Bucanero El Capitan Maduro:Blend: "A Costa Rica Maduro wrapper that offers one of the smoothest tastes your pallet will ever experience. A blend of the finest Dominican and Nicaragua fillers...
Wrapper: Bucanero Costa Rica Maduro"
-from the Bucanero Website
6x50 Toro
Ok, so get ready for another epic review.
I smoked this cigar while working on some stuff for a summer school I'm working with. My friend Josh was also smoking a cigar, a Petrus. We just finished playing Mario Party 8 on the Wii and had eaten dinner a couple hours earlier. This cigar was accompanied by a glass of Johnnie Walker Black.
Initial Impressions: This cigar looked well constructed, and with the exception of a few veins was smooth and attractive. Nice box press, not really heavy, but not light, tight roll. Not extraordinarily aromatic prelight, but the cigar did give off a nice tobacco aroma; about what you would expect from a cigar, nothing unusual.
I cut it with a double guillotine and it cut cleanly, but there seemed to be a bit of a divot in the center of the cut. The draw was a little tight, and had a nice amount of resistance that made you pull a little, but not plugged by any stretch. The cigar had been stored for a few weeks at 65-67% relative humidity and 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit. Hopefully the tight draw does not result in any burn issues or other problems. The prelight draw is also just a relatively plain tobacco flavour, with hints of leather and of dry oak. The cigar leaves a nice tingle on my lips initially.
The beginning of the cigar produces decent smoke, and doesn't go out even though I neglect it to write this review. The flavour is definitely mild and while producing sufficient volumes of smoke, the flavour is not as intense as I was anticipating. Hopefully it kicks it up a notch as it goes along. The flavour continues to be woody with the faintest hints of black pepper spice. The finish is not too long at this point and my mouth stays moist, but not to the point of slobbering all over myself. The aroma off the end of the cigar is of tobacco and leather. Now as I begin to get into the smoke a tad (~1cm) the flavours are definitely coming on a little stronger. Still pretty mild though. I can begin to taste the expected maduro sweetness.
The burn at this point is nice and even having corrected the initial unevenness caused by my lighting job. There is a bit more spice on the finish now.
Moving through the first inch, the spice is definitely kicking up now. There is also a vegetal taste that I am recognizing now, not anything specific, just a slight green flavour. The draw continues to have some resistance, but the cigar is smoking well with no difficulting pulling out smoke. There is a small section burning a tad slower than the rest of the cigar, I wanted to let it even itself out, but I got impatient and it didn't seem like it was working so I proceeded to touch it up. Nice maduro flavour on the finish.
As I was thinking about the cigar and how the draw seemed to be loosening up, I took a puff and just dropped the whole cigar on myself like an idiot. I hurriedly grabbed it and tossed it in the ashtray and the ash fell off leaving a cone in the center surround by a moat, surrounded by a wall of the wrapper. I lit the wrapper a little and continued to smoke it. It's continuing to smoke well and it seems like the flavour is balancing out nicely now, it's started to hit it's stride as I move towards the end of the first third.
Moving into the second third, the burn is a bit weird, but that might be due to my having dropped the cigar. Also, it seems to be burning quite slowly, granted I am working on something else and am smoking the cigar a bit slower than usual, but it is taking a good amount of time to move through. It is enjoyable though.
I just finished my work and it's been a good hour into the smoke now. I'm starting to really get some great flavour from this cigar now and the maduro flavour is being more pronounced.
I'm finally at the halfway point, and I've begun to realize that this cigar is taking a long, long time...we'll see if I can finish it. It felt a little like it was going out on me now, so I took the time to relight it. Unfortunately post-relight the burn seemed to become uneven again. I guess I was puffing a bit hard though so that is not entirely the cigar's fault. After a touch up it seems to be okay again. At this point in the cigar, I think it's pretty medium bodied, nice volume of smoke, nice flavour, but nothing outstanding. I've smoked better, though the flavour, nicotine content and amount of smoke and mouthfeel seem to all be consistent, which I would consider to be a plus.
It's definitely requiring a bit more babysitting at this point in the second third of the cigar and seems to be burning faster as well. Whereas earlier in the cigar it's sweet spot seemed be a slower smoking rate, it's definitely requiring more frequent puffs in order to keep the burn consistent and not let it go out as it seems to want to do. The draw has tightened up a bit, but it's also producing more smoke now. I'm beginning to get a bit of a nicotine buzz as well. The spice has stepped up a bit on my tongue and the back half of my mouth, mostly around the top of my throat and the sides of the back of my mouth. It's also burning a tad hotter, but all of this is probably due to the faster smoking rate. I'm having to puff at least twice a minute to keep it burning right, but the flavour is not getting harsh at all yet. I'm enjoying this cigar more and more now.
The smoke coming off of the cigar is much more aromatic now. The finish has a red berry flavour to it now. My only wish at this point is that the cigar would have smoked like this from the beginning. My attempts to smoke faster earlier only led to a strange burn and hints towards a harsher flavour, but now, other than the hotter temperature it's smoking awesomely.
Moving into the final third of the cigar, the cigar has come together nicely. Rich flavourful smoke full of tobacco flavours and berries along with a great maduro flavour. The wrapper has held up nicely throughout the smoke despite my dropping it several times and I've had no splits or real runs. The wrapper did seem to burn a tad slow for me though compared to the filler.
I've gotten a nice nic buzz now probably due to the sheer length of the smoke, but it's nothing really overpowering. I would still rate this as a medium bodied smoke for the most part. It's getting about to the end for me at about an inch, I would nub this if I was smoking with some other people, but my friend has been done with his cigar for a while and I'm about ready to call it quits on this one.
I was worried earlier that the cigar would not live up it's price point, but although I'm not sure if it's totally worth it on a regular basis, I would not be opposed to paying MSRP on occasion for a change of pace and for it's complexity as a cigar. Definitely spend some time with this cigar and my recommendation would be to keep this cigar hot as it seems to benefit from that. This cigar took me well over 2 hours, but I tend to smoke slower when I review cigars and that was even while blazing through the second half of the cigar. I would time this to be right around the 2 hour mark for most people and as an ideal smoking target. Expect to speed up as the flavour increases in flavour and complexity as it goes along.
In conclusion, a nice smoke definitely worth keeping a couple in the humidor, though not a box purchase for me. Flavour a 7.5 out of 10, Burn 7 out of 10, overall smoking experience 8 out of 10. Though there are other cigars I would much more readily reach for in my humidor, I would not pass up an opportunity to smoke one again if the mood struck me right. Thanks for bearing with me through my review.
Wrapper: Bucanero Costa Rica Maduro"
-from the Bucanero Website
6x50 Toro
Ok, so get ready for another epic review.
I smoked this cigar while working on some stuff for a summer school I'm working with. My friend Josh was also smoking a cigar, a Petrus. We just finished playing Mario Party 8 on the Wii and had eaten dinner a couple hours earlier. This cigar was accompanied by a glass of Johnnie Walker Black.
Initial Impressions: This cigar looked well constructed, and with the exception of a few veins was smooth and attractive. Nice box press, not really heavy, but not light, tight roll. Not extraordinarily aromatic prelight, but the cigar did give off a nice tobacco aroma; about what you would expect from a cigar, nothing unusual.
I cut it with a double guillotine and it cut cleanly, but there seemed to be a bit of a divot in the center of the cut. The draw was a little tight, and had a nice amount of resistance that made you pull a little, but not plugged by any stretch. The cigar had been stored for a few weeks at 65-67% relative humidity and 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit. Hopefully the tight draw does not result in any burn issues or other problems. The prelight draw is also just a relatively plain tobacco flavour, with hints of leather and of dry oak. The cigar leaves a nice tingle on my lips initially.
The beginning of the cigar produces decent smoke, and doesn't go out even though I neglect it to write this review. The flavour is definitely mild and while producing sufficient volumes of smoke, the flavour is not as intense as I was anticipating. Hopefully it kicks it up a notch as it goes along. The flavour continues to be woody with the faintest hints of black pepper spice. The finish is not too long at this point and my mouth stays moist, but not to the point of slobbering all over myself. The aroma off the end of the cigar is of tobacco and leather. Now as I begin to get into the smoke a tad (~1cm) the flavours are definitely coming on a little stronger. Still pretty mild though. I can begin to taste the expected maduro sweetness.
The burn at this point is nice and even having corrected the initial unevenness caused by my lighting job. There is a bit more spice on the finish now.
Moving through the first inch, the spice is definitely kicking up now. There is also a vegetal taste that I am recognizing now, not anything specific, just a slight green flavour. The draw continues to have some resistance, but the cigar is smoking well with no difficulting pulling out smoke. There is a small section burning a tad slower than the rest of the cigar, I wanted to let it even itself out, but I got impatient and it didn't seem like it was working so I proceeded to touch it up. Nice maduro flavour on the finish.
As I was thinking about the cigar and how the draw seemed to be loosening up, I took a puff and just dropped the whole cigar on myself like an idiot. I hurriedly grabbed it and tossed it in the ashtray and the ash fell off leaving a cone in the center surround by a moat, surrounded by a wall of the wrapper. I lit the wrapper a little and continued to smoke it. It's continuing to smoke well and it seems like the flavour is balancing out nicely now, it's started to hit it's stride as I move towards the end of the first third.
Moving into the second third, the burn is a bit weird, but that might be due to my having dropped the cigar. Also, it seems to be burning quite slowly, granted I am working on something else and am smoking the cigar a bit slower than usual, but it is taking a good amount of time to move through. It is enjoyable though.
I just finished my work and it's been a good hour into the smoke now. I'm starting to really get some great flavour from this cigar now and the maduro flavour is being more pronounced.
I'm finally at the halfway point, and I've begun to realize that this cigar is taking a long, long time...we'll see if I can finish it. It felt a little like it was going out on me now, so I took the time to relight it. Unfortunately post-relight the burn seemed to become uneven again. I guess I was puffing a bit hard though so that is not entirely the cigar's fault. After a touch up it seems to be okay again. At this point in the cigar, I think it's pretty medium bodied, nice volume of smoke, nice flavour, but nothing outstanding. I've smoked better, though the flavour, nicotine content and amount of smoke and mouthfeel seem to all be consistent, which I would consider to be a plus.
It's definitely requiring a bit more babysitting at this point in the second third of the cigar and seems to be burning faster as well. Whereas earlier in the cigar it's sweet spot seemed be a slower smoking rate, it's definitely requiring more frequent puffs in order to keep the burn consistent and not let it go out as it seems to want to do. The draw has tightened up a bit, but it's also producing more smoke now. I'm beginning to get a bit of a nicotine buzz as well. The spice has stepped up a bit on my tongue and the back half of my mouth, mostly around the top of my throat and the sides of the back of my mouth. It's also burning a tad hotter, but all of this is probably due to the faster smoking rate. I'm having to puff at least twice a minute to keep it burning right, but the flavour is not getting harsh at all yet. I'm enjoying this cigar more and more now.
The smoke coming off of the cigar is much more aromatic now. The finish has a red berry flavour to it now. My only wish at this point is that the cigar would have smoked like this from the beginning. My attempts to smoke faster earlier only led to a strange burn and hints towards a harsher flavour, but now, other than the hotter temperature it's smoking awesomely.
Moving into the final third of the cigar, the cigar has come together nicely. Rich flavourful smoke full of tobacco flavours and berries along with a great maduro flavour. The wrapper has held up nicely throughout the smoke despite my dropping it several times and I've had no splits or real runs. The wrapper did seem to burn a tad slow for me though compared to the filler.
I've gotten a nice nic buzz now probably due to the sheer length of the smoke, but it's nothing really overpowering. I would still rate this as a medium bodied smoke for the most part. It's getting about to the end for me at about an inch, I would nub this if I was smoking with some other people, but my friend has been done with his cigar for a while and I'm about ready to call it quits on this one.
I was worried earlier that the cigar would not live up it's price point, but although I'm not sure if it's totally worth it on a regular basis, I would not be opposed to paying MSRP on occasion for a change of pace and for it's complexity as a cigar. Definitely spend some time with this cigar and my recommendation would be to keep this cigar hot as it seems to benefit from that. This cigar took me well over 2 hours, but I tend to smoke slower when I review cigars and that was even while blazing through the second half of the cigar. I would time this to be right around the 2 hour mark for most people and as an ideal smoking target. Expect to speed up as the flavour increases in flavour and complexity as it goes along.
In conclusion, a nice smoke definitely worth keeping a couple in the humidor, though not a box purchase for me. Flavour a 7.5 out of 10, Burn 7 out of 10, overall smoking experience 8 out of 10. Though there are other cigars I would much more readily reach for in my humidor, I would not pass up an opportunity to smoke one again if the mood struck me right. Thanks for bearing with me through my review.
