Last Saturday, while I was goofing off in Philadelphia at Holt’s, I was missing Nestor Miranda at the Wooden Indian in Havertown, just a few long miles away. I certainly would have gone there if I hadn’t had something else planned, but Jason at Miami Cigar and Co. was kind enough to send me a couple of the new Nestor Miranda Collection One Life Edition Danno 2015 cigars, and I spent the first part of the week smoking each blend. This cigar is basically the same blend as the Nestor Miranda Collection One Life Edition, but tweeked to work in the 7″ x 56 size which the previous Danno releases have been. These are made at Pepin Garcia’s My Father Factory in Esteli. This is a large cigar, and I like spending a good two hours with a cigar on warm, late spring evenings. Regular readers will be able to guess which wrapper I started out with, but my be surprised which ended up being my favorite of the three! Spoiler alert: they were all excellent.
Had I been smoking these back to back in one day, I would have started with the Connecticut, moved on the the Habano, then finished off with the Maduro, but I went in reverse order, starting with the maduro. This is listed as Broadleaf Maduro, which I can assume is grown in Connecticut. It’s a dark brown, and has the new style red,black and silver band, very stunning in appearance. The cigar burned very well, and had a sweet flavor with some coffee and cocoa and a little bit of the spice from some Peruvian leaf in the filler. I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, and it fell on the heavier side of medium to my palate. This is a really nice cigar.
Monday I enjoyed the Habano version. Despite the fact that I had to re-light it frequently, it was a tasty smoke. I think the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper is a bit more sensitive to humidity than the maduro, although that makes little sense to me, as broadleaf is typically thicker. I think it was pretty humid on Monday, and there may have been a storm that evening. I am looking forward to smoking this again in a few months, as the flavor of the cigar was really quite good with some sweet woody flavors. This one has a bit of Brazilian leaf in the filler, probably giving it that little sweetness. This will be a terrific smoke when it dries a little, I’ll take the blame for smoking these too soon off the truck. I would not avoid this of you are a fan of Medium bodied Habano wrapped cigars.
Tuesday I went with the Connecticut. This one has fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, and the same Niucaraguan binder as the other two. The shade grown wrapper is flawless, and, like the other two, this has a bit of a pigtail cap, although on my example it was a bit flattened down. things like that don’t bother me as I’m only lopping that bugger off anyway. This may be surprising, but this one may have been my favorite of the bunch! Smooth, creamy and on the milder side of medium. I was recently asked to recommend some lighter cigars, and this should be added to the list. I have to be in the mood for a shade wrapped cigar, and luckily I got in the mood real quick, as this was well balanced and exactly what I look for in this style of cigar. Very well done.
Tonight I selected another cigar from the Miami Cigar and Co. stable, but I probably would have smoked it regardless of the fact that I was smoking the Nestor Miranda Collection Dannos. I picked up some La Aurora Preferidos Corojo #2 at my local shop for the low low price of $5.99 each, and took one for my evening walk. I have a tradition of smoking a La Aurora Puro Vintage 2003 whenever a granddaughter is born, and today was my youngest granddaughter’s second birthday. Close enough. While the 5″ x 54 Preferidos No.2 was a bit short for my three mile walk, it was loaded with flavor. It was a very enjoyable smoke and I’ll keep picking a few up at that price when I see them. The perfecto shape is a lot of fun too. It’s a tasty little smoke.
That’s it for this special mid-week edition! Many thanks to Miami Cigar and Co. for providing me with these samples. Stay tuned for some new humidor news and another contest in the near future, and I’m getting prepared for the upcoming IPCPR show. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Whats odd Craig is Connecticut Broadleaf is the most sensitive cigar tobacco to humidity, it soaks up moisture like a sponge, maybe the cigars just need a little more rest in general. I really like the NMC and have been hearing great things about this years Danno but the size is out of my comfort zone. If this line was a Corona Gorda or Robusto I would be all over them! Great review (like always).
Great review, I am interested in the La Aurora, i’ve got to pick some up and try them.