When you’re considered fairly new in an industry, you would think that a company would take it’s time and moderately introduce new products. At @micallefcigars , they decided to take the road less traveled and is holding nothing back. It seems that they have released blends to meet the most discriminative of palates. One of the Micallef’s most boisterous blends is the Grand Bold Maduro. It’s an Ecuadorian Broadleaf wrapper encasing selected long leaf Nicaraguan filler and binder. The brand really came out swinging.
Before we get into the actual flavor of the Grand Bold, let’s take a moment to relish this leathery, knobby, chocolate outer wrapper. It’s something about a rough textured outer layer that tells a story of where the cigar comes from. It has a sweet coffee and pecan scent pre-lighting. Once lit, the ventilation is excellent; and the draw is effortlessly smooth, yet I’m not getting a lot of smoke. However, the flavor was undoubtedly present. Deep notes of cedar, mineral, bark and very dry dark chocolate are the initial profile in this first portion. It’s a vibrant, arboreous mix on the tongue.
It’s usually around this 3rd that I can really tell how well the cigar is constructed. The chalky white ash holds together for a good 2-3 inches at a time. As far as the flavor, you are presented with a mild leather note with an intensified cedar and pepper layered underneath. A second transition within the same third is rare to find, but it’s a welcomed surprise for those who like complex full-bodied smokes. Closing this 2nd third, I begin to pick up cloves, cinnamon and red pepper…adding a savory profile on top of the heavy wood flavors.
The clove and other spices are a nice finish to a hearty cigar. You can taste the quality of the soil, the care that is taken in priming the leaves, just everything that Nicaraguan is made of is in here. This is a cigar that can stand up against a peppered steak dinner or a high proof whiskey. However, I would contrast the cigar’s flavor pallet with something sweeter to bring out more of the dark chocolate and baking spices like Rum.
