Makers Mark Bourbon Cigar
Size: 6" x 50
Tobacco: Cuban Seed, grown in Dominican Republic
Price: $12.50

Let me say, without preamble, that this cigar is worth purchasing once for the packaging alone. Each cigar comes in a glass tube sealed with Makers Mark red wax (like you find on their bottles of bourbon). I don't know if the wax justifies the hefty price tag, but it certainly makes you feel like you're indulging in a rich man's hobby.

The cigar itself is a novelty cigar that has been "infused" with the aroma and flavor of Makers Mark Bourbon. It is not technically a flavored cigar, because the tobacco leaves are not soaked in bourbon, but they are aged above open bourbon casks and they do indeed adopt the taste and smell of the whisky. I'm not generally a fan of flavored cigars because the flavoring masks the taste of tobacco (and that, after all, is why you smoke cigars in the first place), but in this case I have to make an exception... after all, next to single malt scotch, nothing goes with cigars like bourbon.

The cigar was perfectly constructed, with a great burn, although I was a tad disappointed in what I felt was a light draw.

I'll probably never buy this cigar, because it is overpriced (this one was gifted from Anthony), but I have to admit I was impressed with it, especially since I was afraid it would just be gimmicky: a bad cigar that tasted like whisky. But the Makers Mark cigar was clearly better tobacco and better construction than the one I followed it with -- an Excalibur. & Excalibur is certainly no slouch.