Poco Gordo

The Macanudo Cru Royale is rolled by General Cigars and Macanudo is one of their flagship brands. Rolled in the Dominican Republic, they are known for their consistent construction and smoking experience, aged wrappers and having a broad, widespread appeal to both novices and experienced smokers. For this review, 2 cigars were smoke and were generously provided by Famous Smoke based out of Pennsylvania.

Cigar: Macanudo Cru Royale

Blend Specifics:

Vitola: Poco Gordo 4”x60

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Dominican La Vega Especial

Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican and Brazilian

Appearance and Construction: The Macanudo Cru Royale has a semi-dark chocolate wrapper. Minimal veins and tight invisible seams. Very smooth sating feel with a slight oily sheen. Dense, even packing and sports a nicely applied double cap.

Smoke and Flavor Characteristics:

Cold Aromas: The wrapper is bit of wood, faint farmyard, and a touch of spiciness. The foot presents chocolate, wood and leather. The cold draw has chocolate and wood with a touch of mineral grit, not unlike gravel.

First Third: The first few draws show a lot of leather, more of that mineral grit and a very easy, open draw. A dry wood also becomes present. The draw give off thick clouds of smoke, no spice is detectable at the moment. Though the leather hangs around in the nose and mouth for a good while. The aroma pouring off the foot is also of rich leather.

Burn line isn’t razor sharp but performance is just fine. The ash formation is a very pale gray, almost white, slightly flakey and absent of rings. There’s fair amount of cream that comes into play. I’m tapping the ash off at ¾ inch since it’s really flakey. The body is medium, the flavor is medium to full, and the strength is at medium.

Second Third: The second third picks right up where first left off, leather and wood with a decent does of cream. Performance is still excellent. A bit of chocolate comes in on the aroma. Removing the band takes little to no effort and is held together with self-adhesive glue. Body still at medium, the flavor is medium to full, and the strength is at a medium.

Final Third: The final third is holding true to form and still leads with the leather and wood combo. The aroma is still pleasantly woody, earthy, and leathery. Performance and burn are still doing well. Just toward the end, within the last inch or so, the heat started busting the wrapper in multiple areas, though the performance is still ok. Also, the wood ramped up has become the dominant characterizing note. This cigar finishes out at medium in body, medium to full in flavor and medium in strength.

Final Thoughts: The Macanudo Cru Royale features fine leaves, excellent and consistent construction and smoking experience. The profile is more on the drier and bitter side of the flavor spectrum with the leather providing a bit of savory respite. The aroma is calming and luxurious and the profile isn’t at all strong which makes it a good early morning / mid-afternoon smoke. For a small vitola cigar, it has a pretty long smoking time. The body and strength are a solid medium while the flavor is medium to full.

Smoking time was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Grade: B