Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua

2014 marks the 25th anniversary for Miami Cigar and Company.  To commemorate this occasion, the company has released a pair of limited edition cigars from made from the company’s two leading manufacturing partners.  One cigars has was produced at La Aurora Cigars and is called the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Dominican Republic.  The other comes from My Father Cigars and is called the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua.  The two cigars are each packaged together in a commemorative humidor with each cigar in an individual coffin box.  The cigars also become the first cigars by the company to be branded as “Miami Cigar and Company”.   Today we take a look at the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua.  Overall, I found this to be a solid cigar released by Miami Cigar and Company.

A similar packaging model was done with the release of the Nestor Miranda 70th Limited Edition commemorative cigars.  With that release, the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican and Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua were packaged together in a keepsake automobile package.  While the Nestor Miranda 70th LE cigars were lanceros,  the 25th Anniversary cigars are toros.

While the Miami Cigar and Company Dominican Republic and Nicaragua blends are limited production, the company is soliciting input from consumers as to which of the two blends should become a regular production line.

Miami Cigar and Company was founded in 1989 when Nestor and Mariana Miranda began distributing cigars out of the trunk of their car, visiting accounts that Nestor had built relationships with through his many years in the liquor business. This hard work ended up translating into one of the nations largest premium cigar distributors.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

As mentioned the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua is made at the My Father Cigars factory by the Garcia family.  It features a San Andres Mexican wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos.

Wrapper: San Andres Mexican
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Vitolas Available

The Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua is available in one size – a 5 1/2 x 54. As mentioned each cigar is packaged in an individual coffin.

The commemorative humidor contains ten Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua and ten Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Dominican Republic cigars (which are also packaged in coffins). A total of 500 humidors were made.

Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Coffin Packaging

Appearance

The Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua’s San Andres wrapper has a chocolate brown colored wrapper. There was a decent amount of oil on the surface of this cigar. While there were some visible veins and visible wrapper seams, I still found this to be smooth wrapper – especially for a San Andres wrapper.

There are two bands on the  Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua.  The primary band is silver and black and features a variation of the Miami Cigar and Company logo indicating the 25th anniversary.

The secondary band rests just below the primary band.  It also has a silver and black color scheme.  It features the text “NICARAGUA” in silver font on a black background.  There is silver pinstriping to the left and right of that text.  There is also silver trim on the top and bottom of the band.

The coffin is a natural wood color with a light varnish on it.  There is a sliding lid that has the classic Miami Cigar and Company logo to the left.  The text “25th Anniversary” in larger cursive font is in the center.  To the right of that text is “NICARAGUA” in smaller black printed font.

Coffin packaging of the Miami Cigar and Company
25th Anniversary Nicaragua

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Before lighting up the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua, I went with a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was removed, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. The pre-light draw provided notes of chocolate, earth, and cedar sweet-spice. Overall I considered this to be a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point I was ready to light up the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua and see what the smoking phase would deliver.

Flavor Profile

The Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua started out with a classic blast of black pepper common to many cigars made by the Garcia family.  As the pepper subsided, notes of chocolate and earth surfaced, and this was followed by a cedar sweet-spice.   The retro-hale was a combination of black pepper and cedar.

During the early phases the earth and cedar notes moved to the forefront.  The pepper settled as a background note. Meanwhile, the chocolate notes varied in intensity – floating between the forefront and background.  This flavor profile held throughout the first half.

The second half saw the cedar notes remain primary, but now the chocolate notes were in the forefront.  The chocolate notes developed a little more sweetness in the later stages.  The earth notes were now secondary joining the pepper notes.  This is the way the flavor profile held until the end.  The resulting nub was outstanding – firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The burn to the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua performed extremely well. The burn line remained straight requiring only occasional touch-ups. The resulting ash was on the firm side with a salt and pepper color.  The ash came off the cigar in nice clean chunks.  The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

Burn of the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary

The draw to the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua was slightly open, but not loose.  Overall I found this to be a draw that still performed well.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, the 25th Anniversary Nicaragua is not going to be a cigar that overpowers you with nicotine.  I assessed this cigar as being a medium strength cigar from start to finish.  As for the body, I also assessed the 25th Anniversary Nicaragua as being medium bodied to start.  The depth of the flavors does slowly increase and by the second half they had moved into medium to full-bodied territory.  In terms of strength versus body, I found both attributes countered each other nicely with a slight edge going to the body.

Summary

One thing that I was really pleased with the Miami Cigar and Company 25th Anniversary Nicaragua is that it was not one of these San Andres Mexican wrapper cigars where the wrapper overwhelmed the cigar. Instead of delivering a sharp spice, I got more notes of cedar and chocolate notes. I do admit, I felt the 25th Anniversary Nicaragua took a little while to get going, but once it did the cigar hit a nice stride. This cigar is going to carry a higher price point. I’ve seen it anywhere from $15.00 to $25.00 – and this will definitely impact many with purchasing power. Overall I found this a cigar that either the novice or experienced cigar enthusiast can enjoy. As for myself, this is a cigar I would smoke again – and its one I would recommend trying.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 2.5 – Try One
Score: 89

References

News: Miami Cigar and Company to Launch 25th Anniversary Cigars
Price: $15.00 – $25.00
Source: Purchased
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