The cigar: Partagas Black Maximo
Nutritional information
Vitola: 6x50 toro
Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Connecticut broadleaf
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic
Humidor time: 8 months
The marketing:
From JR:
The Partagas Black is the same in namesake, and well-made in the same factory, but that is where the similarities end. Wrapped in a unique "medio tiempo" sun-grown Havana-seed leaf from the Connecticut River Valley, this is a very robust blend of Nicaraguan and Piloto Cubano ligeros. Flavors of earth, dark chocolate, and dark roasted espresso will overwhelm your senses - this is not a cigar for the timid.
From CI:
An attractive sun-grown beauty unlike any other Partagas blends. Partagas Black is an enticing full-bodied cigar, full and rich. Its gorgeous, oily, medio tiempo sun-grown wrappers and large rings (54-60) are the perfect vehicles to deliver the powerful blend of Nicaraguan and Cuban-seed ligero fillers. Excellent construction, a gentle draw, and rich, robust character make this a bold and enticing cigar.
Prelight: On first impression, everything about this cigar says "power." It's a hefty SOB of a toro, one that seems bigger than its 6x50 dimensions. The tube is big. The wrapper is a thick, leathery, jet black, sun grown medio tiempo Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. The foot gave off notes of cedar and spice. I expected a full, peppery ride.
As it turned out, this cigar was quite a bit mellower than I'd expected. Maybe the girth diminishes the influence of the wrapper. Maybe the tubo mellows it. Maybe it aged at the retailer before it reached my humi, where it's been resting for 8 mos.
Construction/Burn: This was a beautifully made cigar. Yes, the thick broadleaf wrapper is tough looking, but it was well-wrapped, solid, and packed full. The draw was excellent and the burn perfect all the way to the nub. The ash was firm, light gray in color. (I'll note here that the tubo kept this cigar well humidified, even though it spent several days out of my humidor before I smoked it.) It burned quite slowly, lasting nearly 2 hrs even though I wasn't trying to nurse it.
Flavor: There wasn't a whole lot of action over those 2 hours. The flavor was full, predominantly dark tobacco and a good bit of cedar. A little pepper upon lighting, but not much thereafter. Occasionally I caught a hint of some dark flavors like chocolate, but it was pretty consistent and steady down through the nub. I'll admit that while the flavor was good, it did get a little boring; my palate grew tired of the same flavor.
I've got the rest of a box tucked away, and I'll certainly revisit them and likely enjoy them, but I don't see myself running out to buy more.
[Reply]
I still have half a box somewhere, don't smoke them too much except for the Pronto size, a good 20 minute smoke. I find I like them a lot better as a first cigar, they have a wierd bland taste if it's my second or later cigar of the day.
[Reply]
