Murcielago Capa Negra Robusto

There's been some buzz about the Murcielago line of cigars. Made by EO Brand (led by Eddie Ortego), who also make 601 cigars, I've heard some smokers say that this line is among their very favorites. Prior to smoking this one, I've never had any. So I was curious about what this experience would bring me.

There was a faint barnyard aroma on the wrapper, and a stronger one on the foot. Well, that's no surprise. You'll get that with a lot of cigars (and you've seen me write that before). The cold draw brings a subtle milk chocolate and fruity flavor that made me excited about what this smoke would bring.

I cut this cigar with my Shuriken cutter and, after taking that cold draw, I toasted the foot with my Xikar Exodus lighter. When I put the cigar in my mouth and proceeded to complete lighting, I got big hits of pepper and earthiness on the first few draws. I'll be honest...I was a little concerned. The flavor was very strong and I don't typically enjoy cigars that are that strong. I'm just not a big fan of the ones I've had that taste that way. I've found that it's just overkill. I'm sure there are many who do like that level of flavor, so it's probably more of a preference thing.

However, after the first inch or so, most of that pretty much disappeared. For the rest of the stick, the flavor was mostly just a normal tobacco taste. So the cigar went in the total opposite direction fairly quickly. For my money, that's not great either. There were brief throwbacks to the pepper flavor (although it was much more muted) and occasional nuttiness and leathery flavor but those never seemed to last. It was just plain.

This was a cigar I got as part of my cigar bag when I attended the Seattle Cigar Expo, so I didn't buy it. I will point out, again, that this was just one. It's very possible that it was an isolated incident and most other Murcies would be flavorful and well-balanced throughout. However, after this experience I probably wouldn't buy another one. I would try one again, if one were similarly given to me, but there are still too many other cigars I've never tried, and several I know I love, to buy one that didn't make a great first impression.