Lack of Cuban Maduro Cigars

[Sligub]

i assumed they went hand in hand....
but of course, as you mentioned before, the partagas short that is maduro wouldn't neccessarily be called "maduro.'

methinks these kind of pedantries aren't encountered when all i smoke are cubans. i mean, if i didn't know about NCs, i'd had figured maduro was just unique to the cohiba line! nothing else (of my knowledge) is called "maduro" in all of the wide habanos marcas

He's not being pedantic the partagas short that you call a maduro is actually not just a dark wrapper. Maduro wrappers are treated differently i.e Fermentation is at higher temps for longer

[ValeTudoGuy]

It looks to me that Maduro has two clear and defined meanings. The first is a depiction of a colour, whilst the second is a depiction of a curing process.

Out of interest, when did "Maduro's" start showing up? Are there pre embargo Maduro's as we know them today? or are they a generally NC invention?

Did someone, one day just add a nifty marketing technique to a way of tampering with the end product?

[butternutsquashpie]

He's not being pedantic

no one's being pedantic, except some cigar manafacteurers.... which was what i was indicating, not the user!
if anyone is pedantic here, it'd be me with my gaggle of thoughts slewed everywhere now,

the partagas short that you call a maduro is actually not just a dark wrapper. Maduro wrappers are treated differently i.e Fermentation is at higher temps for longer

but aye. this was stated earlier. he issued me the example of his box of partagas shorts that had some dark ones and some light ones. twas only an excerpt from there.

[PeeJay]

no one's being pedantic, except some cigar manafacteurers.... which was what i was indicating, not the user!
if anyone is pedantic here, it'd be me with my gaggle of thoughts slewed everywhere now,


but aye. this was stated earlier. he issued me the example of his box of partagas shorts that had some dark ones and some light ones. twas only an excerpt from there.

Stick with pedantic B, at least I don't have to read your posts a couple of times to make sense of them

[monkey66]

Maduro means 'mature'.

In the case of cigars this has a technical definition (with broad parameters) and a slightly different common understanding.

The technical definition is a process of intensive and prolonged ageing/maturing to allow the leave to ferment and develop more sugars (I think). The leaves normally get darker during this process. This process is typically 1-5 years in length. Liquid, sometimes known as 'bethune' is used to keep the tobacco moist during the maduro process. This liquid can get quite controversial and is usually a secret. It is clear that some manufacturers have gone way beyond the more acceptable additives (like water, run-off tobacco juices, moderate amounts of sucrose etc) to far more aggressive colourings, flavourings and chemical processes.

Maduro comes in many shades as does non-maduro leaf. I have a box of '98 Lusi's that are very dark but this is just their natural colour.

Sometimes all leaves in a cigar are maduro, sometimes just the wrapper ...and sometimes a combination of different age leaves.

The common understanding of 'maduro' can probably be defined in four words; dark, strong, sweet, spicy.

Cigars I don't often want to smoke - For me the give away is when every stick, in every box, is exactly the same shade of very dark brown with almost no visible variation. This just does not happen without a process that prioritises looks over taste. You wouldn't get 10 bags of potatoes, all with such similar shaded skins. It appears Cuban Maduros do not pander to this as I have seen many shades of colour with CC Maduro's (within a single vitola) but I have only ever seen one shade of Padron Maduro. Now knowing to what a high quality the Padron's run their business it is quite possible that this is the result of excellent process and quality control, but this cannot be true of all manufacturers. Think back to the number of NC's you have smoked (I have smoked plenty) that had an unnaturally coloured finish and a slightly artificial taste in the smoke that is hard to define. My guess is that is the taste of whatever they have used to achieve the colour.

My experience is that an NC will almost never get worse giving it 6-12 months in the desk-top and it'll most likely significantly improve.

There is a reason why there is only a tiny market for aged NC's. That is simply no-one is passing round a 10-15 year box of good NC's and saying "wow - you got to try this". I have been searching for a great NC for as long as I have been smoking and (to my palette) I have never found one. If it has happened they are staying real quiet about it. One must concede that we don't know what we don't know. There is even a current debate about the validity of any long term ageing of current production CC's due to the changes is processing of recient years.

Time will provide all answers but while we are waiting smoke what is good to you

Maduro cigars, my take. For me most Maduro cigars are too dominated by a one-dimensional, often harsh burnt sugar flavour profile. When this is the case it can often mask many other flavours. I dream of an Edition Limitada program that just produces great vitolas true to their marca (which can be done ...I'm thinking Royal Robusto, Allones Superiores etc. with a little better quality that the mass production. Instead we get this very hit and miss maduro wrapped lottery.

Come to think of it are the best three Regional/La Casa Editions each year better than the three Limitadas?

[PeeJay]

The Monkey has spoken! Good post.