Tom's Cigar Reviews

Nub Maduro Review & A Rant

I’m a fan of the Nub line for sure, so Matt and I were looking forward to meeting Sam Leccia, the creator of Nub cigars. No fault to Sam, unfortunately the Nub Live event on June 6th was a wash and insulting. It was held at a tobacco warehouse in Tampa.

It turns out, you had to buy a minimum of one box. No singles, no 5 packs. Oh, and it was cash only. What is this, the 60’s? Add to that a very uninviting environment. I have “Not felt” a cigar event as much as this one. I’m not buying a box of a cigar I’ve never had.

Despite Sam being a nice guy and offering us a free cigar, we decided after 15 minutes to go down the street and purchase a few Nub Maduros at a place that didn’t require a minimum of $107.00 in cash. Although Sam was positive and nice, the negative incompetent people around him spoke volumes over his easy going personality. This reminds me of an experience another cigar reviewer had. Read about it here. I believe Sam’s vision of what Nub Live is about is sometimes being ruined by incompetent bookers and venue staff.

Now that the rant is off of my chest, I sat down with a glass of water, a fresh palate, and smoked another Nub Maduro for this review. Let’s see how it turned out.

Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Size: 60 x 4

Price: $6.00

Pre-smoke and construction:

The Nubs in general have good construction. This one was no different. The dark wrapper had small veins and had the smell of hay or grass. The foot had a similar smell with an added sweetness. When squeezing the cigar, a few soft spots were found, but nothing alarming or unusual. The pre-light draw was free and had an earthy taste.

I did no burn corrections, and only ashed once. As with all Nubs, construction was top notch.

Flavor:

The first third opened up with a simple earthy flavor. A slight peppery spice was detected when passing through the sinus. Although simple, it was easy and wasn’t bad.

The second third showed a decrease in earthy flavors. There were short bursts of a dry mocha. Sort of like the chocolate powder you put in milk. A slight peppery taste remained in the background. An ashy flavor crept into the mix, and wasn’t a pleasant taste.

The last third didn’t go to well. I still got bursts of dry mocha, which was enjoyable. Unfortunately, ashy flavors overtook it most of the time. The smoke began to irritate my mouth and back of the throat.

Conclusion:

I know what some of you are saying… “Tom is just mad about the Nub event and is slamming the cigar.” On the contrary, I have no ill feelings towards Sam or Nub in general. Re-read the rant. My beef is only with the venue staff and whoever books the Nub Live events. I’ll smoke a Nub Habano or Connecticut any day. They are good consistent smokes. There is another Nub event later this year in Tampa, and I’ll be sure to check it out since it will be at a reputable cigar shop.

The Nub Maduro fell into the medium body range. I guess it just wasn’t what I expected from a maduro cigar. It seemed one dimensional and I am not a fan of ashy tasting cigars. I have a feeling a little age may have done this cigar some good. Unfortunately, the Nub Maduro’s that I smoked didn’t offer an enjoyable experience. If I run across them again, I may try another. If it turns out any better, I will be sure to update the review.

Posted in: Cigar Reviews, rants

Tags: Leccia, maduro, Nub, Sam

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Cigar Reviews, rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.