Zechbauer Royales Maduro I Gordos

Zechbauer's Royales line is growing again! With the Maduro I, we launched the Maduro series. A series that will amaze aficionados with its delicately sweet wrapper. 

Cigar tasting: Royales "Maduro I Gordos"

Royales "Maduro I Gordos" | Gordo format | Length: 12,5 cm | Ring Gauge: 63

Those of you who thought Zechbauer Munich played all its trump cards already with the previous Royales had better think again! Once again, Zechbauer has kept all of us aficionados guessing, by not only supplementing the series with a Gordo format, but also creating a flavourful add-on with a Maduro wrapper, requiring expertise and courage. 

And once again, my closing words are "One after the other..." 

Zechbauer is set to continue launching the Royales series as Maduros over the next few years. So for Gordos, think Maduro I. And the format for Maduro II remains anyone’s guess. 

Haptics and optics – before lighting up 

What is inarguable is that the Maduro I – 12.5 cm long and with a 63 diameter ring gauge – already has a head-turning appearance. The wrapper colour – despite reading "Maduro” – may not be any darker than its predecessors in the Royales series. If we're talking shades and hues, it's somewhere between "Colorado Maduro" and "Maduro.” 

When it came to cutting this cigar, I decided to use a cigar knife and remove nothing more than the cap halfway through the diameter. Smelling the cigar cold conjured up vivid impressions of just-opened coffee beans at the base. A cold draw later and my mental picture turned to chocolate, allied to a feeling of basic "maturity". While I still found the draw resistance on the light side, the overall tobacco aroma that pervaded was rich, but not overpoweringly so. 

From lighting to putting down 

While it fired up without any issues and remained lit, the smoke took a little longer to emerge – about the first centimetre – before remaining stable and replete. Black pepper was top of mind when the first puffs were taken. However, it is worth mentioning at this point that alongside the pepper, the magic of the Maduro wrapper and the chocolatey garnishments it brought in its wake came into play. 

"Creamy smoke" is a term oft-used by cigar aficionados in the know. Maduro I delivers a full freight train of flavours right from the very first puffs: besides pepper and chocolate, notes of leather and cedarwood also await. Royales fans in the know will find all of this nothing new, but it's the stand-out sweetness in this cigar that sets it apart. Also fascinating is the fact that, despite a smorgasbord of flavour, the smoke texture appears slightly creamy at most. 

After the first centimetre is when the smoking experience seems to find its feet, paving the way to reap all the potential in the Gordos. As the aromatic radius expands, the cigar becomes ever more full-bodied. A marriage of sweetness and spice that leaves you wanting more! 

From around the second centimetre, the opening salvo you savour develops into a mild and multicoloured peppery taste, blending even more seamlessly with the chocolate notes of the Maduro wrapper. A status quo that the Royales Maduro I cigar maintains for a good long while. It takes a lot of self-control not to just smoke this cigar greedily while hot! 

Once you've enjoyed the first third of the cigar, the sweetness carrying you along evolves to become increasingly caramelized. Alongside it, subtle woody notes make themselves known. Simply classing it as cedar would not do it justice – it's more of a timbery recipe, awash with complexity – indeed it brings "joinery" to mind. Anyone who thinks this cigar already put all its eggs in the basket versatility-wise – is in for a shock. Midway through the smoke, the spiciness reappears, now with more mineral notes and seemingly weaving the woody aspects to become walnutty in the process. 

Unsurprisingly, we see pepper re-emerging once again, plus added pep for the palate in the shape of some star anise. Meanwhile the tongue encounters the coffee elements from the cold cigar aroma, increasingly clearly. All of which means I can enjoy another inch or two of the Maduro before placing it down, after smoking just over two-thirds. 

Conclusion on Royales Maduro I Gordos 

As a cigar, the Maduro I goes from strength to strength in one direction, from the time you light up, right to when you stub it out. Wonderfully versatile – but non-chaotic – a tribute to the overall quality of the tobaccos used in this blend. On the one hand, you can buy the cigar ready to smoke. On the other, why not savour its potential to become even sweeter and more stable, a year or so down the line after storing in the humidor? At 65 to 70 minutes, you can expect ample time to take in all the smoking pleasure. It stayed lit throughout, with a super-stable burn and ash which was easy to tap away after 3.5 centimetres or so had been smoked and enjoyed. 

Black coffee is my go-to for this cigar, because the bitterness of the former married to the "spice" of the latter Gordos elicits a sweetness which brings all the taste to the fore. The wrapper, binder and filling all originate from Costa Rica.
Gerry Lächnfinga