Just had one of these aesthetically beautiful sticks. The Maduro 5 seems to polarize people; some love it, some hate it and say that it sucks. The Maduro 5 is made with a maduro (yeah, duh) wrapper that's been aged 5 years. This is a tres petit corona at 4.3" by 40.
The Maduro 5 Secretos is incidentally the first cigar I ever smoked. As a newb I made the mistake of drawing too hard and too often, resulting in a very sick first cigar experience. I was light-headed and nauseous throughout most of the rest of the evening.
Of course I've come a long way since then.
Box code: RBA Nov 2011
Construction:
Beautiful dark maduro wrapper, very little veins, well sealed seams. A little lumpy. The triple cap on this particular stick wasn't very well laid and was peeling slightly at the top.
Pre-light draw: Beautiful light pepper, hay, and a mild sweetness. Draw is perfect. Slight firmness that is just so.
Opening and 1/3: The thing that always strikes me about the Secretos is the amount of smoke it produces. The smoke is oily, with a strong flavor of cocoa and some hint of coffee. Retrohaling produced a very mild sting but lots of good quality wood. Unlike the chopped old furniture that comes out of, say, a Phillies Blunt.
Strong earthy, leathery taste. Definitely a medium-full flavored cigar. Not much of that sweetness that I detected on the prelight draw.
2/3: Earth taste has died down somewhat, slight pepper zing. Slight nut flavor, and the wood is now a bit more defined as cedar. In the first third it was a bit vague. Still cocoa flavors, don't really detect any coffee anymore. Also detected some mushroom.
Slight green-ness, so I should probably age these sticks a bit more.
Burn wasn't exactly razor sharp but corrected itself. Cigar went out near the end of the 2/3 and had to relight.
3/3: Smoke has gotten quite dry, but still a pleasant smoke with amazing volume. Cocoa remains throughout on the finish, slightly more peppery but still manageable. Smoked down to under an inch.
The ash stayed on about 1.5". Very nice white ash, although its integrity was somewhat compromised by me purging the cigar every 4 puffs or so.
Overall a very enjoyable stick, although I actually prefer the Cohiba Siglo I, which I felt was a bit more complex with flavors of caramel and stronger cedar scent. The stick I smoked was, IMO, a little bit young.
In summary, a flavorful, enjoyable stick with medium-full body. Definitely full strength as it gave me quite a nicotine kick. I rank this stick 85-88 out of 100 (against 89 to 90 for the Siglo I reviewed earlier).
Would I recommend it? Personally I'd grab a Siglo I over this, but that's just me.
The Maduro 5 Secretos is incidentally the first cigar I ever smoked. As a newb I made the mistake of drawing too hard and too often, resulting in a very sick first cigar experience. I was light-headed and nauseous throughout most of the rest of the evening.
Of course I've come a long way since then.
Box code: RBA Nov 2011
Construction:
Beautiful dark maduro wrapper, very little veins, well sealed seams. A little lumpy. The triple cap on this particular stick wasn't very well laid and was peeling slightly at the top.
Pre-light draw: Beautiful light pepper, hay, and a mild sweetness. Draw is perfect. Slight firmness that is just so.
Opening and 1/3: The thing that always strikes me about the Secretos is the amount of smoke it produces. The smoke is oily, with a strong flavor of cocoa and some hint of coffee. Retrohaling produced a very mild sting but lots of good quality wood. Unlike the chopped old furniture that comes out of, say, a Phillies Blunt.
Strong earthy, leathery taste. Definitely a medium-full flavored cigar. Not much of that sweetness that I detected on the prelight draw.
2/3: Earth taste has died down somewhat, slight pepper zing. Slight nut flavor, and the wood is now a bit more defined as cedar. In the first third it was a bit vague. Still cocoa flavors, don't really detect any coffee anymore. Also detected some mushroom.
Slight green-ness, so I should probably age these sticks a bit more.
Burn wasn't exactly razor sharp but corrected itself. Cigar went out near the end of the 2/3 and had to relight.
3/3: Smoke has gotten quite dry, but still a pleasant smoke with amazing volume. Cocoa remains throughout on the finish, slightly more peppery but still manageable. Smoked down to under an inch.
The ash stayed on about 1.5". Very nice white ash, although its integrity was somewhat compromised by me purging the cigar every 4 puffs or so.
Overall a very enjoyable stick, although I actually prefer the Cohiba Siglo I, which I felt was a bit more complex with flavors of caramel and stronger cedar scent. The stick I smoked was, IMO, a little bit young.
In summary, a flavorful, enjoyable stick with medium-full body. Definitely full strength as it gave me quite a nicotine kick. I rank this stick 85-88 out of 100 (against 89 to 90 for the Siglo I reviewed earlier).
Would I recommend it? Personally I'd grab a Siglo I over this, but that's just me.
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