Inka Secret Blend - Azul Blue - Poderoso Maduro.
This is my first Maduro.
Aesthetics - VERY dark brown wrapper, lightly veined and well capped. Blue and gold band speaks well to the brand name. Feels nice and well packed, not too firm, not too spongy.
Cut and light - didn't cut too well in all honesty, had to go back and give it another pass so it was cut evenly, first cut "scalped" a bit of the wrapper away but I was able to tidy this up with the minimum of fuss.
Lit easily and evenly first time.
Draw and first impressions: quite an easy draw producing a good amount of dense white smoke.
Flavour has started off quite praline-y, that's to say it's slightly sweet but not totally, there's an almost "savoury" undercurrent to it with just a hint of spice at the end. The aroma is rich, leathery/earthy but not over-powering, while it's quite an obvious aroma once it's hit you, it does sneak up on you slightly.
This is a really satisfying cigar to both hold and smoke. The thing ring gauge combined with the relatively short length means that even the most stout, greedy draw doesn't see a lot of it turn to ash immediately and I like that. The Maduro wrapper does seem to have a little flavour of its own, not in the smoke but as a residual taste on the lips, almost like a sweet treacle or molasses type of flavour it leaves behind, lip-lickingly good!
Getting a little further into the first third and the flavours and aromas are definitely out there now, mouthful of smoke with a little puff down the nostrils is a great way to experience everything this cigar has to offer in one hit, it's complex but not mind-boggling and unlike the J Cortez I reviewed yesterday, the flavours and aromas compliment each other brilliantly rather than confuse you by fighting for centre stage.
Got to about 1/4 if the way in and just had to touch up the burn slightly but nothing major, one side was just burning slightly quicker than the other so had a bit of a diagonal burn line going on but it was easily and quickly fixed.
As I hit the half way point, the ash was ready to drop having held on this far from the initial light and even through the touch up. The flavours now are really coming through, consistent with earlier but much more apparent, this is shaping up to be a really lovely cigar and makes me wonder what else the acclaimed Maduro wrapped cigars have to offer.
There's an almost alcohol-y note in there now too which I hadn't noticed before, once you've emptied your mouth of smoke, you're left with a bit of an after-taste reminiscent of a mild coffee liqueur.
OH NO! So I tried to slide the band off at this point (as is my usual habit) and it wouldn't budge, I decided to peel it off only to discover it was slightly stuck to the wrapper where the glue closes the band and it's pulled a small chunk out of the outer wrapper. Not a big issue as the cigar still smokes nicely and I doubt this is something you would encounter across the entire range, it was probably just a one-off flaw but none the less, not something I've encountered before.
All in all, I'd buy this cigar again and am looking forward not only to more maduro's in the future, but also what else the Inka range has to offer. My only real criticisms are of the initial cut (which could be down to my cheap cutter) and the issue I had removing the band and those elements are the only reason I mark this cigar down. Otherwise
