Originally published at Tiki Bar Online.
Mini, 4” x 38 ring gauge / $15.75 for a pack of 4, Burns Tobacconist
The last two Mondays I’ve done short takes on one of Eddie Ortega’s newest releases: the Minis. You can read my take on the Habano (Full Bodied) and Natural (Mild) by clicking on the links. To refresh, these “half-lancero” smokes come 4 to a box, are made by PDR Cigars in the Dominican Republic for Ortega Cigars, and while they are meant to be perfect for 15 to 20 minutes, I have yet to have one last less than 30 minutes. Today I’ll be looking at the last of the 3 blends released: the Maduro.
“Maduro” is such a generic word to use nowadays, in my opinion. Some people mean it as a color description; others use it to describe a process. Either way, every Maduro leaf is not equal to another; I love most cigars that use Connecticut Broadleaf but like Mexican San Andres wrapper less. So what is this Maduro? Don’t know. It was very earthy…quite manure-y…in aroma, while the foot of the stick was sweeter smelling. I clipped the head and gave it a good test draw, coming up with flavors of dark chocolate and earth. Nice, although the draw was a bit tight, something I had noticed in at least a couple previous examples of these.
Before now, I’ve had my suspicions that the filler blend for these three Mini versions was probably as different as the wrapper. Lighting up the Maduro seemed to confirm that, as this was by far the hardest to get lit…again, not the first time I’ve seen that for this blend. Once going, though, it was sweet and earthy on the palate, and have a sharp red pepper bit on the nose. I found the Mini Maduro to be a nice balance of sweet chocolate, earth, black coffee and pepper flavors. It’s probably my favorite blend of the three.
Ever since Eddie announced these, I’ve wanted to grab some – I think they’re going to be a perfect smoke for my winter rotation.