Cigar Review: Don Ramon Maduro Churchill

Like the other cigar bloggers in my circle, I was recently contacted by Andrew Roth from the H.J. Bailey Company about their new venture into having their own cigar brand: Don Ramon. The H.J. Bailey company has been in the tobacco business for over 75 years and is the largest wholesale distributor in the U.S. Well, now they’re cigar makers too. I was sent the maduro and Connecticut churchills to review, so look for the Connecticut to come soon.  A Honduran puro, this 7×48 cigar is made for H.J. Bailey by the Camacho factory.

Appearance: This wrapper is dark!  That’s the first thing that struck me.  It is dark.  The band is elegant but not overly done.  No veins, no tooth, and no visible wrapper lines.  The cap is not perfect, but it’s very well done.  This is a good looking cigar.  Looking at them in the box, they’re consistent across the board in color, size, and shape.  The foot shows an even roll.  Looking good so far.

Taste: This thing lit well, and immediately brought moderate maduro flavors.  There was a sweet chocolate at first, but then some slight bitterness kicked in.  I think the acridity is due to the cigar not having enough age.  This will go away with some time, and it muted a little bit during the coarse of the smoke.  Now, I love a maduro cigar; they’re actually my favorite, but you can’t look too far for flavor variety.  It’s leather and chocolate, and this was a maduro.

Aroma: This is a maduro and it smells like a maduro.  Strong chocolatey tobacco will infuse your senses with their aromas.  The smoke was mild and woody.  Probably still not something the wife would like inside the house.

Construction: Feeling along the body, it is a solid stick.  It was consistent in its feel throughout, and I could feel no plugs or soft spots.  After cutting, the draw was a bit tight, but not overly so.  It did start to burn faster on one side than the other, but it quickly corrected itself and then burned very well the rest of the way through.  The draw loosened up slightly, too, with the heat from smoking.

Overall Impression: I gotta say that I think there’s some real potential here.  Good construction, nice looking, good maduro flavor… It’s all going to come together well.  I just think that they need to rest for a little bit.  I’ve got more and I’m going to put them away for a couple months to let them age a bit.  They’ve done well at other blogs, so I definitely think there’s something promising with these Don Ramons.

Cigar Rating:

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1. 

   JasonT says:

   February 9, 2009 at 10:02 am

   I’ve got a couple of these waiting for me to try. I’m going to wait until next month though. Thanks for the review.
2. 

   Ricky says:

   February 9, 2009 at 2:46 pm

   Jason, yeah, I’d let’em rest up a bit before you torch them. I think they’ll come around.
3. 

   Ryan (MedicCook) says:

   February 9, 2009 at 6:35 pm

   Thanks for the review Ricky. I hope you post an update in a few months.
4. 

   Ricky says:

   February 9, 2009 at 7:34 pm

   I’ll do a follow-up review, fo sho. I’ve got plenty left. I’ll also be putting some of these up in the future as part of a giveaway too.
5. 

   JasonT says:

   February 14, 2009 at 7:52 pm

   I smoked a connecticut today. It really wasn’t anything special. Reminded me of 5 Vegas Gold. Wood, leather, and a bitter charcoal flavor at mid point. The last two inches redeemed the whole cigar though. The bitterness faded and a nice, smooth nutty flavor appeared. I’m hoping that if I let the others sit for awhile, the bitterness will go away.
6. 

   Ricky says:

   February 18, 2009 at 8:31 am

   I smoked a Connecticut last week in preparation for their review. I’ll wait till the review to say what I really think because my opinion’s not fully formed, but I think comparing them to the 5 Vegas Gold isn’t very nice.