I visited a B&M in my home town. They act as a post office too and I needed to ship out an ashtray to someone. Me and the owner started to talk about cigars and he said he received good feedback on the Macanudo maduro petit corona, a 4x42 cigar with a price tag of € 5,50 here in the Netherlands. Now I am not a Macanudo fan, but open minded as I am, I decided to buy one and try it.



I start to appreciate this size more and more. The dark wrapper has some colour differences. The band is nice and simple and the construction feels goof. The cigar smells like straw and charcoal. The predraw I a bit tight and I taste some chocolate.



I taste a spicy and herbal earthy flavour, much stronger than I anticipated. After half an inch the flavors are less strong. I taste a bit more herbs and less earthy flavors. After that I taste wood, quite spicy.



After two thirds I mainly taste herbs, mild bitter and with a little bit of chocolate.



This cigar lasted me for about an hout. The draw is good. I got a lot of smoke and the light coloured ash is firm. The burn is straight. This cigar is full flavoured and medium bodied



Would I buy this cigar again? I’ll pass

Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 6 / 10

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You might think "what, a Macanudo Benji Menendez Master?" but remember, I am from Europe and so the copyrights to the name Partagas are owned by Habanos. Distributer Scandinavian Tobacco Group still wanted to release these cigars in Europe and decided to rename them Macanudo Benji Menendez master series. Normally I would not buy a Macanudo, but I have met Benji Menendez before and had a nice conversation about tobacco with him, the man is a living legend with incredible knowledge so I was really curious to smoke this 6x46 cigar. The cigar is blended with Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco, an American Habano binder and Cameroon wrapper.



I smell a strong Cuban barnyard smell. The band is big and mentions Benji Menendez. The wrapper is chocolate brown and wrinkly with a big vein. The construction feels good but I notice a soft spot under the cigar band. The predraw is fine.



I taste coffee, earth and a hint of cinnamon. The cigar is slightly bitter and dry. The flavors get less intense after half an inch. After an inch I taste wood, an earthy flavor and citrus.



After a third I taste more spices like cinnamon and nutmeg with some pepper in the aftertaste. Wood is still a supporting flavor. Halfway the wood gets a bit stronger but the earthy flavor disappeared. The pepper in the aftertaste is white pepper. After two thirds the cigar gets more spicy.



This cigar lasted me for an hour and a half. The draw is great and I got a lot of smoke. The light colored ash is quite firm and the burn is straight and pretty. This cigar is full flavored and medium bodied.



Would I buy this cigar again? No, I wouldn't for 9 euro

Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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Cohiba, probably the best known cigar in the world with a reputation like no other. Who says Cubans can't do their marketing? So far I liked all Cohibas that I smoked in the past although I just can't seem to justify their price tag compared to other marcas, that I like just as much or even better while their cigars are cheaper. This cigar, a long panatela aka laguito #1, is 7.6 inch long with a ring of 38 and is topped with a small pigtail.



The cigar has a good construction and a mild oily, milk chocolate colored wrapper with lots of thin veins. The predraw is fine, I taste tobacco and raisin while I smell a mild barnyard smell.



I taste some coffee which morphs into smooth leather rather quickly with some earth. The flavors are smooth, not full. The leather and the earth reach a fine balance after an inch and a half.



After a third I also get some spice and a few puffs later I also taste leather with a hint of nuts. Halfway the spice disappears and the leather gets stronger.



This cigar lasted me an hour and twenty-five minutes. I got a good amount of thin smoke. The ash is dark and firm. The draw is great, just like the burn. This cigar is medium bodied and medium flavored.



Would I buy this cigar again? This is a decent cigar but not worth the Cohiba price tag.

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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The Padron 64th anniversary series was released in 1994 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Padron cigars and they have been scoring very good and consistent in the reviews and ratings of the big magazines. I smoked quite a few Padron 64th anniversary cigars and loved them all, just like the 1926 series. It was time for a review of the natural Principe, a 4½x46 cigar.



The cigar is box pressed with a nice dark wrapper that is wrinkled on the top. I see one thin vein. The construction is great and I smell a mild barnyard smell. The predraw is fine but flavorless.



I taste coffee, mild sweet and smooth, with some nutmeg. After a quarter of an inch I taste herbs and wood. The flavors are complex and smooth. I still taste some of the nutmeg too.



Halfway the structure of the flavors is dry. I taste wood, herbs and a little bit of pepper. After two thirds I taste spices and some spice, the wood and pepper have disappeared.



This smoke time of this cigar is an hour. The draw was a bit easy. I got a lot of extremely thick smoke. The ash is light colored, almost white, and firm. This cigar is medium flavored and medium bodied.



Would I buy this cigar again? I love Padron but this cigar was a bit disappointing, I like the bigger sizes better.

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 9 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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Kurt A. Kendall had worked in the cigar industry for years when he decided to bring back the old 7-20-4 brand. He bought the name and started to make cigars in Honduras with tobacco from Nicaragua, Mexico, Columbia and Honduras with a Costa Rican binder and a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper. The original 7-20-4 is a brand created in 1874 and it existed till 1963. They were made in Manchester, New Hampshire, on 724 Elm Street and that's where the name came from.



The 6x52 torpedo I smoked had a sharp point and a nice dark and oily wrapper that has a few veins. The construction feels good. The predraw is fine and tastes quite spicy. The cigar has a mild barnyard smell.



I taste coffee and some dry wood. The flavors are nice and smooth but full and it has a bit of a bite. After a quarter of an inch the coffee disappears. I taste wood with a little bit of pepper. The pepper grows stronger after half an inch and I taste a pleasant mustiness too with some chocolate. The wood changes into straw with herbs, nice spicy. The mustiness disappears and the chocolate moves to the aftertaste.



After an inch I also taste some sweetness, the flavors are dry. Halfway I taste dry hay with a mild chocolate like sweetness and wood, I like it. After two thirds I taste autumn leaves with a mild sweetness. Near the end the cigar gets spicy and sharp.



This cigar has a smoke time of an hour and ten minutes. I got a lot of thick smoke, a great draw and a beautiful burn. The ash is light colored and quite firm. This cigar is full flavored and medium bodied.



Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, this is a cigar I would like to smoke 7-20-4

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10

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