Macanudo Emissary Espana

Hitting 100’s daily here now and it’s far too early for that kind of heat. I still however managed to wonder outback for a relaxing moment with a Macanudo Emissary Espana.

The Good Stuff:

The Macanudo Emissary Espana is composed using tobaccos from five different countries which includes a Havana-seed grown near the town of Riolobos, Spain. This region’s rocky, mountainous soil is perfect for growing certain tobacco that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. This particular tobacco is known for its intensity and complexity. The complete make up of the cigars tarts with a USA grown Connecticut Broadleaf, Nicaraguan binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Columbia, and of course Spain. The Macanudo Emissary Espana is offered in 4 sizes: Perfect (6 x 40/54), The Churchill (7 x 48), The Robusto (5 x 52), and the Toro (6 x 52). Each comes packaged in boxes of 16 and runs between $14.99 and $17.99 per cigar.

• Size: 5 x 54
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan, Colombian, Spain
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium:
• Price: $14.99

Prelight:

The Macanudo Emissary Espana starts out with a very, very dark brown wrapper thats incredibly consistent in color. The wrapper’s texture is gritty and toothy with a small amount of oils coating it. The wrapper itself feels very dense and hard while the cigar as a whole is very heavy and tightly compacted as I find no soft-spots at all. There are a few smaller veins that lead up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a gold and dark blue wrapper with the Macanudo crest and the word “Emissary” printed along the bottom. There is also the addition of an awesome teal and gold foot band with the word “Espana” embossed across the front.

The wrapper on the Macanudo Emissary Espana gives off a bit of tart sweetness over some woodsiness while the foot of the cigar is very woodsy and very earthy with some strong pepper at the end. The wrapper cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a very musky mixture of oak, moss, earthiness, and dark berry notes.

First Third:

The Macanudo Emissary Espana starts out with a tiny little black pepper punch which only lasted a puff or two. After that the cigar releases some great notes of musky wood, raisin and black cherry over notes of pecan, black tea, and just a dash of sweetness. The draw is slightly tight, but manageable. After a few puffs the cigar releases a good amount of thick white smoke which dissipates almost instantly while the cigar releases no stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

The flavor profile in the Macanudo Emissary Espana has remained mostly the same. lots of musky wood over raisin and black cherry mixed with lighter notes of pecan, vanilla and black tea. There is also a great little floral flavor that pops in and out of the mix. The retrohale really brings out the black cherry and sweetness. The cigar is now drawing perfectly and smoothy while burning flawlessly. I close out the second third with only a minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third and nothing has really changed up in terms of flavor, and thats ok as I am really enjoying this profile. The Macanudo Emissary Espana still leads with mostly musky, woodsy, raisin and black cherry notes over pecan and vanilla. The black tea has dropped out by now. The cigar burned very slowly and it took almost an hour and forty five minutes to take down to the nub. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat and it left me with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Macanudo Emissary Espana is a perfect example of utilizing rare tobacco to make an exception product. The flavor profile is where this cigar really shines. Not only are the flavor complex and bold, but they are extremely enjoyable, at least as far as my personal palate goes. The cigar burned great from start to finish outside of the small hiccup with the draw at the start. I smoked 3 of these and only experienced it on this one which gets a pass considering this is a handmade product. This is a cigar I would definitely like to keep a few on deck for the times when I am craving something a bit different with a complex body.