Foundation The Wise Man Maduro

The rebranded, renamed, reblended El Gueguense has been released and I am long overdue to see how El Gueguense transformed into the Wise Man Maduro. I typically wait about 6 months for others to beta test reblends. Reviews from friends and tobacconists have convinced me it’s worth a try….so here we go.

The Foundation Wise Man maduro robusto is a box-pressed Nicaraguan puro with a very dark brown, thinly veined toothy Mexican San Andres wrapper. It has the lightest grade sandpaper feel to it.

Cedar, some oak and hickory, leather, bitter chocolate transitioning to dark chocolate, coffee, creamy sweetness, herbal, spice that mellows during the second third. Plenty of flavors although wood and spice dominate. The first third leaves me wanting more of the other flavors to integrate and balance better. It’s a good complex smoke. Somehow I think it could be better balanced.

And then it breaks loose during the second third. Roasted nuts, mineral notes, and hints of sweetness like maple syrup join the mix. The wood, leather, chocolate, coffee, cream, and spice are now meshed with the added flavors. Balance and complexity has arrived and I am enjoying this cigar. Retrohale: charred wood, earth, leather and mild pepper spice.

The construction is spot-on near perfect starting with the open draw, gobs of smoke, a very even burn line (OK, one brief touchup), and tight holding inch=plus ash.

Once the flavors fully developed and coalesced, The Wise Man maduro was very enjoyable. It’s a wood-earth-nut-coffee-driven cigar reminiscent of the flavor of the Southern Draw Kudzu or Montecristo 1935 Anniversary.

It’s hard to contrast and compare this new version with the original El Gueguense I last smoked a year ago. Somewhere in the recesses of my humidor I may still have an El Gueguense collecting dust – and age. I will send out a search party to find it, smoke it and compare.

Final verdict: The Wise Man maduro was a tale of two smokes. The first half was reasonably good. The second half was terrific. If the flavor even generally reminds me of a Monte 35, how can I not grade it a 5?

Join The Lounge