El Tiante Maduro
Posted By ironmeden on August 16, 2008
BATTER UP!
Now batting for The Velvet Cigar’s is Ironmeden…crowd goes crazy. Walking up to the batter’s box with a cigar in his mouth, a glass of scotch in one hand and the bat in the other, dressed for the occassion in a black and burgundy velvet smoking jacket. The number 80 is stitched onto the back of the jacket, but we have to believe that is the proof of his scotch and not an official number. Pitching to Ironmeden is 68 year old Luis Tiant.
Wouldn’t it be awsome if more sports legends made their own cigar?
I have to be honest right off the bat….hahha pun….I am not a huge baseball nut when it comes to the players in previous generations of baseball. When I was a kid I followed Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and a few others, but I never was a stat guy. I know a few guys that know the batting average of Kirby Puckett during the 1987 season where they went to the World Series or Bert Blyleven’s ERA during his career. I’m just a baseball fan who enjoys watching the games. At times a baseball game can be a great chess match.
Now I was not familiar with Luis Tiant before I saw a video of him a few months ago from last year’s RTDA show where he was talking about his cigars. Now a friend of mine from work is a big Red Sox fan and he found that Luis Tiant had his own cigar line and since he collected memrobillia, he wanted a Luis Tiant cigar for his collection. I decided to buy him one and also buy a few extra for reviewing. When they arrived I gave him a glass tube so he could keep the cigar in it and not damage the cigar, but since he was not a cigar smoker, he wasn’t worried about it getting dried out.
So I had to go to the baseball stats page and find out what he did for his career as a pitcher. He ended his carrer at 292 – 172 with an ERA of 3.78. He played for 6 teams and appeared in 3 All Star Games. He has not made it to the Hall of Fame, but lets find out if he can make it into the Cigar Hall of Fame.
I purchased the El Tiante Maduro Churchill which measures 7 x 50. The cigar is made of Habano Nicaraguan and San Andreas Mexian filler, a Sumatra Mexican binder and is wrapped with a Habano Nicaraguan leaf. Sounds like it might be a fuller flavored cigar?
The wrapper is dark brown with a few small lumpy parts, but they don’t take away from the look of the cigar, it is a nice looking cigar. The band is of Luis Tiant in what looks like a Red Sox uniform getting ready to deliver a pitch. On each side of him displays the time period he pitched in the big leagues, 1964 to 1983. The colors are quite nice with brown, gold and dark red accents. There is a baseball on each side of the band.
I punched the head and lit it with my Xikar lighter, the one thing I noted about the head was that the cap of the cigar looked more like a flap. I got a smooth tasting feel to the cigar right away, no bitterness. The draw though was quite tight. I tried massage the cigar to loosen it up, but that didn’t help. Flavor notes I got right away were light leather and cedar.
As the cigar reached the 1/4 point, it was still difficult to draw. The ash was holding steady, it seemed quite strong. It probably lasted a good 2 inches plus before I tapped it out, but it was a strong tap, It felt like I had broke the cigar in half when I ashed it out in my ash tray.
The halfway point the cigar is still smooth and is mild to slightly medium in character. The draw again was tough. I was really enjoying the flavors from this cigar, but I felt there was something missing that could truly make this cigar stand out.
At the 3/4 mark, the draw was still tough and I was having a problem keeping it lit. I did have to relight it once. The burn throughout was almost razor sharp. The cigar did leave my palate a little dry and I found I was drinking a lot of water. That may be due to the hard draws on the cigar. I did ask Elvis if he had any draw issues, but he said there were no problems with his draw.
Overall I give this cigar a 3 out of 5. Its a nice mild maduro cigar. It doesn’t quite make the Cigar Hall of Fame, but its a good rookie season.
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