The Ancient Roman theme you’ll find with Diamond Crown cigars is all thanks to the company founder. When Julius Newman immigrated to America in the late 1800s, he lacked a middle name. The immigration officer thought that Julius “Caeser” Newman had a nice ring to it, and a tiny emperor was born. Over a century later, cigar lines from the Newman family are still invoking the glory of one of the birthplaces of civilization.
And, of course, anyone who has seen Gladiator is already reliving the movie at the sight of the name “Maximus.”
The original Diamond Crown blend was a premium offering in collaboration with another royal cigar family: the Fuentes. The two-time Cigar Aficionado Cigar of the Year winning Arturo Fuente company helped the Newmans craft a superb blend built around aged Dominican tobacco. It performed well, serving as a bit of a “stealth Fuente,” if you will.
Maximus is similar, but where the first Diamond Crown blend was smooth and restrained, this one opens up the throttle and brings in bold flavor, spice, and potency. The long filler is still a five-year aged Dominican leaf, but the wrapper is grown in Ecuador. The Oliva Tobacco company provided a leaf from farms in El Bajo, a gorgeous valley where eons of rain have packed the valley floor with natural minerals and nutrients.
The soil is rich, and the tobacco is incredible.
Diamond Crown Maximus cigars feature top priming tobacco that has grown strong in the full light of the sun. This leaf quality lends itself to double fermentation, ultimately creating a dark, flavorful, and complex blend. When Cigar Aficionado called it the 93-rated #4 Cigar of 2009, they called it a “rich, sweet cigar with plenty of cedar on the palate and a finish with notes of espresso beans.” In more recent years, the core of cedar remains, but complementary spice notes seem to dominate. CA describes it as a “woody, spicy smoke” that “takes on notes of saffron and white pepper.”
It’s a premium Fuente smoke under the Diamond Crown banner, made to celebrate over a hundred years of Newman family tradition. And it’s fully imperial, pulling no punches as it sweeps over the territory of your palate.
Hail, Caeser! (Or, if you’re Maximus Decimus Meridius, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, perhaps you’d prefer to stick a blade in him to have your vengeance?)
Please browse our selection of Diamond Crown Maximus cigars at your leisure.
