Cubanacan Heritage Gran Reserva 2016 Maduro Cigar Review

I recently received some samples of Cubanacan cigars from a friend the other week and in that package was the Cubanacan Gran Reserva 2016 Maduro . According to the company’s website:

“The name Cubanacan was chosen for it’s vibrant history and the story behind it’s meaning. Cubanacan means “where fertile land is abundant” and is derived from tobacco traditions that predate Cuba itself. The story of Cubanacan is not just one of our past, but one that is still being written.”

Today I will help write that history with a review of the Cubanacan Gran Reserva 2016 Maduro cigar which sports a blend that is described as:

• Wrapper – México
• Binder – Ecuador
• Filler – Nicaragua

The Cubanacan Gran Reserva 2016 Maduro is available in 6 vitolas and comes packaged in 20-count boxes

 

What is cool about the packaging of this cigar is each box comes enclosed in an outer cardboard box that is sealed with the Cubanacan and Nicaragua seals – different approach for sure.

• Toro –  6 X 50 ($8.78)
• Rothchilds – 5 X 50 ($8.28)
• Piramide – 6 ⅛ X 52
• Gordo – 6 X 60
• Churchill – 7 X 50 ($9,22)
• Lonsdale – (10 Count Box) 6 ½ X 42 ($11.70)

For this review, I sampled the Cubanacan Gran Reserva 2016 Maduro Toro. Pricing is from Thomspon Cigar which offers a decent discount by the box.

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Pre-Light Examination

The Cubanacan Gran Reserve 2016 Maduro has a dark brown wrapper with a closed foot and triple cap finish. The wrapper has a few veins and bumps along the barrel.

The cigar is adorned with a single band with the Cubanacan logo centered in red on a brown background. The words “Gran Reserva” along the top and “Totalmente Hecho A Mano” on the bottom. The word “Heritage” is printed numerous times across the bottom.

Running the Cubanacan Gran Reserve 2016 Maduro along the nose I picked up some earth and what I would say is a charred wood aroma on the barrel and foot.

Using my double blade Palio cutter, I sliced the cap and gave it s few cold draw puffs. The draw was tight – tighter than I would like but as you read the burn was fine. The cold draw delivered notes of sweetness, pepper, and earth.

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Cigar Review Notes

• Early draw is restricted with a decent pepper on nose
• Woody and earth on the palate
• Sweet floral aroma
• Solid white ash
• Smoke smooths out beautifully after 2 inches
• Cream, fruit, and oak continue the evolving profile
• Vanilla enters bear the end of the first third
• Medium volume of smoke
• Ash fell after 1st third with a flat cone
• Cedar moves in joined with a Cocoa powder note
• Aroma shifted to a nut
• Wrapper oils up nicely as it burns
• Pristine burn
• Easy ingestable smoke midway with butter and toast notes
• The flavors continue to evolve with spice and  fruit near the end of the second third
• Natural Sweetness finishes the journey in the final third
• Medium to full
• Total Smoking Time was an amazing one hour and forty minutes.

Overall, the Cubanacan Gran Reserve 2016 Maduro was quite the flavorful cigar with delicious nuances of flavor spiking in and out throughout the pristine burn and long ash. The natural tobacco sweetness that builds and hits full at the end keeps this being a delight to smoke. With a medium to full strength and light spice it is a cigar most any enthusiast would enjoy.