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| Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua |
The Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua is one of two cigars released by Miami Cigar and Company to commemorate company president Nestor Miranda’s 70th birthday. Miranda is well-known for being at his cigar events carrying lancero vitolas of his Nestor Miranda Special Selection, so it was little surprise that the vitola of choice for this release would be a lancero. I recently have had an opportunity to sample the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua. While this cigar has its positives, I felt it fell short when compared to its sibling – the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican.
Here is some background information that we provided when we assessed the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican:
These cigars have distinct blends from different factories Miami Cigar and Company has turned to the two factories that it has fostered the closest relationships with. For the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican, it is the La Aurora factory in the Dominican Republic (for whom they are the U.S. distributor for). The other cigar is the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua – and for that blend, Miami Cigar turned to the My Father Cigar factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Both the Dominican and Nicaraguan editions of the Nestor Miranda 70th LE are packaged together in a keepsake retro automobile box (based on a car that Miranda has always admired). Each box contains six of the Dominican blend and six of the Nicaraguan blend.
The LE in the name implies limited. Miami Cigar and Company is only producing 1000 boxes and has only released 700 at this time (holding the remaining 300 until a later point in time).
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| Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican (Top), Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua (Bottom) |
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| Automobile shaped packaging of the Nestor Miranda 70th LE cigars |
Today’s assessment will focus on the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua. Without further adieu, let’s break down this cigar and see what the overall experience brings to the table. As a disclaimer, this particular assessment is based on a single smoking experience.
Blend Profile
In addition to being made at the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli Nicaragua, there is another reason why this cigar is called the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua – namely it is an all Nicaraguan puro.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitolas Available
As we mentioned, the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua (like the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican) is a lancero. The cigar measures 7 1/2 x 40.
Appearance
The Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua has a rich milk chocolate colored wrapper to it. The wrapper itself is smooth with a slight amount of oil on it. The cap has a pig-tail on it. The dark wrapper color does a good job at hiding the wrapper seams. There are very few visible veins. The cigar itself had a nice aroma that was a cross between farmyard and coffee beans.
The 70th LE Dominican has two bands. The primary band is the same one found on the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican. Here is how we described it:
The primary band is has a U.S. highway sign design on the front of the band. The top half of the road sign is white with the “Nestor Miranda Collection” logo in red font. The bottom half of the sign has a large 70 in copper and white font on a black background. Three is silver trim around the road sign. To the left and right of the sign is a black and silver chain-link pattern to it. To the left of the sign it says “1943” in white font on a red diamond-like background sitting on the chain-link pattern. To the right of the sign it says “2013” – also in a white font on a red diamond-like background sitting on the chain-link pattern. The 1943 represents the year Miranda was born while the 2013 represents the release year. Finally on the back of the band is the copper colored Miami Cigar and Company logo.
There is also a footer band that is primarily blue. On the blue background is the text “NICARAGUA” in copper colored font. There is also copper and silver trim around the band. On the back is the text “Nestor Miranda 70” in white font arranged in landscape mode.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
As I typically do with a cigar that has a pig-tail, I opted to still use a straight cut to remove the cap of the cigar. Once the cap was successfully clipped, I moved on to begin the pre-light draw. The dry draw notes provided a mix of unsweetened chocolate, chicory, leather, and cedar. While there wasn’t a lot of sweetness on the pre-light draw, this was still a satisfactory one. At this point, I was ready to fire up the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua and see what the cigar was going to bring to the table.
Flavor Profile
The Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua will deliver a lot of classic Nicaraguan flavors. However, something seemed “missing” from this flavor profile as it lacked some “wow” factor in my book.
The start to the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua was what I expected from a cigar made from the Garcia family at My Father Cigars – namely I was treated to a dose of red pepper to start. Once the pepper receded, it still remained primary but it was joined by some natural tobacco notes. The retro-hale was producing a nice sweet floral spice.
By about the ten percent point, the pepper dialed back a little more. Notes of cocoa and nut surfaced in the background. The natural tobacco notes diminished and at this point was longer playing a significant role.
By the end of the first third, some earth notes surfaced in the forefront. At the same time the nut flavors moved into the forefront. The cocoa notes remained in the background, but were also playing a role on the retro-hale. At this point the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua had a mix of nut, earth, and pepper as primary flavors with some background cocoa.
As the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua moved into the second half, the cigar took on more of an earthy and peppery flavor. The nut flavors moved back into the background joining the cocoa. The flavor profile held on until the end. The end of the cigar was not spicy, and not harsh. The resulting nub was cool in temperature – and soft to the touch.
Burn and Draw
When you examine the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua, there is no doubt that this is a well-constructed cigar. The excellent construction is reflected in the burn and draw of this cigar. Keeping the burn line straight proved to be effortless as the cigar required minimal touch-ups. The resulting ash was very tight with no flaking or flowering. The ash also had a very nice color to it. The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.
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| Burn of the Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua |
If you like a little resistance on the draw, this is the cigar for you. I considered this a positive – and it made the cigar a nice one to puff on.
Stength and Body
The Nestor Miranda 70th LE Nicaragua does a good job at balancing its strength and flavor. From a strength perspective, the 70th LE Nicaragua is going to start out medium. The strength does increase and by the second half it has a little more kick – just qualifying for a medium to full strength cigar in my book. The 70th LE Nicaragua does a good job at providing just the right amount of strength.
The depth of the flavors follow a similar pattern. In the first half, the flavors start out medium-bodied. By the second half, the flavors do increase in depth and move into the medium to full-bodied range.
Final Thoughts
Prior to the start of the of knowing about the two Nestor Miranda 70th LE blends if you gave me a choice of one with a San Andres wrapper cigar made in the Dominican Republic or a Nicaraguan puro from the My Father Cigars factory, I’d pick the latter every time. This proved me wrong as I felt the San Andres wrapped 70th LE Dominican was the hands-down winner of these two blends. Still tis doesn’t mean the 70th LE Nicaragua is a bad cigar – and it is important to know the 70th LE Dominican scored very high. As I mentioned, it does have classic Nicaraguan flavors, but it just didn’t have the “wow” factor. Part of me thinks it needed a little more boldness, and a little more sweetness. I still see this is a cigar that can appeal many. I’d still encourage novice and experienced enthusiasts to give it a try. As for myself, while it didn’t wow me, there still was enough here to warrant revisiting this again in the future.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Good
Assessment: See What You Think
Score: 88
Source: The cigar for this assessment was gifted to me by a friend – thanks JP.
