Vitola: Lonsdale Refinado- 6.5” x 44 ring gauge
- $9.15
- Purchased at Embassy Cigars
Background
Put this cigar in the category of “sticks I wanted to review in 2015, but never could find until now.” Jose Blanco and Las Cumbres Tabacos introduced the Señorial Maduro at the 2015 IPCPR show in New Orleans. I got a couple samples from him at the show and I really enjoyed them, but the owner at my shop decided not to bring in the brand, based on lackluster sales of the previous release. Sadly, that’s just a fact of life in the cigar biz…not every cigar will sell well in every market, no matter who is behind it or how good it is. I looked when I had a chance, but didn’t find Señorial Maduros on sale until I was out in California in October, at which point I found them at Embassy Cigars in Anaheim Hills. (As a side note, site sponsor Small Batch Cigar does have Señorial Maduro in stock and ready to ship…but they didn’t have any on the shelf in the B&M when I was there.)
Señorial Maduro is made in the Dominican Republic at Tabacalera Palma, the factory owned by Jose Blanco’s cousin, Jochi. They used Dominican Piloto Cubano and Criollo 98 for the filler, a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder, and a Mexican San Andres wrapper leaf.
I have smoked 2 or 3 samples of this blend before today, including another of this same vitola. Both of the Lonsdale Refinado (the one I smoked previously and the one I’m smoking for review) were purchased by me at Embassy Cigars for this review. On a side note, I reviewed this stick a week or so before the news broke that Jose Blanco was leaving Las Cumbres to work as Senior Vice-President with EP Carrillo Cigars; I wish Jose all fortune in the world as he works with this new company, leaving the management of Las Cumbres in the hands of his wife, Emma.
Prelight
After praising the original Señorial release for its packaging, I have heard some criticism of it from other people…but I still like the original design choices. They are original and pleasant. What I don’t like here is the choice to just put “MADURO” in widely spaced letters with varying sizes in the blank “sky” portion of the front of the band. It just doesn’t go with anything else in the band or packaging and just looks “off.” The background behind the oval “city painting” was changed to black and shades of gray; I think they should have just made that change and left the “MADURO” type off…it would have differentiated it enough and looked better. Or maybe changed the foil to silver instead of gold, as well.
The wrapper leaf was a milk chocolate brown that had a lot of oiliness under my finger tips. There were a couple larger veins, but nothing that appeared like it would be problematic. Giving the wrapper a good sniff, I picked up aromas of cedar, cinnamon, earth and dark-roast coffee bean. The foot had a solid earthy aroma with touches of hay and bread. After clipping, the cigar had an excellent draw and cold flavor mixed bread and cocoa powder notes, with a touch of coffee.
Flavor
The Señorial Maduro started off with a medium-bodied smoke that mixed some of the Dominican hay and bread flavors with the Mexican Maduro notes of dark chocolate and red pepper. Overall, a very nice and well-balanced way to start off the cigar. While I was skeptical of the choice to use Mexican wrapper when I first heard about this cigar, it works extremely well, with a blend of earthy and sweet notes playing just about equal parts and balancing out very well. The Dominican leaf brought some graham notes into the mix, as well.
While there was a bit of harshness in the first third, it mellowed and smoothed out as I worked my way into the second third. There was more chocolate flavor, with the graham and earth notes playing supporting role, and pepper spice putting just an accent touch on the whole proceeding.
The last third featured smoke that was thick and oily and full-bodied. The strength was just north of medium and had flavors of chocolate and earth and graham dancing around, with a little pepper hanging on and showing itself from time to time.
Construction
The ash was a little flaky, but nothing extreme. The draw was perfect and the burn line was as even as I would expect from a Maduro wrapper.
Value
The stated price above was a “California price” which is to say about $1 higher than most other places. Even at this price, the experience is well worth it.
Conclusions
I thoroughly enjoyed the Señorial Maduro. It is a very good addition to the rest of the Las Cumbras catalog and probably my favorite thing from them, except for possibly the Señorial 65th Anniversary. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a full-bodied Maduro cigar, but doesn’t want to challenge themselves to a full-strength smoke. It was extremely well-balanced and enjoyable.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
