Vitola: Corona- 5.5” x 42 ring gauge
- ~$12
- Purchased from Small Batch Cigar
Background
It was just about a year and a half ago that I first heard of Bespoke Cigars. It was when I was on a trip to California and looking around inside Maxamar. I didn’t know what they were but I picked up the Bespoke Basilica for review late in 2018. I spoke of it as “my first experience with Bespoke” at the time, not really thinking it would take so long to get back to the brand. What can I say? 2019 was a weird year for me.
I heard raves from a friend about the Club Mareva from Bespoke, so I ordered up a 4-pack from Small Batch with the thought that I would review it. Club Mareva was first produced in 2014 “to celebrate the partnership with Cigar Club Mareva, home of the Cigar Smoking World Championship.” I’m still trying to figure out the “sport” of competitive cigar smoking myself…I thought we did this for relaxation. Anyway, the Corona was “recently launched at the opening of the International Private Member Cigar Club “Club Mareva” in Split, Croatia. It has been adopted as the house cigar and bears the club emblem on its ring.”
It was blended for Bespoke by Hendrik Kelner, Jr., and is produced at the Kelner Boutique Factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. It uses Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, a Dominican binder, and a Brazilian wrapper. This review sample is the fourth of this blend that I have smoked. If you can’t get these at your home shop, try Small Batch Cigar. They were sold out at the time of this writing, but should have them back in stock soon.
Prelight
The banding on the Club Mareva is elegant and somewhat simple. It uses a double-band that could really just as easily have been a single band. The main band has a circular “coat of arms” that is the Club Mareva emblem—a bird of some sort with two heads. It is rendered in gold foil on a solid black background. Additional trim lines and artwork on the band are also all in gold foil. The secondary band is tucked up under the first and has the blend name, a solid trim line at the bottom, and what appears to be a signature, although I can’t even begin to read whose it is.
The wrapper was a medium-brown, almost peanut butter color. It had a fair bit of oiliness and an aroma that mixed light sweet hay, a touch of earth, and some woodiness. The foot was a fold-over and the cap was finished with a small pigtail. At the foot, I got a stronger earthiness, along with a sharp cedar note.
The prelight draw was very good and had flavors of wood, molasses, and natural tobacco.
Flavor
The Club Mareva fired up quickly and easily with a medium-plus bodied smoke that had sharp cedar notes, sweet bread, and earth up front, along with copious amounts of red pepper heat on the nose and decent black pepper spice on the palate during the finish. The first third continued on sweet and rich and peppery.
Getting into the second third, I found the Club Mareva getting sweeter with a more dominant bread flavor as the woody notes faded into the background. There was still plenty of pepper on palate and nose.
As the last third started, I noticed that the bread notes were diminishing and some nice citrus notes were coming into the mix, while the pepper was spicier than ever.
Construction
I had a very good draw and solid ash. The burn line went a little sideways, but nothing too serious.
Value
Very good cigar and a price tag not out of reach for most people, so good value.
Conclusions
The Club Mareva ended up living up to the hype that I was expecting, especially after letting the last few sticks sit in my humidor for a month or so. It was rich and complex with more pepper than you might expect from a Dominican blend. The only thing I have against it really is that it didn’t last longer…but then again, that’s the Corona format for you…in a really great blend it will leave you wanting more.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
