Nestor Miranda Collection 1989

Nestor Miranda is the founder of Miami Cigar & Company who started off his business by importing and distributing cigars to the United States. The company is family run and was first established in 1989. As you can guess, this is where the name of today’s reviewed cigar come from.

Apart from the brands that Miami Cigar & Company imports and distributes, they have also developed a few of their own lines such as Tatiana flavored cigars, Don Lino, Habanito, and the Nestor Miranda Collection. The Nestor Miranda Collection currently consists of 3 cigars, the Special Selection, Dominicano and the 1989.

As mentioned, the 1989 commemorates the year that Miami Cigar & Company opened their business. This particular cigar is produced in the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. If you’ve ever had any of the My Father cigars you will know that this factory is known to produce some great cigars and great quality.

Cigar: Nestor Miranda Collection 1989
Drink: Waterloo Brewing Co. Dark Ale
Vitola: Belicoso (6.125 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nigaraguan and Honduran
Price: $4.50
Burn Time: 1.75 hours

Construction:
• Fairly dark almond brown colored wrapper with a touch of oiliness
• Has a few medium sized veins running along the wrapper but none seem big enough to pose any problems
• The tapered cape is excellently applied with clean edges
• The cigar has a fairly soft feel to it, giving quite a bit under a light squeeze
• The foot appears to have some open gaps in the filler, not under-filled but not tightly packed either
• The cut was effortless and clean
• Only needed a small cut, any more and I fear this could have had a very open draw. As it stands now my draw is perfect with a small cut

Burn:
• Toasting was even, easy and slow, lit up perfectly
• Burn has started off somewhat wavy despite a nice toasting, we’ll keep an eye that as it progresses
• Although the burn is continuing to be slightly wavy it’s not getting worse and is keeping within good burn range
• Around the half-way mark the waviness finally strayed a bit too far and needed a minor correction

Smoke & Ash:
• Initial draws give off a comfortably moderate amount of smoke
• Quite a bit of resting smoke from this cigar, giving off a spicy cedar aroma
• Ash appears a little bumpy but seems fairly strong and no flaking
• A nice light grey color on the ash, very consistent and clean
• Ash fell off just past the 1 inch mark, almost into my lap so be sure to tap this one a bit early

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a mostly sweet cedar aroma
• The foot has a peppery and nutmeg type spice aroma to it with some earthy notes
• More pepper on the pre-light draw with some hints of cedar
• Initial draws have a nice pepper kick to them with a smooth cedar finish
• Retrohale also have a peppery bite and still that same smooth cedar finish
• This cigar seems to be starting out in the mild/medium range
• The pepper seems to be slowly mellowing out as my draws progress, the cedar is starting to shine through a bit more and I’m picking up some nutty and earthy notes
• As I pass the half-way mark, the pepper is lightly in the background and the nutmeg has made another appearance on top of the cedar and earthiness
• The body hasn’t changed much as I come up to the last 3rd, maybe just up into the medium category and the retrohale hasn’t changed much
• The last bit of the cigar finished smooth and flavorful and I actually found the body mellowed out a bit near the nub

Final Thoughts:
This was a nice Medium bodied and easy smoking cigar. It had some interesting spicy and earthy notes paired with a nice smooth cedar backing throughout the smoke. There was a good amount of smoke, the burn was fairly smooth with just one small correction, and the ash was nice and consistent. This is definitely worth trying, especially if your a fan of some peppery notes without it being over powering. I found the finish to be a high point of this cigar with it mellowing out and the flavors mixing together smoothly and enjoyable.

Pairings:
Today’s pairing was a Dark Ale offering from a brewery not far from me called Waterloo Brewing Co. This is a tasty Dark Ale but it’s not too bold or strong. I found it to be smooth and tasty. I also paired this beer with the A. Fernandez Signature Series recently, check out the review to read more about the pairing.
With this specific pairing I found the Dark Ale to be a bit light for the peppery notes on this cigar. I think it would have paired much better with a stout or porter if I wanted to stick with beers. Other good pairings could have been Scotch, Port, a strong coffee or some dark soda.

I had another Nestor Miranda Collection 1989 with Grahams LBV Tawny Port after writing this review and it paired perfectly, a nice counter-balance with the pepper and spice notes.