Initial Thoughts
Welcome to Emilio Cigars week here on Stogies on the Rocks. This Emilio Series H Maduro is the first cigar of 5 to be reviewed this week. I’ve long been a fan of Emilio cigars. I was first introduced to the line through my good friend Nate McIntyre, who now is the National Sales Director for the line. He’s has given me an incredible amount of knowledge about cigars, the process, the history, and how to smoke them properly.
I’ve almost met Gary Griffith founder of Emilio cigars. He’s a great guy and he is all about the tobacco he puts into his cigars. These two combine to bring an incredible enthusiasm to cigars, and they bring some great products to the marketplace as well.
So, about four weeks ago I got a package in the mail. I checked it out and saw that it came from Gary Griffith. I was thinking to myself, did I review an Emilio and maybe he didn’t like the review and this is some possible hate mail? Then I thought again, Gary is too nice of a guy and would never do that. So I opened it up and my second thought was the correct one! Thank God. Gary sent me 12 cigars. Some Emilio, some are other brands they are distributing. So after thinking about it I decided I wanted to do an entire week dedicated to this line of cigars. After discussing this with Nate he thought of the straightforward idea of #EmilioCigarWeek (that’s the official twitter hashtag by the way!)
So yeah, I think this calls for another awesome contest what do you all think? I’ll add the contest rules at the bottom that way you all have to suffer and read the entire cigar review!
Let’s hop into the review and see what we have going on.
Looks
First off this is a great looking cigar. This toro size is one of my go to sizes at 6 1/2 x 50. It’s a great sized stick and should be able to offer some incredible flavor. The wrapper on this Emilio Series H Maduro is from Jamastran, Honduras. It’s a great looking maduro that is nice and dark with areas of lighter brown. There are just a few veins running the length of the binder that show through the wrapper.
At the head of the cigar a beautiful triple cap has been placed perfectly that it makes the seams almost impossible to find. Luckily, I had my microscope at the smoking table to search for them… How many of you believe that?
The band on the Emilio Series H Maduro is elegant and straightforward. The front of the band has a nice white oval that encompasses the Emilio logo. The white oval is trimmed with gold to make it pop out. The tabs of the band have a nice black background with some red floral patterns. I’m actually a big fan of this band. It’s nothing too outlandish, but it does draw your eyes in and make you notice!
Function
I let this cigar sit in my humidor for almost a month. I’m always leery of smoking cigars right out of the box they’ve been shipped in. Sometimes the people shipping them will over humidify them before shipping incase they have to sit in transit for too long. So I made sure to dry box these one for a little while before smoking.
I rolled this Emilio Series H Maduro through my fingers to make sure there are no soft spots in the filler. It passed the pinch test with flying colors so now I can move on to the rest of the exam. I nipped the head to remove part of the cap. Mmm, the cold draw is perfect. Just a mild resistance but still allowing plenty of air to flow through the barrel. Time to kick the tires and light the fires!
Smoking
As I’m sitting here toasting the foot on this cigar. I begin to think, I haven’t used matches in a long time. I’ve been constantly using my Xikar Stratosphere. I think I may have to go back to using matches for a bit so I don’t forget how to light a cigar in a pinch. What does that have to do with the review? … Well I said I was thinking about this while lighting it so it has to do with something!
The foot of the Emilio Series H Maduro took right to the flame. Then we were off to the races. This cigar produces a nice thick white smoke. When I exhale it just curls around my upper lip and tries to hang on to my beard. It’s kind of creepy actually. Somehow it knows I have immaculate facial hair and it doesn’t want to leave it alone. Or perhaps when Gary blended this cigar he enjoyed the way the smoke lingered around his mustache and that’s how he decided the blend was perfect. You’ll have to ask him yourself his twitter handle is @emiliocigar.
The first third of this cigar smoked very well. I never had an issue with the burn. It wasn’t laser straight, but it also didn’t require any corrections so that’s a win in my book! The second and final thirds were the same as the first. Just a nice easy smoke that didn’t have any issues with the draw and burned evenly all the way down. Can’t ask for more than that. I love when a cigar burns how it’s supposed to, it lets me focus more on the flavors. Speaking of which, lets hop on into the flavors!
Flavor
So what do you get when you combine a Ligero leaf that is also maduro? Well my initial guess would be a powerhouse of a cigar! Let’s not jump the gun though.
Still gotta go through the pre game ritual with this Emilio Series H Maduro. The foot gives off a nice sweet molasses aroma on the prelight. I’m not able to pick up much aroma off the rest of the barrel. Once I nip the cap I was able to pull in a nice sweet cocoa flavor with a finish of some spice. Nothing too pungent, but nice nonetheless.
The first third of this cigar produced a ton of flavor. I was able to get the sweetness on my tongue, however on the backend of the finish there was a strong spice. As I said above, sweetness from the maduro, and some kick from the ligero. What really blew me away was the retrohale. I picked up on some incredible notes that I have never experienced before. Time and time before I’ve read about people experiencing ‘floral’ notes on their cigar and I never understood this… Until now. After learning from Mr. McIntyre on how to correctly smoke a cigar (a blog post is coming soon with the details) I was able to pick up so many new flavors it’s incredibly eye opening.
The aromas I picked up on on the retrohale were definitely floral in nature. They reminded me of a very potpurri / perfumal scent. The scent that kept coming to mind was Chamomile and Lavender. I think I’ve used too many scented hand soaps in the past, but that’s what this Emilio Series H Maduro reminded me of. Absolutely incredible!
The second third of this cigar was almost identical, until all of a sudden I got a blast of pepper / spice in the middle. It lit me up on the retrohale. My eyes were watering I was coughing. I think I got a nice dose of that ligero and boy did it set me off. However, other than that there was still that very nice floral finish to it all, which made everything peaceful once again.
The final third of this Emilio Series H Maduro ended the same as the first began. Nice and smooth and pleasurable. The flavor notes didn’t change too much. Still the sweet and spice with some added layers of complexity. The aromas on the retrohale were constantly dancing around on nasal passages.
Even though this was a ligero maduro. I didn’t get huge nicotine buzz from it. Even with all the retrohaling. I’m not complaining about this, trust me. I was just surprised. All in all, a great smoking experience, and a great cigar!
Would I Buy It Again?
Without a doubt!
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
It certainly could be, I would look at the smaller vitola though.
Would I Buy a Box?
It could definitely be box worthy. It’s an interesting smoke for sure. I’m not a big fan of buying boxes, but this might be right up your alley.
Conclusion
This Emilio Series H Maduro is a great cigar. Tons of flavor, great burn, exceptional draw. I’m a big fan. I was really impressed with the overall flavor notes. Especially the floral notes on the retrohale. It was something very exciting to experience and hopefully I described it accurately enough for everyone to get the full understanding of it.
Contest: Ok so I’m giving away a 5 pack of everything I smoke this week for #EmilioCigarWeek!
How do you enter? Simple. Leave a comment below on each post. Every comment left is an entry to the contest (Limit 1 per day)! Super easy, now go do it.
