Established on January 5th, 2015, Manolo Estates began its foray into the cigar manufacturing aspect of the cigar industry. Established by Luis Gutierrez and Juan Carlos Rojas, also purveyors of Ash Fine Cigars, located in Hoboken and Newfoundland, New Jersey. Manolo Estates is named after both Juan Carlos’ father and Luis Gutierrez’s great-grandfather who both bared this name. The cigars are rolled in Tamboril, Dominican Republic and samples for this review of the Maduro Heavyweight were sent it by Charlie Freeman of FineTobaccoNYC.
Cigar: Manolo Estates Maduro Heavyweight
Blend Specifics:
Vitola: Gordo 6”x60
Wrapper: San Andres Maduro
Binder: Criollo ‘98
Filler: Nicaragua, Pennsylvania, and Dominican Republic
Appearance and Construction
The Manolo Maduro has a very dark chocolate wrapper that is thick, oily, and toothy, almost sand-paper-y. Minimal veins, a tight even pack and tight visible seams, with just enough sponginess. Rolled to an extended pigtail and then looped.
Smoke and Flavor Characteristics
Cold Aromas: The wrapper gives off chocolate, earth, and leather with a touch of barnyard. The foot shows sweet tobacco, a little pepper zing and faint leather. The cold draw has just the right amount of tension and presents just a sweet tobacco core with just a faint hint of both, chocolate and leather.
First Third: The first few draws open to a deep dark bitter wood with a decent amount of black pepper that can also be felt on the tongue. The pepper quickly dials back and overall the draw becomes much softer. Though, the finish is long and a touch of pepper can still be experienced here. The ash is a pale, slightly flaky gray and makes for a nice contrast between the dark wrapper-color. Draw is quite effortless and the foot pours smoke even while sitting. The burn line isn’t even but isn’t near being problematic; it’s just fine. There’s also a bit of bread that comes into play as well. The body is full, the flavor is medium to full and the strength is medium to full. The aroma is a nice cedar and leather. As it starts to near the end of the first third, the burn is becoming a little more wonky but still not affecting the draw or flavor. The bread and tobacco start to dominate at the core with the wood sticking around but dropping back a bit.
Second Third: The ash is almost two inches so I’m going to knock it off at this point before it drops where I don’t want it to, but can easily keep going if one wanted to as well. The profile is mainly holding up from the first third, with flavors being a dark wood, bread, leather and tobacco. There’s also an underlying metallic that lingers and pops up every now and then. The ash fell at 2 inches, as one solid chunk. The body is full; the flavor is still medium to full and strength also holding at medium to full. Removing the band is quite easy. One the finish, a bit of espresso bean comes in, though; it’s not heavily noticeable but can be detected.
Final Third: Entering into the final third, the strength starts to ramp up to full, while the body is still full and the flavor at medium to full. The espresso bean has also come up a bit more but still not a dominant factor. Outside of that, the profile hasn’t changed much and has stayed pretty consistent throughout the duration. During the final third, the burn of cigar starts to slow down significantly and provides an entry way to a cool slow burning finish.
Final Thoughts
The Manolo Estates Maduro Heavyweight is just that, full bodied from start to finish and fairly straight forward flavor profile make for a consistent and relaxing smoke. Where one can ruminate on the few flavors that pass through but also leaves one open to fully divest on other thoughts with ease. Not a cigar that needs to be babied or paid a great deal of attention, as even when it is set down will keep the burn for a while till one is ready to pick it up for another draw. A relaxing and easy-going smoke, but keep in mind, the strength does pick up at the end. The flavors that dominate this profile are deep wood with an earthy undertone, bread, leather, a strong tobacco core, a touch of black pepper early on and bitter espresso bean in the final third rounded out with a dry bitter chocolate that shows up here and there with a lingering metallic note. The cigar is characterized with its full body, medium to full flavor and full strength profile and makes for a good after dinner smoke.
Smoking time was 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Grade: A