Cigar Geeks Geek Critique
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Cigar Geeks Rating
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Welcome to another Cigar Geeks Critique of a vitola provided to us by our friends at The Costa Rica Cigar Store. Up for review this time is the Maxum Edmundo. A special thanks goes out to Mike from The Costa Rica Cigar Store for making this happen.
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This cigar was enjoyed with Diet Coke
Pre-Light: 18 Points of 10 Possible
A thick cigar with a dark, oily wrapper and a few white-colored veins that stand out against the darkness to impose an interesting design. Cap was nicely made and cut easily. Cigar was firm, medium in weight with no soft spots apparent. Wrapper smelled pleasantly sweet. Cold draw tasted of unsweetened black tea.
Lighting and Burn: 13 Points of 15 Possible
Initially sparked up quite easily and produced lots of white smoke. Never had to relight it again.
First 1/3 – Steady cool burn with a very solid, single white ash lasting 30 minutes and 1.5" until the first drop! One small portion of the wrapper failed to burn, but the rest of the cigar burned evenly. Once the ash fell, the lone leaf was easily clipped off.
2/3 Mark – Continued steady burn with a single ash, a bit grayer now, lasted 25 minutes and 1.35" until dropping. Burn was relatively straight.
Last 1/3 – Burn rate was more rapid with no long ashes. Burned much hotter at this point.
Construction: 25 Points of 30 Possible
Draw on this cigar was nearly perfect the entire time. The wrapper had a small burn issue on one side only early on, but that was easily corrected. At about the halfway point the wrapper split about 1" near the cap (not near the burn) but fortunately the cigar was rolled tightly enough where this did not affect the draw. The only real problem was the final third where the entire cigar became extremely soft (almost mushy), lost some of its shape and burned too hot.
Flavor and Aroma: 30 Points of 45 Possible
From the sweet smell of the wrapper pre-lighting, I was surprised that there was never much sweetness at the beginning of this smoke. The first 1/3 was medium in strength and kind of dull. Had some notes of leather and dried fruit (like black cherry) and dry smoke. The 2/3 mark picked up in flavor and intensity, and that's when this cigar became interesting. More black cherry, leather, some salty-nutty characteristics and toast. Some sweetness finally emerged in the last third of this cigar, with distinct flavor of marzipan (almond paste), black cherry and red wine. The cigar also developed into a richer, medium-full bodied smoke at the end. I ended up nubbing it as this was the best part of the smoke!
Summary
The fact sheet that accompanied this cigar stated it was a 52 ring. Right away you notice that it is much bigger. Measuring and comparison to other cigars revealed it to be a 56 ring. Overall I would characterize this smoke as a medium to full bodied smoke with dryer characteristics, not much complexity at the start but a surprisingly better ending. I can see why the manufacturer recommends pairing this with a single malt scotch. It was noon when I smoked mine so I had to pass on that suggestion. . . maybe next time!
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(2 Review(s))