Mayorga cigars were originally produced by Martin Mayorga and made by Nestor Plasencia in Nicaragua, starting around 1997. Today they are distributed by Cigars by Santa Clara (JR Cigars), but they are still blended by the ubiquitous Plasencia. And this is a good thing.

These are solid little box-pressed babies with dark chocolate colored wrappers from Costa Rica. The binder and filler are Nicaraguan, and the package is put together in Esteli. They're a little bit smaller in size than standard robustos, at 4 3/4 x 50, but every bit as large in flavor.

This robusto starts out with a burst of earthy flavor that has a sharp edge to it. Once it settles, the smoke turns softer until at the end it is almost creamy (though not quite.) The flavor profile is somewhat woody, with a bit of charcoal, and to my surprise it lacks the sweetness typical of maduros. It burns fairly well, correcting itself when the burn becomes uneven.

From first light to band this cigar lasted a good half hour, smoking at a leisurely pace while I watched the bats flit around the back yard around twilight. (One of these days I fully expect a bat to take a swing at my cigar, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe they read the Attorney General's warning.)

The Mayorga Maduro is a good cigar, and when the price is factored in it becomes a great everyday smoke. At around 2 USD per stick it's a great bargain smoke.