Ponce Cigars Maduro Corona Largo

📌 Brand: Ponce Cigars
📌 Line: Maduro
📌 Size: Corona Largo (6 1/4" × 46)
📌 Weight: 12.5 g
📌 Age: 4 years
📌 Origin: Dominican Republic

Tasting Notes

• Dark Chocolate – Bitter-sweet foundation

• Earth – Deep, steady grounding note

• Black Pepper – Clean, moderate spice

• Molasses – Subtle sweetness, though not fully developed

First Impressions

The Ponce Maduro Corona Largo shows a dark, oily Mexican San Andres wrapper with light tooth and tight seams. Pre-light aroma gives earth, cocoa, and a little black pepper. Cold draw is perfect, offering sweet earthiness with pepper lacing.

Smoking Experience

• First Third – Dark chocolate and earth lead immediately, with pepper on the retrohale. Burn is focused and clean.

• Second Third – Molasses sweetness peeks in but doesn’t evolve much. Profile stays steady, bordering on one-dimensional.

• Final Third – Pepper sharpens slightly while chocolate fades to a dry cocoa. Good construction to the end, but flavor layering remains limited.

Pairings

• Alcohol – Santa Teresa 1796 Solera Rum, rich caramel, spice, and dried fruit that add depth the cigar itself doesn’t naturally develop.

• Tea – Assam Mokalbari Golden Tips (India), malty sweetness that lifts the chocolate and rounds out the earthy backbone.

Music Pairing

“Made to Fall in Love” – Protoje

Smooth pulse that complements the cigar’s easygoing earthiness.

Final Thoughts

The Ponce Maduro Corona Largo performs well structurally with a clean burn and flawless draw. Flavors are enjoyable but stay in a narrow lane of cocoa, earth, and pepper without deeper transitions. Solid, dependable, but not dynamic.

Final Score: 8/10
Why not a 10?
While construction was excellent, the flavor profile remained one-dimensional and lacked evolution.

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