El Mago James Avenue Sumatra Toro (6×54)

The four expressions of The James Avenue each tell a different story in the same 6×54 box-pressed format, and the Sumatra is the one that surprises people most. Where the Maduro goes dark and the Habano goes bold and spicy, the Sumatra takes a different path entirely. Sumatra-seed wrappers are known for a specific set of characteristics that no other leaf quite replicates: a natural earthiness, a subtle sweetness, and a slightly complex, almost tea-like quality that sits underneath everything else the cigar is doing.

Pair that with a Corojo binder, a leaf with its own history rooted in Cuban seed genetics, and the Nicaraguan filler that Nick Fusco and the MGE team in Estelí selected for this expression, and you get a medium-bodied smoke that rewards patience. Cedar and dried fruit lead the first third, a gentle nuttiness develops through the middle, and the Corojo binder keeps a light spice threading through the entire experience from first draw to finish. The most nuanced of the four James Avenue expressions, and the one that people who think they already know what they like keep reaching back for. Twenty to a painted wood cabinet box.