All My EX’s Maduro by Ezra Zion Cigar Company | Cigar Review

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Nicaraguan (Jalapa & Esteli)
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero
Size: 5 x 50 “Robusto”
Body: Full
Price: $8.90
Humidor Time: 2 Months
Dry Box Time: 48 Hours

Photo courtesy of Ezra Zion Cigar Co.

Today we take a look at All My EX’s Maduro by Ezra Zion Cigar Company.

I want to say thank you, to my patrons, that helped me out with some dough. I did buy a few cigars but I found it incredibly difficult to buy just new singles. In some cases, I had to buy 5 packs. Thanks to Cigar Federation and Neptune Cigar for making singles available.

Thank you to the stunningly handsome Bryan Kinnaman for the sticks.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: Tabacaleras Aroma de Jalapa
As it has become a regular practice with the EZ brand, production is limited to a small run.
800 boxes: Robusto
300 boxes: Toro
200 boxes: Lancero
Manufactured by Noel Rojas.
I really love everything that Kyle Hoover and Chris Kelly produce. You know that already if you read me with any regularity. They, clearly, have a magic fairy wand that turns their blends into something special.

DESCRIPTION:
I chose the Robusto to review so I can savor the Toro for another time.
The wrapper is only oily in bright sunlight. Indoor lighting gives it a bland matte finish. Probably due to its sandpaper toothiness.
The color…a syrupy brown. Seams are visible but tight. Lots of veins that create a mottled appearance.
The triple cap is visible but flawless in its construction.

SIZES AND PRICES (Based on Cigar Federation’s asking price):
5 x 50 “Robusto” $8.90
6 x 52 “Toro” $9.40
7 x 42, “Lancero” $9.40

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell cumin curry pepper, cedar, chocolate ice cream soda, nuts, and honeysuckle.
From the clipped cap and the foot, I smell far eastern cooking spices, chocolate milk shake, cream, strong leather…like from a new fancy car, almonds, and cedar.
The cold draw presents flavors of hay, chocolate malt, cream, mixed nuts, cedar, charred oak, and ghost pepper.

FIRST THIRD:
And now for the fun part.
The draw is a bit tight. Probably because I dry boxed for two days in humidity higher than my humidor and it swelled a bit. Out comes the cigar awl.
That helps a lot. Flavors exude like newly ground peanut butter when the draw is clean.

First up to bat is a quickly growing red pepper that explodes into a pepper bomb. My kind of blend. Don Pepin’s early cigars used to do that with a few months humi time. I loved those blends.

Following the pepper is mild milk chocolate, marzipan, cashew, creaminess, peanuts, cedar, molasses, and grilled meat.
There is some chocolate malt.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 20 minutes.
The cigar seems to be smoking too quickly.

Things pick up at this point. Up til now, the first third was surprisingly subtle and nearly bland. Very unusual for an EZ blend. Usually, it bursts out of the gate and transition after transition occurs. Not this first third.
The char line is doing a nice job of behaving itself.
The flavors are much stronger and definitive.

Because I figure it’s my fault the flavors are not exuberant, I just may put a match to the Toro when I finish the Robusto. A short break and back to it.
Or just maybe the Maduro doesn’t impress me. There is something missing in the blend.

The halfway point is upon me. Smoke time is 30 minutes.

There is a fruity strawberry preserves element now. Very sweet. Then a tin roof sundae: vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and Spanish peanuts.

I just emailed Bryan to ask him to confirm how long he had the cigar in his humidor before he sent it to me. Confirmed.
He also confirmed that he and a friend smoked one and thought the blend was just average.

The strength is only mild/medium. That’s part of the problem. The cigar is described, officially, as full body. Not even close.

I read one review that doled out every flavor known to man and beyond. What am I missing? What did he smoke that I’m not?

With 2” to go, the strength hits medium body.

Flavors are better. The charred meat and the creaminess are much more prevalent now.
The spiciness is gone. So is the nuttiness.
This will be the first time I disappoint Kyle and Chris. I am sorry.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
Chocolate returns. The sweetness is back.

The last 1-5/8” will be the All My EX’s Maduro’s redemption.
I hate to utter these words, but the All My EX’s Maduro by Ezra Zion Cigar Company is just an ordinary every day cigar blend.
A first.

I just reviewed the Blessed Leaf Theophany and gave it a 99!

Kyle and Chris are my buddies. But I owe it to the people who read me to be honest and truthful. I hope this review doesn’t end our relationship. In my heart, I feel it won’t. But I feel really bad about this.

The last third is a big improvement over the first two thirds but I’m grasping at straws here.
Strength finally hits medium/full.
The blend should have hit this strength a long time ago.
The cigar ends with a whimper. This is a major bummer.

RATING: 80

And now for something completely different:
Continuation of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer, and mentor, Hal Blaine…

Hal did me so many solids; I can hardly remember them all. For some reason he took to me…no, he wasn’t gay. I could have been his son the way I was treated by him. A boyhood hero was treating me like his son. In 1966, I sat and listened to the Mamas and Papas and Simon and Garfunkel…lying on my bed at home…with the LP label in my hands reading the name of the rhythm section over and over: Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborne on bass, and Larry Knechtel on keys. I would fixate on those names as I drifted away with the music.

Hal is a nice Jewish boy like me. He came up through the ranks when changing your last name was a regular thing. His real name is Harold Simon Belsky.

After spending a lot of time recording with him at my studio on other people’s projects, he offered me a gig. Wow. It was a Chevy TV commercial. There would be a full orchestra and rock rhythm section and I could play bass on it. It would be for scale which I think was around $750 back then. And every time it played on TV, I got zippo. I signed away my player’s rights. Hal encouraged me to do so until the band leaders and the management team got to know me.

I remember going to Hal’s yacht; docked at Marina Del Rey. He would drive us to from the boat, in his Rolls, to the gig at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood. I was shitting bricks even though my experience level was more than sufficient for the challenge. Hal was revered by all and there would be whispers of who is this kid with him. I should add that this kid was in his early 30’s.

I was introduced to the BIG GUY and we shook hands. He asked me a little of my background and was thoroughly impressed with the Curved Air and Stewart Copeland connection. Remember, at this time, The Police were peaking.

He handed me the charts which seemed the size of a telephone book. I went off to a corner to study them. Hal was schmoozing with everyone and didn’t miss me.

I made notes and highlighted passages. It was a 75 second song. And pure pap. But with a rock feel. And OMG! Heavy on the bass line. I brought my Schecter fretless with me. When the band leader saw that he immediately became worried and told me so. He was worried that I might hit some clams. With frets, there is never the chance you might be off by an eighth of a note. Merely rocking one’s finger could put you out of tune but I was good on this thing and didn’t worry.

We did a rehearsal and the band leader spent most of his time listening to me. At the end of the tune, he gave me a big thumbs up and everyone clapped. Whew! Hal looked at me and beamed. Like his son had done good.

It took 4 hours to complete the task at hand. And as a result of Hal’s generosity, I continued to do commercial session work for several years.

This is a list of the #1 songs that Hal played on:
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” – Elvis Presley (12/18/61)
“He’s a Rebel” – The Crystals (10/06/62)
“Surf City” – Jan & Dean (06/22/63)
“Everybody Loves Somebody” – Dean Martin (07/11/64)
“Ringo” – Lorne Greene (11/07/64)
“This Diamond Ring” – Gary Lewis & the Playboys (01/23/65)
“Help Me, Rhonda” – The Beach Boys (05/01/65)
“Mr. Tambourine Man” – The Byrds (06/05/65)
“I Got You, Babe” -Sonny & Cher (07/31/65) [4] [5]
“Eve of Destruction” – Barry McGuire (08/28/65)
“My Love” – Petula Clark (01/15/66)
“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” – Nancy Sinatra (02/05/66)
“Monday Monday” – The Mamas & the Papas (04/16/66)
“Strangers in the Night” – Frank Sinatra (07/02/66)
“Poor Side of Town” – Johnny Rivers (10/08/66)
“Good Vibrations” – The Beach Boys (10/29/66)
“Somethin’ Stupid” – Frank & Nancy Sinatra (03/25/67)
“The Happening” – The Supremes (04/15/67)
“Windy” – The Association (06/03/67)
“Mrs. Robinson” – Simon & Garfunkel (05/04/68)
“Dizzy” – Tommy Roe (03/15/69)
“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” – The 5th Dimension (04/12/69)
“Love Theme – Romeo & Juliet” – Henry Mancini (05/24/69)
“Wedding Bell Blues” – The 5th Dimension (10/04/69)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Simon & Garfunkel (02/14/70)
“(They Long to Be) Close to You” – The Carpenters (06/27/70)
“Cracklin’ Rosie” – Neil Diamond (08/29/70)
“Indian Reservation” – Paul Revere & the Raiders (05/29/71)
“I Think I Love You” – The Partridge Family (10/31/71)
“Song Sung Blue” – Neil Diamond (05/13/72)
“Half Breed” – Cher (09/01/73)
“Annie’s Song” – John Denver (06/15/74)
“Top of the World” – The Carpenters (10/20/74)
“The Way We Were” – Barbra Streisand (12/22/74)
“Thank God I’m a Country Boy” – John Denver (04/05/75)
“Love Will Keep Us Together” – Captain & Tennille (05/24/75)
“I’m Sorry”/”Calypso” – John Denver (08/30/75)
“Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)” – Diana Ross (01/22/76