Pinar Del Rio 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Madura

So we’re having an awesome July up here in the Great White North, it’s definitely not white anymore! We’ve barely had any rain and they days have all been beautiful, clear and hot! Now this makes for an uncomfortable evening on the most part because of the mosquitoes. These damn pestering bugs come at you like an army as soon as the sun sets. After about an hour or two they go away but they’ve been driving me nuts! Now that I got that rant out of the way, let’s see what I found in my humidor shall we?

I picked out a Pinar Del Rio cigar tonight, just because it looked so tasty so I thought it deserved to be reviewed tonight. I also reviewed the PDR Classico Exclusico Lancero a short while ago, you can check out that review for more information on the company/brand itself. Today’s blend is called the 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Madura and I received through a box pass that I recently participated in.

The PDR 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Madura is well presented cigar and I found the band to be pretty interesting. At first glance it seems to just be a plain black and silver band but it actually has a slightly glossy finish to it that makes it stand out nicely. It seems to be described on the Pinar Del Rio website as a Medium Bodied cigar with a interesting combination of Brazilian, Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco leaves.

The Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper especially caught my attention as it seems to be one that I generally enjoy in a lot of cigars. The line is available in a variety of vitolas ranging from a Corona up to a Churchill with 6 other vitolas in between. Today’s review will focus on the Toro vitola.

Cigar: Pinar Del Rio 1878 Cubana Especial Capa Madura
Drink: Delaforce 2005 LBV Tawny Porto
Vitola: Toro (6 x 52)
Wrapper: Brazilian Arapiraca Maduro
Binder: Dominican Republic Criollo 98
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican Republic
Price: Around $5
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is a very nice looking cigar, it’s even in diameter throughout and only shows signs of a few medium sized veins
• The color on this wrapper is a beautiful dark chocolate brown color and has a nice shine to it from the natural oils in the leaf
• The cap is finished with a tight little pigtail
• The cigar looks to be well packed at the foot but squeezes along it’s length show some definite springiness to the cigar, but not overly soft
• Cut was very clean and easy and although it was a short cut I feel that the draw is a little too open
• The draw adjusted after about an inch or so and now it’s just about perfectly where I’d want it to be

Burn:
• A speedy a quick toasting led me to a nicely glowing foot
• First inch or so is coming along fantastic, a tight crisp burn line
• Cigar is staying lit nicely, no need for extra draws and it’s letting me enjoy it slowly
• Spoke a little too soon, one of those medium sized veins caused a serious wavy burn that needed correction just before 3 inches in
• After that corrections the cigar burned quite well with only minor waves caused by more veins

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of thick smoke right from the first draw, easily fills my mouth
• Resting smoke is equally thick and abundant, it’s almost a crisp white color due to it’s thickness
• The ash started off strong, clean and light grey, would have stayed on longer but I accidentally hit it against my ashtray… lol
• My second ash went a little smoother and fell off gently into the ashtray just short of 2 inches

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a pungent barnyard aroma to it
• The foot has less of the barnyard and mixes in a bit of natural cocoa and maybe a touch of spice
• Pre-light draw brings with it a lot more of the spice, definitely getting some black pepper now with a background of barnyard and some woodsiness
• Initial draws have a very nice coffee and spice mix to it, the spice is fairly light so it’s balancing nicely and keeping me interested
• Body has started off at the border of mild and medium and the retrohale has no bite to it, just a smooth creamy coffee finish
• Despite the barnyard aromas I was getting, none of them have presented in the cigar so far
• The coffee flavors are intensifying nicely as I get close to the halfway mark, I’m also getting that initial cocoa flavor coming into the mix
• The spice is still hanging around with a sort of bold woodsiness
• There’s a nice little bite in the retrohale now and it’s maintained it’s smooth coffee and creamy finish
• Past the halfway mark, I thought I was getting inklings of a tarty sweetness but that quickly went away
• The profile has changed to a more leathery/woodsy/spicy mix and the coffee and creamy finish has taken a backseat, a huge change here
• The leather and spice are developing nicely and trading places as the dominant flavor
• The body increased a tad towards the end but I’d still place it in the medium range
• In the last inch, the spice took a leap forward to leave the final notes speckled in pepper and some notes of cloves

Final Thoughts:
Overall I found the Pinar Del Rio Cubano Especial Capa Madura to be an interesting and complex smoke that kept my attention throughout. I personally enjoyed the first half with the coffee and spice more than the leathery and woodsy second half. But that’s just by preference, both profiles were well balanced and equally complex. What stood out for me in this cigar was the massive change in the flavor profile, this was an excellent example of a multi-dimensional profile! There were a few burn issues caused by the veins that I seemed to find in most of these that I’ve tried. For a price of about $5 this is definitely a cigar worthy of having in your humidor!

Pairings:
If you’re a frequent reader of my reviews, I think you’ll recognize this bottle. (And if you’re not a frequent reader, there’s no time to start like the present! lol) It’s quickly become my “Go To” Porto based on price and an excellent array of flavors. You can see one of previous pairings with the Perdomo Grand Cru Maduro. The Delaforce 2005 Late Bottled Vintage Tawny Porto offers an interesting mix of dark berries, smokiness and a fantastic bold Merlot-like profile. If you are a fan of Merlot or Cabernet red wines, this will be a great port for you to try. I think it paired perfectly the the Pinar Del Rio 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Maduro tonight. It complimented both of the very unique profiles I got from this cigar. I think a nice dark stout would have also made an excellent pairing here and possibly a nice strong cup of coffee.