Arganese Maduro Presidente Robusto
Arganese Cigars was originally created as the personal cigar for Gene Arganese. Â After he began passing the cigars out to family and friends he realized the potential for developing his own line of products. Â He eventually settled his operations in La Palma Free Trade Zone of the Dominican Republic, where he now operates a 13, 500 square foot factory with 110 acres of tobacco fields. Â Today Arganese produces 9 lines of cigars, one of which being the Maduro line that I’ll be reviewing for this post.
Company:Â Arganese
Made in: Dominican Republic
Made by: Arganese Dominicana, S.A.
Size: 5 x 50 Robusto
Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Dominican
Binder: Dominican Sumatra
MSRP: Approximately $5.25 per stick, but can be found online much cheaper
Pre-light
The wrapper on the Maduro Presidente is dark and rugged. Â Thick veins run the entire length of the oily wrapper. Â The construction of this cigar appears off on some of the examples. Â Either the wrapper was not smoothly applied or there were a couple hard or soft spots. Â Pre-light draw seemed perfect and yielded dark barnyard and chocolate flavors.
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First Third
I took my time and and lit this cigar with my Xikar Executive torch. Â After taking my first couple of puffs I noticed a run in the burn begin to develop. Â I used my torch to make a couple touch-ups, hoping to correct the issue. Â Right off the light I got a lot of cocoa and earthy flavors. Â The draw has just the right amount of resistence and there is plenty of smoke. Â Hints of roasted almonds become more obvious as I smoked my way into the first inch of the cigar. Â The white and black marbalized ash easily held it’s shape while I took a stroll around my yard.
Second Third
As I smoked my way into the second third of Maduro Presidente, it became obvious that I had not corrected the burn issues. Â I attempted to make additional touch-ups, but was unsuccessful in correcting the issue. Â The flavors, on the other hand, were only getting better. Â I continued to picked up on more cocoa and almonds, along leather and slight sweetness. Â When I expelled smoke through my nose I could detect hints of pepper that began to gather in the back of my throat. Â Despite the burn issues, the ash continued to hold well; the first ash being over an inch long.
Last Third
By the time I got into the final third of these cigars I was in heaven. Â The burn issues seemed to decrease and the flavors remained full and complex. Â The same flavors were present, however, it was fairly easy to tell how they increased and decreased in strength through each puff. Â On one occasion, when the weather was nice, I sat outside and the Maduro Presidente was a perfect companion for the sound of animals running through the woods and kids playing down the street.
Final Thoughts
What a great cigar.  I had never smoked an Arganese until about a month ago when I purchased this box; the deal was just too good to pass up.  The Maduro Presidente was a medium bodied cigar but the flavors were rich flavors are full and make a great compliment for a cup of coffee.  The burn issues I documented here do not regularly occur with these cigars, but I felt they needed to be mentioned.  Anytime you can regularly smoke a cigar down to the nub I think it’s a good thing, but I have one more recommendation that needs to be mentioned.  I recently attended my cousins wedding in Orlando, FL, and took a few Arganese Maduro Presidente with me.  I ended up giving one to a friend that does not normally  smoke cigars.  He was extremely impressed by the cigar, and said that he would be interested in purchasing a few for his own enjoyment.  Now, I can provide my own recommendations, but I feel like an endorsement like that from a non-smoker is worth its weight in gold.
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Nice review. I’ve been dying to try these Arganese but have yet to pick any up.