H Upmann – Corona Junior(Tubed)

Now i have never really been a big fan of Upmanns, a little too light and lacking any UMPH.  But on Saturday as i cracked a tube open to cut a cigar for a customer i was a little shocked to see the cigar was very dark, and i mean Brazilian maduro dark! At first i thought it was just one, in fact the customer was lucky to get the cigar. Me & Maduro is like Gin & Tonic . So i went through the other tubes and found 50% where the same. Quality control in Cuba going down?? Definitely  not EMS wrappers.

Rolled in : Cuba
Wrapper : Cuban
Binder : Cuban
Filler : Cuban
Size: 4 1/2″ x 36
Smoking Date : 21/08/10 @ 6:00pm

Not only did the wrapper look dark, but the filler also looked oddly dark. The cigar smelt ok and was in good condition (for a little tubed number). The cut was easy BUT the pre light draw was a little bitter, which set alarm bells ringing. Lighting wasnt easy a good 3-4 turns over a jet flame. The first few draws where very bitter with an underlying Nicaraguan / Dominican flavour to them, but i persisted and found the flavours grew a little more.  As the first third progressed the bitter tobacco flavours grew into a woody smoke with a salty briny side. The flavours didnt really go anywhere but the cigar seemed a little more fuller bodied that i recall Upmanns being.

As i entered into the middle run the cigar leveled out. The flavours grew a little into a woody, earthy smoke with a dirty edge to it. The bitterness & saltiness didnt go away. Not really a bad smoke, but not really a Upmann. I have no idea what is going off, have they put the bad batch into tubes while the untubed boxes are colour matched. The final third saw the cigar become a little iffy, the burn ran off to one side and the draw became a little tough. A few relights and it was back on track. This Junior Corona became even more bitter in the final run too. The woody/earthy flavours had all but gone leaving but a bland but bitter tobacco flavours. I had to let this little thing go a little quicker than i had hoped due to the cap getting very tarry and  sticky.

All in all i guess i enjoyed this darker number a little more than i thought i would at the start. Not really much of a fan of the bitter/salty smokes. I enjoyed the increase in body, Upmanns i always find a little too light for my tastes now. So if your out and about and fancy a different Upmann experince you should ask about, see if anyone else has any of these Maduro (but not Maduro) Cuban H Upmanns

Construction .. 8/10
Burn .. 7/10
Flavour (1/3) .. 7/10
Flavour (2/3) .. 6/10
Flavour (3/3) .. 5/10

Overall .. 6.5/10