Alright, let's do this, part deux! Tonight I had myself a Perdomo ESV '91 Maestro which weighs in at a pretty hefty 54x6 (Toro gordo?). Why this stick you ask? Well besides the fact that this is one of the two Cameroons I currently had in the humidor (the GoF needs a special occasion) it's also one that hasn't seemed to get much attention.
This cigar is made using the same great aged tobacco from the Conn. shade and maduro versions of the same line of cigars (17 years of age if I'm not mistaken) the exception being the Cameroon wrapper. I made sure to smoke the same exact cigar last night but with the Conn. shade and I can tell you that this is a completely different cigar...:stretchgr
CONSTRUCTION: The Maestro shape sports a beautiful, surprisingly oily medium brown wrapper. In my limited experience with cigars the wrapper on this stick was the most oily I've ever seen on a cameroon. Unlike the Aurora Pref. I smoked last week which is toothy and leathery this one shares a glisten similar to my 5 Vegas 'A' sticks. After pulling the Maestro out of its tube (which is the nicest I've seen) the first thing I noticed was how it was more firmly packed than it's conn. shade sibling. The second thing I noticed was that there was a tear!!! I'm not sure how a tear makes its way onto a tubed cigar but it wasn't worth sending back for an exchange due to postage (and my limited patience). The tear, which to my dismay was located about 2/3 of the way up, only increased in size as I smoked the Maestro which caused it to become a bit unraveled. Despite this inconvenience, the Maestro burned much more evenly than the conn. shade version. The burn was not razor sharp by any means, but this cigar required no relighting and only a couple touch-ups. The draw was just right, a little resistance but just enough to be enjoyable.
FLAVOR: The smell of an unlit Maestro, as would be expected, has a sweet spice to it. I couldn't detect much with the pre-draw but once lit it was actually quite amazing how much of an improvement this cigar is over the lighter conn. wrapper. Each draw produces a s*** ton of smoke (which I loved). For the first half or so I got a wonderful amount of sweet spice and every now and then I could detect brown sugar notes in the smoke. After the halfway point the sweet spice intensified and I was also greeted with a discreet earthiness and a bit of chocolate. Near the end, the Maestro picked up a little pepper and finished with medium body. Over all I'd say this cigar would qualify as a full mild in body but med-full in flavor if that makes sense.
Although I enjoyed the flavors of the Maestro, I still feel like the Aurora has the edge in the complexity department (though I'll have to smoke one more of each to make any final conclusions.)
OVERALL: I very much enjoyed this smoke and was happy to spend almost two hours smoking it but I was not at all pleased with the torn wrapper (which I'm going to assume is the exception with this cigar) since I felt like I was constantly babysitting this stick. I paid $11 for this cigar (retail is ~$15) (more than double I paid for the Aurora Pref. 2006) and I still feel like I paid too much. I would be happy to pay $8 for this stick, but no more than that. The aurora I felt deserved its ~15 MSRP where as the Maestro (at around the same MSRP) felt sub-par in comparison. Still, I can say that this is defnitely the best Perdomo ESV I've had, much much much better than the conn. shade version and one you should try if you've enjoyed the ESV 1991 line.
In terms of a Cameroon cigar the Maestro was still very much enjoyable and one that I would smoke again without a doubt (though hopefully at a cheaper price). When taking the price and construction issues into consideration I'd give the Maestro a 7.5/10.
Thanks for reading and please let me know if you have any questions at all!
This cigar is made using the same great aged tobacco from the Conn. shade and maduro versions of the same line of cigars (17 years of age if I'm not mistaken) the exception being the Cameroon wrapper. I made sure to smoke the same exact cigar last night but with the Conn. shade and I can tell you that this is a completely different cigar...:stretchgr
CONSTRUCTION: The Maestro shape sports a beautiful, surprisingly oily medium brown wrapper. In my limited experience with cigars the wrapper on this stick was the most oily I've ever seen on a cameroon. Unlike the Aurora Pref. I smoked last week which is toothy and leathery this one shares a glisten similar to my 5 Vegas 'A' sticks. After pulling the Maestro out of its tube (which is the nicest I've seen) the first thing I noticed was how it was more firmly packed than it's conn. shade sibling. The second thing I noticed was that there was a tear!!! I'm not sure how a tear makes its way onto a tubed cigar but it wasn't worth sending back for an exchange due to postage (and my limited patience). The tear, which to my dismay was located about 2/3 of the way up, only increased in size as I smoked the Maestro which caused it to become a bit unraveled. Despite this inconvenience, the Maestro burned much more evenly than the conn. shade version. The burn was not razor sharp by any means, but this cigar required no relighting and only a couple touch-ups. The draw was just right, a little resistance but just enough to be enjoyable.
FLAVOR: The smell of an unlit Maestro, as would be expected, has a sweet spice to it. I couldn't detect much with the pre-draw but once lit it was actually quite amazing how much of an improvement this cigar is over the lighter conn. wrapper. Each draw produces a s*** ton of smoke (which I loved). For the first half or so I got a wonderful amount of sweet spice and every now and then I could detect brown sugar notes in the smoke. After the halfway point the sweet spice intensified and I was also greeted with a discreet earthiness and a bit of chocolate. Near the end, the Maestro picked up a little pepper and finished with medium body. Over all I'd say this cigar would qualify as a full mild in body but med-full in flavor if that makes sense.
Although I enjoyed the flavors of the Maestro, I still feel like the Aurora has the edge in the complexity department (though I'll have to smoke one more of each to make any final conclusions.)
OVERALL: I very much enjoyed this smoke and was happy to spend almost two hours smoking it but I was not at all pleased with the torn wrapper (which I'm going to assume is the exception with this cigar) since I felt like I was constantly babysitting this stick. I paid $11 for this cigar (retail is ~$15) (more than double I paid for the Aurora Pref. 2006) and I still feel like I paid too much. I would be happy to pay $8 for this stick, but no more than that. The aurora I felt deserved its ~15 MSRP where as the Maestro (at around the same MSRP) felt sub-par in comparison. Still, I can say that this is defnitely the best Perdomo ESV I've had, much much much better than the conn. shade version and one you should try if you've enjoyed the ESV 1991 line.
In terms of a Cameroon cigar the Maestro was still very much enjoyable and one that I would smoke again without a doubt (though hopefully at a cheaper price). When taking the price and construction issues into consideration I'd give the Maestro a 7.5/10.
Thanks for reading and please let me know if you have any questions at all!