I’ve smoked a million Macanudo cigars in my lifetime, so it seems. My first premium cigar was a Macanudo Duke of Devon. In the mid-nineties a buddy and I would have a cigar at lunch every Friday at work. Up until the Macanudos the favorites were Backwoods and Garcia Vega English Coronas if we were feeling fancy. We decided to see what all the hubbub was with premium cigars, which were enjoying a 
renaissance at the time. I smoked cigarettes at the time, which I think is an important think to know in my evolution as a cigar smoker, because it ruined me for mild cigars for a long time. That fist experience with the Duke of Devon was kind of blah, I really didn’t “get it”, I suppose it’s a wonder I kept going with the hobby, but I moved to stronger cigars, which satisfied my palate and the rest is history. A couple of years later I would find my self winning a couple of boxes (big ones! Prince of Whales and Prince Philip) from a very young CigarWorld.com somehow, that had to be 1998ish. Actually, the Prince Philips were still made in Jamaica, I wish I’d had the presence of mind to save a couple. Thorough a combination of my palate and tastes developing, and Macanudo coming out with stronger cigars, I’ve had some really memorable cigars over the years. I remember a Macanudo Maduro on the last day of my tour of General Cigars operations in the DR after smoking 20 or so cigars over the previous few days and being able to taste it! I wrote about the Estate Reserve in a Prime Living Magazine article back in 2015. People scoff at Macanudo as a mild, flavorless cigar, but they have a lot of great cigars in their portfolio, something for everyone, I think, and you can’t argue that they aren’t always well made and universally available.
A few years back General Cigars launched the Macanudo Inspirado line in Europe. It had an orange band and was famous for being used in the Cigar Smoking World Championship. When I was in Iceland I bought a few because Thulin, who owns what seems to be the only cigar shop in the country, said it was his best seller. By the way, my Cigars in Reykjavik Iceland post gets daily visits, Google “cigars in Iceland” and see what comes up first in the results! Pretty cool! Anyway, the Orange was the first Inspirado 
released in the US in 2016, then the Black and White (the black with a Connecticut Broadleaf and the White with Ecuador Connecticut Shade, as one would expect) came out in 2017, and in 2018, to celebrate 50 years of Macanudo, they released the Red with a dark Ecuador Habano Ligero wrapper. I revisited the Macanudo Black this week, and was really happy with the experience. This was a medium bodied cigar, a hesitate to say, but it was kind of a Partagas Black lite…and I only make the comparison because the wrapper is of similar provenance. It was sweet and rich like a Broadleaf cigar should be, I thoroughly enjoyed the crap out of the robusto, and look forward to smoking he other sizes. Originally, the Black was sold by catalog retailers, and the white was for brick and mortar, but they totally changed that last year, along with the blends, I believe. The White is good too, I intended to smoke one this week too, as well as an Orange, but didn’t get to it.
I received samples of the Inspirado Red last week, and couldn’t wait ro smoke one, so after just a couple of days in the humidor I dug in. They are saying it’s full-bodied, to me it was on the
high side of medium, but what do I know. It has a Ecuador Habano Ligero wrapper, 12 year aged Nicaraguan Ometepe, 1
0 year aged Honduran Jamastran, and 5 year aged Nicaraguan Esteli, with a Jalapa binder. It’s made in their Esteli factory where they make many of the CAO line. Had I had the time, and lacked self-restraint, I would have smoked more of these, for sure, because DAMN, it was a great smoke! I smoked the box pressed robusto, and plan to look for other sizes ASAP (a local shop I visited yesterday sold out of them already). It was like smoking delicious candy bar, It has a nice mix of sweet and savory with some dried fruit and cocoa. It was so darned good I was taken aback. If you looked in my ashtray, it would likely be the smallest butt in there. This new Macanudo Inspirado Red is a home run, to my palate, at least. It must have MSG in the blend, because it really excited my palate (FDA: I’m kidding! it’s just tobacco, water and some pectin!). This would be a no-brainer at $10, for $6.49-$7.49 MSRP, it;s stupid not to at least try one.
Last night I paid a visit to CigarCigars in Downingtown, PA to have a smoke with Kevin, the manager, and the renovations are going well. This is one of a chain of twelve stores in the area, and it’s only a couple of miles from my old house, so it’s in my rotation of shops I visit now. Hopefully the lounge renovations improve the acoustics a bit, because it’s a little noisy.
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
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A few months ago I received a very nice package from the folks at Villiger Cigars containing a nice little box containing one of each side of their new La Vencedora cigars, a Robusto, Toro and Churchill, the three sizes offered in this new line. Also included was a bottle of Gentleman Jack. For someone who hasn’t drank in 27 years, I have a couple of nice bottles of liquor to offer guests. I assume that the La Vencedora is supposed to pair well with the Gentleman Jack, I’ll look to others to confirm or deny this. I do greatly appreciate the gift though! The La Vencedora release coincides with the company’s 130th anniversary, an impressive milestone for a family owned company. The majority of Villiger’s success has been in small, machine-made cigars largely in the European market, but over the last eight or ten years they’ve been making an effort to break into the premium market. I’ve enjoyed a good relationship with various management teams over the last 8 years, admittedly I took a break from them when they reorganized a few years ago, but with their hiring of René Castañeda as the president I’ve warmed back up.
Over the last two evenings I smoked the La Vencedora in the Toro and Robusto, saving the Churchill for warmer weather, isn’t it supposed to be Spring? Anyway, the cigars are Nicaraguan puros, with little other information available beyond that. It’s billed as their first full-bodied offering, 
