On my way to Ohio yesterday I had the good fortune to smoke a cigar that my buddy triplef sent me a good long while ago.
It's seldom I do a review, but if any cigar ever deserved a review, it was this one.
From the word go, it was absolutely flawless. The burn was razor sharp from start to finish. It never required a touch up, never needed a relight. That was surprising as I slowed down a lot to keep her cool.
The flavors were incredible and captivating from the first spark. There was no explosion of dirty smoke on lighting, just sweet maduro flavor. That might be because of the badass new lighter my buddy Kelmac gave me when he visited. :-)
This cigar delivered a delicious champagne caramel sweetness that built from onset and developed into a fullness that's simply unrivaled.
To qualify that statement, I just had a 1926 #35 maddie the day before last. It's flavors, construction, and experience weren't close to what this cigar delivered.
Taste being subjective, and being that this one showed me everything I love, I'll score it twice.
Technically, it was perfect. Not a negative to be found anywhere. No unraveling, perfect burn, absolutely beautiful construction with a perfectly spotless vein-free wrapper. The cigar was perfectly made, perfectly filled, and delivered a firm silky softness in the hand. The wrapper stayed placed throughout the burn and removed easily when the time came, doing no damage to the cigar whatsoever.
The flavors built slowly, delivering many new experiences of strength and development, all satisfying and amazing.
This particular stick was easily a 10/10.
In the flavors department, it delivered every bit of maduro goodness that a cigar can provide. Caramel, champagne, sweetness, a thick body and spicy goodness. To me, it easily scored a 10/10 in the flavor department.
Add the fact that it was gifted me by a dear friend, lit with a lighter gifted by another dear friend, and smoked in the presence of my precious daughter who just pulled a 96 average in her academic classes the last nine weeks, driving in the sun at 82 degrees in western PA on April 1st, traveling to see the woman I love, and it easily scored a 10/10 on the experience scale.
So there ya have it. 30/30, a perfect cigar. It it was sporting a pair of double d's, it'd be off the charts.
Easily among the finest five cigars I've ever smoked, Thank You Lord. :-)
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Scott,
Tell me something I didn't already know.:-):-):-)

The Monarca is one of my favorites for the value.
Just smaller than normal Churchills.

That and the Principe are the best values to me.

The '35 is amazing.

They are all great.
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Great review and a great day there Scott.:-)
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I have one of the '26 #35 sitting in the humi, I think I will need to find it a partner being the '64 Monarca Maduro. Thanks for the review!
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That corona gorda like box press has got to be the perfect size for a cigar, Carlos. The length is perfect, too. Not too little, and not too overwhelming like it's a huge commitment.
The 1926 #6 maddie is also on my top five list of cigars I've smoked. No small wonder. Why I don't have a box of each is beyond me. I just kinda got Padron'd out and wandered off on a LGD phase.
Sure was nice revisiting these sticks the last few days.
Between the excellent cigars I've smoked as of late and the gorgeous weather, I've really got a fire lit under my ass. I wanna go have a cigar right now. I'll likely have one here very shortly. Probably a Cohiba maddie or little AVO maduro. They're incredible, too. :-)
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Great review, Scott. It's making me want one...especially if I can find one with the double D's.
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Sounds great Scott. I smoked a #35 maddie last night and was underwhelmed.
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Great review Scott. Makes me want to run out and grab one of these bady boys now. :-)
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Great review on a great cigar brother:-)

The funny thing is I told him as great as that cigar was its probally going to cost him about $500 :-)
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Ain't that the truth. I se a couple boxes in his future purchases. :-)

Yes, it is a great stick. If you can find them on special, even bettter.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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Here! Here! :-)
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Great review Scott. Got a box of the Monarca maduros myself and they are every bit as good as you say they are.
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Just had my first Principe Maduro last night and it was great! Now I will have to try the Monarca Maduro. :-)
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I've been curious regarding these Padrons, so based off this review I've now put a bid in on a 5 pack. Thanks!
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STAY AWAY!!!

They suck!!!

(hope he listens to me as I sure as heck don't want everyone buying these and making them hard to get as in the early days).
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Heh! My apologies, I did actually win (first won cbid auction!). I also picked up some HCM beads due to Cigarnut's tagline. It was a pricey 15 minutes spent crusing the forum. Weather is so gorgeous lately I know I'll be digging into the new humidor's stash.

Look at the bright side - now others here will know what type of stick to ship you!
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I have smoked a ton of boxes of these and this size is a knock out. It is the perfect size that really lets you taste the best of all the fine flaovrs the 64's have to offer.
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Picked up three of these before I took off for Alaska...thanks to Scott. :-)
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Goes to show that where a guy is in his head makes a huge difference on how good a cigar is. I smoked another 64 Monarca maduro Saturday night, and it definately slipped from the top of the pile.
It was pretty beat up from being piled on in one of my drawers, and the wrapper was blown out near the head. I was pretty beat up and tired, too.
Add all that stuff up and it only scored about a 99/100. :-)
Honestly, either it was off a bit or I was off a bit. It was a bit more tangy than the last, and it didn't fill out nearly as well. It lacked the fullness of the last one, too.
I'm going to let the fact that "I wasn't really there for it" account for the way I looked at the cigar.
There was an odd slippery spot on the wrapper just above the band that was really offputting. Add that to how beat up it was, and it really took a bite out of the experience.
A good thing that came of it...
I won't be putting any cigars in my drawers that aren't in a cello or a finger bag from here on out. I should be keeping a lot better care of my cigars. So even if I didn't get the experience out of the cigar that I had expected, I still got a good lesson. :-)
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After reading this thread I bought a box of these; going to try one on Friday and really looking forward to it!
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