Cigar Weekly

"We have long known of two kinds of maduros" say Armando Ramos, founder of Puros de Armando Ramos, "the cooked or treated maduros, and the true, aged and deeply fermented maduros. These have taken very long to perfect to our own satisfaction, but as we are small and quiet, there has been no need to rush."

High quality maduros have, most recently, tended toward the high end of the price spectrum. "Our goal was to create a maduro that could go toe-to-toe with any in the business" said Paul Magier, President of Puros de Armando Ramos.

The brand name translates as Dark Desires and the line debuted in 5 sizes. All are packaged in distinctive glass-topped boxes that, sadly, are often compared with the infamous "Cohiba Glass Top Fakes." The line up carries MSRP's in the $6 and under range.

The cigars have an 8 year-aged Nicaraguan maduro wrapper on a carefully balanced blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler and binder, with an added kick of the company's exclusive Legal Cuban(r) ligero. The Deseo delivers a deep, rich array of toasty and chocolaty flavors that linger with you for hours, but never overwhelm your palate.

Cigar Weekly reviews are blind taste tests conducted by our readers. Reviewers are sent three samples with all identifying marks removed. Reviewers are chosen randomly from the list of everyone that has signed the Cigar Weekly Guest Book. Their comments are below.

Pre-Smoke Comments

Clinton Davis (TexCigar): Truly an odd duck!. Not your standard maduro torpedo! It had a smooth yet veiny wrapper, the cigars looked funny. Well filled and even burning 'gar with a conical coal. The draw was perfect with the aroma rather subtle. There was a light burn feeling in your throat but nothing to worry about. I felt the need to drink something... I chose a soda, it worked well.

DAN COOMER (KCBOOMER): This nice, very dark (virtually black) torpedo had some visually unusual characteristics. It looked very veiny since the veins were lighter in color than the rest of the wrapper. I carefully rolled it in my hand and the veins were smooth. So it looks a little rough but it is not. The cigar is well rolled and neither too firm nor mushy. There was no discernible aroma or taste to the unlit cigar. From this I expected a very mild cigar.

David W. Strickler, Jr. (The Grand Wazoo): #152 is a firm, round, 6 3/8 X 54 torpedo with a dark smooth oily-looking wrapper. There's some tooth to the wrapper and some large veins, but it looks and feels like a very well made cigar. The pre-light aroma is nice. I've had wooden dowels that weren't as firm.

Gary D. Higgins (GarH): Overall the cigar appeared to be well made. It was firm with only a couple of very small soft spots. The wrapper had a maduro color, a little veiny, medium texture and oily with almost a waxlike feel to it. I was anxious to smoke it based on it's appearance, but was able to let it stabilize for over a week. It had an even burn with a gray ash. The draw was easy but the first cigar did leave a burn at the back of my throat.

Joe Giordano (JGIORD): This is a big dark belicoso. The wrapper appears to be stretched too thin. It's dark, veiny, course and dull. There were some minor tears in the wrapper which didn't seem to effect it. The bunching was very firm, but I did have a soft spot in 1 sample. Pre-lite draw is good, but there is no distinct pre-lite aroma. These have a nice draw, but I would prefer a greater amount of smoke volume, especially since the other end is smoking like crazy. One sample unraveled a bit during smoking but otherwise both samples burned well and even. Solid ash.

Nolan Curtis (Nolan): A nice looking torpedo of about a 52-ring gauge with an oily, maduro wrapper and a fine-toothed wrapper. Only some prominent veins and some slight soft spots kept the samples from a perfect 5. The unlit aroma was rich which lead me to anticipate a good smoke.

Rick Traumann: They were chipped on the ends and when I cut the caps for smoking the wrapper unraveled badly and was in need of repair. The feel of the cigars was leathery with a bit of oil, rough to the touch, and maduro in color. The bunch felt hard. The draw on these cigars was perfect in my opinion this would turn out to be the only real redeemable quality. The ash was gray/black with a brownish tint which is something I have never seen before. The aroma was light and subtle however, what aroma was there, was poor at best.

Smoke Comments

Clinton Davis (TexCigar): Everything was pleasant and tasty but not outstanding, better than most. Medium to full strength and medium body with an excellent flavor profile. Enough taste to keep you entertained but it won't spin your head. Nothing negative to report.

DAN COOMER (KCBOOMER): Cigar lit easily and burned well though more smoke would have been nice. I expected it to be mild but found it to be somewhat medium in flavor, though a little light in body. The flavor was very unusual to me somewhat like the regular Padrons which I don't care for. The cigar could have generated more smoke, but it was adequate there. The cigar has a light saltiness with no bitterness or sweetness. Did not burn hot. Could be a nice addition in the $2 - $5 range.

David W. Strickler, Jr. (The Grand Wazoo): I was afraid this cigar would draw hard since it was so firm and tight, but the draw was very easy. The smoke had a nice Maduro sweetness to it. I expected the light grey ash to be rock hard like the cigar, but it wasn't. Just a little harshness of aftertaste, but some rest might remedy that.

Gary D. Higgins (GarH): I never would have guessed based on taste that these two samples were the same cigar. They were totally different. The first was medium strength with a thin body. The taste of the first was dominated by a metallic taste, that occasionally changed to a slight sweetness, with a strong lingering metallic aftertaste. I forced myself to finish it since I was reviewing these, otherwise it would have been thrown in the ash tray long before it was done. I was not looking forward to smoking the second, but it turned out to be a totally different experience. There was none of the metallic taste. It had a medium richness. Medium strength and medium body with a generally pleasant slightly earthy flavor. I would have expected more of a maduro flavor looking at these cigars before smoking them, but there was really no noticeable maduro flavor. The second cigar did not have the metallic, lingering aftertaste of the first, but did at times have a slightly sour aftertaste that lingered longer than I would care for.

Joe Giordano (JGIORD): The cigar starts off with a mild maduro flavor and grassy undertones. The aroma from this stick is what gives cigars a bad name, it's stinging and offensive. The flavor seems to go downhill after the first inch. The grassy undertones turned into a solid dry hay like flavor with an unappealing finish. It's a mild-med bodied smoke and mild in strength. The last inch got downright bitter and nasty. Every now and then I would get an occasional taste of chocolate or cocoa, but ever so faintly.

Nolan Curtis (Nolan): The first thing that I noticed was the perfect draw that resulted in an ample mouthful of full flavored delicious smoke. The first ½ of the cigar was earthy, spicy and peppery with a very good balance between the flavors and a slight sweet finish. As it burned down to the " way point the finish turned slightly bitter but not unpleasantly so. A profile of Honduran tobacco balanced by some other interesting flavors made for a satisfying smoking experience. The large ring gauge kept the smoke cool even when I power herfed this tasty cigar. Only a slightly uneven burn that was easily corrected by a little torching kept it from a perfect score. I would consider this normal for a torpedo though. This delicious cigar kept its flavor right down to the nub making me regret that I clipped off a " inch.

Rick Traumann: These cigars had a medium richness with a one dimensional balance. Not something I prefer. The strength was mild to medium and the body of the cigar was medium as well. The flavor is hard to describe, these cigars did not seem to have any one distinct flavor rather a blend of flavors that mixed together in a way that was not friendly to the palette. The aftertaste was mild to medium. There was no noticeable bitterness, burn to the tongue, sharpness, or saltiness.

Summary Comments

Clinton Davis (TexCigar): The general lack of flaws leads this cigar to the great range but many items (nothing really specific) hold it back from being truly outstanding.

DAN COOMER (KCBOOMER): This is a nice looking dark torpedo of medium flavor, but lighter body, that has an unusual flavor. I think there is a niche for it since it does have flavor. Very reminiscent of regular Padrons. Though I would not put these in my humidor they are definitely worth trying.

David W. Strickler, Jr. (The Grand Wazoo): On the strong side of medium, yet pretty smooth. I could get used to these and would not be afraid to give them to my friends. I wouldn't recommend it for the beginning smoker as it tastes to me like Nic or Hond tobacco. Berry berry good. A winner if they're not overpriced.

Gary D. Higgins (GarH): This did not prove to be an easy cigar to review based on the two totally different experiences with the cigars. On my scoring I tended to give the benefit to the better of the two cigars, but had to knock off some points for the first cigar, which could only be classified as a dog rocket. Overall the second (better) was a good enough cigar that I would be willing to try some more if they were reasonably priced to see what this cigar is really about. Since handmade cigars will vary I wouldn't tell anybody not to try these cigars, but neither would I be recommending them until I had a chance to try more. The jury is still out for me on these cigars.

Joe Giordano (JGIORD): This cigar looks imposing, its big and dark but is actually a milder smoke and isn't harsh. I had to struggle to finish these guys. The first inch wasn't bad but the flavor just kept getting worse. It had a dry hay like vegetal finish and becomes bitter as you go. At best, this cigar would serve as a yard work stick. Overall construction is good but there just isn't much going for this one and I can't recommend it.

Nolan Curtis (Nolan): This was one of the most delicious legal cigars that I have smoked. It reminds me of the El Original line. Although I'm not a big fan of maduros, this cigar's filler of well aged, quality tobacco blended well with the wrapper to make it a must buy for those that enjoy a strong, full flavored smoke. I was only able to smoke one of the samples before the dead line due to a bad sinus infection that I picked up last week in Florida but I am smoking the other tomorrow. I accompanied it with a bottle of water after a big steak dinner since I am still on anti-biotics but it would have really went well with a nice whiskey. I would put this smoke up against any of the premium cigars out there! Thanks Dan.

Rick Traumann: All in all I have to rate this cigar below average. I scored a 19 out of 50 and would not recommend this cigar to anyone I know.

Scores

 Review Results
Final Score: 32.1 out of 50

3 1/2 Stars -- Above Average

The first two reviews I received were the two low ones and I thought we were going to have our first really low scoring cigar. However, the rest of the reviews came in and some of them were scored quite high. Shipping and handling seemed to play a large part in the scoring and with a very well-aged wrapper like this one, that's to be expected. The reviewers that liked this cigar described it as medium bodied with earthy flavors and some sweetness. I'm not sure where these are available but if you enjoy a good maduro, they're worth trying.

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