Vitola: Churchill- 7” x 48 ring gauge
- MSRP $10.99
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
While I don’t think it was officially stated, the Macanudo Inspirado line is one way General Cigar Company has tried to breathe new life and a sense of innovation and experimentation into a brand that had been seen to many to be firmly rooted in “old school” cigar ways. To that end, the line has been a way for a very familiar brand to showcase blends that are far different than the Café, Maduro, 1968, and even Gran Cru lines of old.
The latest release in the line came in May 2020 with the release of the Macanudo Inspirado Brazilian Shade, a limited-edition line that was meant to bring together “masterful blending with expert agronomy for a one-of-a-kind smoking experience.”
It started with a Connecticut Shade wrapper leaf grown in the tropical Bahia region of Brazil, according to rigorous specifications. Under that are a Mexican San Andres binder and a special mix of fillers, including Cubita—a sungrown leaf grown on a one-acre piece of land in the Mao region of the Dominican Republic—Dominican Piloto Cubano, and Nicaraguan Jalapa.
They made these in the Churchill size I’m smoking today and a Toro, each of which was shipped in 10-count boxes. I bought mine at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I’ve smoked at least two before this review sample.
If you have trouble finding these locally, our sponsor Small Batch Cigar does carry them.
Prelight
The box for these is a very colorful play on the colors of the Brazilian flag, with plenty of gold and green, along with touches of blue. I think it’s fun and playful…I like it…and wish the design from the box translated better to the band, which seems a little dull and ordinary by comparison. It’s not bad enough to ding points on prelight for the band, but it’s just a little “blah” compared with the box…or even other Macanudo Inspirado releases, for that matter.
The wrapper leaf is a very nice golden shade that you would expect from Connecticut Shade tobacco. The feel is slightly oilier and slightly more raspy or rough than most Connys I’ve had from Ecuador or USA, though, which is odd. The aroma from the wrapper was mildly earthy with plenty of grassiness. From the foot, I got a mix of barnyard earthiness and wood, with hay being a little bit of an afterthought there.
I clipped the head and tested the draw. It seemed a lot tighter than I normally would consider “normal” and almost “plugged” although that assessment would probably have to wait until I actually applied fire to the foot to fire it up. The cold draw had notes hay and sweet citrus, backed with wood and slight earthiness.
Flavor
And when I did light it up, I found the draw was actually…completely, utterly, and irretrievably plugged, almost like someone folded a leaf or two in half inside the bunch so that no air could get through. I used a Czech pipe tool and tried to open it up, but there are two problems with that…first, the tool only reaches about 2.5 inches into the cigar, so if the plug is further in than that, it won’t matter. Second, did punch through more than one thing that felt like a plug of tobacco leaf…in several different locations, in fact. The last thing I poked through was the wrapper leaf, which effectively ended my attempts to smoke or review this cigar. Which is a shame, because the ones I had before were actually quite tasty. I’ll try to obtain another for review, but this experience will color the desire to do so simply because I might be throwing more money at something than I want to do. If this was one of my “one shot” to impress me reviews, the Macanudo Inspirado Brazilian Shade would have utterly failed. I might give it another chance…
Construction
Really, really bad.
Value
The 2 tough draws I took were not worth $11.
Conclusions
Probably shouldn’t even finish filling this out, but…if I don’t get back to it, there should be a record of just how disappointing this one was because the construction was so tragically bad.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 0/2
Flavor: 0/5
Value: 0/1
Total: 2/10…really should be a “Did Not Complete” but, you know…had to throw a 2/10 review out there because I could.
Three weeks after this attempt to review this blend, I finally picked up another sample and got to the matter of (hopefully) doing a proper review. Let’s give this another try…
Flavor
I’m not going to repeat the “prelight” section except to say it was pretty much the same…except the prelight draw, which was just about perfect.
When I got the cigar fired up, it proved to have an excellent draw that provided plenty of smoke right away, carrying flavors of citrus and hay, along with mild cedar and earth notes. There was some lemon zest on the palate and white pepper on the retrohale, while the finish was very grassy. It started off as very much a mild cigar, although having smoked it a few times, I wasn’t expecting it to stay there. Without going further, I could say this sample already earned about 5 or 6 points more than the previous one did. About halfway through the first third, I did get a tunnel form in the middle of the cigar. It made the draw less than perfect, but not tragically bad.
The second third had a slight increase in body, up to a mild-to-medium range. The citrus notes faded a bit while more earth, hay, and cedar came through. Pepper spice remained on the fringes of the whole thing.
During the final third of the Macanudo Inspirado Brazilian Shade, I got an increase in pepper spice on the palate along with a return of the citrus zest. Earth and cedar notes were relegated to secondary flavors.
Construction
The draw was mostly good, the burn line was even, and the ash was solid.
Value
If you get a good draw, this is a very good cigar and worth the money.
Conclusions
The Macanudo Inspirado Brazilian Shade is a very nice addition to the Inspirado sub-brand, offering a different expression of a mild cigar than the Inspirado White or Macanudo Café. It was flavorful and complex enough to keep my interest the entire way. Obviously, I would caution you to give the cigar you pick out the “pinch test” to see if you can detect any obvious blockages before purchasing…or purchase and smoke immediately at a reputable brick-and-mortar shop. Most of them will replace a plugged smoke as long as it hasn’t left the building.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
