Cigar Name: H. Upmann 1844 Reserve Maduro (6 x 54)

Cigar Description: San Andrés Morron wrapper around Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers

Cigar Strength: Medium

Review of the Cigar itself: I picked up this cigar when I was in Charleston, SC from Tinderbox there. When I did a little background research on this, I noticed that Altadis U.S.A., the distributor of H.Upmann, defined the wrapper as a San Andres Morron wrapper. San Andres tobacco, out of the Mexican valley of the same name, has been pretty decent but what made me go “HUH?” was the term Morron. I hadn’t heard that used before. Doing a translation search got me, from Google, either morning (Swedish) or pepper, as in the vegetable (spanish). I’m inclined to think that rather than this being a strong peppery tobacco, this is a “sweeter” or gentler version. And it is.

The dark chocolate wrapper isn’t a strong peppery taste but more of a gentler version. The cigar itself felt pretty dense but it was very light in weight. I was a bit worried that it might be too tightly wrapped but found it to be tight enough to hold everything together without impeding on the flow of flavour. And it was a nice consistent flavour until I reached the nub. As I lit the foot, an easy aroma of coffee and cocoa with a hint of earthy tones yielded out from the cigar. It seemed a perfect match for an afternoon coffee, enough to keep me awake. I took a deep draw in and enjoyed the sweet flavours as they tickled the tastebuds. I’m usually a little put off by darker cigars because of the stronger peppery taste that hits the back of my tongue but this one was actually quite nice.

The band came off very easily (it actually remained in the cellophane when I removed the cigar). But the construction was very good. I was enjoying this cigar just as my online class began their labs. At one point, I got distracted and had to relight the cigar. It actually relit pretty easily and the flavours remained consistent, albeit a bit more muted in their flavour. It was nice that the burn on the cigar itself was fairly straight and rarely needed to be relit (as long as attention was given to it). As I got to the nub of the cigar, I noticed a stronger leather-pepper combination coming out and at that point, I called it a night.

While not overly complex a cigar, it was very enjoyable.

Enjoyed with: Coffee and water

Smoke time: approximately 75 minutes

Final Review Rating: 8.8/10

*pictures to be added later.