Macanudo Gold Label Staff Review
The mighty Macanudo brand has been producing its annual limited-edition Gold Label since 2002, and today I’m smoking this blend in a classic 6-by-52 Toro called the Tudor. Of course, we all know Macanudo Café as the most popular Macanaudo and one of the most popular non-Cuban cigars ever created. Much of that has to do with the fact that Macanudo was the first really successful non-Cuban brand sold in the U.S. following the Cuban trade embargo in 1962 – and the Café blend has always been a mild, easygoing cigar that virtually anyone can smoke.
Macanudo Gold Label cigars rely on a similar formula as the Café. A golden blond Connecticut Shade wrapper conceals binder tobaccos from Mexico’s San Andrés region with a blend of filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and San Andrés at the center. What distinguishes Gold Label cigars from Café is the wrapper. Gold Label wrappers are harvested from a lower priming on the tobacco plant where the leaves receive less sunlight. The result is that the Gold Label is even milder than the Café. Let’s find out how much.
Macanudo Gold Label cigars come in gold boxes of 20 or 25, and the cigars are dressed in a secondary gold band. Aromas of cereal and grass create a soft bouquet when I slip the cellophane off a Tudor from a fresh box. Because the wrapper gets less light from its lower position on the plant, Gold Label cigars are a lighter shade of tan. The Tudor’s delicate vein structure is consistent from head to foot, and, after clipping the cap, nutty notes mingle with subtly sweet impressions throughout the cold draw.
With a few quick flashes of my torch lighter, Gold Label ignites like a champ. Its initial profile is subdued throughout the lighting process when many cigars have a tendency to taste bitter at first. The aroma is silky and floral and easy to pass through my nasal cavity. I would never recommend smoking a cigar on an empty stomach, but if I had to, Gold Label is a safe candidate with its light and airy taste.
The flavor doesn’t change much throughout the first quarter of the Tudor. For all its delicacy, a strong ash forms at the foot of Macanudo Gold Label after fifteen minutes. It’s an easy cigar to smoke too fast, too, if you’re not careful. Mellow impressions of cocoa powder, toast, and nuts mingle with hints of citrus. Any first-time cigar smokers who are looking for an expressly mild cigar should consider Macanudo Gold Label. Its spice and nicotine content are minimal at best. Gold Label is a breakfast cigar all the way.
As far as quality and taste are concerned, Gold Label is a great cigar to smoke if you’re outside on a hot sunny day, but it’s too nice and too expensive to be a yard ‘gar. As I make my way into the second half, the cigar’s strength gathers little momentum. That’s not a bad thing, though, since I can already sense a silky, creamy finish is ahead.
As I start to savor the nub, mellow notes of buttered toast and grass weave a medley of flavors over my palate with a hint of caramel. There’s not much complexity in Macanudo Gold Label – but there doesn’t have to be. It’s satisfactory as is because it’s designed for folks who don’t want to smoke something strong.
General Cigars, the parent company of Macanudo, releases a limited run of Gold Label cigars in the spring, often with a new size in the lineup. For 2023, they rolled a short and chunky format called the Gold Nugget – similar to a Nub cigar with 4.5-by-60 dimensions. In 2024, they included a 6-by-49 Perfecto called the Golden Fig. If you don’t get a chance to smoke the newest size, give the Tudor a try for a reliable and light smoke you can enjoy any time of the day.
