Macanudo Cabinet Vintage 1993 #4

The meaning of "macanudo" in Spanish is "best of the best," or "first-rate." This definition is appropriate for the General Cigar line of the same name. The Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection line goes quite a bit beyond the brands normally high standards. The cigar makers at Macanudo look for the very best tobacco for the Vintage Cabinet line. In the world of Macanudo cigars, a vintage year comes along only when a harvest yields small quantities of filler, binder and wrapper leaves whose qualities are superior. Those quantities, which total less than one in one thousand leaves, are then set aside for a given year's Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection. The cigar makers' standards are so high that the Macanudo Vintage Cabinet line has only been produced four times; 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1993. General produced approximately 50,000 cigars of the 1979 vintage; 125,000 cigars of the 1984 vintage; 400,000 cigars of the 1988 vintage; slightly over 1 million cigars of 1993 vintage. The filler is from the Dominican Republic and Mexico. The binder is San Andreas Valley, Mexico tobacco chosen for tensile strength, flavor, and long, slow, even burning characteristics. The wrapper is a Connecticut Shade, grown from Havana-seed in the sandy, fertile soil of the Connecticut River Valley; the wrapper is from the 1993 tobacco crop. Cifuentes y Cia, Ltd. in Jamaica manufactures the Macanudo Vintage Cabinet Selection. The Macanudo Cabinet Vintage Series comes very highly rated and the # 4 featured this month generally retails at $10.50 a stick! Enjoy!

We found the # 4 to be very well constructed with nice double caps and no significant flaws in the natural wrapper leaves. Each had adequate density for their size and felt good in the hand. Expectations were for a trouble-free smoke and that's what was delivered. Look for an even burn throughout the smoke, yielding a solid, light gray conical ash. The draw was near perfect, resulting in a cool smoke throughout. The entire smoke was just as it should be; neat, clean, and maintenance free. Note a very pleasing flavor with hints of cinnamon and spice. Flavors and aromas emerged that were reminiscent of creamed coffee and white oak. The flavor and balance was impeccable. Overall, this is an excellent cigar. Generally, many cigars become very objectionable once they burn down below an inch or so. This one actually got more flavorful, with the full sweetness coming out more. Smoke it with a full tawny Port.