I picked up a box of Mayorga Robusto Maduros last week,
the top layer in the box was a lighter shade than the bottom layer. I've smoked two from each layer with the top layer being slightly milder than the bottom. Anyone seen this before with Mayorga or others? The lighter top layer is darker than the natural wrapper Mayorgas. This was not a sampler box.

I've seen this before. The most exaggerated cases are with PANs and PAMs. I've seen boxes of each, side by side, and without the label on the box, you couldn't tell the difference. The PAMs were just as light as the PANs. Other PAMs are of course very dark. When I asked the proprietor about it, he simply commented that different bundles/leaves cure differently, hand made product, etc...

Robby, I've noticed that in a lot of the Padron line but the cigars are usually sorted with like shades. The differences between shades in boxes can be tremendous but in each box the wrappers all match. They sort by color very well but sometimes label of natural or maaduro doesn't seem to mean much.

Barry

Thanks for your thought robby and Barry. I'm confused- one of the first times I've seen a post from Robby with with no sarcasm. Everything OK?
I have seen much difference from box to box in wrapper color with Mayorgas and others, but not this much difference within one box, and was divided so carefully within. My first thoughts were also that they were from different bundles and ended up in the same box. Usually a much better job is done within one box to keep the wrapper colors consistent.

I have usually found that in general manufacturers either try to sort so as to make all of the cigars in one layer or box the same color, or they gradually progress from one shade to another within one general wrapper color.

Doesn't Mayorga have a sampler box?

They do have a sampler box. This was not one. Another thought I had was maybe a packing error. I went yesterday and picked up a nutural to compare. Both in the box I purchased are much darker than the natural. I guess this shows some of the differences in some brands from one stick to another and some differences in opinions between one person and another. The one's with the darker shade wrapper are more on the full bodied side, while the one's with the lighter shade are medium bodied. Both are good!

I've purchased the sampler box, and find it hard to tell which is the maduros, when they are apart. In my case the maduros definately aren't super dark.

Mayorga has two different sampler boxes one is 50 ring gauge cigars and the other is assorted cigars. Both used to be great buys on CBid, until someone/all kept raving about how great they were.

Charlie