Pre-light Experience

Seth: The El Mago The James Avenue Habano is average in appearance. It has a soft press, and there are some soft spots throughout the cigar. The coloring is that of Colorado Maduro, and it has some marbled coloring that is tobacco and coffee bean in color. There are some oils present on the wrapper, and the aroma is of barnyard, spices and earth.
John: The El Mago The James Avenue Habano has a Colorado Maduro color wrapper. The cigar is a box-pressed Toro, with the box press having slightly rounded edges. I weighed the cigar at 16.6 grams and measured the humidity at 62.8% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included chocolate, sweet tobacco and sweet wood. From the foot, I was getting a more wood-forward sweetness.
Jiunn: The El Mago The James Avenue Habano has a Colorado maduro wrapper shade. The box pressed cigar’s veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas give pungent wet barnyard and soaked cedar wood.

El Mago The James Avenue Habano

First Third

Seth: The first third starts out with damp earth and barnyard qualities. Wood and leather notes were present with some dull spices. Faint mineral notes on the finish. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The first third gets going with creamy, light wood and sweet tobacco combining, while wood and mild graham cracker make up the finish. As the first third continues, light earth quietly moves into the post draw. Light plus strength spices join the post draw a few puffs later. As the first third continues, the retrohale settles into a lovely combination of chocolate, sweet tobacco and baking spices. The profile remains stable through the bottom half of the first third.
Jiunn: The first third has a nice layering of flavors with roasted mixed nuts, cedar, milk creaminess, barnyard, balanced dried red pepper spice and medium tannins. Retrohaling has accentuated dried red pepper spice and roasted mixed nuts. The finish shows richness in cedar and medium tannins. Strength and body is medium.

El Mago The James Avenue Habano

Second Third

Seth: The second third is in line with the first third. Musty wood and barnyard notes with dull spices, leather and some mineral notes. Like before, medium-full in strength and body.
John: The second third kicks things off with creamy medium minus strength baking spices and chocolate, with tobacco sweetness rounding out the profile. The spices and sweetness combine and layer all the way through to the post draw. The second third settles in with the flavors finding a good balance, with the spices slightly edging out everything else. By the halfway point, some loamy earth has joined the finish and post draw, which has upset the balance somewhat.
Jiunn: I’m digging the second third a little bit more than the first third. The profile is creamier and stankier with more barnyard. It’s an awesome combination. The other flavors are still intact (roasted mixed nuts, cedar, milk creaminess, balanced red pepper spice, medium tannins). Strength and body is still medium.

El Mago The James Avenue Habano

Final Third

Seth: The final third is identical to the first and second. Faint mineral notes on the finish. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: The last third gets going with creamy earth combining with baking spices and medium-strength earth, finishing with some spice accents. Approaching the halfway point, creamy earth with spice accents is defining the profile, with wood, earth and spice making up the post draw. Some sharp bitterness begins defining the finish through the bottom half of the final third.
Jiunn: The final third goes a bit sideways such that a harshness forms over the red pepper spice and cedar. This makes the other creamier and sweeter notes dip big time. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

El Mago The James Avenue Habano

Burn

Seth: The burn has been average throughout the cigar.
John: As with every review, I lit the cigar with my Xikar Tactical single torch lighter. The burn was razor straight through the first third. The burn developed minor waviness in the second third but remained relatively straight through the final third.
Jiunn: Burn performance was good but not perfect. The cigar went out randomly in the second third and the burn line was fairly wavy the entire time.

El Mago The James Avenue Habano

Draw

Seth: The draw is a little snug throughout the smoke.
John: As with every review, I used my Colibri SV to make a V-cut. I measured the draw with the Cigar Medics draw machine at 30 inches of water. Subjectively, the draw seemed resistant, but smoke production was excellent, even with the lightest of puffs.
Jiunn: Slightly snug but didn’t impact the flavor delivery.

Overall

Seth: The El Mago The James Avenue Habano is a decent cigar. It smokes like a Nicaraguan puro, and I am initially leaning towards AGANORSA. It has a flavor profile that is decent, but not overly complex, and it is consistent/one-dimensional from beginning to end. It’s not a bad blend, but I don’t think many Nicaraguan puros can be bad. It’s not a blend I would come back to in the future.
John: Blind Cigar #1616 is a cigar that gets off to a very promising start, combining the sweetness of tobacco and wood with chocolate, graham cracker and baking spices. The first third is particularly enjoyable because of how well those components complement each other. The retrohale is the highlight, bringing together chocolate, sweet tobacco and baking spices in a combination that feels more developed than the relatively straightforward opening flavors might initially suggest. The second third continues that flavor medley with creamy baking spices, chocolate and tobacco sweetness that find a good balance, with the spices just edging ahead of the other components. There is enough layering between the flavors to keep the profile interesting, and the fact that the spices and sweetness continue all the way into the post draw gives the cigar a satisfying persistence. Unfortunately, earth begins creeping into the finish and post draw around the halfway point, disturbing some of the balance that had been established. The final third represents the biggest change in character. Creamy earth becomes much more prominent, combining with baking spices and medium-strength earth. As the cigar progresses, wood, earth and spice increasingly define the post draw, and sharp bitterness eventually takes over the finish through the bottom half. The cigar doesn’t simply become more intense; it becomes less balanced, with the bitterness working against the sweeter and creamier characteristics that had defined the earlier portions. Construction is excellent. The burn is razor straight through the first third, develops only minor waviness in the second, and returns to a relatively straight performance in the final third. The draw is equally impressive from a functional standpoint. Although it feels somewhat resistant subjectively, the 30-inch measurement is accompanied by excellent smoke production, even with very light puffs. Ultimately, the El Mago The James Avenue Habano provides enough quality in the first two thirds to earn its Good overall rating despite a significant decline in the final third. The combination of chocolate, sweet tobacco, creamy baking spices and wood gives the opening a satisfying balance, while the excellent construction makes the cigar easy to smoke. The emergence of earth is initially manageable, but its increasing prominence and the sharp bitterness that arrives in the final third ultimately pull the cigar away from the balance it established earlier. It’s a cigar with a genuinely enjoyable beginning and middle that unfortunately doesn’t maintain that same level of harmony through the finish. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 34 minutes.
Jiunn: The El Mago The James Avenue Habano was a very nice cigar that showed me (total guess here) the more refined side of Nicaraguan made cigars. The flavors worked in harmony and were balanced, almost making me smoke it with a pinky up. Would definitely smoke more of these. Guesses: Primarily Nicaraguan. A more balanced and refined cigar coming out of Nicaragua so Dunbarton? La Zona? Laranja Hybrid?

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.00

Cost/Point

$2.20

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.47

Cost/Point

$1.70

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.47

Cost/Point

$1.70

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: El Mago The James Avenue Habano