Tasty, but Tight!

Cigar Reviewed: M by Macanudo Coffee Toroa

Smoked at: Martinsburg, WV

While I am not new to Macanudo, this was my first M stick. It seems to me to be a slightly less expensive competitor to Drew Estate, and to be honest, it's a solid competitor at that.

For this first jump, I gave the Coffee flavor a try, and it had an amazing aroma. Not so much coffee but more like premium Dutch cocoa powder. (If any if you are bakers, Droste Cocoa specifically is where my brain went.) Thick, silky, almost a little coconutty. If you're only familiar with American cocoa, the flavor is distinct, and kinda sexy. But it isn't really a coffee flavor per se. It's darn good though.

Given that this is a toro, it does give you a mouthful of flavor too. I'd liken to a mouthful of my Mother-in-law's chocolate cake, and that's really a compliment. It has a little bitter, but the right amount to offset it's strong sweetness.

As we got to the final third, the spicy kicks in. It wasn't off-putting, but it's a distinct contrast in flavors.

Aesthetically, it's not as pretty as a top-end Macanudo. It had a very veiny wrapper, and that caused a little uneven burn, but given the price point, I may be trying to compare an apple to an Asian pear. I did have to touch up a little during my smoke, but I wasn't unhappy about it. As I got to the band, the integrity if the wrapper started to give a bit. The draw improved, but the outer wrapper started to fracture and the filler started burning unter the wrapper a bit. Again nothing a touch up couldn't fix, but again it's what I'd expect more from a lesser-tier cigar. Which is why I think Macanudo made this branding distinction.

My one critical comment, is this stick was a tight draw. It wasn't like the fresh McDonald's shake that causes you to pop a blood vessel in your head trying to get some into the straw, but I was only getting small bits of smoke on amy draw, which was disappointed be it had a great taste to it. That said, it may just be the stick, but I'll do a little more research as I have a numbers of different M toros in my box that I'll be trying out soon.

UPDATE: I tried another stick in the line, the Espresso & Cream "Barberpole." My experience was similar but more extreme than the first. After sitting for about 15-20 seconds after a draw, you'll get no smoke through it unless you draw multiple times, and heavily. It's almost like the cigar has forgotten what it's one job actually is. Because you have to draw so hard and so frequently, it negatively impacts the potential the flavor has, and actually undermines it. Also, because of how you have to smoke it, it weakens the integrity of the tip and binder close to the tip. Also, unlike the first, this didn't get any better the further along I got. 😔