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| My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro |
In this cigar assessment we explore, the My Father 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro cigar. This is a retail exclusive cigar made by My Father Cigars for Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, Illinois. The Habano Maduro is one of two cigar blends that is a part of the My Father 911 Limited Edition 2012 series. For the second year in a row, the Garcia family has teamed up with Casa de Montecristo for a commemorative cigar dedicated to the fallen heroes of the 9/11 tragedy. From a cigar smoking experience, the My Father 911 Limited Edition series have proven to be some outstanding cigars. With the Habano Maduro, this blend might be the best of this line to date.
When we first previewed the The My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012, we talked about the general concept around this series:
The project was a joint effort between My Father Cigars and Casa de Montecristo in Chicago. The idea was suggested by Jeffrey Holst, a firefighter Battalion Chief out of Lombard, Illinois. Hoist contacted Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, Illinois who then teamed up with My Father Cigars and the project was in motion. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the family members of the fallen firefighters through a charitable foundation.
2011 marked the first year of the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition Cigars series. 343 boxes of this series were produced for Casa de Montecristo. Each box consisted of two special blends – 9 rosado wrapper cigars and 11 oscuro wrapper cigars. For 2012, two new blends were introduced. Once again 343 boxes were produced for Casa de Montecristo – this time 9 Connecticut Ecuadorian wrapper cigars and 11 Habano Maduro wrapper cigars. The 343 represents the 343 fallen Firefighters of 9/11.
Let’s take a closer look of the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro and see what this cigar brings to the table.
Blend Profile
As mentioned above there are two blends in each box of cigars. While we will focus on the Habano Maduro blend, we include both blends for completeness:
The “9” cigars (My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Connecticut Ecuador)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
Binder: Corojo and “Secret”
Filler: “Secret” Fillers (2 leaves)
The “11” cigars ( My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro):
Wrapper: Habano Maduro
Binder: Corojo and “Secret”
Filler: “Secret” Fillers (2 leaves)
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| My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012- Habano Maduro (Top), Connecticut Ecuador (Bottom) |
Vitolas Available
For the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 series, a single size of each of the two blends is being produced – a 5 1/2 x 54 Toro.
Appearance
The wrapper of the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition Habano Maduro has a rich chocolate color. The wrapper has a silky complexion with a little bit of oil. The wrapper itself does have some visible veins as well as some visible wrapper seams.
For the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 series, one change from the 2011 series is that the cigars now have bands. There are actually two bands. The first band has a white, brown, and silver color scheme. It features a brown and silver fire department shield on the front on a white background. In the middle of the shield it says “911” in the center. Starting clockwise at the top around the shield it has the following (all in white on brown): the text “FIRE FIGHTER”, a fire department ladder, the text “343”, and a fire hydrant. Above the shield it says “WE WILL NEVER FORGET” with brown font – arranged in a curved fashion. The remainder of the band has silver font.
There is a secondary band directly below the first band. It has a thick brown stripe and a silver stripe across both the top and bottom. On that brown stripe it has the text “Limited Edition” in a white cursive font.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
For my smoke of the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition Habano Maduro, I went with my usual straight cut into the cap of the cigar. I then proceeded to start with the pre-light draw experience. The dry draw notes had a classic maduro profile of chocolate, coffee, and pepper. I considered this to be a very satisfying pre-light draw experience. It was now time to toast the foot of the Habano Maduro and see what the cigar experience would bring to the table.
Flavor Profile
Overall I found the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro is a classic maduro. While its Connecticut Ecuador counterpart is a cigar that really goes a long way to redefine the profile of a Ecuadorian Connecticut cigar, the Habano Maduro sticks to the tried and true formula of a good maduro smoke.
The start to the Habano Maduro provided a mix of pepper and chocolate notes. The cigar did have a bit of a Garcia family pepper blast, but it wasn’t as strong as many pepper blasts I’ve had on other My Father Cigars. The chocolate notes take on some different profiles throughout the smoking experience. At times it is more of an espresso/chocolate syrup flavor and at other times it has more of less sweetened cocoa powder profile. This chocolate/cocoa/espresso also had some natural maduro sweetness qualities. By about the five percent point, some background nut flavors emerge.
Later in the first third, the sweetness became more of a citrus flavor and emerged as the primary notes. The citrus along with the chocolate and pepper notes would then rotate as to which flavor note was the primary flavor. The nut notes remained in the background and never emerged as a primary flavor note.
In the last third, some earth notes emerge. These essentially replace the chocolate notes in the flavor rotation. The spice does play a more prominent role toward the end of the cigar experience, but the end of this cigar is not harsh. The resulting nub was cool in temperature and soft to the touch.
Burn and Draw
In both the My Father Commemorative 911 2011 and 2012 series, I have found all of the cigars to have excellent construction. This was reflected in the burn and draw of the cigars in each of the blends. The My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro is no exception here. I found the burn line to remain relatively straight from start to finish requiring occasional touch-ups along the way. The resulting ash was most white in color with a little bit of black splash in it from time to time. There was a little bit of flowering at the start, but for the most part the ash remained firm throughout the smoking experience. The burn temperature was ideal. The burn rate was actually a little slow, but this had no adverse effects on the flavor profile.
The draw was outstanding. The My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro had that touch of resistance that I like on a draw – making for an outstanding smoking experience.
Strength and Body
One thing I really liked about the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 Habano Maduro is that it hits the “sweet spot” in terms of its strength and body for where a maduro cigar should be. From a strength standpoint, the Habano Maduro comes it at medium to full. The body of the Habano Maduro also comes it at medium to full. In both cases it had enough pop from both a strength and flavor perspective, but at the same time did not overwhelm in both areas. The strength and body balance each other very nicely – with neither attribute overshadowing the other.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned at the start of this assessment, I think the Habano Maduro might be the best blend to date of the My Father Commemorative 911 Limited Edition 2012 series. In a year where Mexican and Connecticut Broadleaf are still very trendy in terms of maduro blends, the Habano Maduro uses a Habano leaf and presents another option for a maduro. I found this cigar to score nicely in terms of flavor, construction, and complexity. The attributes of strength and body were also ideal for this blend. This is a cigar I would recommend for both the novice and experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is a cigar I smoke again and keep several in my humidor at all times.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: Memorable
Score: 93
Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, Illinois.
