Pre-light Experience

The wrapper is dark brown and has a turtle shell effect to it with some lighter shades. There are a couple of slightly raised veins present while the seams are barely noticeable and the head is finished off with a well applied double cap. The band is the traditional company design with a color combination for this line of tan, gold and black. The aroma from the wrapper is damp wood while the foot brings stone fruit sweetness and wood. The pre-light draw brings more stone fruit sweetness and hay.

First Third

The cigar begins with wood, black pepper, some cocoa and cream. At a half inch in, the flavors are melding together a bit better as the retrohale presents the same profile just in different ratios with the pepper a bit fuller. At an inch in, the black pepper drops out while the wood is up front and the cocoa and cream are faint in the background. At an inch and a half, the cocoa begins to increase with the addition of a slight sweetness. As the third comes to a close, the cocoa drops back to even up with the cream while the wood remains up front. The strength in this third was slightly below medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the cocoa begins to creep back up, but this time without the sweetness. At a half inch in, the cream has increased and now the wood, cocoa and cream are all at equal levels. At an inch in, there haven’t been any changes to the profile, but it has become a bit drying even with the presence of the cream. As the third comes to a close, the profile remains the same while the retrohale has a creamy cocoa profile. The strength in this third bumped up to right at medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the profile of wood, cocoa and cream continues on. At an inch in, the profile loses the cocoa but maintains the creamy wood. The retrohale has also changed to a creamy wood. At an inch and a quarter, the cigar begins to warm up which brings a slight mintiness to the profile. As the cigar comes to a close, the mintiness has continued to increase and took over the profile pushing the creamy wood to the background. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly above medium.

Burn

The burn was wavy the entire way. I also had to do a re-light once in the first third and once in the final third. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.

Draw

The draw was tighter than I prefer but wasn’t really a problem until the final third when it tightened up some more and caused the cigar to heat up.

Overall

The flavor profile was primarily wood, cocoa and cream and held on that way until the final third when the cocoa dropped out. The construction was a bit lacking with some burn issues and a draw that tightened up in the last third and caused the cigar to heat up. You get a long smoking time from the Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve Series Maduro Toro, as the others from the brand, so there’s some additional value there. Overall, I didn’t find any wow factors in the cigar and thought it was fairly average compared to many maduros available on the market.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.60

Cost/Point

$1.78

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve Series Maduro Toro