Vitola: Toro Bravo- 6.5” x 54 ring gauge (box pressed)
- MSRP ~$9
- Purchased at Silo Cigars
Background
Matilde Cigars is the new home to Jose Seijas, a blender who made quite the name for himself in work with Altadis. After leaving one of the world’s largest producers of premium cigars, he founded Matilde and kept rolling…so to speak. The first offering from the new company was Renacer, a mild-plus-bodied cigar that was good (and very good in certain sizes), and it was followed by the Oscura, a full-bodied cigar that was widely praised. For their third release, which debuted at the 2016 IPCPR show, they decided to got for something that split the difference between the first two blends.
Quadrata is Matilde’s first box-pressed cigar line, which is where the name comes from (“Quad” meaning “4” and the cigar has 4 sides…also “quadrata” being the slightly anglicized version of the Spanish “cuadrata” which means “square). They are available in 3 sizes, each in boxes of 20. They use Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, a Dominican binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper leaf.
The Matilde website claims the “combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan give this cigar a perfect balance of body and flavor with a long nutty finish.” This review is based on the first time I’ve smoked this blend and I bought the cigar at Silo Cigars in Farragut (Knoxville), Tennessee.
Prelight
The packaging of the Quadrata will hold no surprises for those who are used to what they’ve seen on other Matilde releases. Basically, the color of the packing has been changed. On the Renacer is was brown with gold foil; the Oscura was dark green with gold; the Quadrata is a dark orange with gold…box and bands. Both feature the same art of the naked lady walking through an “S” made of tobacco leaves. It’s good enough, though I wonder if most people smoking it know why a company that starts with the letter “M” puts an “S” so prominently on their packaging.
The wrapper leaf had a smooth, slightly oily feel to it. It was the color of milk chocolate, with some darker streaking and mottling on it, and the aroma from it was slightly earth and slightly woody. The foot had a pronounced sweetness to the aroma, with notes of chocolate up front, laying over ripe earth and a touch of cedar.
The cold draw was excellent and featured mostly a cedary note, along with a more minor dried fruit sweetness.
Flavor
Firing up the Quadrata was very easy and I almost immediately got light lemony notes, floating above cedar and earth, wrapped in a moderately thick, medium-bodied smoke. The retrohale had a short blast of red pepper to burn the nose, then a longer roasted nuttiness. The start was complex and well-balanced and more pleasing than that start of either previous Matilde blend, at least in my mind. The first third burned along pretty and more pepper came through on the tongue as I went, along with a stronger earth and coffee mix. The citrus sweetness backed off a bit.
The second third was nutty and peppery, with enough sweetness to maintain an excellent balance.
The last third came up very quickly, too. It was heralded by an increase in peppery flavors, as well as the continued nuttiness and sweetness riding along just underneath.
Construction
The burn line was very even, the ash was solid up until I tapped it off, and the draw was near perfect.
Value
An excellent cigar right in the middle of the “sweet spot” for price, so great value.
Conclusions
I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar. As advertised it was very nutty, but even better, it had an amazing balance of flavors, never letting anything dominate too long. The body was medium to full by the end and the complexity never let up. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that it burned very quickly, with this long Toro lasting only about an hour, which is about a half hour less than I would estimate for this size. I would call this one a “must smoke” and definitely the best yet from Matilde.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
