Cigar Review: Nestor Miranda Collection Maduro by Miami Cigar & Co.

Vitola: Corona Gorda
Size: 6” x 46 ring gauge
Price $8.99
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

The story as I remember it went something like this: back in 2009 or so, Miami Cigar & Company introduced the “Nestor Miranda Collection,” a line of cigars blended by Don Pepin Garcia and made in Estelí, NIcaragua. It featured choices of Habano Rosado or Habano Oscuro wrapper leaves, which each imparted a unique flavor, but were sometimes impossible to tell apart, depending on the lighting…and which batch of cigars you might be looking at. I really enjoyed the Oscuro, but was never a huge fan of the Rosado. Later in the life-span of the brand, a Connecticut was added, but as inevitably happens, sales started to slide a bit as newer things hit the market. So Jason Wood, Nestor son-in-law and day-to-day head of the company decided the 25th anniversary year would be a good time to change things up.

In a secret project, he had all new marketing designed and came up with 3 unique versions of the “new” Nestor Miranda Collection. First up is the Connecticut; since it was added just a couple years ago, the blend has not been changed on that cigar. Next up is Habano; to simplify matters, only the Rosado wrapper is now used, but the filler and binder blend has been tweaked to dial up the body a bit from the original Rosado, so now it occupies a place somewhere between the original Rosado and Oscuro. Then there’s the new Maduro…you had me at Broadleaf!

As noted, the Nestor Miranda Collection (NMC) Maduro utilizes a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, around Nicaraguan fillers and binder. It brings back to the Miami Cigar catalog a full-bodied sweetness that was lost at the beginning of this year when La Sirena left the MCC fold and became a separate company. By the time I got around to writing this review, I had already smoked 3 or 4 of this vitola…so I guess the conclusion of this review shouldn’t be in too much doubt.

Prelight

First up, let’s talk about the banding. It definitely is more modern and visible in the humidor than the old NMC marketing was. While I liked the old look, it was a little harder to stand out in the modern humidor with so many things trying to catch your eye. Like it or not, folks, it’s not enough to have a great cigar…you have to get the attention of “Joe Average Cigar Smoker” if you want to see a kagillion of them. You won’t do that with no band or a band that looks like it was printed at Kinko’s. MCC did a good job here in creating a look that is both attractive and unique. Furthermore, each wrapper variety gets a color key in the marketing material. Maduro is red; Habano is green; Connecticut is Blue. Easy to differentiate at a glance.

The Broadleaf wrapper was dark chocolate brown in color and oily to the touch, with a couple veins that bordered on gnarly. The aroma was the expected earth, cocoa powder and a touch of leather. The aroma from the foot was pungent, earthy, and a bit sweet. I clipped the head with my Xikar Xi and got a great draw that tasted of earth, semi-sweet chocolate, and touches of wood and pepper.

Flavor

The NMC Maduro lit easily and evenly, quickly chugging out flavors of cedar, red pepper, and baker’s cocoa. Delving a little deeper there were also notes of anise and espresso bean, the retrohale was full and peppery. Considering that the La Sirena and Tatuaje’s Reserva blends are also made by My Father, using Nicaraguan filler and binder with a Broadleaf wrapper, it’s fair to say, “How different is this blend?” The answer is: it’s got it’s own identity, although you can definitely tell they are related. This is a little lighter in body than most of the others, plus as I went through the first third, I started picking up on other subtle notes that differentiate it, like a definite citrus at one point.

The medium-to-full bodied goodness kept on a-rollin’ into the second third where I encountered a semi-sweet chocolate and deep black coffee flavor. The pepper had subsided a bit, but hadn’t gone away completely.

Through the end of the final third, the NMC Maduro kept providing great Broadleaf sweetness and earthiness, lots of chocolate and coffee, with a resurgence of pepper near the end.

Construction

As with most products that issue forth from My Father’s factories, construction was very good on all the samples of these I’ve smoked.

Value

The price point of just under $10 is very fair on the entire line of Nestor Miranda Collection cigars.

Conclusions

I think Miami Cigar had the right idea on this collection: retire the old cigars, change up the marketing campaign around them, and relaunch with new blends and a whole new attitude. Rather than add yet another line to the very crowded humidor shelves, the NMC as been reinvigorated to be something new and distinctly different. The Maduro expression of the new collection is a great addition to their catalog, providing a great new way to enjoy Broadleaf wrapper…which is something I’m always down for.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10