Marco V Cigars
Posted By ironmeden on March 4, 2009
A few months ago a regular reader to this blog emailed me about a new boutique cigar called Marco V. As i’m always interested in new cigars I checked out their website. At their website Marco V Cigars the first thing you see the ’60′ ring gauge moniker. Marco V Cigars has 2 blends, Platinum Label Grand Reserve and Gold Label Brazilian Reserve. Both cigars come in a giant 60 ring gauge size and are 5 inches in length.
Well I thought I would have to find out more info about these sticks. I sent an email and Marc Keiser emailed me back. He is the man behind the Marcos V cigar. Much to my surpise, Marc is a local guy from the Twin Cities. I’m gonna gave to get together with Marc for a smoke!
So I had some questions for our local cigar star.
VC: How did you come up with your blends?
Marc: We came up with these two blends because we love the combination of Brazilian and Dominican Tobacco. The wrapper on both blends is maduro Arapiraca, Brazil which is the same wrapper that is on the CAO Brazillia. The filler of all of our cigars contain Dominican de olor and Piloto tobacco. With each blend we combine a 3rd tobacco. In the Platinum Grand Reserve, we added Viso Esteli, Nicaragua ligero which gives it its medium-full bodied flavor and feel. In the Brazilian Reserve, we added the Matanorte, Brazil to the filler which is a smooth medium bodied cigar.
VC: Where do you roll your cigars?
Marc: We roll our cigars at Tobaccos don Esteban in the Dominican Republic. The cigars are blended and rolled by some of the most experienced torcedores on the island to bring the customer perfection in construction.
VC: What seperates the Marco V cigars from other lines?
Marc: We are the only cigar brand in the world whos entire portfolio consists of 60 ring guage cigars. This is done to exhibit the unique, world class long filler blend of tobaccos. We are the only cigar brand with a 60 x 5 cigar, its called the V. Gigante. We are the only cigar brand in the world that operates in batch systems. This means that we pefect two blends at a time and control the whole supply chain of each cigar and to ensure top quality. We are not affiliated with corporate conglomerates dominating the market today, norare any of our suppliers. Most of our favorite brands cannot say that.
VC: So where can somebody get your cigars?
Marc: Since we are a brand new company we are focusing on getting our cigars into major tobacconists in Minnesota. Currently we have reached agreements 3 cigar shops in the Twin Cites and The Cigar Hut in Fort Myers, Florida among other smoke shops. For those who are not local to these shops, our cigars are also available through our 100% SSL Secure website.
Now on to my reviews!
Platinum Grand Reserve
Size: 60 x 6 Wrapper: Arapiraca,Brazil
Binder: De Olor, Dominican Republic
Filler: Blend of 3 tobaccos of Domican de Olor, Viso Esteli Nicaragua and Piloto Cubano from the Cibao Valley Domincan Replublic.
My first impression of this cigar is how heavy it feels. I took some draws on the cigar before I lit it and it drew nice and easy. The wrapper has a few prominent veins. I clipped the head of the cigar and lit it with my Colibri lighter.
The first few puffs of the cigar had a bitter taste, but that quickly went away. The aroma of the smoke is quite enjoyable. The first 1/4 of the cigar is earthy, it is quite a smooth cigar.
On to the halfway point the cigar is getting complex, but i’m not able to pick any definate flavors. I would consider it earthy in flavor.
At the 3/4 mark the cigar is still smooth and complex it is flavor. The cigar has burned even and the draw is perfect.
At the end the complexity went away, but the whole cigar was smooth and quite enjoyable to smoke. This will be the cigar I recommend to our cigar club to smoke this summer. I give this cigar a 4 out of 5.
Brazilian Grand Reserve
Size: 60 x 5 Wrapper: Arapiraca, Brazil Binder: De Olor, Dominican Republic Filler: Blend of 3 tobaccos of Dominicano de Olor, Matanore Brazil and Piloto Cubano from the Cibao Valley Dominican Republic
The Brazilan Grand Reserve has a lighter shade wrapper and like the Platinum, the cigar has a heavy feel and well packed, but it had a couple soft spots. There were a few more veins in the wrapper.
I punched the head of the cigar and lit it with my Colibri lighter. The first few puffs of the cigar had more flavor then the Platinum. Now was this because I punched this cigar instead of cutting it? There was a slight bitterness with these puffs. I was getting a strong bitter coffee note. Besides the bittnerness, I was enjoying the flavors coming from this cigar. There is a definate difference between the Brazilian and the Platinum. At the 1/4 mark the cigar still had a slight bitterness, but the coffee notes were still strong. Where the Platinum had the complexity earthiness to the cigar, this one doesn’t have much complexity. The coffee flavor is very noteworthy.
Much to my surpise at the halfway point the cigar did have a return of the complexity that was noted in the Platinum review with the coffee flavor. The bitterness was still there. The draw is just perfect, I wasn’t having any burn issues.
From the midway point going on to the end, the cigar turned into quite a butt kicker. The strength of the cigar seemed to ramp up. My head was spinning slightly.
The end of this cigar snuck up on me, I didn’t expect the strength of the cigar even through it was fuller in flavor then the Platinum, it was medium in strength. With more flavor then the Platinum, the one thing that was consistant through the cigar was the slight bitter flavor I was getting from it. I give this cigar 3.5 out of 5.
If you are local to the Twin Cities, start checking your local shelves for this stick and at a price of around $6 a cigar this is a great value to the local cigar shops. If your not local, then pick up your cigars at Marco V Online Shop.
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