By Tony Casas | June 9, 2011

You could win a whole box of Macanudo 1968! But, before getting to the contest, I figured I’d start this post off with a review of the contest winnings. Macanudo’s 1968. These were sent over to me from the great people over at General Cigar. Big shout out to them. They’ve been great supporters and have helped us out quite a bit.

The Good Stuff: The Macanudo 1968 is a “different” type of release from what Macanudo smokers would usually expect. Coined with the slogan “Rich, Dark, and Unexpected” the 1968 was released in 2008 to celebrate the 40 years that Ramón Cifuentes has been blending for the company (and possibly 100 years of Macanudo?). According to General Cigar the Macanudo 1968 contains tobacco “grown by General Cigar or cultivated for the company under an agreement of exclusivity…aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to further enrich its flavor”. The blend features Dominican and Nicaraguan filler,  with a Connecticut Habano Binder, wrapper with Honduran San Agustin leaf. These cigars run about $8 -$9 a stick, but General cigar recently announced that it will be slashing the prices of the 1968. Expect a savings of about $3.50 a stick, but only at Brick and Mortar stores.

Size: 5 x 50  –  Wrapper: Honduran San Agustin leaf  –  Binder: Connecticut Habano  –  Filler: Dominican/Nicaraguan

Prelight: The Macanudo 1968 starts off with this old, rustic looking dark brown/orangish with dark spotted wrapper. The construction is ideal, only containing a few larger veins leading up to a kind of pointy, round, double cap. The band is a really nice, common cigar crest with the Macanudo company logo. The only difference is the band is a nice black and gold color with slight red accents (which looks really nice on the darker wrapper), and a gold “1968” printed just below the crest. The cigar is firm for the most part, but the foot is pretty squishy.

The wrapper gives off this really strange, beef jerky type aroma. No joke. This thing smells like a thick stick of Jack Links. The foot of the cigar releases a really strong tobacco, and chocolate aroma. The cigar cut easy and clean using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw is interesting. Its VERY natural tasting with a ton of grass, and wheat bread type flavors. Maybe I am just hungry, but this cigar is throwing me quite a few curve balls.

First Smoke: It’s kind of strange but the meaty flavor I picked up in the aroma of the wrapper kind of came through into the taste of the first third of this Macanudo 1968. It’s a slight beef type flavor, but it’s there along side a bit of leather, a bit of cedar, and just some really nice natural tobacco type flavors. I was really expecting a loose draw on this cigar since it didn’t feel like it was packed very tight at all, but the draw is great, easily filling my mouth with a nice amount of thick smoke. The burnline is kinda thick, and started off with a few slight waves, but nothing too concerning. The ash left behind is a nice, semi-compacted white and grey ash with just a few flakes coming off of it. The ash held on for about an inch before giving away.

Halfway There: Halfway though this Macanudo 1968 and it really hasn’t changed up too much. The flavors are still slightly meaty with cedar and earthy natural tones, but the seemed to have really simmered down. It’s still an enjoyable smoke but it is leaving me craving more dimension early in. Hopefully the final third adds to the flavor profile.  The 1968’s retrohale is really nice though. Very light, coating my nasal passage with a nice, light cedar prime. I am feeling no nicotine at all from this cigar and the burnline is dead even and fully corrected at this point.

Finish: What a huge ramp up in body! It’s not a full bodied cigar but I really got a nice little kick into the final third of this 1968.  The flavors did in fact increase a bit too. Nothing to write home about, but the cedar became much stronger as well as a little bit of pepper sneaking in to compliment the Macanudo’s already existent natural flavors. This cigar took about a little over an hour to take down. There was just a very slight bit of harshness built up into the final inch, but nothing too off-putting.

Overview: I didn’t really know what to expect the first time I smoked a Macanudo 1968. For sure I didn’t expect the cigar to have beef jerky-like flavors. What I did expect was a decent smoke at a good price and that is exactly what I got. There wasn’t really anything too terribly wrong with this cigar, just as well there wasn’t anything really spectacular. A bit one dimensional, but at the price point, you really can’t ask for more. Smooth, subtle, and well balanced. Perfect for the average and novice cigar smoker, or just an all around everyday smoke. One thing is for sure, this cigar is a venture from what one usually thinks of when they think Macanudo. Hopefully we can expect more cigars like this from the company in the near future.

Pairing: As the summer heat thickens, I have decided to pair more cigars with nice, light, summer ales. This selection is one of New Belgium’s latest editions, Somersault. Somersault is a well balanced, light blonde ale peaking at 5.2% ABV. Somersault is a citrus explosion and is probably one of the smoothest beer I have ever had. I could probably drink 100 of these back to back. The cigar paired well with the Somersault’s sweet, fruity composition and the cedar tastes blended in perfectly. This cigar would go perfect with water, tea, or apple juice. Beer? Either a nice ale, or a really bitter beer to help add to the flavor.

 

And now… For the contest.

General Cigar has been kind enough to offer up a full box of Macanudo 1968 Trompetas for our lucky readers! That’s right. And we are going to make this contest another easy one to enter.

Recently Daniel and I decided to take Casas Fumando on facebook. All you need to do to enter is follow this link (http://www.facebook.com/casasfumando) and “Like” our page! Already like it? They you are already entered!

We will be updating the Facebook Page constantly with our reviews, news, and even what we have been smoking on the side.

I understand a lot of you people aren’t on facebook, so we are going to add a second entry for anyone who leaves a comment on this contest post. Simply post what your FIRST cigar was! Tell us about it! We all have skeletons in the closet. You will get two entries for liking us on Facebook and one for commenting on this post.

We will run this contest until Wednesday June 22^nd. At that time a winner will be chosen at random and shipped this box of cigars. 18 and over please, and you Canadians?!?! We don’t hate. Enter and I will happily ship to you! Cheers, and hopefully you’ll spend some Facebook time with us!