Cigar Review: Cusano 18 Paired Maduro Churchill
Summary:
The new Cusano 18 Paired Maduro Churchill is medium to medium-full bodied with a quiet power like you’ll find in some Cuban cigars. Creamy and refined, it is an extremely flavorful and balanced smoke. This cigar is very new, but has already won a place in my humidor. While quite good now, I believe that it has the potential to become great after a few months of humidor rest. Highly recommended, and a Best Buy at the price.
Background Information:
At 7 1/2 inches with a 50 ring gauge this cigar is slightly longer than a classic Churchill, slightly shorter than a classic Double Corona, and a little fatter than both. It is a full-flavored cigar with a double-cured Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper over a San Vicente Dominican Olor binder. The filler contains the same 18 year old Dominican Olor aged tobacco as the Cusano 18 Double Connecticut, blended with Dominican Piloto Cubano. In addition, the filler also contains Brazilian Mata Fina Maduro leaf. Manufactured by Tabacos Dominicanos S.A. and blended by master craftsman Hendrik Kelner, creator of Davidoff, AVO, Paul Garmirian and The Griffin’s cigars, at his Tabadom factory in the Dominican Republic for Cusano Cigars.
From the Manufacturer:
“Like the original Cusano 18 Double Connecticut, the new Paired Maduro uses some 18 year old Dominican Olor in the filler but combines two exquisite maduro wrappers to make one of the best dark cigars ever crafted. The first wrapper is a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro, famous for being smooth and creamy. The second wrapper is Brazilian Mata Fina that adds a little bit of spice to the palate. Also, like its original counterpart, the Paired Maduro has a nice medium body with a rich and silky flavor. It is exactly how one would expect a Maduro Cusano 18 to taste… perfect. “
Cigar Envy Cigar Review:
Appearance: 9 of 10 points
The wrapper is smooth, oily, and a beautiful dark brown. The cigar looks very good, which should not come as a surprise to those who know the Cusano line.
Aroma: 14 of 15 points
Pre-light aroma has a rich earthiness mixed with a sweet spiciness. It smells very rich, with some of the Mata Fina aroma coming through. The smoke aroma is also very good, and this cigar produces lots of creamy smoke.
Burn: 10 of 10 points
The burn was flawless. Like most Cusano premiums, the ash is a gray that looks to me more like that of a Cuban cigar. The ash is firm and holds well.
Consistency: 14 of 15 points
This cigar has only been available since October, so it is impossible to judge how consistent it will be from box to box yet. However, if it matches the C18 Connecticut it will be very dependable. Things look good — all of the C18 Maduros I have smoked so far have been solid and consistent.
Construction: 9 of 10 points
Excellent construction. The cigar feels firm but not too firm, and the cap is good.
Draw: 10 of 10 points
Excellent draw. No tightness, plugs or any problems in the ones I have smoked.
Flavor: 29 of 30 points
The flavor is good.
Very good.
The double maduro idea behind this cigar is not unique. However, the blend and the way it is accomplished are. The cigars I have tried that use two maduros usually have one as wrapper and the other as binder (such as the CAO Mx2). Not so with the C18 Paired Maduro. Kelner’s blend for Cusano uses highly aromatic Brazilian Mata Fina maduro wrapper leaf in the filler. The Mata Fina region is to Brazilian tobacco what the Vuelta Abajo is to Cuban tobacco — the best of the best comes from there. Brazilian Bahia tobacco from Mata Fina is considered by many to be the most aromatic in the world after the best Cuban.
You can taste the difference that the Mata Fina makes from the first puffs. The smoke is very aromatic, and the cigar produces lots of it. There is a spiciness to this cigar as well as a sweetness and pleasant herbal notes that combine into a bit more complexity than you will find in many maduros. This is not a one-dimensional cigar. It has a subtle power to it that reminds me of some Cuban cigars. There is no bitterness or bite, just a silky smoothness that can fool you into thinking that it is a mild bodied smoke like the Connecticut C18.
It is not. The maduro version is a medium-bodied cigar that edges into medium-full body and beyond to full as you continue to smoke it.
The Piloto in the filler blend is the finest flavored of the Dominican tobaccos. It originated in Cuba’s famed Vuelta Abajo region, and is noted for an intense flavor and richness second only to that of the Cubano original. The Brazilian maduro tobacco in the blend seems to offset the slightly milder nature of the Dominican Piloto and ramp it back up to full flavor and body. The “eighteen year old Dominican Olor” in the blend is actually vintage 1985, and was originally destined to be wrappers. It has been aging all these year and has an incredible mellowing and harmonizing effect, tieing everything in the cigar together.
The flavor is very full. Starting with notes of dark, sweet chocolate, it mixes in woody tones of cedar and pine nuts. There is an underlying spiciness as well that comes through constantly. The C18 mellows as it goes and gets creamier and creamier. As you continue smoking this cigar, you will pick up different flavors and hints of flavors on your tongue, at the back of your throat, and in your sinuses. The aroma remains good also.
The San Vicente Olor that is used as binder here in the Paired Maduro is used as part of the filler blend in the Connecticut C18. San Vicente tobacco is a hybrid of Piloto that was developed on the San Vicente farm in the Vuelta Abajo. It is slightly less powerful than Piloto and more acidic. It still causes that “wet” palate feeling that makes these cigars, in Mike Chiusano’s words, “mouth-watering smokes.” This is a cigar that you do indeed “drink.” The finish is long, slightly spicer, very full and very creamy.
To digress for a moment, at the Big Smoke in Las Vegas in 2002, Henke Kelner gave a demonstration of what blending does to a cigar that was unforgettable. He had cigars prepared with all one type of Dominican tobacco — one each of a Piloto Cubano, a Dominican Olor and a San Vicente. “These are not real cigars,” he said. “These are tobacco sticks.”
Smoking each one of the sticks in turn was a graphic illustration of what blending produces, and made you feel like you were in a warped version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The Piloto was overpowering and too strong. The Olor was too dry and drying to the mouth. The San Vicente was too wet.
Then Henke offered up a Davidoff, harmoniously blended from all three of these tobaccos. Just like in the fairy tale, the Davidoff was just right.
That is how the Cusano 18 Paired Maduro struck me: Just right. Henke scores again. Mike Chiusano and Cusano Cigars score again. This is a very good cigar. The Churchill gave me about two hours of pleasure, and that is hard to come by nowadays.
If you are a fan of full-flavored maduros, then you should like this one. It is excellent now. Based on my experience with other Cusanos, I’m betting that it will be even better after a few months in the humidor. It may turn out to be exactly what the company claims that it is: the best maduro cigar currently available.
Number Sampled For Review: Seven.
Other Reviewers:
Cigar Aficianado and Smoke Magazine have not published reviews of the Paired Maduro yet. It was only introduced in October. I believe that when they do review th C18 Paired Maduro, it will get the same kind of high ratings that the C18 Double Connecticut got.
Price:
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is US $85.95 per box of 18 ($4.78 each).
These are new, in short supply, and only offered through dealers who have previously carried Cusano cigars. In fact, it is so new that it isn’t even listed on the Cusano website yet. (As a measure of how hot this cigar is and how big a seller dealers expect it to be, check some of the big online discounters and notice how many of them have added the regular Cusanos to their line-up — but don’t have the C18 Paired Maduro yet. There is a waiting list for these.
So who does have them, and for how much?
The best online price I can find at the moment is at Rocky’s Cigars. He’s offering the box of 18 for US $70.09 ( about an 8 1/2% discount, or $3.89 each). Plus, Rocky will throw in a free $9.00 value Cusano hat with your box. The next best price is $79.95 per box at Two Guys Smoke Shop ($4.41 each). Two Guys also has single sticks available for $5.19 each (suggested retail is $5.95).
If you want to pick up a five pack sampler…good luck. I haven’t seen anyone offering them that way. (If you run across somebody, and don’t mind sharing the information, please post the source in a comment on this article.) You can also check CigarBid for them — I’ve seen boxes auctioned off there that have gone in the $60 to $70 range, but I’ve also seen the bidding there get heated and prices shoot up to over the actual retail. To the best of my knowledge, you won’t find the C18 Maduros at Cigar Auctioneer, or the JR Cigars Auction at the moment.
Listed prices do not include shipping and are current at the time of this review.
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Cusano 18 Paired Maduro Robusto « Keepers of the Flame
October 13th, 2006 00:06
[…] But don’t take MY word for it. Cigar Envy has an insightful and informative review of the Paired Maduro, and Walt at the Stogie Review has posted a nice review as well. We all agree on one thing: this is a great smoke. Take heed Maduro lovers! Published in: […]