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Quick Smoke: Matilde Renacer Toro Bravo

5 Jul 2014

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”.

I was looking forward this new cigar from legendary blender José Seijas, but I was, unfortunately, quickly disappointed. I smoked two of the 6.5-inch, 54 ring gauge sticks at $8.50 each. The taste was good—Dominican spice, some coffee, and floral notes—and there was lots of smoke. But on the first Matilde Renacer Toro Bravo the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper exploded shortly after being lit. And, while the second stayed together, the burn was so bad it negatively impacted my experience. While I realize it’s likely these two smokes were an anomaly, I can’t recommend a cigar that performed so poorly.

Verdict = Sell.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

2 Responses to “Quick Smoke: Matilde Renacer Toro Bravo”

  1. Andrew Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 9:24 pm #

    Hey, George. Thanks for the quick review. Unfortunately, my experience with the Matilde was similar to yours. I just finished smoking the Toro Bravo which had been resting in my humidor for about 3-months at around 68%. I noticed after clipping the end that the pack was tight, making the draw pretty difficult, but I thought maybe it would loosen a bit once lit. Within the first 10-minutes the bottom half of the cigar dismantled in my hand. I was able to limp through it, but the draw remained so tight that I had to stop smoking about half-way through. I was excited to try this cigar, and may try the robusto or corona in the future. Bummed…-Andrew

  2. Ricardo Seijas Monday, July 14, 2014 at 9:50 am #

    I am very sorry you encountered these problems with Matilde.

    We emphasize to our bunchers the importance of a solid and reliable construction in Matilde and through no lack of effort we do encounter these problems on occasions.

    In the initial development phases of Matilde our larger ring gauges experienced some burn issues that have been considerably amerliorated through bunch construction and leaf placement in the bunch.

    We've determined that a lot of the issues originate in the blend itself. Though it gives Matilde a marvelous palate range, it makes its contruction that much harder task.

    I am happy to say though, that we have been tweeking with several things and the initial results are incredibly promising helping our larger ring gauges smoke closer to our Coronas both in burn and taste.

    Again I apologies for your first ecounter with Matilde and promise that we are working to provide you with a better smoking experience.