This afternoon I decided to light up an Ashton Aged Maduro No. 10 5 x 50
The Ashton website has this to say about this cigar
The never-hurried natural fermentation of an exquisite Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper ensures profound flavor in Ashton Aged Maduro.
Beneath the wrapper rests a vintage interior of vibrant Dominican tobaccos.
Notes of dark cocoa, molasses, almond, maple, and black pepper illustrate amazing transitions of taste.
Ashton Aged Maduro is the premier companion to coffee, rum, cognac, and fine desserts.
When you first look at this cigar, you arenโt seeing the prettiest cigar. The Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is so dark brown that it borderlines on being black.
The wrapper has the same feel as a well-aged and well-worn leather saddle.
The dark wrapper definitely makes the white band with gold lettering really pop, though.
When you first light this cigar, you might think that itโs going to be extremely bold and spicy because of how dark and โscaryโ it looks. But you wouldnโt be more wrong.
Upon lighting, you get an amazing dark milk chocolate (is dark milk chocolate a thing) note that floods your palate. The next thing you will notice is the creaminess of the smoke.
Now, some people tell me that Iโm off my rocker when I say that the smoke itself can be creamy, light and wispy, or very heavy.
The smoke of this Ashton Maduro is very creamy. It rolls out of your mouth and just seems to hover around your face before gently rising.
I love when that happens because it allows the smoker to enjoy some of the nuances that the cigar still has left to present to you.
Okay, I donโt want to keep waxing poetically about cigar smoke here, so letโs just say the smoke is good and plentiful.
Throughout the first third, I mainly just got that really nice dark milk chocolate.
Going into the second third, the chocolate has been replaced with a very mild wet earth and a very mild spice.
The spice is subtle, so Iโm not able to put my finger on it, but I can tell you that itโs not a pepper (black, white, or red). Iโm thinking it might be a nutmeg.
Wrapping up the final third, going into the nub, the wet earth and mild nutmeg notes are still there but have been joined by a bready note.
Now, I canโt say that itโs pumpernickel, sourdough, or wheat; I can only say that Iโm tasting what a bread shop smells like.
At just 5โ by a 50-ring gauge, this cigar only lasted about 65 minutes, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend an hour
