Emissary is a new line of Macanudo cigars that was introduced during March 2024. The cigars are made in Honduras with a blend of tobaccos from five countries, and are available in four vitolas that are priced at $14.99 to $17.99 per cigar. What makes this cigar unique is the Cuban-seed filler tobacco that is grown in Spain, which is blended with more traditional filler tobaccos (aged 5 to 6 years) from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Columbia. The binder is from Nicaragua and the wrapper is a Broadleaf Claro from Connecticut, aged six and five years, respectively. This is a review of the Robusto size (5 x 52) that is priced at $14.99 per stick. For more information about these cigars, please check out the press release.
The sample Macanudo Emisarry Espana Robusto cigar started off with a very pleasing naturally sweet tobacco flavor along with just a hint of spice. The cigar had a great draw and the smoke was medium bodied and very smooth. After 10 minutes, hints of earth, leather and caramel joined the mix, but no flavor was predominate. After another five minutes or so, the leather taste became slightly more noticeable as the earth and caramel backed off a bit. The flavor was rich and medium-to-full, and the body remained in the medium range. At the 30-minute mark, a subtle hint of cedar emerged, but only lasted for a few minutes. As I continued puffing, the smoke became even a bit smoother and was very enjoyable all the way to the very end.
It took me 55 minutes to smoke the Macanudo Emissary Robusto down to 1½ inches remaining, which was pretty good for a 5-inch cigar. During the entire smoking session, the cigar held a long ash and had an even burn, and the draw was perfect. No relights nor touch-ups were required. The construction of the Macanudo Emissary was impeccable.
Although I enjoyed the Macanudo Emissary Espana cigar and consider it to be an excellent smoke worthy of a rating of 4.5 points on a 5-point scale, the taste was not something completely different for having some nontraditional tobacco in the blend. This is not a complaint, as the Spanish filler tobacco did add some complexity and smoothness to the overall smoking experience. However, even when some other brands also used nontraditional tobaccos in prior years (such as CAO and Foundry), it did not necessarily make those cigars better than this more recent Macanudo Emissary. I am looking forward to experiencing other new lines of Macanudo Emissary cigars in the future, as Espana was just the first installment in this series, and has to be considered one of the best new cigars of 2024 (so far).
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer.
Review of Macanudo Emissary Torpedo
(released in October 2024)
