Vitola: Toro- 5.5” x 54 ring gauge
- ~$7.50
- Cigars provided by Miami Cigar & Company
Background
Over a decade ago…2008, maybe 2009, as I recall it, Miami Cigar and Company introduced the Nestor Miranda Special Selection. It was created by Don Pepin Garcia for MCC and was popular for a while before they decided to rebrand everything as the Nestor Miranda Collection, also made by Don Pepin and the folks at My Father Cigars, but featuring 3 (then 4) distinctive blends, few of which were reduxes of the Special Selection blends. In 2019, Miami Cigar announced the return of the Special Selection, at least the Rosado version…although to be honest, when they came out, I could never tell the difference in Rosado and Oscuro by looking at them. Tasting them, yeah, sure…but they were so close in color that you had to take them out of cellophane and outside into sunlight to see any appreciable difference. And if you didn’t have both of them at the same time, you had to depend on what the stores price tag said…because at the time MCC wasn’t barcoding their cigars from the factory.
I also don’t recall there being a massive amount of information provided about varietals for the original release Special Selection, but Cigar-Coop’s review of this release noted it being a Nicaraguan puro with Condega, Estelí, and Jalapa fillers, a Criollo ’98 binder, and a Habano Rosado wrapper. They are available in 3 sizes, including the Gran Toro (6×60), Coffee Break (Rothschild 4.5 x 50), and the Toro I’m reviewing today.
Miami Cigar sent me a couple samples of the Special Selection Toro for review purposes. This is the second time I’ve smoked this size of this re-released blend. If you local store doesn’t carry these, Leaf Enthusiast sponsor, Small Batch Cigar does and will be more than happy to ship them to you.
Prelight
As I noted above, it’s hard to tell the Rosado and Oscuro versions of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection apart. If someone dropped this in front of me, I would take a look at the dark chocolate color, that was just short of “Maduro” really, and say it was the Oscuro version. It’s not, though. The band remains the same as the original release, along with the addition of the MCC logo to the back portion where it’s glued closed. It’s still a clean, modern look, but I still don’t much care for it. I’m not taking away points on prelight because I don’t like it…it’s boring, but doesn’t really detract more than superficially.
The wrapper had an oily feel to it and smelled of leather and cedar and manure. The foot of the cigar was more barnyard with unsweetened cocoa powder and espresso bean notes.
The cold draw after clipping was very good, although the cold flavor was cedar treated with Thompsons Water Seal. Not good, but also I’m not counting against the prelight score since that kind of “chemical” note rarely manifests in the burning of the cigar.
Flavor
The Nestor Miranda Special Selection was a bit of a pain to get fired up, taking so long that the lighter started getting really hot. Not sure if it was the type of leaf being used or the moisture level, but that’s what it is. Once going, though, I got plenty of cedar and dry earthiness up front, with unsweetened cocoa powder, coffee beans, and black pepper backing it up. The retrohale had more earth and coffee bean, with an enhanced pepper heat, more in the red pepper range.
The first third burned pretty quickly and before I knew it I was into the second where I found the earthiness lightening up a bit, allowing more coffee and some floral notes to come through. There was a good amount of cedar still, too.
The last third of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection had an increase in floral notes, topping the coffee bean and cedar, while earth was an afterthought by this time.
Construction
I had a good burn line and draw with ash that built up to half an inch before I tapped off.
Value
The price tag on this is excellent, making it an easy buying recommendation for someone who likes Nicaraguan leaf.
Conclusions
I found the redux of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection to be a good cigar, especially for the price. It didn’t have much in the way of a “wow” factor, but it was solidly good from end to end, displaying just enough complexity to keep my interest. At $7.50 each, it’s a great bargain in today’s market.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
