Cigar Review: Estilo Cubano Matador

Originally published at Tiki Bar Online

This is the final review from the group of cigars purchased at The Clean Machine, a local carwash that just happens to have a great walk-in humidor with a varied selection of cigars. This last cigar, the Estilo Cubano Matador, has the appearance of a cigar that I would be attracted to (oily looking maduro wrapper). Pulling it out of the wrapper, it didn’t disappoint. I was met with a noticeable hint of leather pre-light and no construction were to be found.

After giving the cigar a cut and light, my first draws were met with strong flavors of leather and mocha. While these flavors were very pronounced right from the start, there was nothing within the flavor profile that was harsh or overbearing. While I would consider this a medium body smoke, it’s flavor points and strength would be appealing to most ranges of cigar smokers. The leather flavor took a backseat to the mocha flavors around the halfway point of the cigar and it held there until the end. It’s a longer cigar for me at least (6 1/2 x 56), so be sure to take the time to enjoy this cigar properly. My smoking time for the Estilo Cubano Matador was just over two hours.

While I enjoyed the flavor profile and strength of the cigar, the one issue I had with it was the burn. As you can see from the photo, I had some burn issues that needed to be corrected several times smoking this cigar. It also had a tendency to go out on me more than a couple of times, so relighting was also a mark against this cigar. To be fair, I only bought one of these cigars and maybe I got the one with the issues. With all these marks against, I would still smoke this cigar again.

To recap the Estilo Cubano Matador:

• A medium bodied cigar that had favorable flavor points of mocha and leather that would be appealing to both new and experienced cigar smokers.
• The one Estilo Cubano Matador did have burn and relighting issues but I am willing to overlook the negatives for the positives mentioned above.
• Again, while I have to experience the joys of IL tobacco taxes, you can find these cigars in the $5 to $6 range online. In my opinion, that’s a good deal for these cigars as these are definitely something I want to smoke again.

As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.