Macanudo Cafe’ Prince Philip Churchill – Bury the Leaf
There is something almost admirable about a cigar that knows exactly what it is and refuses to apologize for it.
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip isn’t trying to start a bar fight. It isn’t showing up in a leather jacket with a switchblade and a bad attitude. It showed up wearing khakis, made sure the reservation was confirmed, and probably reminded everybody where they parked.
And damned if it didn’t execute the assignment.
This is not a cigar built around surprise. It’s built around dependability. The construction was excellent, the burn was excellent, the smoke production was excellent, and the flavor profile stayed planted in roughly the same neighborhood from beginning to end.
That neighborhood just happens to be one I don’t particularly want to live in.
There is an important distinction between a cigar I don’t like and a bad cigar, and the Macanudo Café Prince Philip spent an entire Churchill-sized smoking session making that point.
This will absolutely be somebody’s favorite cigar.
It just isn’t mine.
By the Numbers
- Vitola: Prince Philip Churchill
- Wrapper: Connecticut Shade
- Filler/Binder: Dominican Piloto Cubano and Mexican tobacco filler / Mexican San Andrés binder
- Cut: Straight cut — Colibri SV
- Procured from: Mike’s Cigars — Kings of the Leaf Sampler
- Price Paid: $7.05 shipped
- Estimated MSRP: Not established from review notes
- Duration: 1 hour, 32 minutes
- Band Rating: 2 Bands — Might Finish It
Construction & First Impressions
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip arrived looking every bit like the classic Connecticut it is: light, relatively understated, and certainly not something I would ordinarily reach for when staring into the humidor.
That’s precisely why sampler packs matter.
Left entirely to my own devices, there’s a pretty good chance this cigar never gets smoked at The Evening Draw. Connecticut Shade generally doesn’t line up with my palate, and Churchill isn’t exactly my favorite format. Put the two together and this wasn’t exactly the belle of the ball when I opened Mike’s Cigars’ Kings of the Leaf sampler.
But you buy samplers specifically to occasionally have somebody else make the decision for you.
The wrapper had a somewhat rough texture with noticeable veins, although the construction appeared solid. Seams were largely tight, there weren’t any meaningful soft spots, and even before lighting it there was every indication that somebody knew what they were doing at the rolling table.
There was also something I wasn’t entirely expecting from the wrapper: a faint coffee note.
The Colibri SV provided the straight cut, although it once again managed to produce a small crack around the cap. That’s becoming something of an irritating habit with that cutter, but the damage looked manageable.
The cold draw was considerably more interesting than expected. Milk chocolate showed up alongside something reminiscent of chocolate-covered cashews or almonds — almost like digging through the toppings bar at an ice cream shop.
Paired with a Hurricane Tea & Coffee Cuba 1910 Dark Roast, the Macanudo seemed positioned exactly where a Café probably ought to be.
Then came the first few draws.
Coffee. A little bitterness. Sweet cream underneath.
Maybe this was going to be more interesting than I gave it credit for.
First Third
The first third provided the strongest argument for why I shouldn’t dismiss Connecticut Shade cigars out of hand.
This was mild, certainly, but it wasn’t completely passive.
About half an inch into the cigar, a little dry pepper appeared. Nothing aggressive and certainly nothing approaching the spice level I usually gravitate toward, but enough to make me pay attention. That pepper rode alongside cedar, wood and a pleasant nuttiness while the creamy foundation remained underneath everything.
For a Connecticut Shade, there was more going on than I expected.
The burn was impeccable. The draw was behaving exactly as it should. Construction wasn’t merely acceptable; it was excellent. Even the small crack created around the cap during the cut refused to become a problem.
And that dark roast coffee pairing worked.
The bitterness of the coffee played nicely against the softer creamy and nutty elements of the cigar, while the Macanudo had just enough pepper to keep the whole experience from becoming completely sleepy.
Still, perspective matters.
I’m not going to manufacture enthusiasm simply because a cigar is performing well. The profile remained outside my normal wheelhouse. I wasn’t suddenly ready to abandon Habano, Maduro and the stronger blends I normally gravitate toward because a Connecticut showed me some pepper.
But I was impressed.
Nutty and woodsy with a hint of pepper. That’s the story.
The ash even hung around for more than an inch before reminding me why ash retention is mostly useful for Instagram. I picked the cigar up intending to photograph the impressive little tower and immediately dirty-bombed the lounge floor.
So much for the glamour of cigar reviewing.
Fortunately, nothing about the cigar itself changed.
Second Third
And then the Macanudo Café revealed both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.
Consistency.
The profile settled into cedar, toasted nuts and cream while the pepper began backing away. A restricted exhale produced a little more depth, including some chocolate and a stronger toasted-nut character, but those were nuances rather than a genuine transition.
This cigar found its lane and turned on cruise control.
That’s probably exactly why Macanudo Café has endured.
There’s a Chili’s almost everywhere in America because you can order Chicken Crispers in Walla Walla, Washington, Miami, Florida, or somewhere in between and have a pretty good idea what’s coming out of the kitchen.
Are they the greatest pieces of chicken mankind has ever created?
Probably not.
But consistency has value.
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip operates on much the same principle.
Every time I returned to it, there was cedar. There were roasted almonds. There was cream. There was occasionally a touch of bitterness and enough residual spice to remind me it existed.
And every time I looked at the cigar itself, it was doing its job.
The burn line remained excellent. The draw remained excellent. Smoke production was surprisingly substantial. The wrapper held together despite my concerns after the cut.
It was rolled well, constructed well and smoked well.
The problem was that I kept waiting for something else to happen.
It never really did.
By the end of the second third, roasted almond had become the dominant flavor. There was an almost bitter edge accompanying it, but even that wasn’t enough to fundamentally alter the experience.
Consistent and almost boring.
But undeniably consistent.
Final Third
Apparently the Macanudo sensed that my attention was wandering.
About three-quarters of an inch of ash dropped directly into my lap while I was scrolling through the Instaface.
Message received, Macanudo.
You have my attention.
Since the cigar had so politely demanded it, I figured maybe the final third was preparing to finally change gears.
One of us got what we wanted.
The Macanudo continued doing exactly what it had been doing.
Cedar.
Toasted nuts.
Creaminess.
A little subtle spice.
That’s it.
No dramatic transition. No late surge of pepper. No sudden sweetness. No moment where the Prince Philip ripped off the khakis and revealed that he’d secretly been wearing a Metallica shirt underneath the whole time.
Just consistency.
And again, that isn’t necessarily criticism.
Someone looking for an easygoing cigar to pair with morning coffee may consider that an enormous advantage. You can light this thing without preparing for a two-hour flavor scavenger hunt. It doesn’t demand anything from you.
Smoke it. Drink your coffee. Read something. Talk to somebody. Sit outside and watch the world go by.
The cigar will handle its business.
For my palate, though, the Churchill format magnified the fundamental problem. If I’m going to commit this much time to a cigar, I want some evolution. I want some drama. Give me something to chase.
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip wasn’t interested.
Millennium of Aftermath
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip might be one of the better examples we’ve encountered of why The Evening Draw uses one overall rating instead of pretending there is some mathematical formula capable of determining whether you should enjoy a cigar.
Because technically, this thing did almost everything right.
Burn? Excellent.
Draw? Excellent.
Construction? Impeccable.
Smoke production? Fantastic.
Wrapper integrity? Even after the questionable cut, excellent.
Flavor consistency?
Almost comically excellent.
But I didn’t particularly enjoy smoking it.
That’s not Macanudo’s failure. It’s the collision between a well-made cigar and the wrong palate.
Connecticut Shade isn’t normally where I live, and the Prince Philip didn’t magically change that. Cedar, toasted almonds, cream and subtle pepper simply aren’t enough to hold my attention through a Churchill. What initially seemed promising eventually became predictable, and what became predictable eventually became boring.
That’s why this lands at 2 Bands — Might Finish It.
Not because it’s poorly made. Quite the opposite.
This is also exactly why I keep beating the drum about sampler packs, Cigar of the Month clubs and talking to the people working inside your local lounge.
The Macanudo Café was probably the cigar in the Kings of the Leaf sampler I was least interested in smoking. Had somebody handed me $7.05 and pointed toward a stocked humidor, there is virtually no chance this is what I would have brought back.
Yet I smoked it.
And now I understand it.
For someone who loves traditional Connecticut profiles, values consistency and wants a mild cigar beside a cup of dark coffee, the Macanudo Café Prince Philip Churchill review probably reads completely differently than it does for me. This may be exactly what that smoker wants.
My palate is my palate, not the palate. My opinion is my opinion, not the opinion.
The Macanudo Café Prince Philip is going to be somebody’s favorite cigar.
It’s just not mine.
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