El Mago Flight
VegasFrank
Posts: 19,338 ✭✭✭✭✭
Sharing my thoughts on most of the El mago offerings. Excluded are an event only cigar and the "Speedy Gonzales" cigarillo.
Most of these are down the middle medium.
In order from best to good (left to right):
Miami Maduro (blue tube pink cap) - multiple box worthy. MSA, Sumatra. Toro. Smokes heavier than medium, full flavor, long smoke, 2+ hours.
Misticos (no tube) - multiple box worthy. Cameroon. Robusto. Beautiful cigar, another long smoke. I burned a vacation hour one morning to nub it.
Lotus (green/white). Box worthy. E Habano, Criollo. Lancero full flavor. Draw was slightly snug but just fine.
Triunfante (yellow) - Box worthy. E Shade. Toro. Mild, but punches above its weight class in flavor intensity. Nica fillers give it some palate zing. Not your grandpa's Connecticut.
Solstice (red) - 5er worthy. Sumatra. Corona-ish. Good cigar. I'm persnickety about Sumatra cigars and this one is okay for me. I enjoyed it overall and I'll buy more, occasionally.
El Cubano (red, white, blue). 5er worthy. USA Connecticut. Toro. Very good, stronger than the yellow one, but you get that weird Connecticut bitter grassy thing at the bottom. Still good Vitamin N content for a morning smoke.
Pepe (purple) - single worthy. MSA and broadleaf. Box presses Toro. Got knocked down because it had a wonky burn and a loose draw. Also I found it weird and off-putting that an MSA wrapper with a broadleaf binder had such mildness. Burn issue could have been a one-off. I'll give it another try.
Miami Art Deco (pink tube/blue cap) - single worthy. Toro. Medium body with medium flavors. Not bad if you're into med/med, but there are other choices that I will go with more often.
Disco (green) - single worthy. Gordo. E Habano. Full Vitamin N, med flavors. If this darn thing was Toro, it would probably shoot right to the top of the list. The vitola did enough to mute the flavors enough to knock it down to third or fourth in flavor. The rest of the penalty is just because of the size. Good golf smoke, I'll buy more.
Renegade (orange) - meh...will give it one more shot. MSA. Box press 5.5x56. I didn't watch this one at all and it might be because I smoked it at the shop and it might have been very humidified. Size is weird. Box press burned wonky. Also went from very loose to very tight. Sort of like marrying a stripper. Flavors were also very cute , might be an indication of over-humidification. will give it another shot and put it in my humidor for a few weeks to see if that changes anything.
Comments
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I have this one in storage waiting for for good weather. Appreciate the review.
One of the better USA Connecticut shade cigars I've ever had. USA Connecticut shade is just not necessarily my deal. Hope you enjoy!