Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 54 ring gauge
- ~$7.00
- Purchased at Embassy Cigars, Anaheim, CA
Background
Bombay Tobak cigars have a bit of an odd history here at Leaf Enthusiast. They were—for a short time—a site sponsor. Then Keith reviewed one of their original releases and was less than impressed with it. I won’t say that’s why they no longer are a site sponsor, but…hey, I’ve heard weirder things. Two years after his review, I got my hands on the Gaaja, one of their most highly acclaimed cigars…and found it decent, but not nearly worth the $15+ asking price. And now here I am 3 years later on with the latest release from Bombay Tobak, purchased at the same shop where I bought Gaaja. If this doesn’t go better, I might just quit trying cigars from this company. #kiddingnotkidding
M. Esteli is a relative bargain compared to other blends in the Bombay Tobak catalog. It retailers for $7 to $8 per stick and comes in refillable trays at the retail level. According to details acquired by Cigar-Coop, this cigar uses an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper, Dominican binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic (HVA and Piloto Cubano) and Nicaragua (Pelo de Oro). They are made in Costa Rica at the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory, home to other Bombay lines, as well as Selected Tobacco lines like Atabey and Byron. With only one component (generally if you use Pelo de Oro in a cigar, you don’t use much because it’s very expensive) from Nicaragua, and the cigar being made in Costa Rica, I’m already wondering why it’s called “M. Esteli.”
This review sample was purchased at Embassy Cigars in Anaheim, California. This is my first time smoking this blend.
Prelight
The band is simple white paper, with blue ink and trim lines. m. Esteli is rendered in a cursive font with some embossing. It looks okay, but not impressive. The cigar wrapper leaf was a peanut butter shade of brown with a bit of oiliness and a sweet aroma that was almost hay with some molasses mixed in with it. The foot had the wrapper folded over it, but I did get some bread and cinnamon notes along with the sweet grassiness of the wrapper leaf.
The cap almost exploded into various and sundry bits as I clipped it. Made me think it hadn’t been stored properly, but then I remembered that every other cigar I’ve smoked from that review humidor in the past few months has been damn near perfect when it comes to humidity level. It didn’t seriously crack below the cut line, so I was able to proceed. The cold flavors were of bread, molasses, hay, and wood.
Flavor
The m. Esteli opened up with a sweet tanginess, almost citrusy in character, with cedar right behind that, and a little pepper coming in on the finish. Getting into the meat of the first third, I got lots of citrus notes, both tangy and sweet, followed by an increasing amount of pepper spice, with the wood and some hay and earth notes on the finish. The retrohale was hay and molasses with a touch of pepper spice.
The second third had the pepper increasing a bit more to where it was about equal to the sweetness, which was taking on more of a grassy note, but was still very good. Earth and wood notes still played around in the background.
In the last third the m. Esteli had citrus notes coming back and mixing with the grassy sweetness, while pepper provided a burning counterpoint and cedar stayed just underneath.
Construction
I had a very good draw and fairly even burn line the whole way. The ash held on fine and the wrapper stayed mostly together even though it got damaged a bit from taking the band off because there was too much glue.
Value
Very good cigar and a very fair price equals excellent value.
Conclusions
The m. Esteli is the best reviewed cigar to date from Bombay Tobak and I found it to be a very nice cigar that I would repeat on a regular basis. The “sweet spot” pricing and interesting, complex blend made a great combination that would have rated even higher if they had put a little extra effort into giving the cigar more “shelf appeal,” something they are generally very good at. I’m still puzzled by the relevance of the name, but if the cigar is this good, who cares what they call it?
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
