Espinosa Maduro Cigar Review

Like a nerd at the public library, my face was all “a glow” when I saw the box on my doorstep from Espinosa Cigars. I knew my wait was over and the maduro version of one of my favorite cigars had finally arrived. Yes folks the Espinosa Maduro is finally available, and I for one couldn’t be more excited to try this followup to the hugely popular Espinosa Habano. The first thing you might notice about this release is, unlike the habano, these are box pressed; well, except for the size I ordered, the corona gorda, which features a cool little pigtail on top. The reason I chose this particular size is, it’s skinnier than the other sizes (5.625×46), which should allow me to get a really good taste of that Mexican maduro wrapper.

Speaking of the wrapper, it has a very unique appearance, it’s a deep rich brown but has a visibly oily sheen that almost creates the look of slate or clay when you hold it in the sunlight. After cutting and taking a pre-light draw, I decided to cut it one extra time to get just the right draw for my tastes.

Upon toasting and lighting, my taste buds were coated in a chocolatey wave of cinnamon. Similar to the habano, the maduro is not short on satisfying flavor or smoke. Espinosa cigars just don’t let you down. In fact, I have come to the point in my smoking journey that whenever I have a crappy cigar, I instantly run to the humidor and grab an Espinosa to make everything all better.

The burn on the Espinosa Maduro was perfect, I never had to mess with it and I could set it down and return later only to find it was ready to smoke just as I had left it. As I worked my way down the cigar, the milk chocolate was transitioning to a dark chocolate, yet the cinnamon was still very present. Further still and a new flavor was beginning to emerge on the finish, which was a deep, rich, dark vanilla that pairs nicely with chocolate and cinnamon.

While the Espinosa maduro is packed with flavor, the strength is no more than medium, which suits me just fine. From start to finish, the nice, oily smoke of the maduro coats your mouth in a very satisfying blend of flavors. Similar to the Espinosa habano, the maduro is like “comfort food”, it’s the kind of cigar you could smoke on any occasion and be perfectly satisfied. To further compare the habano to the maduro, you could think of it like this: the habano is like pumpkin pie, while the maduro is like chocolate pie with a pinch of cinnamon spice.

Would I smoke this cigar again? You darn tootin’ I will! Coming in at just over $7 per stick, this cigar is a great value in my opinion. While a super enjoyable stick I would still lean towards the plain habano version.