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A very old Macanudo Cafe Prince Phillip

1K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  sengjc 
#1 ·
This Macanudo Cafe Prince Philip is from the time when Melbourne still had 7-digit local telephone numbers. A quick search on the web dates this stick between mid 1980's to 1993. The cello is brown with age which is consistent with the fact that this stick has some age.

Pre lit draw and aroma has a curious pepper and lime like scent. Upon lighting, the flavours explode with grassy notes, sweet cedar and a curious citrusy end note. There is some honey notes mixed with light coffee. Heady sweet chocolatey aroma on the nose with a lingering aftertaste of cedar. A very 'summerry' flavour profile.

The flavours evolve come the second third. The grassiness is now more dried hay and autumn leaves. The tangy citrus end note now becomes a strong 'nutmegginess'. Creaminess and the coffee flavours come to the fore with black pepper and wood. The cedary aftertaste is more oak now.

Toast and leather creep in to the final third. The flavours mellow out, now more coffee, salt, black pepper, tobacco, some savoury notes. Light coffeeish aftertaste with the ever slightest hint of earth. Occasionally the citrus makes an encore appearance but more in the form of Grand Marnier rather than freshly squeezed juice. Has a curious waxy and spirituous mouth coating quality to the smoke, a kin to the mid palate of a spicy Bourbon.

Expecting a stick with delicate flavours, I have to say I am pleasantly surprised that the flavours are quite rich and complex, a lot stronger than the present Cafe Series with spice levels that are actually significant. This is more medium in body than the usual mild. Even more amazing, it does not have that sourish, metallic aftertaste I notice on a lot of the current Macs plus the absence of tar build up which usually comes around the halfway mark.

The draw is fine. The burn line is a little wavy though even burning. The ash is white at the core but has a grey tinge externally.

Quite a treat. Whether it is as old as it appears to be or not, I actually enjoyed this Mac and I usually do not enjoy this brand much. It would appear the magic hands of time has worked wonders on this forgotten boxes tucked away in some obscure corner of my local retailer's walk in cigar storage. Out of 2 sealed boxes of 10s, I chose 17 that appeared fine and then gradually massaged them back to life over the course of about a year.

By no means is this a great stick but it sure is interesting. I will keep the remainder to be enjoyed on the occasional lazy Sunday afternoons.
 
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#8 ·
Yeah I wasn't expecting much from the stick. They were dryish when they were discovered but I guess the cello and sealed box helped prevent further degradation.

Like BMack said: "lots of cream and smooth delivery". In BMack's case I am sure the tube helped a lot to preserve and age his one nicely.

Maybe Tony's right the, old Jamaicans Macs do better. I discarded the box so I don't remember if they were Jamaican or Dom. Reps. as there was a long transition period when they were making the Macs from both Jamaica and Dom Rep. Can't remember when the Jamaican factory closed its doors for good.

The only difference I can tell between these old ones and the present day Macs is the cigar band: the gold on the logo is a lot deeper coloured than the present day ones which is sort of a dull gold/bronze. You can just make it out in the pictures.

I've got some more weird and curious sticks, from the same retailer: 5 sticks of La Gloria Cubana natural, looks like a DC size and 7 sticks of some El Credito in a churchill size. These came in bundles and thus were not as well preserved. Some were even crushed and one even had a little dead beetle in it. No idea as to the age but again, brown cello and the LGC has some oxidisation on the band.

I think I have finished the El Creditos which had a single coloured band which again was very interesting and different. Yet to try the old LGC so another review of weird and curious sticks to come.

I guess it pays to ferret around your local retailer's stock holding area if you are well acquainted, you never know what you may find. :biggrin:
 
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