Cigar Weekly

Launched in 1998, the Astral Grand Reserve Vintage filler is a blend of Dominican grown Piloto Cubano and air-dried black leaf tobacco from Mexico for a sweet and peppery flavor.  The binder is from Mexico.  The wrapper is an Indonesian shade grown Connecticut seed tobacco from 1992.  All of the tobacco is aged at least one year.  The Dominican filler tobacco is generally known as semi-sweet and good burning.  The Astral Grand Reserve Vintage is blended to be medium to full-bodied, with sweet overtones and a lightly spicy flavor. 

US Cigar manufactures the Astral on its plantation near Danli, Honduras.

Pre-Smoke Comments

Christopher Duff (Overruler): The cigar is a nice light brown. Looks solid in construction with a nice, medium feel too it. Not too soft, not too hard. The wrapper itself was a little on the frail side though.

John Bolehala (HomeBrew): This cigar was closer to a double corona than a Churchill, measuring in at 7 3/8 x 50. Very nice dark colorado wrapper on these examples. My compliments to the maker of this smoke, as flawless wrappers in this size must be hard to find. The only flaw in the appearance was a rough, ugly cap on both examples. The pre-light draw was excellent. Both cigars burned perfectly from top to bottom.

Keith A. Pinto (KAPinto): When I received the cigars, I placed them in my humidor to get to the proper humidity, as they appeared a bit dry. They were a nice looking churchill, with what appeared to be a claro wrapper. As a robusto fan, the thought of the extra three inches appeared to be a challenge I was ready to undertake. The cigars were a bit past firm, almost to the hard category.

Oscar Mazariego (Ocat): The brown semi coarse wrapper had a few green spots. The caps could have been put on a little better. The burn was even with an easy draw. The Aroma was very faint and did not last long.

R Malce (RAF): The shape on each of the samples was nice and even, certainly a hefty example of the roller's art. The wrapper colors differed greatly between the two. One was a reddish tan, almost rosado, while the other was a classic "natural" tone (there was no appreciable taste or burn difference between the two, however). The wrapper was smooth, with no tooth, with lots of small veins and a few darker or lighter specks. It seemed quite sturdy. The caps were nice and large, and easily stood up to the clip/punch. Each sample had one under filled spot, one being near the foot which made lighting it easy. The pre-light draw was generous and had a sweet taste. Overall, it seems a substantial cigar, if lacking visual character.

Ray Atnip (AustinWillie): This was a churchill sized cigar, with a tan, dry, coarse, veiny wrapper. The cap appeared to be adequate. There were no hard or soft spots. The tobacco smell was pleasant and asked to be lighted.

Wade Maurer (Wade M.): Both cigars had splits and cracks in the wrapper. The 2nd one was bad enough that I had to pitch it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the shipping abuse and conditions during transport. On the plus side, the wrapper showed some good tooth which I'm a sucker for. EMS brown with a smooth cap. The head was firm and got a little soft towards the foot. The pre-light aroma was fairly faint, not much barnyard!

Smoke Comments

Christopher Duff (Overruler): The cigar burned perfectly. Didn't run on either one too much. If it tried, it would always catch up. Had a nice mild-medium body. The bad part was during the smoke, the wrapper separated completely on one of them, forcing me to take it off, leaving only the binder. This happened at about the midway point. Not very complex, some leathery and earthy undertones to it.

John Bolehala (HomeBrew): Volumes of smoke, leaving a pure white, flaky ash. Light earthy flavor. Small hints of cedar. Occasional medicinal aftertaste detracted from the experience. Exceedingly mild cigar in both flavor and strength. It may have come on just a bit in the final third, but that may have been me rushing the cigar to try for a bit more flavor. Either way, the final third is a long way to go in a cigar of this size.

Keith A. Pinto (KAPinto): Both cigars had problems with the wrapper. The first unraveled at the head right after I clipped it. this caused me to have to bogart the first inch in order to get any draw at all. The second completely came undone after the first half was smoked. the flavor was nice, with many different flavors blending nice together. I think that coffee was the most prevalent. the aftertaste, however was like that of a coffee hangover.

Oscar Mazariego (Ocat): I found this cigar very mild and one dimensional. The flavor was an earthy / vegetal and it stayed that way. This cigar had the taste of young tobacco.

R Malce (RAF): The burn on each was even, with a short cone-shaped ember. The ash was mostly white, a little flaky looking but SOLID! The first one I lit kept a 4" ash going before the weight of it made it fall off! Very impressive, but the same one had a little bit of popping and crackling going on in the third near the head, and by the half-way mark, the wrapper burst slightly in the noisy area. It was still smokable. I had let them sit for a week, so I don't know if the cigar was young or still wonky from it's travels. The draw was always easy, almost perfect, and the smoke, while not copious, was mildly fragrant. There was almost no burning in the throat or tongue, or smell in the air afterwards, and the finish was light and sweet. I was even able to exhale through my nose a couple times with no harshness.

Ray Atnip (AustinWillie): The initial puff indicated a good smoke was instore. The burn was even with a medium colored ash. Draw was perfect with moderate amounts of smoke. The flavor got even better further down. I don't normally smoke this length but I did enjoy this cigar well beyond the area where the band was. I would say this was a medium smoke, pleasant and would recommend it highly. It was much better than some $5-$6 smokes I have had in past.

Wade Maurer (Wade M.): The burn, on the one I finished smoking, was razor straight with a perfect draw and very solid white ash. I really like the little white bumps that show up from the tooth on the wrapper. Overall my impression was one of properly cured tobaccos. This cigar produced an adequate amount with not too much trouble. The aroma was fairly subtle, not overpowering at all. This is a mild to medium body smoke with an earthy and woodsy taste, although somewhat on the thin side.

Summary Comments

Christopher Duff (Overruler): A decent cigar in appearance, but the problem with the wrapper coming off (second cigar) and not being a real flavorful cigar won't cause me to rush out and buy them. A decent smoke if around the $2-$4 range.

John Bolehala (HomeBrew): While I enjoy a mild cigar, this one was a bit too mild for my preference. This is definitely not an after dinner smoke. I smoked the second example in the morning hours, but it still left me wishing for more flavor. Overall, a light bodied, mild flavored, relaxing smoke. I would recommend this cigar to the occasional smoker or anyone preferring an ultra-mild smoke. My hat's off to manufacturer of this cigar. Other than a rough cap, I was impressed with the construction. Perfect draw and burn, very well behaved. If the manufacturer of this cigar makes a similar smoke with a bit more flavor, I would buy it.

Keith A. Pinto (KAPinto): Not a bad smoke. I definitely enjoyed it, even with the problems with the wrappers. I definitely do not need 7 1/2 inches of cigar, but I would smoke this cigar again if given the opportunity. My recommendation is keep a few of these in your golf bag humidor for those nice long smokes on the course, as this is nearly 90 minutes of pleasurable smoke.

Oscar Mazariego (Ocat): All and all this is not a dog rocket but it's young, one dimensional and very mild. They are too many good cigars for me to waste my time with this cigar.

R Malce (RAF): I would say that this smoke was very very "medium" in many ways. While I wanted it to rise up and show some more flavor, power or distinction, it was definitely not mild or weak. There was a wee bit of saltiness and a little sweetness, but a definite "tobacco" taste predominated. There's a box on the review sheet in the "Overall Quality" section that says "agreeable", and that's what this was. I usually like more *oomph* to my cigars, and will even put up with a little harshness or burn problems to get that extra flavor or strength. While I would recommend it for others, it would have to be very budget priced for me to consider purchasing a box. I can imagine enjoying one as the last cigar of the day, when the taste buds have been exercised enough. I chose to round up my final rating, since I did get it for free (price being a factor), and the burn was great, but it was missing the character I like to expect from my smokes.

Ray Atnip (AustinWillie): Thumbs up on this one. Though the initial appearance didn't indicate that I was going to enjoy this smoke, I was pleasantly surprised.

Wade Maurer (Wade M.): Not bad, but not a revelation either. I'd be interested in trying a robusto or toro of this brand.

Scores

Review Results
Final Score: 33.0 out of 50

3 1/2 Stars -- Above Average

When we reviewed the Astral Grand Reserve Beso (robusto) two years ago, our reviewers gave it 4 Stars and I enjoyed it as well. Although it was fairly mild, it was smooth and had a refined quality as well as a lot of flavor. This Maestro is also smooth and mellow, but because of it's size, it lacks the flavor and complexity of it's smaller brother. And considering the price ($10.00), you may want to pass this one by.