Macanudo Maduro Hyde Park
Origin: Dominican Republic
Size: 5.50 X 49
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

From Cigar World:
Macanudo was originally the name of a frontmark produced in Jamaica by the makers of the Cuban brand of Punch. In 1971, General Cigar Company introduced a new cigar named Macanudo as a brand unto itself. Developed in Jamaica under the creative leadership of Ramón Cifuentes, the legendary Cuban cigar master of Partagas, Macanudo soon became the leading premium cigar and remains so today.

Now crafted exclusively in the Dominican Republic, every Macanudo cigar is made with the finest Connecticut Shade wrapper, a flavorful blend of Dominican tobaccos and a select binder grown in the rich St. Andrés Tuxtla Valley of Mexico. And to assure you of the same smoothness in cigar after cigar, the makers of Macanudo use only the most thoroughly aged tobaccos.

Reviewed by: Michael Bowers
Date: October 2006
Notes:

Gentlemen,

Here begins the longest Macanudo review that you are likely to find anywhere on the planet.

I have been hand-rolling various Peter Stokkebye cigarette tobaccos for nearly 20 years (not because it's cheaper, just because it's excellent), and I smoke flake tobaccos (in a pipe) in the evenings or when I otherwise have the time to invest. I know tobacco, and I really love tobacco. I will never stop smoking the stuff. I imagine a day when these wonderful leaves will be outlawed. After a clandestine meal packed with trans-fatty acids, I'd tiptoe off to the tool-shed or basement and pack a golden ball of freshly rubbed flake into a bowl and fire up! I'd peak out the window to see if anyone was looking, then settle back into my enjoyment.

I love the nuance of all the flavors that tobacco can produce. Like a good espresso, chocolate or wine, its flavor is indeed made of a range of constituent flavors, and the processing that reveals these flavors has become an art form. Although there's no hair gel here I will use words like woody, nutty, and peppery when describing the taste of a cigar. So, even though I was a bit put off by the assertion on your home page that I may be a slick, pretentious pretty-boy for using such terms, I really like your site and I want to submit this review.

I'm a fairly new cigar smoker, (a year or so) and have read about the Macanudo and its reputation as a "starter cigar". Not wanting to dismiss it on those grounds, I finally bought the Hyde Park three pack for $14.87. Heck, I'm a beginner, right? The tobacconist is an excellent supplier, known to me; always, good, fresh produce from this guy. (I always wonder this when I read reviews and someone says a cigar was hot or burned too quickly.)

I like to couple a cigar with some kind of beverage. I try to choose a drink that will either compliment or more often, contrast with the stogie. Occasionally, on a Saturday morning, I like something sweet to eat, followed by a Maduro with an espresso about every ten minutes for as long as the stogie lasts. The cigar overtakes the coffee, then the coffee overtakes the cigar, etc... That's a cool breakfast, my friend; Wakes you right the hell up! Bing!

For this cigar, though, I just had a nice icy glass of water. I'm currently traveling, and my hotel room has a mini stereo system in it, so I put Lark\' Tongues In Aspic in the CD player and unwrapped the dark thing. It's pretty, really. Seems really well made, has a consistent firmness all the way down. No lumps. Very few veins, and none of them substantial. Feels smooth and has some of that nice softness that I can't describe very well. I think you know what I mean though; kind of like skin... Smells nice and toasty warm, too. I like Connecticut. My home state. Broadleaf wrappers are nice. I think it makes the cigar durable as well. Am I right about that? I periodically hold the cigar between my teeth, and broadleaf wrappers seem to hold up well to it.

I bite the ends off of my cigars. No pretences. No blades. Haven't had a problem yet. Sometimes, I've had blades mess thing up, though, nothing seems sharp enough and I think it pulls at the wrapper rather than cutting through it. Is it just me? It all comes of rolling too many cigarettes I suppose.

I like to take a few draws before lighting up. Really, this is an extension of smelling. Nice draw. Just right. Tasty, too. I kick back and toast foot. What a nice smell. I toast aggressively. Hold my foot to the fire, so to speak. Spinning, spinning... pull it out and cup some smoke toward my nose. More toasting...

Then I light the thing, already. Spinning, spining... It lights easily and evenly with two slow, long draws. I don't prefer a cigar that starts strong. This one is nice and light so far. I like a lighter cigar at night, and especially with water. When a cigar starts out light, I can inhale a bit of it here and there. I love nicotine, and I don't want to wait twenty minutes for it to seep through my skin. I like to bring a thin amount of it in and up into my nose. It smells great when exhaled through the nostrils. I think I might be the only person who does this, again, probably from rolling too many cigarettes.

Early on there was a fair amount of spiciness, if you know what I mean. Sort of sweet with cinnamon and nutmeg tastes lurking under all that rich tobacco headiness. Almost creamy. Sadly, I didn't detect any lemon chiffon mousse tort in there. Pity, really.

As the cigar heated up and gained moisture, Exiles was giving way to Easy Money, and I turned up the volume a bit. The cigar was gaining strength. It was gaining coffee flavors, too. A nice tingle on the tongue. A small piece of wrapper came off in my mouth. It didn't seem to be attached to the rest of the wrapper. No tugging to remove it. I was not unraveling. My first ash was about an inch or so long. A good burn, that never exceeded 3/16 of an inch variation all the way 'round. None of those little curling flyaway ashes that fall off some cigars.

As The Talking Drum approached its frantic, tantrum of a crescendo, my second ash was ready. Off it came revealing the small cone of an ember. Still going nicely. Nice and cool. As the third ash began to develop, the cigar was gaining a darker coffee flavor, almost like a really dark chocolate. The spiciness really talking a backseat now. The cigar, nearly at it's conclusion now, was dark and earthy. It had been smooth the whole way down. The wrapper was beginning to come apart from my teeth, which were the influence of the tense conclusion of the album. A darn good cigar.

This cigar is fairly light. But does have good flavor. Not at all tiring. I like the way it builds consistently from bright flavors to dark. When I say dark, I do not mean strong; I mean earthy. The stogie never became strong. A cigar like this would not pair well with scotch or the like. It's just not beefy enough for that. Certainly, it would not work for a Saturday six-espresso breakfast either. However, it would be good with Cruzan (rum if you don't know) on ice. In the fall I might like it with a fresh, New England apple cider. Maybe I'll try another when I get back home to the nutmeg state. It was much better than their reputation, and much better than I expected. Perhaps they are inconsistent, and I got a really good one? I'll give it an eight.

I tried the Robust Hyde Park the following night, (tonight) and didn't care for it one bit. That one looked good and smelled good, but I had to fix up two burn issues, and the smoke seemed to make my eyes burn. The taste was nice in my mouth (nice, peppery after-taste) but in the air, the smoke was acrid. Not at all smooth. I'm not confusing strong with harsh, here. I like strong. This thing was pretty poor. Again, it could be the result of inconsistency. I should have just chewed on it.

I'll try the Cafe tomorrow, though it looks very, very light. My limited cigar experience has me believing that very light cigars usually lack complexity. We'll see.

My advice: Skip the 3-pack and try just the Maduro. A pretty good smoke for a five spot.