Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos (MAY 07)

[zuma]

I got these together with the maduro brothers, Genios and Secretos, as singles soon after their initial release. My initial tasting of the Magicos was rather disappointing (charred wood mostly), so I have waited for some time to resample them...

As it is usual for me these days, I had to wait for the kids' naptime to have an after lunch cigar in the front porch: lovely 24C arvo with a pleasant light rain swinging in and out with a tenuous breeze.

These Magicos do have an alluring presence: dark chocolate brown wrapper with a slight patchwork rough feel and look, and a soft oily shimmer. Smell at cold is almost as glorious as when we first met: sweet tobacco, old leather and cocoa...

Although it felt tight to touch, with no discernible soft or hard spots, the foot looked rather loose on one side. Once clipped, it

revealed a rather loose draw, with pure leathery tobacco on the palate and a hint of ripe sweetness tobacco on the lips.

It fired up easily, letting out a rich and delicious aroma (all-spice, charred almonds and tobacco come to mind) that was ever present throughout the session and lingered in the air long after.

The opening draws exhibited a smooth thick leather texture enveloping a rich tobacco and raw cocoa, as promised by the smell of the wrapper at cold, with a slight ripe tobacco sweetness on the lips and a taste of black tea that did not linger long on the palate... the initial sweetness left the scene within the first few draws... At this stage, it had plenty of spice through the nose with a nice cinnamony nuance. oh yeah, the burn did not wait long to go wonky (a prelude to the several times that I felt forced to correct it).

After about an inch (average, 'cause the burn was biased to the loose side), the cocoa gave way to charred wood with an earthy creaminess texture and a subtle sweetness that was reminiscent of fresh field mushrooms. Approaching the midpoint, it turned milder (bland is perhaps a better word): weak cocoa and coffee with some watered down milk thrown in... strangely, it had become spicier through the nose (horseraddishy).

Near the midpoint, the ash was somewhat ribbed and leaning to the fast burning side. I had to correct it at least twice by this point.

Thankfully, half a cm past the midpoint the coffee/cocoa mix gave way to dirt, moist dark mulchy, mixed with cocoa and a thick cream texture with a dash of cinnamon... this creaminess got slowly a bit tannic (raw cedar and sweet cream, I'd call it) evolving its cinnamon nuance into a rather peppery spice on the tongue.

Into the last third, dark bittersweet cocoa and coffee came to the fore with a thick cream and leather texture that felt almost oily... an experience remisnicent of the Genios that forced me to nub it.

Though, IMHO this cigar has progressed miles from where it was last year, it's complexity lacks balance and it had a down right bland patch... right now it feels like an orchestra of excellent musos playing after an extended visit to the pub. It also had some tannic elements, which were not unpleasant, that evidence its youth. The draw was way way too easy for me, yet the smoke was rich and abundant.

I rate it at 85/100 (at best 89/100 if the obvious burn and construction would have been at more acceptable levels)

[El Presidente]

Great review Zuma.

My least favourite of the Maduro 5 series. Everything you describe points to a cigar which needs more time to get its act together.

Bloody disappointing to say the least.

[gostgost]

Zuma,

Great review right from the start as I also brought all 3 Maduro's and was completely disappointed all. As you I placed them in the back of my humi to forget them for a year.

After reading your review I'm hoping that this weekend will be happy one for me as I will give one a try and hopefully I will be able report a great review as yours.

Thanks,

Dave.

[jb007]

strange that you had to constantly correct the burn on your magicos zuma. i had one about a month ago and had the same issue. i think i might leave mine for another year or so though. they need more time.

[cigarros]

And what about this one?