JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 by Aganorsa Leaf

The JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 is huge. It is 10 inches long and with a 100-ring gauge. Back in 2015, Casa Fernandez (the previous name of Aganorsa Leaf) launched an offshoot of its JFR brand known as the JFR Lunatic Maduro Mambo (an 8 x 80 Belicoso). In general, JFR Lunatic has served as a brand to do some innovative and out-of-the-box things for Aganorsa Leaf. Throughout its history, Casa Fernandez/Aganorsa Leaf has always been proud of producing big ring gauge cigars, so it wasn’t a total surprise when the news broke before the 2023 Premium Cigar Association that Aganorsa Leaf was releasing a 10 x 100 cigar. Today, I’ll recap my smoking experience of the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100

The following are some of the better-known cigars releases exceeding the 80-ring threshold. Three of the four are known to be in limited production:

JFR Lunatic 10 x 100
Asylum April Fools 90 x 9
The Woody by Oscar Valladares (21 x 100)
RoMa Craft Tobac CroMagnon Femur (10 x 133 1/3 – Not in Production)

Some Preliminaries

Before we get into this review, there are three points I want to point out:

A single cigar was used for this assessment. I usually will go through a minimum of two cigars, but given a time commitment that would involve a nearly six-hour smoking experience, I think it was fair.
A couple of years ago, a decision was made always to finish a cigar review that is underway. This will play into the assessment.
Normally, Cigar Coop assesses cigars as close to a “First In, First Out” order as can be done. The time required to store this cigar was reduced to about 42 days and it was pushed ahead in the queue because of the size it took up in storage. This cigar was stored in the same humidor as all cigars being reviewed on Cigar Coop.

Without further ado, let’s break down the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 by Aganorsa Leaf and see what this cigar will bring to the table.

JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The JFR Lunatic Maduro line features a San Andres wrapper covering tobaccos from Jalapa and Estelí grown on Aganorsa’s farms. The cigars are produced at Aganorsa Leaf’s Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A. production facility in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: San Andres Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A.

Vitolas Offered

One important point – the 10 x 100 is a Belicoso. This is similar to Aganorsa Leaf’s approach with the 8 x 80 JFR Lunatic Maduro Mambo. The Belicoso has tapering and allows a better draw because the ring size is tapered.

The 10 x 100 is an offering under the JFR Lunatic Maduro line. The following are the sizes offered under the JFR Lunatic Maduro line. On the website, the 10 x 100 is referred to “Size That Shall Not Be Named,” although this was not reflected on the packaging.

Mambo: 8 x 80
El Grande: 5 1/2 x 80
El Chiquito: 4 1/4 x 70
Short Titan: 4 1/4 x 60
Short Robusto: 4 1/4 x 52
La Loma: 6 1/2 x 60
La Montaña: 7 x 70
Jackhammer: 8 x 60
Size That Shall Not Be Named: 10 x 100

JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 Cofffin

The 10 x 100 is sold as individual units, not in boxes. Each cigar is presented in a coffin.

Appearance

The JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 is simply a massive cigar. The San Andres Maduro wrapper is not overly dark, having a medium roast coffee bean color to it. The cigar had a light coating of oil as well as a light layer of toothiness on the surface. There were some visible veins and visible wrapper seams. The 10×100 cigar features a short, gentle-sloped taper at the belicoso head.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

I used an 80-ring gauge cutter to cut the Belicoso tip of the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100. I estimate I cut a portion of the tip down to about a 70-ring gauge. This would allow me to still take advantage of the tapering but have a manageable size to puff on.

From this point, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw. The flavors delivered were a combination of earth and natural tobacco. It was a simple, but satisfying pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the JFR Lunatic Maduro Belicoso and see what the smoking phase would have in store (a triple jet lighter was used and required patience to toast the footer).

Tasting Notes

The JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 opened up with notes of earth, natural tobacco, and cocoa. Early on the earth and natural tobacco notes became primary. Meanwhile, some black pepper and some fruit notes emerged late in the first third. The retro-hale took some work to get going, but I did manage to get some black pepper through it.

As the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 moved through the second third, the natural tobacco and earth notes remained the primary ones. The fruit notes emerged at the more prominent secondary note as the cigar moved toward the midway point. Both the cocoa and pepper notes were still further back. It was a little easier to get the black pepper through the retro-hale.

Later in the second third, the fruit notes receded and were back on par with the background notes of cocoa and pepper in intensity. Going into the final third, the pepper notes started to inch more toward the forefront. At this stage, an underlying harshness developed – particularly during the last half inch or so. Five hours and 34 minutes later, the cigar was put down with about a 1.6-inch nub that was cool in temperature and slightly soft to the touch.

The nub of the 10 x 100

Burn

The JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 had a significant problem early in the smoking experience. During the first 15 minutes, I heard the dreaded “pop.” I knew the second I heard it, a crack was going to ensue – and that’s precisely what happened. This was a significant crack, and it expanded as the cigar experience progressed, and I had to deal with the effects of it for about the first half of the smoking experience. This was quite surprising as there was no indication of dryness, and the cigar felt well-constructed. Now a dilemma was faced.

Preliminary burn of the 10 x 100

Early burn of the 10 x 100

Burn of the 10 x 100

Given there was a $40.00 investment, plus an investment in photography and prep work for the review, I felt justified in not abandoning the review. The good news is while it was a fight at times, the cigar got past the crack. In fact, the flavors still were good during the first two-thirds.

Burn at 2/3 point of 10 x 100

I also had two additional minor cracks along the way—neither of these cracks was like that big, early one.

The cigar wasn’t prone to meandering and did a decent job keeping a burn path. The ash was on the looser side and had a salt and pepper color. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal. As said for those keeping score at home, this was a 5 hour 34 minute smoking experience.

Draw

The draw of the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 performed reasonably well. There was some resistance on the draw. While normally I prefer some resistance on a draw, given a cigar of this girth, it wasn’t the most smoker-friendly attribute to deal with. At the same time, I had little problem deriving flavor – and sometimes, there was a decent level of smoke production.

Strength and Body

The JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 started with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors – and surprisingly, this cigar stayed in this range. While there was a slight increase in intensity along the way, I was still surprised the Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100 remained in that range.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

Overall, I was pleased with the presentation of the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100. As mentioned, these cigars are packaged in coffins, but the coffins are ordered by the cigar for retailers. The blue, silver, and white works well with this presentation. It should be noted that inside the coffin, each cigar is packaged in cellophane.

There was a slight nick in the coffin I got (see upper left). It should also be noted that each coffin was also packaged in cellophane.

Open Coffin of the 10 x 100

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

For the JFR Lunatic Maduro 10 x 100, I want to say that Aganorsa Leaf did an excellent job in the flavor department – at least for the first two-thirds. Given that I was battling a crack with this cigar, I was amazed at what I got from it. Things did get a bit harsh on the final third, but after five+ hours of smoking, I was not surprised.

The crack was still an issue. At Cigar Coop, we work hard to maintain our review humidors, and we work with retail partners who work to ensure cigars are cared for. Finally, we know Aganorsa Leaf works hard from a craftsmanship space. It’s uncertain what caused this crack. While it seems unfair, ultimately, we do not grade on the curve on Cigar Coop, so dealing with this crack impacted the final score of 84.

Based on this experience, I still cannot make a recommendation for this cigar. I will say this cigar deserves a second chance in my book, and it will get that second chance early in 2024.