LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed

The LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 is one of the foundation lines of small batch cigar maker LUJ Cigars. LUJ Cigars has established a foothold in the midwest, especially in the Chicago, Illinois area. The company is one to keep on the radar as they plan on going into the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show and expanding their footprint. LUJ Cigars was founded by Luj Oluyeba and produces its cigars out of the Dominican Republic. The LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 line is offered in two wrapper offerings – natural and maduro. Today, we take a closer look at the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro in the Box Pressed (toro sized) vitola. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke this cigar and get my first exposure to this small batch company. Without a doubt, this is one of the more impressive small batch cigars I’ve had in some time – and this is definitely a cigar and a company to keep an eye on.

Since LUJ Cigars follows a small batch model, the company’s lines are built on finite supplies of tobacco. Once the supply of tobacco becomes exhausted, they make adjustments to their blends, and tweak the name of the cigar. The LUJ Morpheus Anniversary line is an example. This is one of the company’s brands that has been around for a while, but the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 represents the latest iteration of this line.  It is possible that once tobacco supplies are exhausted with this line, the blend will be adjusted and the name tweaked again again.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The company does not disclose details of the tobaccos in their blends. As mentioned, LUJ Cigars are produced out of the Dominican Republic.

Wrapper: Not disclosed
Binder: Not disclosed
Filler: Not disclosed
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Vitolas Available

Both the Maduro and Natural offerings come in the same frontmarks. There are currently four offerings with plans to add a Robusto at the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show. The cigars are packaged in 20 count boxes. The 6 x 54 vitola we will look at today is the only box pressed vitola in both the Maduro and Natural lines.

Petit Corona: 5 x 44
Belicoso: 5 1/2 x 52
Box Pressed: 6 x 54
Lancero: 7 x 38
Robusto: 5 x 54 (Coming Soon)

Appearance

The wrapper to the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed has a rich coffee bean color to it. There is a nice amount of dark marbling on the wrapper. The wrapper is on the smooth side with some oil on it. There are some visible wrapper seams and any visible veins are minimal. The box press itself is firm with no soft spots.

There are two bands on LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro. The primary band has a platinum color with white gold-colored font. Prominently displayed on the upper half of the band is the text “LUJ”. Just below it is the text “Anniversary”(in cursive) “#4”. Below that is the text “MORPHEUS”. There are four stripes on the band: one on the top, one on the bottom, and two flanking the left and right of the “Anniversary #4” text.

The secondary band is on the footer. It is also platinum colored with white gold font. It features the text “MADURO” with one stripe above the text and one stripe below the text.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting the Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed, I started things with a straight cut to remove the cap. After clipping the cap, I proceeded with the pre-light draw.  The cold draw provided a mix of earth, cedar, and a slight pepper note. Overall I was quite pleased with the pre-light draw experience. of this cigar. At this point, I was ready to light up the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The start to the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed delivered some notes of cedar, oak, black pepper, earth, and a touch of coffee. In the early stages, I found the cedar and oak notes moved into the forefront. The cedar note delivered both a combination of sweetness and spice. The oak note was a little more of an intangible flavor adding a little more complexity. Meanwhile the pepper, earth and coffee notes were secondary. On the retro-hale, I also picked up some of the cedar.

Later in the first third, the coffee notes increased moving into the forefront with the cedar and oak notes. Meanwhile the earth and pepper notes remained secondary.

During the second third, I found the coffee notes got richer and became the primary flavor. The oak notes were replaced by a creamy note that added another dimension to the coffee notes. The cedar notes joined the pepper and earth notes in the background.

During the last third, I found the cedar notes rejoined the coffee notes in the forefront. The creamy component did diminish. I also found a slight increase in the pepper notes. There still was a distant earth note present.  This is the way the Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed came to a close. The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Construction-wise I found the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed to hold up as good as any cigar I’ve seen – and this was reflected on both the burn and draw. The burn path remained straight from start to finish. The burn line had a slight bit of jaggedness from time to time, but nothing I would consider to be out of the norm. The resulting ash was a charcoal gray color. I also found the ash to be on the firm side – coming off the cigar in nice clean chunks. The burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

Burn of the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed

From a draw standpoint, I found the Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed to have a touch of resistance. While I normally prefer this resistance on parejos more than box-press vitolas, I found it worked fine here. Overall this was a very enjoyable cigar to puff on.

Strength and Body

In terms of both the strength and body of the LUJ Morpheus Anniversary #4 Maduro Box Pressed to start out in the medium range. There was a slight increase in both attributes as the cigar burned, but neither attribute moved out of what I consider medium range. I found there to be an excellent balance between the strength and balance with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

This cigar was an absolute revelation to me. Flavor-wise I found this cigar hit on all cylinders for a maduro. I didn’t find this to deliver anything radical in terms of its flavors, but I found the flavors it produced complemented each other very well – and were very enjoyable. I also found that this cigar’s medium strength, medium-bodied profile worked beautifully with the flavors delivered. There are a lot of small batch cigars in the market, but this is one to definitely keep a watch out for. This is a cigar I’d recommend to either a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is certainly a cigar I’d smoke again and it’s a box worthy one in my book.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 4.0 – Box Worthy
Score: 93

References

News: LUJ Cigars to Showcase Four New Offerings at 2015 IPCPR Trade Show
Price: ~$12.50
Source: Cigars Provided by Manufacturer
Stogie Geeks Episode: n/a
Stogie Feed: n/a