Cugine Maduro Robusto by Arganese

[joshbenesh]

First off, I have to say I'm not an Arganese fan, so I may be a little biased. I was given this cigar to taste by the guys at my cigar shop ahead of an event held today.

This cigar is being made by Arganese, with a flavor profile for Joseph Gannascoli - "Vito" from The Sopranos. He was at the event today.

I smoked a maduro robusto.

Appearance/Feel - The band on this cigar has a picture of Joe Gannascoli with the word "Cugine" below his portrait, and the words "Social Club" to the left, and "Members Only" to the right. A secondary band below the primary had Joe's signature with the words "By Arganese". The cigar was dark and toothy, with a couple of large veins. The cigar was also fairly soft - not a great start.

Taste/Burn - Like most Brazilian Mata Fina wrappers, this cigar tasted fairly bland, and left a dry papery (NOT peppery) feel in my mouth. The taste continued throughout - it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't very complex. It tasted like very dark earth throughout. For how loosely packed the cigar was, it burned very evenly. I didn't have to do any touch-ups, and it didn't canoe on me at all.

Value - This cigar isn't for sale yet, but the reps said the price point would be around $14. I don't know if this was MSRP, or if it included the MN tobacco tax of 70%. However, even if the cigar was $8 MSRP, it really isn't worth it in my book, unless you like a medium, earthy cigar that isn't very complex.

On the "CA" rating scale, I would probably throw this one down around an 81-83.

I suppose it didn't help that I led into this cigar with a God of Fire...

 

[Moro]

Thanks for the review, mate!

 

[ironmeden]

I wanted to follow up the original posting.

I was one of the Arganese Reps that was at the Tobacco Grove event. I wanted to correct one note from this post.

I'm not sure who quoted the $14 price for the cigar once it's officially released, but it wasn't from one of us at the event. Depending on the size of the cigar, Robusto or Torpedo, it will probably range from $7 to $9, but to be honest we haven't received any price points from Arganese, but compared to the recently released ML3 and CL3 which also are available in Robusto and Torpedo that $7 to $9 range will be pretty close.

The Maduro that was reviewed is a nice medium to full flavored cigar without the spice. It is a very different Maduro from the original Arganese line. Compared to that cigar it's a fuller flavor with light coffee notes.

I hope the original poster will give it another try, we'd appreciate a more honest review of the cigar. Maybe start your day with the cigar instead of it being your 2nd cigar of the day. Most reviewers in online forums usually will have a cleaner palate when it hasn't been tainted by a previous cigar. If you give me your contact through the site, I'd be willing to send you a care package of both the Maduro and Connecticut.

Thanks for smoking the Cugine and I hope you all check out the line.

Paul

 

[joshbenesh]

Paul - I appreciate the response - The price I quoted was based on someone - I believe it was a rep - quoting that the cigar packs that were for sale contained 4 cigars, for 28 dollars - thus the $7 number I had in my head. I then heard this same person say, "so, today you can get them for about half the price they're going to be."

Is the $7-9 number you are quoting include MN tobacco tax? Therefore the MSRP of this stick would be around $4.50-5.50?

Granted most reviewers in online forums have a "cleaner palate", if they're reviewing their first cigar of the day - I haven't noticed that this is the case on here and don't believe it would be so on most cigar review sites, including Cigar Aficionado from what I've seen on their site.

My bias from Arganese stems from the first event at Tobacco Grove - my free cigar split immediately, and I wasn't enjoying the first few draws anyway. However, it may have needed time to warm up.

If you'd like me to take a second look at this particular cigar, and Arganese in general, I will make sure the next one I smoke is "un-tainted" by that of a previous cigar. Feel free to PM me and I can reply with my address if you'd like to send anything along. I would also recommend sending a few of these "care packages" to some more brothers on the site. I've found that there have been no better, unbiased and freely stated reviews that on this site. Arganese is a new brand that needs legs - getting them in the hands of some of the more "vocal" brothers of this site might help with that.

I wanted to follow up the original posting.

I was one of the Arganese Reps that was at the Tobacco Grove event. I wanted to correct one note from this post.

I'm not sure who quoted the $14 price for the cigar once it's officially released, but it wasn't from one of us at the event. Depending on the size of the cigar, Robusto or Torpedo, it will probably range from $7 to $9, but to be honest we haven't received any price points from Arganese, but compared to the recently released ML3 and CL3 which also are available in Robusto and Torpedo that $7 to $9 range will be pretty close.

The Maduro that was reviewed is a nice medium to full flavored cigar without the spice. It is a very different Maduro from the original Arganese line. Compared to that cigar it's a fuller flavor with light coffee notes.

I hope the original poster will give it another try, we'd appreciate a more honest review of the cigar. Maybe start your day with the cigar instead of it being your 2nd cigar of the day. Most reviewers in online forums usually will have a cleaner palate when it hasn't been tainted by a previous cigar. If you give me your contact through the site, I'd be willing to send you a care package of both the Maduro and Connecticut.

Thanks for smoking the Cugine and I hope you all check out the line.

Paul

 

[Soundwave13]

From a post I made on 12/18:
(An 'honest' review)

"Cugine Maduro torpedo: 1st 1/3 - too young!; 2/3 - I can see where they were going with this, it might be tastey with some time & care; 3/3 falling apart with 3.5" left to go... Dissapointed. Good medium chocolate flavors - might have potential...."

I got this at an event from a nice guy who purchased a (25) bundle of these ($99). It was a nice gesture, because they weren't selling singles (I think it was pre-release).

I'm not fishing for any freebies, I just thought I'd throw my $.02 in. Send those sticks to Joshbenesh, he's a deserving brother & likes good smokes.

 

[CWS]

Good rep. Take him up on it and try another one. Who knows?

 

[Wigwam_Motel]

I'm in the same boat , I am not a big fan of the Arganese either, but once and a dam while a good one comes around, the uno isn't bad of smoke, but its still OK, wish they were cheaper. Still a puro.

 

[BagfullofPings]

Gene has some decent cigars, but none of them are worth $10+. After forking over $20, I was not overly impressed by the Uno. IMO, the Nica is his best line and the second is the ML3. I can be honest because I have purchased 3 boxes of Arganese's. 1 Nicaraguan and 2 ML3's

 

[njstone]

I've never smoked an Arganese, based on what I've heard they're nothing to write home about. But I try to keep an open mind, so whenever I get one I'll lite her up and see.