Photos courtesy of Cigar Aficionado.
Eric C. from the great state of New York sent me a sample to review. It will need some rest but I thought you would like to read the following about this rare blend. Thank you, Eric.
From Cigar Aficionado:
“General Cigar Co. has gone into its archival seed banks and regenerated an heirloom tobacco varietal for its upcoming release: Macanudo Mao. According to the company, Macanudo Mao contains filler tobacco derived from the same seed type used for original Macanudos when they were sold in the 1960s.
“Macanudo Mao is the result of General’s extensive seed regeneration program. For this project, the company planted many different seed varietals in both the Connecticut River Valley and in the Mao region of the Dominican Republic. By planting in different regions simultaneously, General was better able to ascertain the qualities of the different tobacco types, its adaptability to climate and its disease resistance.”
“We started the experiment with 21 seed [types],” said Ernest Gocaj, General’s director of tobacco procurement. “It’s important to note that while we were able to recondition the seeds over four years, we had started this experiment years earlier and were unfortunately not successful. At this moment, we have two successful seed types that bear the desired characteristics of the original seeds. Normally, reconditioning seeds takes eight years.”
“Here’s the approach General took: First, the company found the heirloom Dominican seed from the 1960s, which it dubbed seed M. Then, it crossed the M seed with another seed called D3, which is a strain that resists black shank disease. After that, General continued to backcross the resulting seeds in order to create a seed type that inherited the disease resistance of D3 yet still retained the desired flavor and aroma characteristics of the original M seed.”
“Backcrossing preserves the most desirable attributes while crossing gives the original seed new characteristics such as disease resistance,” Gocaj explained. “Through crossing and backcrossing, we achieved the original characteristics of the M seed with the added resistance to black shank from the D3 seed. We named our new, improved seed M02.”
“Once the M02 seed was established, Gocaj said that General planted nearly three acres in Mao, which was just enough to supply a limited edition run of cigars.
“Macanudo Mao cigars are draped in a Cuban-seed wrapper grown in Connecticut while the binder is from Mexico. In addition to the Dominican M02 tobacco, the filler is fortified with leaves from Nicaragua and Colombia.
“It will come in three sizes, but only 1,800 boxes per size are scheduled for production, or a total of 5,400, 10-count boxes. No. 10 measures 5 inches by 50 ring and has a suggested retail price of $16; No. 11, 7 by 50 at $17; and No. 12, 6 by 57 at $18. Each cigar comes individually coffined.
“Macanudo Mao will be introduced at the IPCPR trade show in July, but will not ship until the last quarter of this year.
“This article first appeared in the June 21, 2016 issue of Cigar Insider.”
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by Phil 'Katman' Kohn 
Anyone who’d name a cigar after the biggest mass murderer in human history – in excess of 60 million of his countrymen! – deserves to have their teeth knocked down their throat.
General Cigar needs to be boycotted.
Are you gonna buy a 15+ cigar sir? Nope. So what’s the point of this press?
Of course I will not pay that kind of money. But the cigar was gifted to me so I could review it. I said this in the very first sentence of the post. Why wouldn’t I review it? All of the Big Guy reviewers write about expensive cigars.
There are a lot of smokers that have the dough to buy expensive cigars. I cannot ignore a cigar because I can’t afford it.
BTW- Most online stores sell it for well below the MSRP. I have seen it for $10.
As always, your weirdness made me laugh.
The cigar is named after the Mao region of the Dominican Republic.
Not Chairman Mao Zedong.
Wow! Really?
I block all of magyud’s comments because they are either stupid, insulting, or inaccurately accusatory.
But this one? I just had to share.