Nub Maduro 460 Tubo - Cigar Review

Nub Maduro 460 Tubo - Cigar Review

 

Time in Humidor: 6 months       

 

Blend: Nicaraguan fillers and binder dressed in a Brazilian Maduro wrapper

Construction: The dark chocolate brown wrapper was slightly mottled with almost invisible seams and finished off nicely with a tidy double cap. The pack was textbook firm and consistent along its length. Tobacco on the foot looked very tight and the different tobaccos in the blend were easily discernible by their colour. Overall like most nubs I’ve experienced, this cigar was exceptionally well made.

Smell: Smell on the wrapper consisted of chocolate over cedar with hints of coffee and hay. On the foot the bouquet was made up of primarily hay with hints of sweet coffee.

Cold Draw: Resistance of the draw was perfect, not loose, but a little resistance. Flavours experienced on the cold draw comprised of aged tobacco, espresso, cedar, hay along with a gentle cedar tasting spice.

First Light: Flavours on the first light involved bitter dark cooking chocolate, bitter espresso, cedar and tobacco.

Aroma: This cigar emitted a delicious aroma which consisted predominantly of chocolate and cedar.

First 3^rd - 20 min

Very soon after the charred flavours of the first light, the cigar settled down and offered a classier synergy between the flavours. All the bitterness and char waned. The chocolate flavour evolved into dark,sweeter eating chocolate, whilst the coffee flavour shifted to a robust dark roast smoothness.  The cedar lingered and remained unchanged. The finish was predominantly of coffee and cedar with the addition of a very subtle earth undertone.

The smoke production was excellent; producing thick clouds of dense white smoke. The existing flavour profile consisting of these big flavours had the cigar sitting on a notch over medium.

The burn started off a little rocky from the first light, running down one side. Fortunately it stopped 10mm down and started to burn around at the 12 minute mark. 20 minutes in the cigar started to exhibit a near perfect burn.

 2^nd third - 45 min

Flavours in the second third did not deviate from the flavours experienced in the first. The overall strength of the cigar at the end of the first third had ramped up from just over medium, to just shy of full. This is a very robust and rich flavoured cigar but does not bring with it a palate searing spice offered by excess nicotine or young tobaccos.

Worthy of noting is that this cigar flavour incited changes whenashing. When you ash a cigar the ‘cherry’ becomes exposed to an richer source of oxygen, therefore burning hotter. When this stick was ashed the flavours regained some of their bitterness and the cedar moved closer to the front of the palate. This was temporary of course, as once a few millimetres  of ash redeveloped and smothered the cherry again the flavours smoothed back out to their previous state. In addition to the change in flavour created by removing ash, the burn tended to go wild for a few minutes until a layer of ash formed which seemed to keep the burn under control.

Late in the second third the cigars burn started to become offensive; running down one side about 25mm. I was about to touch it up when the poor burn started to correct itself.

Third 3^rd     - 58min

Flavours in the final third saw a slight change with the sweet chocolate moving further ; allowing the coffee to move to the front. The coffee transitioned out of its smoothness into a sharper but thinner espresso taste. The overall body of the cigar had shifter further up into a fuller flavour  The cedar was barely identifiable and was replaced with a more toasty savor.

On the checkered flag the cigar seemed to regain the bitter tones experienced in the first light, which signalled ’the end is nigh’.

I elected to retire the cigar at 1 hour 9 mins as the acridity of heat was rearing its ugly head.

Overall this cigar was a full strength mocha bomb, exhibiting for the best part, very robust flavours of coffee, dark chocolate and earth. The construction was impeccable as was both the draw and smoke production. The only drawback was the cigars burn, which I have noticed is quite typical of the large gauge NUB cigars.

I would happily smoke many more of these, as I have already.

Suggested pairings with this stick is a heavily wooded cask strength whisky such as Aberlour A’Bundah, or Glenfarclas 105. If you like a wine with your cigars this stick would also pair brilliantly with a robust dark fruited, semi sweet Shiraz with a low tannin level.      

Punch Gran Puro Rancho - Cigar Review

Punch Gran Puro Rancho 

Size: 5 & 1/2 x 54

Time in Humidor: 8 Months

Blend: Cuban seed Honduran Puro wrapper, bound and filled with high priming sun grown tobaccos; designed to offer a full flavoured experience. 

Construction: The slightly mottled Colorado coloured wrapper had minimal veins, visible but tight seams and was slightly oily with no tooth, leaving the cigar feeling quite smooth and pleasant to hold. The wrap was finished with a messy but adequate double cap. The pack was desirably firm and consistent from head to toe. The mottling in this cigar has only presented as a result of aging in my humidor. When I received this 5 pack of cigars they were far oilier in both appearance and texture and displayed no mottling. 

Smell: On the wrapper this cigar smelled of wood, oil and tobacco along with slight hints of dry hay in the background. The foot smelled of dried hay and oily sweet heated butter.

Cold Draw: After taking a small cut I was presented with a slightly tight draw, offering flavours of dried hay, aged tobacco, and a meaty oil taste. 

First Light: Flavours on the first light consisted of a toast, wood, meaty oil and subtle smooth, black pepper. The finish was long lasting with very strong spicy oiliness on the palate. Smoke production was excellent with thick clouds of dense white/blue smoke. 

Aroma: The aroma of this cigar was quite pleasant; consisting primarily of toast and wood. 

First 3^{rd  –} 13 min

Flavours in the first third were quite similar to those experienced in the first light. The flavours got down to business right away and melded together to create a full bodied smoking experience. This cigar can only be explained as a ‘man cigar’. It was like smoking the BBQ smoke with a 2 inch thick rib eye gently sizzling away. The cigar is meaty, woody and oily with subtle hints of toast and black pepper. All the flavours I like on a burger, and apparently in a cigar also.  The burn was a touch on the messy side; not running down one side, just messy and inconsistent with up to 10mm of variance at times.  

As the first third progressed the body of the cigar seemed to reduce slightly to a notch shy of full. The same flavours had smoothed out while the wood had gently moved closer to the front.

I rolled the ash of at about 25mm only to notice it was as strong an Ox; seems it could have held for another 25mm no problems.

Second 3^rd - 35 min

Flavours in the second third were similar to those experienced previously with some new developments. The oily component of the cigar started to pull back making the smoke slightly drier. This lack of oil started to expose a dry tasting cedar in the cigar, the cedar experienced was not a shift in the woody flavours still present, rather an addition to the woody components.

The cigar continued to burn terribly and was heading for a touch-up which I was reluctant to do lest I vandalised the existing flavours of the cigar. A bit of the ole ’tactical placement and rotation‘ slowly brought the burn back to acceptable tolerances.

As the third progressed the cigar slowly started to change its character from being meaty and oily to being a drier, earthen and leathery profile.   

Third 3^rd – 57 min

Moving into the final third the cigars burn improved remarkably, the flavours returned to those experienced in the first third, as did the oily thick smoke. After experiencing this I was inclined to think that the decline in the smoke seen in the second third had a lot to do with the poor burn. I was back to the meaty & oily character which I preferred.

Just as I praised the cigar for its remarkable turnaround in burn I noticed an acridity forming rapidly, only to discover it had formed a tunnel. Fortunately a quick purge brought it back to something resembling acceptable.

As the third progressed the cigar maintained its flavours right up until the end at 1 hour 28 mins without getting the menacing flavours of heat at all. The cigar itself did get quite warm to pick up so I elected to retire it with 25mm remaining.

Overall this cigar tasted pretty good. Its full flavours of meat, oil and wood were quite enjoyable. The only turn off was its terrible burn throughout the whole experience. The three I smoked prior to this point never exhibited a poor burn like this one did. If you haven’t tried one from this line and the opportunity presents itself to get a 5 pack cheap, I would recommend trying them. 

I went for a spin on the net to get a feel for others sentiments regarding the burn and noticed that it seemed to be a common issue with these sticks. I did enjoy this cigar; it’s got a lot going for it although I wouldn’t buy any more as this one has left me feeling a little let down based solely on its burn. 

Suggested pairing for this stick would be Nikka whisky from the barrel. It’s got a good amount of boot being cask strength and a nice woody raisin character to pair with the characteristics of this cigar. I’ve included a picture as there is very little information on the bottle in English to identify it.

Thanks for Reading!