Diamond Crown Maduro

I started smoking cigars when I was 17. I still remember my first one as clearly as I remember my first crush. The cigar was a Garcia y Vega tubo. It was not great but the experience of sitting on a rock, fishing with my best friend and smoking a cigar was incredible. Over the next 10 years I went through phases where I would smoke cigars every day and had a humidor full of great sticks and phases where I didn’t smoke a cigar for months at a time.

I finally got really serious about cigars about 8 years ago. I smoked cigars from all over the world (yes, Cubans too) and there were maybe 3 times I lit up a stick and thought “this is mind blowing”. Then a month ago someone gave me a Diamond Crown Maduro. THAT was a mind blowing moment.

The prelight is smooth and sweet like Hershey’s chocolate syrup. The wrapper is simply delicious against my lips and I can’t wait to light it.

The draw is a little tighter than I like but it’s not terrible. The smoke is thick. It’s so incredibly thick. It’s like eating the skin that forms on the cooling home made chocolate pudding my mom used to make. 

I pull the smoke in and fill my cheeks before blowing it out of my nose. For as much as this tasted like dark chocolate on the prelight, it’s mellowed to a milk chocolate and sugary delight. The smoke doesn’t burn my tongue or my throat, it was cool and thick like fog on a lake in the morning.

Halfway through the stick even more big, bold, sweet  flavors show up. Raspberry jam, strawberry syrup, sweet French toast and rum. The smoke IS getting warmer but again, not hot, just warmer. The draw is much looser now and even more enjoyable.

I’m moving into the back third and the ash still has not broken. The flavor in the back third is much more complex: smoked pork, red bell peppers, sweet barbeque, and of course that chocolate.

Overall this stick is a nearly perfect Maduro. If you don’t enjoy Maduro, this may change your mind. I’ve recommended this cigar to quite a few women who’ve never smoked a cigar before and they absolutely loved it.

I stand firmly behind my 9 out of 10 rating.