caldwell at Smokingpipes.com.  I met Tyler a few years ago at the Stillwell Star release event at Low Country Pipe & Cigars in South Carolina.  I hung out with him again at the last PCA show I attended, super nice dude.  He had a hand in blending the new Blackbird Cigars Flamingo, which is a Smokingpipes.com exclusive.  You may recall that Smokingpipes.com (Low Country is their retail outlet) is owned by Laudisi Enterprises, and recently acquired Caldwell Cigars (Tyler Caldwell/Caldwell Cigars? No relation, but it’s a bit funny!).  They have a great shop if you find yourself in the Myrtle Beach area.  Anyway, the cigar is called the Flamingo, has a pink band and a really nice hat if you’re a hat guy. I might have to become a hat guy, they are piling up over here.  It’s a 7″ x 38 lancero format, has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Broadleaf, Nicaraguan and Dominican in the filler. That’s a lot going on in a Lancero!  It’s made in Jonas Santana’s Blackbird factory in the DR. I like Jonas, I like his cigars, this should be a treat. If I had a complaint, it would be that it’s too short!  This is a delicious cigar, it’s bold, has some warm, savory spices, and some light floral notes in the background. I smoked a couple of these and really enjoyed them. Smoking time was around an hour and fifteen nimues, and I was careful not to oversmoke it, but it was so darned tasty I might have smoked faster than usual (puffs per hour, not overdrawing).  Jump on these when they become available later this month, all parties involved did a great job. Thanks to Tyler for allowing me to purchase cigars early! 

 

I recen

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tly received some new Macanudo cigars from the folks at General Cigar Co., and I was excited to try them.  The first one that jumped out at me was the Macanudo Emissary España Limited Edition Torpedo. I really thought the Emissary España in the robusto was a great cigar, not at all what one expects from a Macanudo. This cigar has a U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf Claro wrapper, aged 5 years, a Nicaraguan Condega binder, aged 6 years, with Dominican Piloto (aged 5 years), Colombian (aged 5 years), Nicaraguan ASP (aged 6 years),

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and Havana seed tobacco grown in Riolobos, Spain (aged 10 years).  The wrapper is described as Claro, but I thought it was pretty dark, not maduro dark, but not light).  The torpedo is 6″ x 52.  The Broadleaf is apparent, it’s loaded with cocoa, and I get a citrus tang. It’s a heavy cigar, recommended unless you’re expecting a Macanudo Legac

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y or Inspirado experience. If you don’t go stronger than than an Inspirado White, this one might be troubles

ome.  Great cigar, I really like it, and want to try it in a Churchill. 

 

The Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll series has eluded me until the No. 3, which means they didn’t send me No.s 1 and 2.  I wouldn’t have gone looking for these, being a non-drinker I don’t hunt down cigar with any liquor associations.  I will try them when they are presented to me, but I certainly have no frame of reference for anything alcohol related.  These aren’t flavored, of course, but have tobacco that is aged in French Oak barrels that was used for Flint Knoll’s 2021 Royal Appointment Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s offered in a beefy 7″ x 52 double corona they call a “Churchill”.  The blend is Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, US Broadleaf binder and Brazilian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Dominican fillers.

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  I only smoked one sample so far, I had a strange time with it.  Flavors were delightful, it had some sweet wood and baking spices.  Perhaps this needed to be a little bit dryer, is alternated between producing rich mouthfuls of smoke, to requiring double/triple puffs to get anything. very strange. At some point I’ll dry one down a little and give it a try, fr

om what I could tell it was a delicious, sophisticated, medium bodied cigar.  Folks with better palates than I  rave about it. 

 

That’s all for today. I have some cool plans for this coming weekend, involving hockey, cigars, a cigar factory and a farm.  Guesses can go in the comments, maybe I’ll have a giveaway for a correct answer! Next Sunday’s post may be a little late. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig 

 

 

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