Miura Directo de Fabrica Maduro

Miura Directo de Fabrica maduro
$2.50, Size: 5", Ring: 50
Tastes like Nicaraguan tobacco, with maybe some Honduran blended in with the Nicaraguan filler.

I was at one of my favorite cigar shops, and saw a couple crates of unbanded cigars, of various vitolas and colors, with a bull emblem and the name 'Miura'. Judging from the colors, bottle-blonde connecticut, impossibly cherry red, and an apparently dyed maduro, I bought a couple robustos of each maduros and blondes, and decided to give it a go. Smoke first, research later.

The wrapper on the maduro was a shade of bluish-brown that I hadn't seen yet on a cigar. There were a fair amount of veins, but still the wrapper felt smooth, with a glossy sheen to it. Nosing along the wrapper, I got a whiff of musty earth. Pre-light draw was similarly musty tasting, and was mildly restrained.

Burning was fairly straight, with an oddly colored ash holding on for almost two inches. The ash was a bluish-grey, slate color and speckled with small white granules, like sugar.

Now, to the flavors while smoking: toasty earth and hay, followed by some spice, which both scream 'Nicaragua' to me. After the first third, a naugahyde flavor comes as well. Naugahyde, you say? You know, almost like leather, but with an obviously chemical aftertaste. The spice flexes a bit during the last third, and then finishes mildly. Over all, the cigar had an almost medium-bodied taste, with a good amount of smoke. Not super thick, but not thin either.

Now, it's time to track down the maker and the specifics of the cigar. First, we hit Google....

Ahh, Miura has a web site, and according to the front page, they're based in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Looking at the product info, the cigar I smoked, a 'Directo de Fabrica', had a Brazilian maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan and Panamanian fillers.

Okay, so what we have here is another cheap Nicaraguan cigar, which I'd put even with Tierra Del Sol, and a notch under Flor de Oliva. Some could consider Miura cigars to be good yard gars, or even regard it so highly as to be daily smokers. But, since I don't smoke every day, I'm not usually entranced by an everyday smoke.