The Mansa Habano Natural Magnum Box Pressed

I remember my college history classes with Dr. Anthony Parent, and a couple of them meant studying Mansa Musa. He is perhaps the most well-known figure from the Keita Dynasty, a lineage of people who ruled over an area of west Africa that includes present-day Mali and Guinea. Those rulers are best known for two things. One, their Muslim faith and their numerous hajjs to Mecca including the first known instance of a sub-Saharan African leader making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Second—and probably more notable for those in the West—their immense wealth.

Mansa Musa (1280-1337) is best known for his immense amount of gold, which is the stuff of legend. Given that his rule was some 700 years ago, some of the stories—like him bringing so much gold to Cairo that the price of gold plummeted locally—appear to be more legend than truth, but there’s no question that he was quite wealthy thanks to his country’s gold and salt.

I bring all this up because the cigar I’m reviewing today is named after Mansa Musa. It’s called The Mansa and it’s from Alex Spencer Reserve. The cigar was first introduced in 2017 by Cincinnati Cigar Co. The blend was revamped in 2019 and in 2021, a new size and new blend were added. I’m reviewing the new blend in the new size: The Mansa Habano Natural Magnum Box Pressed. This version uses a Nicaraguan habano wrapper over an undisclosed binder and filler combination. For context, the other version of The Mansa uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Honduran binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua.

“My passion for African history, culture, and our people run in my blood,” said Alex Spencer in a press release last year. “I have the same passion for tobacco and for creating memorable blends people will want to enjoy and revisit often… If Mansa Musa were alive today, I’m certain he would be very proud of this entire project and honored that we shed some light on the beautiful history of Africa and its people.”

• Cigar Reviewed: The Mansa Habano Natural Magnum Box Pressed
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Tabacalera San Jeronimo
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Habano)
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Length: 7 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Vitola: Gordo Extra
• MSRP: $15 (Box of 10, $150)
• Release Date: April 2021
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

This is a very large cigar, which means the wrapper needed for this cigar needs to be larger—or at least the usable area of the wrapper—needs to be larger than the tobacco that would be used for other cigars. For the most part, I think it’s fine. On one sample, there’s a three-quarter-inch tall water spot on the back of the cigar and one sample has a cracked cap, but otherwise, the cigars appear generally pretty well-rolled. Each cigar sports a soft box-press, a feature I’ll generally take on a large ring gauge vitola. For whatever reason, I am finding more and more that when cigars don’t come in cellophane, I can’t find much aroma from the wrapper. The foot of The Mansa Magnum has a medium-full aroma that contains floral flavors, graham crackers, cedar, a mild peanut butter and just a bit of white pepper. I try to cut off very little of the cap knowing there’s a decent chance the draw will be a bit open, but I’m still surprised by how open it is. Flavor-wise, I pick up more floral flavors, some oak, cedar and a touch of acidity from the cold draw.

No matter how little I cut off, there’s not much smoke coming into my mouth on the first puff of The Mansa Habano Natural Magnum Box Pressed. At best, there are some oak flavors but there’s just not very much smoke. By the second puff, I can taste creaminess, oak and some white pepper flavors. Fortunately, once the cigar gets going, there’s plenty of smoke production to be had and, as such, flavors are pretty easy to identify. The cigar settles on a very intertwined mixture of earthiness, peanuts, leather and creaminess with a touch of barbecue sauce emerging at the end of the first third. The finish has sourdough bread, macadamia nuts, some chalkiness and some tingling sensations that don’t appear to be attached to any pepper. Retrohales have peanuts, a generic pepper mixture, earthiness, mustard powder and a flavor that reminds me of watermelon rinds. They finish with earthiness, mustard powder, creaminess and black pepper. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is medium. My preference is for a slightly tighter than average draw, and I’m aware of both that preference and that larger ring gauge cigars are typically a bit more open than your standard toro. Yet I still think the draw is too open even with those two things in mind. It’s not so open that I can’t control the smoke production, but there are times when it’s tough to feel much resistance. Furthermore, the smoke production is inconsistent, some puffs are well below average, most are well above average and some are borderline vape cloud rips. Each cigar needs at least one touch-up for one reason or another.

The second third of The Mansa has more herbal and white pepper flavors over the earthy core. Right before the halfway point, white bread is added to the mixture, and eventually, I can also find leather and some pink salt flavors. The finish is chalkier than before, though I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. There’s also white pepper, white bread, saltiness and dry cedar—all of which are relatively even. Retrohales have a more distinct bread flavor that reminds me of a French loaf along with cedar, some isolated harshness and green grape skin. The finish has a mineral-laden earthiness along with cedar and black pepper; certainly the most aggressive part of the profile up until this point. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. My thoughts on the construction are the same as the first third: the draw is a bit too open and touch-ups are needed for varying reasons, though I suspect at least one of them is related to the draw.

Earthiness and saltiness pick up a lot in the final third as the profile seems to be getting more in my face than before. In addition, there is burnt coffee and leather, but the saltiness can overwhelm those two flavors at times. The finish has earthiness, black pepper and some brown sugar sweetness, the latter of which is a nice touch given the steady stream of earthiness and saltiness. Retrohales have a lot of mineral flavors, a different and interesting earthy terroir flavor, sunflower seeds and some lavender. While it sounds like it should be quite dry, I don’t find the smoke to be that. Black pepper seems to be the note that carries the retrohale from the part where the smoke is still in my nose to the finish, where it’s joined by some of the rocky earthiness and some mild honey-like sweetness. Flavor is medium-full, body is almost medium-full and strength is medium-full. As is often the case with cigars, the draw loosens up as the cigar progresses and that’s not a good thing here. Touch-ups increase in frequency during the final third and one cigar goes out completely, something that seems to be related to the draw.

Final Notes

• This cigar was purchased on Jan. 29, meaning it’s not the version that will be sold in the future. In February, Dr. Gaby Kafie announced that he was moving the production of his Kafie 1901 brands, as well as other third-party brands, from Tabacalera San Jeronimo in Honduras to La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. Included in that list is The Mansa.
• There’s a part of me that wondered about whether we should pause this review and wait for the La Aurora-made version to review as that would seem more relevant. The problem is, who knows how long that’s going to take before those cigars end up on shelves. Also, I had smoked the three cigars at this point and didn’t feel like discarding all that time.
• I’m a big fan of the detailed work on the band. There are a number of colors, different textures, etc. It’s all very well done.
• I don’t smoke a lot of 7 x 60 cigars but I was curious as to what might explain the issues I was having with the draw. Was it because of my own personal preference? Are these cigars purposely bunched looser? So I asked someone that has a lot of experience with big ring gauges and he suggested I pay attention to the weight of the cigar. I took one of the leftover samples and weighed it at 21g. I took an old La Gloria Cubana 7 x 60 out of one of our humidors and that weighed 32g.
• I should point out, there’s a lot of weight variance thanks to moisture content, but the difference is pretty stark and probably explains my issues.
• For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the flavor of the cigar quite a bit. The score is likely to reflect some issues and those are almost entirely related to the draw and the numerous touch-ups needed.
• There appears to be a completely different company making Mansa Musa-inspired cigars. Alex Spencer, technically Cincinnati Cigar Co., has an active trademark for “The Mansa” and the other company filed for a trademark on Feb. 8, 2022.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was three and a half hours.