Tonight, I bring a Tale of Two Maduros:


Montecristo Media Noche Edmundo
Size: 5 x 55
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican
Price: $16.25

I got 4 of these cigars from Paul Shook. They've been aging for 12 months at 67-70% RH. The wrapper seemed a little too dark and uniform in color to be natural, so I did perform the wet finger test (I was so recently burned by a bad Rocky Patel Fire Maduro), but this cigar passed.

This is a very typical Connecticut Broadleaf maduro cigar--full in body, and heavy in flavor, but not very rich or subtle. The flavors taste blunted, sort of bitter/sweet. Once lit, the cigar has aroma like chocolate that picks up traces of coffee flavors at the half-way point.

Construction is excellent, but this cigar is average, not worth the price tag by a long shot.


Arturo Fuente Hemingway Signature Maduro
Size: 6.00 x 47
Tobacco: Dominican Republic
Price: $14.00

I've reviewed this line before, back in May 2008. You can tell just by looking these maduros are definitely the real thing: the wrapper is dark brown and somewhat mottled, not a uniform milk chocolate consistency. And definitely not black!

In fact, at first I wondered if this was the elusive Arturo Fuente Hemingway Maduro or just a Sun Grown Gran Reserva (the bands for both the Sun Grown and Hemingway are identical, with a black ribbon under the AF logo, instead of the standard green ribbon.) But upon smoking, there is a distinct difference in the Sun Grown Cameroon and the Maduro tastes.

These cigars came from my favorite online retailer CigarsDirect

I won't repeat my entire review from last time, but I will say that my experience with these two cigars recently was notably better than last time around:

1. Same flawless construction, with a razor sharp burn.

2. These lasted 90 minutes each, as opposed to just 60 in '08.

3. These cigars had less nuts and coffee and more spice and leather. Still not as full or spicy as the cameroon, but a definite improvement. (It might have been that I paired them with Bruichladdich, a very sea-salty scotch -- think Old Pulteny on steroids).

This was a maduro unlike the Montecristo reviewed above. It is worth the money and the time to invest in smoking it.