At the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show, Debonaire Cigars rolled out a new brand called Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars. It was about a year ago when Debonaire Cigars co-owner Phil Zanghi announced on the Stogie Geeks 3 Year Anniversary Show that he had re-acquired the rights to the Indian Tabac trademark. Indian Tabac was originally a partnership between Zanghi and Rocky Patel.  In 2002, he sold the company to Patel to focus on other areas in the cigar business before returning to premium cigars in 2012. Instead of bringing back Indian Tabac, Zanghi opted to go in a different direction and create a whole new brand called Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars. This brand incorporates a theme based on the popular motorcycle brand with the same name. The new brand also introduces two all-new blends – one featuring a Habano wrapper and another with a a Maduro wrapper. Recently, we had taken a look at the Indian Motorcycle Habano Robusto. Today, we take a look at the Indian Motorcycle Maduro in the Toro size. Overall I found this to be another excellent offering from Zanghi and his team delivering a great maduro experience.

The Indian Motorcycle brand can be traced back to Springfield, Massachusetts were they were manufactured from 1901 to 1953. After the original Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company went bankrupt, several companies acquired the brand, including one by Zanghi’s father. Eventually in 2011, Polaris Industries acquired the company and have maintained the early-Americana theme for the bikes. The new Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigar line also incorporates the early-Americana theme seen on the motorbikes into its branding.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The Indian Motorcycle Maduro utilizes a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. While the Debonaire Maduro also utilizes this wrapper, the Indian Motorcycle Maduro has a completely different blend.

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Dominican San Vincente
Filler: HVA Ligero, Nicaraguan Seco, Piloto Cubano
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic (De Los Reyes)

The Indian Motorcycle Habano uses the same binder and filler as the Indian Motorcycle Maduro.

Vitolas Available

Both the Indian Motorcycle Maduro and Indian Motorcycle Habano come in 20 count boxes – each in the following four sizes.

Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52
Gordo: 6 x 58
Churchill: 7 1/2 x 50

Appearance

The Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper of the Indian Motorcycle Habano Toro has a dark espresso bean color to it. While there is some oil on the surface of the wrapper, this wrapper has a very rugged look to it. The rugged look combined with the early Americana banding give this cigar a lot of charm.  There is somewhat of a toothy look to the wrapper with its visible veins. There also are some visible wrapper seams.

The band of the Indian Motorcycle Maduro is pretty much identical to the Indian Motorcycle Habano. The band features an antique white background. On the center of the band is an antique-white Indian Motorcycle logo sitting on a metallic red circular background. Surrounding the circular logo is a thick brown ring with the text “INDIAN MOTORCYCLE” on the top portion and “1901” on the bottom portion – both in antique white font. To the left of the logo is the text “Hand Made” in small brown font. To the right is the text “Dominican Republic” – also in small brown font. There is a black stripe across the top and one across bottom of the band. Each stripe has some gold adornments on it. The lower stripe is thicker and features a gold ribbon-like adornment on it with the text “ULTRA PREMIUM CIGARS” in white font.

Like the Habano, the band also has a few oil-like smudges across the top-center and sides of the band. These smudges give the appearance that the wrapper has bled on to the band, but it also enhances the early-Americana motorcycle theme to it.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

As I normally I do, I began the cigar experience of the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro by using a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw phase. The dry draw of the cigar was classic Connecticut Broadleaf – delivering a mix of mocha, earth and a subtle amount of pepper spice. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of this cigar to be excellent. At this point I was ready to light up the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro started out with a mix of earth, coffee, cocoa, and red pepper notes. It didn’t take long for the earth and coffee notes to move into the forefront. For the most part, these flavors would dominate a great part of the smoking experience. The cocoa and red pepper receded into the background, but the red pepper notes were quite prominent on the retro-hale.

Throughout the first third of the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro, I found the cocoa notes to float in and out of the forefront. There was also a slight creamy component in the background that surfaced that smoothed out the flavor profile.

When the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro entered the second third, I found the cocoa notes to join the earth and coffee notes in the forefront. The red pepper and creamy component remained in the background, however the red pepper had more of a lingering effect on the palate. I also detected a very subtle grassy note.

Toward the end of the last third, I found the cocoa notes receded into the background and the red pepper notes increased. By the final third, the red pepper was now on-par with the earth and coffee notes. The creamy component and grassy notes had dissipated. The increase in spice and loss of the cream notes did make this cigar a little rougher, but it was not harsh. This is the way the cigar experience of the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro came to a close. The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

From a burn perspective, I found the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro to perform quite well.  The cigar’s burn path remained straight from start to finish. The burn line was also remained relatively straight- requiring only occasional touch-ups. The resulting ash had a silver / gray color to it. The ash itself was slightly loose, but flaking and ash-dropping was not an issue. The combustion was excellent as this cigar had an ideal burn rate and burn temperature.

The draw to the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro performed quite well. The cigar had a draw that I would categorize as open, but not loose.  This was a low maintenance cigar to puff on.

Strength and Body 

From a strength perspective, I found the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro started out medium. There was a slight increase in strength in the second half, but the cigar remained in the medium range of the spectrum. As for the body, the Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro also started out medium, but by the second half, I found this cigar delivering medium to full-bodied notes.  In terms of strength versus body, I found both the body had a very slight edge over the strength throughout the smoking experience.

Final Thoughts

Since it’s launch, House of Debonaire has been a roll and the release of the Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars brand really strengthens this portfolio. It’s a very different cigar than its maduro counterpart in the Debonaire line. One thing that was impressive about the Indian Motorcycle Habano was how it balanced sweetness and spice nicely.  The Maduro does a good job in terms of balance, but comes at it from a different way – it balances (for most of the cigar experience) some of the rugged, grittier notes associated with Connecticut Broadleaf with some smoother, creamier notes – creating a very nice cigar. This is a cigar I’d recommend to an more experienced cigar enthusiast, but would not discourage a novice from trying this. As for myself, this is a cigar I would easily smoke again, and it’s worthy of a box.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 4.0-Box Worthy
Score: 92

References

News: Spotlight on Debonaire and Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars
Price: $8.00
Source: Purchased, Cigars Provided by Manufacturer *
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Episode 162 
Stogie Feed: Indian Motorcycle Maduro Toro

* Debonaire Cigars / Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars is a sponsor of Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks.