Oscar Valladares The 2012 Maduro Sixty

📌 Brand: Oscar Valladares
📌 Line: The 2012 Maduro
📌 Size: Sixty (6" × 60)
📌 Weight: 18.1 g
📌 Age: 1 years
📌 Origin: Honduras

Tasting Notes

• Dark Chocolate – Bitter-sweet, bold richness

• Espresso – Roasted backbone with intensity

• Earth – Rustic, grounding note

• Black Pepper – Firm spice across the palate

First Impressions

The Oscar 2012 Maduro Sixty is imposing in hand, with a thick, oily wrapper and solid feel. Pre-light aroma is full of cocoa, coffee, and earth. Cold draw is open and peppery.

Smoking Experience

• First Third – Dark chocolate and espresso lead with pepper in the background. Burn line already shows waviness.

• Second Third – Earth and cocoa deepen, but multiple corrections are needed. Smoke output fluctuates.

• Final Third – Pepper and bitterness rise, chocolate fades. Burn issues persist, requiring several touch-ups and making the finish frustrating.

Pairings

• Alcohol – Appleton Estate 21 Year Rum (Jamaica), layered molasses, dried fruit, and oak sweetness to add depth and offset the bitterness.

• Tea – Kenyan Purple Tea, rare and floral with a tart edge that refreshes the palate and cuts through heaviness.

Music Pairing

“Manteca” – Dizzy Gillespie & Chano Pozo

Complex, fiery, and textured, like the cigar’s intensity.

Final Thoughts

The Oscar Valladares 2012 Maduro Sixty delivers bold flavors of chocolate, espresso, and pepper, but constant burn problems and multiple corrections make it a chore. Strong on taste, weak on execution.

Final Score: 6/10
Why not a 10?
Burn issues and repeated corrections dominated the experience, overshadowing the cigar’s otherwise bold flavor profile.

Only cigars that deliver flawless draw, balance, flavour evolution, construction and satisfaction get a 10.