Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve MaduroCigar Info

At the IPCPR trade show last year, Cigars showed off two new blends, The Family Reserve in two different blends, natural and . Today we are looking at the | Family Reserve . Just like with the Natural version, the is being sold exclusively in a 5 1/2 x 54 Robusto Extra vitola packaged in boxes of 10, with only 500 boxes produced and each cigar retailing for $16.70. Blend-wise, the cigar is composed of a wrapper, a Dominican binder and filler tobaccos from the . In 1992, Cigars started rolling cigars with two cigar rollers, and making only 150 cigars per day. Today, they have over 45 employees in their production line. From the beginning has always ensured to keep “quality over quantity”.

This cigar was reviewed blind (no bands) by a panel of at least 4 reviewers. They did not know what they were smoking beforehand. The scores are an average of all the reviewers' scores with outliers removed. All of our cigars reviewed are shipped to the panelists with Boveda packs to ensure optimal smoking experience.

They produce a limited amount of cigars with the highest standards of quality in the market. Cigars has catered to the cigar needs of visiting tourists from countries all over the world. Rather than simply producing a serviceable cigar that their visitors can take as a souvenir, the cigars from the factory are a real treat that their customers would love to smoke again and again.

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve MaduroVital Stats:

Vitola:
Length: 5.5″
Ring Gauge: 54
Country of Origin:
Wrapper:
Binder:
Filler:
Factory:
Blender: Erick Martinez​
Number of reviewers: 5 (irratebass) (The Nothing) (Zane) (Jokey Smurf) (McGreggor57)
Price: $17.00
Age: 4 Months
Release Date: July 2016
Contributed by: Cigar

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve MaduroInitial Impressions

Appearance: 92

“Appeared nice with a slightly oily, milk chocolate brown wrapper. Seams were visible, as were some medium sized veins. It had a uniform firmless down the length and a small 2mm hole in the wrapper around the end of the 2nd third.” – (The Nothing)

Aroma: 90

“The main aroma on the wrapper is a deep spicy compost. The foot is milder, but has more of a sweet coffee note that really offsets the compost of the wrapper.” – (Jokey Smurf)

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve Maduro First Third

Flavor: 89
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Medium

“Nice start to this cigar. I’m getting lots of wood, spice, leather and tobacco flavors right out the gate.” – (irratebass)

“The first puffs were surprisingly savory and heavily oily. I got a real mouthful of heavy smoke, surprising considering these initial draws are a bit tight. The main flavors are lightly charred oak and a woodsy leather. I think the main flavor is the leather, but there is just a bit of a twang of cedar that reminds me of being on a cedar grove. There is also a fair bit of beeper through the nose and on my tongue. I’d call this a solid medium strength cigar out of the gate.” – (Jokey Smurf)

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve Maduro Second Third

Flavor: 88
Strength: Medium
Body/Complexity: Medium

“Dark chocolate and coffee come in on the second. Those flavors came along with the same sweet earth and kitchen spices that were in the first third. Oak and spice were still prevalent on the retrohale. Part way into the second third, the wrapper split at hole previously noted. The split ran the remaining part of the second third and all the way up and under the band. Kitchen spices increased as the second continued.” – (The Nothing)

“Draw loosened up as we got further in. Still getting a little espresso but some sweetness really comes forward. Still getting that salty taste on teh finish with some nice cedar on the retro.” – (Zane)

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve MaduroFinal Third

Flavor: 86
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Medium-Full

“There was a bitter build up at the head as the first third started up, so I took another cut at the head to freshen things up. First third starts with dark earth, oak and kitchen spices. The burn started to become wavy, I don’t think, though, that it came from the split in the wrapper. I found the cigar got more bitter and there was a build up of burnt coffee and dark chocolate flavors. Spices had pretty much faded out completely. It didn’t seem the cigar wanted to keep going in the last third and it was bitter and became muddy.” – (The Nothing)

“The final portion of this cigar began to build into a delightfully full bodied crescendo…deep rich espresso joined the leather and a bit of spice emerged as well. Not pepper, but more of a cinnamon note that was full flavored and rich. The retrohale remained slightly peppery but not enough to be unpleasant in any way. What a great, eventful end to a long day.” – (Jokey Smurf)

Overall Impressions

Draw: 85

“This cigar was packed full of tobacco and maybe a bit tightly at that . The draw on mine was on the firm side.” – (McGreggor57)

Burn: 88

“Up until the last third, this cigar burned pretty well. It was hard to free the ash as I went and I suspect it could have held ash up until the last third.” – (The Nothing)

Construction: 89

“This cigar had good looks to it, but I’d argue that it was over filled. The whole in the wrapper was small and I hadn’t expected to see anything come of it.” – (The Nothing)

Overall Strength: Medium-Strong
Overall Body/Complexity: Medium-Full
Experience Overall: 86

“I really enjoyed the cigar before it fell apart. I got leather, wood, spice and plenty of tobacco flavors.” – (irratebass)

“This cigar started off great, it’s just unfortunate that the last half of the cigar didn’t live up to the first. It began with a great savory sweetness that I found quite delightful, but finished a bitter, muddy mess.” – (The Nothing)

“This was just a beautiful cigar to look at and even hold in my hand. Looks alone this cigar would be killer. Unfortunately I had some draw issues on this one. Normally I would have taken the draw poker to it but since it was a review I wanted to smoke it as is. I did enjoy the flavors I got throughout they were just very muted and in the end became bitter. I would love to try this cigar again and hope for better construction.” – (Zane)

“Well, I’ve found it…the cigar that could easily be an every day bit of enjoyment. The flavors were right where I like them, and the performance superb. I’m not certain a new smoker would be ready for the moderately full nature of this cigar, but anyone with a bit of nicotine stamina should find this extremely enjoyable. Time to start saving up for a box of these!” – (Jokey Smurf)

“A nice cigar for those times when you don’t want to pick through the flavor offerings and nuances of a cigar. Sitting here for nearly an hour and a half, however, I found it quite one dimensional and had trouble staying engaged. Good flavors, just not very interesting.” – (McGreggor57)

Smoking Time (in minutes): 103

 

 

Reviewer
Appearance
Aroma
1/3
2/3
3/3
Draw
Burn
Constr.
Overall
Experience
80 88 90 87 87 87 87 70 85
88 85 92 87 83 83 87 88 87
95 90 88 87 85 83 85 85 85
95 92 95 95 95 92 92 92 97
90 90 88 87 87 87 90 90 87
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To view the complete scores and notes, click here.

Blind Cigar Review: Don Lucas | Family Reserve Maduro
Appearance
92
Aroma
90
First Third
89
Second Third
88
Final Third
86
Draw
85
Burn
88
Construction
89
Overall Experience
86
88
Total Score - Good - 88