Cigar Review: Sons of Freedom Maduro by Quesada

• Vitola: Torpedo
• 6” x 52 ring gauge
• $5.50 single / $109.95 box of 20
• Provided by CDMCigars.com

Background

After last week’s review of the Sons of Freedom Natural, I really can’t say I was all that excited to get into the Maduro version. To recap, while I thought the SOF Nat wasn’t a “bad” cigar, neither was it anything especially new or exciting…decent, mild smoke for a decently low price. After that why should I expect the Maduro to be any different? I honestly don’t know…I do know that I am always up for a cigar to challenge my expectations and blow away my preconceived notions. So…once more into the fray…

Sons of Freedom is a line made by Quesada in the Dominican Republic, specifically and exclusively for Casa de Montecristo in the Chicago, Illinois, area. They didn’t specify what kind of leaf is used for any of the blend, but I’m guessing Dominican fillers and binder. The wrapper is the real wild card. It could hail from almost any country, but I’m going to just pre-guess Dominican Maduro based on the appearance and aroma.

Again, this is my first experience with this blend and it was sent to me by CDMCigars, the online home of Casa de Montecristo.

Prelight

If you want to get the full story on what I think of the packaging and banding for the Sons of Freedom line, check out my review of the Natural. Bottom line…in my view, it’s pretty bad.

The wrapper leaf had a dark milk chocolate color to it with some darker striations and mottling. It smelled sweet and earthy when I gave it a sniff. The foot of the stick had earth and graham and hay notes. The prelight draw was good and had notes of earth and cocoa powder, along with just the barest touch of pepper spice.

Flavor

Firing up the Sons of Freedom Maduro produced a good amount of smoke right off the bat, and that smoke carried flavors of semi-sweet chocolate and coffee, earth and a touch of graham. The only thing missing really was some pepper, which was completely absent on the palate. The retrohale was mostly more coffee along with some roasted nuttiness and just the barest pepper burn. The first third was pleasant and mildly sweet with plenty of earth and coffee flavors.

The second third continued plenty of cocoa powder and coffee notes, with subtle roasted nuts in the background and a smooth, lingering finish. While it wasn’t holding any big surprises so far, the Sons of Freedom Maduro was at least a more pleasant overall smoking experience than the Natural.

In the last third, I got a bit of citrus zing mixed in with the earth, cocoa powder and nutty flavors, adding some interest to the flavor profile as it burned toward the end.

Construction

I steer away from Torpedo shaped cigars because of the additional problems they tend to present, but this Torpedo performed perfectly…better than some at twice the price, in fact. Great draw, very even burn line, solid ash.

Value

Good cigar at a great price.

Conclusions

This Sons of Freedom Maduro did not blow me away or challenge my palate, but it was a very good mild-to-medium Dominican Maduro blend that was consistently flavorful from beginning to end. It’s definitely a good recommendation for someone fairly new to cigars but not wanting a cigar that’s too mild and also not wanting to spend a lot of money. I would say it’s one of those cigars that’s cheap enough that you don’t mind giving away, but good enough that you don’t mind smoking for yourself.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10