M. Germany Zack

Appearance: Rating:

If we reflect back, the Cain Daytona, and the Habano, were both beautiful cigars. Unfortunately, the Maduro was a Monet amongst Rembrandt’s. It looks great from far away, but upon closer inspection, the wrapper is sub-par. The cap is sloppily placed on the head, and the veins do not align. There is even a slight gap in the wrapper towards the foot that is hap-hazardly repaired with a glob of rollers glue. The wrapper has very large veins on one side, but it’s silky smooth on the other. On the positive, it is wonderfully toothy, and it dons a beautiful oily sheen. Appearance: Rating:

The dark brown maduro wrapper is very nice. It has no veins throughout it and has a couple of lighter spots. There are a couple spots that look like the wrapper was scratched a few times, but it isn’t anything big.

Construction: Rating:

Unlike its counterparts, this smoke was much more tightly rolled. There was almost no give throughout the entire cigar. Aside from the cosmetic flaws, this smoke seems to be pretty well put together. When I cut the cap and took a pre-lit draw, I caught a few stray hangers on the tongue. Also, I noticed some very large veins in the filler leaves, which worried me about the burn of this cigar. The cigar lit itself practically, requiring minimal effort, and it maintained a moderately even burn throughout. The ash, unfortunately, didn’t hang around very long. In fact, it fell off the first time I gently laid this thing down to rest. Construction: Rating:

The cap is perfectly flush. The cigar itself is very solid, not one soft spot. The cigar cut clean and was very easy to light. The draw was very easy throughout the stick, but that’s what you will get most times with a 60 gauge cigar. The burn, however, was terrible. It was uneven throughout most of the stick and required a couple touch ups. The ash was different, it was marbled gray, black and red.

Flavor: Rating:

Kaboom! What, did you expect anything else? This thing is just like all of its brothers and sisters, a smokeable stick of dynamite. Hell, this thing was spicy even before I lit it up. Pre-light I noticed nuances of earth, pepper, and a surprising milk chocolate. Upon sparking this bad boy up, it evolved into dried leaves, more pepper, and espresso. The maduro wrapper really throws this thing into left field, as it almost seems to tame it. For a moment, I find myself thinking that even a novice could enjoy this. Wrong! Second third, Kaboom again! This thing just gets richer and richer, and maintains a medium to full body charisma throughout. Thank god I just had a full meal. Oh, and for a pairing suggestion, Dogfish Head Raison D’ Etre is a perfect choice. You can’t do scotch with this thing, you may not live to tell about it. Surprisingly, the final third calms down and develops into a rich Columbian coffee delight. Hold the cream and sugar…. Flavor: Rating:

There were some sweet chocolate notes right off of the light, along with a little spice. Then some oak flavors came out about an inch in or so. By halfway, the body becomes very earthy, without losing any of the chocolate notes from before. There was also a slight coffee flavor that came out. The combination of chocolate and bitter coffee is a flavor that I like. The finish was very sweet and very earthy. There was still a little bit of spice on the finish, but it wasn’t bad.

Value: Rating:

Aside from my disappointment with the appearance and construction of this cigar, it delivers in the most important areas. Flavor, body, and value. It reminded me a lot of the Casa Magna Colorado, which is a slightly higher price point. At under 7 bucks, I can’t complain whatsoever. However, I wouldn’t buy a whole box of these. Value: Rating:

The way I see it now, is that $6-$7 for a cigar isn’t bad. When I am looking at a cigar of this size, I almost always am looking at this price range. So in that aspect the price point is spot on.