BACKGROUND: This week my postscript review is on the Nestor Miranda Art Deco, which I first featured on the SF5 podcast in Episode 245 on Sunday, October 31, 2010. These stogies have now been resting in my humidor for 1 year, 5.1 months and I pulled out my last samples of this batch this past week for this second and final review.

The Nestor Miranda Collection Art Deco is yet another in the collaborative efforts from the team of Nestor Miranda & Don Pepin Garcia. Miami Cigar & Company officially rolled out the Art Deco at the Annual IPCPR Convention and International Trade Show in August 2010.

The blend for the Art Deco starts with 1920's retro style packaging and consists of a filler blend of Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and Dominican San Vicente tobaccos. The Deco sports dual binders, one of which is a Dominican Criollo and the other a Nicaraguan Habano. And finally, the wrapper is a dark and aromatic Nicaraguan Corojo '06 that is held firm with Pepin's traditional triple-cap.

The Art Deco contains Dominican San Vicente in the filler, which comprises more than a third of the blend's core leaves. And, another Dominican leaf is used for one of the cigar's two binders, making this cigar about 40% Dominican tobacco.

According to Nestor Miranda, "We wanted to get Pepin out of his comfort zone, which is using Nicaraguan tobacco. He accepted this challenge and came out with an amazing blend using 40% Dominican tobacco."

In lieu of traditional wood boxes, the Nestor Miranda Art Deco is presented in handsome, metallic art-deco designed tins of 21 cigars and comes in three popular sizes: the 4.5 x 50 ring Coffee Break, the 6 x 60 Gran Toro and the cigar I'm revisiting today the 5-inch by 54 ring gauge Robusto Grande.

This cigar has a beautiful wrapper leaf; lightly tortoise-shell textured with just the slightest hint of oils on the surface. The firmness of the cigar is just perfect, so I didn’t expect any construction or burn issues with this cigar.

TASTING NOTES: The initial flavors were primarily woody with some medium roast coffee tossed into the mix. Conspicuously absent was the blast of sweet spice that it displayed a year ago and which is a Pepin Garcia signature start to many of his smokes.

As I reached the one-third mark, I noted some vanilla and light pepper spice on the finish. The cigar developed more richness and earthy notes as it progressed, which was a welcome change from the rather limp beginning.

The retrohale was much milder after an extra year of aging. A year ago I noted a nice rush of white pepper spice on the nasal mucosa, which has now mellowed considerably to a smooth and tangy experience.

These sticks are medium in body, flavor and strength, which should make them approachable to a wide range of smokers.

The construction and burn were excellent throughout. The draw had just the right amount of resistance and the light gray ash was firm and held snugly until I tapped off in 1 to 2-inch chunks. The burn line was slightly blistered, but was dead even through most of the smoke.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The second half of the cigar brought much fuller flavors to the palate, with more earthy tones of coffee and oak wood character on the finish and a bit of natural tobacco sweetness to even out the flavor profile. The retrohale in the second half was also beefier, with aromatic cedar notes.

The Art Deco is a well made smoke that displays great performance. The flavors represent a narrow profile and are pretty much the same throughout the smoke. There is nothing memorable about this cigar, but it is a solid performer and a pleasant cigar to smoke.

At around $7.50 for a single, this cigar has a lot of competition at that range. The Art Deco shows its best stuff while still young and I wouldn't recommend purchasing these for long term aging. Buy and enjoy early. If you are a Pepin fan, you should try these and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

~Doc