Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen’s Crest

In 2023, Caldwell Cigar Co. introduced one of my favorite-looking cigars of t. It’s called Long Live the Queen and I could stare at the bands for a lot longer time than I could for most cigar bands. Since now and then, there haven’t been that many new cigars from Caldwell but there has been quite a bit of news.

In March, Laudisi Distribution Group acquired Caldwell Cigar Co. Unlike most acquisitions, where one cigar company acquires another, Laudisi is a pipe tobacco company and a cigar retailer. So, one of the unique parts about the acquisition is that there’s a lot of hope that Robert Caldwell and the staff of the company will remain on board for the long term.

Oftentimes, the first new product after an acquisition can tell a lot about how things are going to go. That’s not the case with the first new cigar of the Laudisi-owned Caldwell as it seems like something that would have come from Caldwell regardless: the Long Live The Queen Maduro. It’s made at the relatively new Tabacalera William Ventura factory, the reconstructed facility of the factory that suffered a catastrophic fire in September 2022. Blend-wise, it is a new regular production line that uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a binder from Indonesia and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and the U.S.

Long Live The Queen Maduro is offered in five regular production sizes, all of which are round except for the Wild Card. The cigars are being made at the Ventura family’s new Tabacalera William Ventura factory in the Dominican Republic.

“Queen Maduro is the perfect complement to the Queen,” said Robert Caldwell, founder of Caldwell Cigar Co., in a press release when the cigar was announced in March. “It is a very interesting cigar that took quite a while to perfect. We started blending her about a year and a half ago. It took many iterations to finally land on this blend, and then we had to lay her down to rest. This is the release I have been most excited about in the last couple years.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen's Crest
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera William Ventura
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Indonesia
• Filler: Dominican Republic & U.S.A.
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 46
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $14.20 (Boxes of 10, $142)
• Release Date: July 2024
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

This is a fairly dark wrapper with lots of veins and some signs of stretching, but it doesn’t have much in the way of oil. Two of the three cigars have some minor nicks on the wrapper; fortunately, the shapes look like imperfections and not some sort of sign of tobacco beetles. The aromas from the wrappers are weird. The first Queen’s Crest reminds me of the musty smell that I find on some older jet bridges, not much else. The second and third cigars are medium-full with some of that mustiness and some chemical smell. All of that is uncommon enough, but the feet of the cigars don’t smell like much. The first cigar has some generic sweetness, the second cigar has a mixture between that sweetness and the wrapper smell, while the third cigar smells like nothing. Fortunately, the cold draws have plenty of flavor. It’s more medium-plus or medium-full than full, but there’s a deep woodiness, a pound cake sweetness, some fruitiness and some smells that remind me of creek water. All three cigars are remarkably consistent in the unique flavors they have, and also those flavors are all partially muted.

The Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen’s Crest starts off dry, though the leading flavors are all different: creaminess, woodiness and a generic white bread. Secondary notes include toastiness, leather, cedar, black pepper and generic spices; ranging from medium-plus to medium-full. From the cold draw on, the flavors that are present have felt somewhat muted, like they are 80 percent present but missing the final touches. That continues as the first third progresses. There’s a charred meatiness and some earthiness over some generic dough flavors, leather, milk chocolate, black pepper and, on the second cigar, some seawater. The finish sees the black pepper and earthiness lead creaminess, saltiness, hay and herbs—though there’s a large intensity gap between the first two flavors and everything else. Retrohales are sweeter, but I think that has more to do with a reduction in the drier and savory flavors than a major uptick in sweetness. There’s bread, sunflower seeds, cedar, pink salt, creaminess, black pepper and earthiness. Flavors come and go, none of them stand out in terms of their intensity or prevalence. While I find the three cigars to be pretty similar, that changes during the rertrohale’s finish. The first cigar tastes like the initial flavors, the second cigar has sourdough bread, herbal flavors, leather and cane sugar, while the third cigar tastes like I just finished a glass of whiskey: red pepper, white pepper, earthiness, wood and subtle sweetness. Flavor is medium-full to full, body is consistently medium-full and strength ranges from medium-plus to medium-full. Construction-wise, none of the cigars are flawless, as each needs a touch-up to help with combustion. Even after the touch-ups, the combustion is never excellent but passable.

That muted characteristic is really prevalent in the second third. I’m not sure it gets worse, rather, the second third is a tale of two halves. While the first part is flat with earthiness, creaminess, dry woods and black pepper, there’s some cane sugar, herbal flavors and a more vibrant pepper as the final third nerds. The finish is a similar story: pedestrian with mineral flavors, earthiness and black pepper, but some added herbal and floral flavors as the cigar burns down. Fortunately, retrohales of the Queen’s Crest are a reprieve: dough, creaminess and acorns overtop cinnamon, earthiness and white pepper. It finishes drier with mineral flavors on to of some pepper and a mild sweetness. Both flavor and body are medium-full, but the strength ranges from medium-plus on the second cigar, medium-full on the first cigar to potently full on the third cigar. Combustion continues to be an issue, though it’s only one or two touch-ups per cigar during the middle portion.

All three Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen’s Crests see some dry popcorn flavor enter the fray. Sometimes, it’s the leading flavor, other times creaminess or earthiness takes that spot. The spiciness really picks up, starting the final third pretty mild and then getting to be the strongest flavor towards the end. Predictably, dry earth, herbal flavors and some stale bread flavors are also present. The finish has popcorn and dough over secondary flavors of yellow fruit and woodiness. Retrohales have dough, a strong but brief mango flavor, earthiness and leather. I’m impressed by the retrohale’s finish, though the things haven’t changed all that much. The first cigar continues to be a greatest hits album of the same dry earthy and bread flavors with varying amounts of pepper, but the second cigar has some of the saltwater flavor that I found earlier on. It’s not the strongest flavor, but it is the most unique. A smooth woodiness leads over the pepper. The third cigar has more of the mango flavor, joined by some other flavors typical in a cup of light roast espresso, though the dryness and pepper are still there. Flavor is full for each cigar, body is generally medium-full and the strength is medium-plus in the first two cigars but very full in the third cigar. Combustion remains an issue for the second and third cigar, though the first cigar avoids any issues during this section.

Final Notes

• Between the rock-hard firmness and the muted flavors, I wonder if these cigars got too dry before they got to halfwheel. Given the data I have about our humidity levels and the fact that none of the other cigars I’ve smoked have had these two issues, I do not think it’s an issue with our review humidor. That said, the cigars could have dried out somewhere between the factory and the retailer.
• Having cigars dry out too much is rarely an issue I come across. First, if cigars have a moisture issue from the factory, it’s almost always too much moisture. Second, being in Dallas, we are rarely in a dry climate where the ambient air is a huge issue.
• If I had to guess, the issue is probably related with one or two of the tobaccos used not burning properly due to some other issue. Cigars are physically more resilient than many people think, but the blends are more finicky than I think many would imagine. I don’t know if anyone’s really studied whether thinner or thicker cigars are more impacted by these types of issues, but I imagine that the smaller ring gauge means there’s less room for error.
• Once or twice per year, cigars will show up for review that are obviously too dry to get reviewed. Usually, this means cigars that crack when removed from cellophane or once the wrappers are cut. In the case of these three cigars, neither of those issues occurred.
• The first and second cigars had hard spots near the bands. As has been mentioned before, due to the way many bunchers grab the individual leaves to create a bunch, this is the most likely spot for a hard spot to be.
• Sliding the bands off the first cigar damaged the wrapper. I’d be cautious if you want to do that. Fortunately, undoing the bands was quite easy and didn’t damage the second and third cigars.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are listed at 5 1/2 x 46, the above are the measurements I found when weighing and measuring them.
• Final smoking time averaged around one hour and 45 minutes for all three cigars.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct and Smokingpipes carry the Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen’s Crest.

Update (Oct. 31, 2024) — Due to an error on my part, nearly every cigar that was measured in October produced results that were a half-inch longer than the cigars actually were. This review has been updated with the correct lengths.