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Cigar Geeks Geek Critique

Casdagli Cigars Club Mareva Especial Corona Grande
Written by Cigar Geeks Member: Gary (headfirst)

88
Cigar Geeks Rating

Welcome to another Member sponsored Geek Critique generously sponsored by our member Adwinistrator (Ryan).  This was done as a blind review so there were no pre-concieved notions about what anyone was smoking.  The cigar provided for this round is the http://www.cigargeeks.com/cigardb/default.asp?action=showcig&cigar_id=191988">Casdagli Cigars Club Mareva Especial Corona Grande.

In 2014 to celebrate the partnership with Cigar Club Mareva, home of the Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC), Casdagli Cigars launched the Club Mareva Line. Based in a 1500s Venetian building in the heart of the historic city of Split, Croatia, the Cigar Club Mareva is the labor of love of its founder Marko Bilic who designed the interior and hosts cigar smokers there from around the world. Mareva Especial was launched to celebrate the 2016 Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC) finals held at Cigar Club Mareva. All the leaves have been sourced by Hendrik Kelner Jr and aged between 3 to 5 years in the Kelner Boutique Factory (KBF) prior to blending and rolling. The chosen blend was selected by the Founder and President of Cigar Club Mareva Marko Bilic on his visit to the Dominican Republic in January 2016.




Casdagli Cigars Club Mareva Especial Corona Grande

Brand:
Casdagli Cigars
Name:
Club Mareva Especial Corona Grande
Length:
6
Ring Gauge:
42
Country of Origin:
Costa Rica
Filler:
Dominican Republic
Binder:
Dominican Republic
Wrapper:
Brazil
Color:
Colorado Maduro
Strength:
Mild-Medium
Shape:
Corona Grande
Average Member Rating:
4 star rating based on 1 Review(s) (1 Review(s))
This cigar was enjoyed with Fat Tire

Pre-Light: 9 Points of 10 Possible

The mystery cigar looked to be about 6" x 44 ring without doing any measuring and has a medium sheen, a uniform medium brown color that screams "I'm not some cheap date here!", invisible seams, very minor veining, well applied cap with pigtail, and a closed foot.  It's very firm from head to foot, to the point where I'm nervous about an overpack situation.  There was almost no aroma on the wrapper which was the only thing I can knock on the pre-light.

On pigtail heads, I like to pull the tail off and smoke it that way if possible.  The tail pulled off without damaging the cap just fine, but the cold draw was pretty tight so I gave it a straight cut and the cap took it fine, no cracking of the cap or anything.

Lighting and Burn: 14 Points of 15 Possible

The closed foot lit real easy initially as expected.  It took a little bit to get the whole cross section to start burning but it got there before needing to correct the light.  The burn was absolutely flawless from there, straight and slow for such a small ring.  Ash was light grey and held on fine at least an inch at a time.  No relights, and smoke volume was fairly generous.

Construction: 30 Points of 30 Possible

As noted earlier, the cold draw was tight, but that is not uncommon for closed foot sticks.  I noticed that squeezing the head a little helped the draw.  Once the closed foot burned the draw was pretty close to ideal and stayed that way the whole way.  The cap and wrapper both performed perfectly, a hassle free smoke.

Flavor and Aroma: 35 Points of 45 Possible

First Puffs:
This thing was a spicy meatball to start with, got my attention right away on the palate and through the nose.  There's a touch of initial sweetness on the tip of the tongue but the white pepper overtakes it immediately.  Foot aroma is woodsy and floral, very nice to catch a whiff of that now and then.

First Half:
Starting to sense a sour twang that I initially thought was reminiscent of grapefruit. After a few more puffs I'm thinking it's gotta be that Cuban twang.  The spice has backed way down on the palate at 1 inch, but still strong in the nose. Palate now has a bit of tannin and a pretty dominant walnut type finish. The retro now morphs to walnut/floral, nice change.  From there the spice flits in and out of the profile but mostly out.  The strength was mild to medium and body was medium.

2nd Half:
The spice is all but gone, retro has that woodsy floral going and smoke is medium full, real nice.  I was wanting more on the palate than the twang/tannin/walnut notes, a little heavy on the walnut bitterness for my taste.

The smoke got hot in the last 2 inches but backing off on the speed and frequency of each draw helped manage that so I could get down to an inch before ending it.

Summary

Overall this was a fine smoke and I thank Ryan for the opportunity to smoke it.  I'm very curious to find out what it was.  I guessed a Cuban similar in size and head type but I could be way off, the closed foot has me second guessing that it's a Cuban.  Thanks Ryan!


   
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