Eiroa CBT Maduro

Two years ago, CLE Cigar Company released the first line of cigars to actually feature their family’s name. Christian Eiroa, founder of CLE, created the line as a tribute to cigar lovers and to his family’s name. The Eiroa (2013) was a Honduran Puro, and won numerous accolades. Last year, Christian Eiroa came back again bearing his family’s name, but this time with a different type of Puro.

The Eiroa CBT Maduro—and that’s not even the full name on the band. The Eiroa CBT is a ‘maduro puro’ of sorts, being a triple maduro (maduro wrapper, binder, and filler). CBT stands for Capa, Banda, Tripa; Spanish for wrapper, binder, and filler. This may sound familiar to some learned cigar enthusiasts, as many know that Christian Eiroa blended a similar stick years ago for Camacho—the Triple Maduro.

To be honest, I’ve been smoking a lot of maduros lately, and wasn’t looking forward to smoking another one so soon—let alone a maduro-puro. But who knows, maybe this one will stand out—or will it just be another maduro? Let’s find out.

CBT Maduro Breakdown

The Eiroa CBT isn’t exactly the prettiest cigar I’ve ever seen (in my opinion). It’s not exactly ugly either, it’s just sort of ‘there’, if you know what I mean. Looking at the red and silver band, the name Eiroa is surrounded with more Spanish adages: “Tradicion, Tabacalera, Calidad”, meaning Tradition, Tobacco, and Superior Quality—which can be found on the outer side of the band. On the inner side you can also make out, “Salud, Amor, Pestas”, translating to Health, Love, and Money. Now, I love the use of culture and language here, I just wish they would have presented it a little better (again, in my humble opinion).

Alright, enough Spanish talk about details and pretty things—time to get into the cigar. CBT has a hefty, medium to borderline tight pack. A nice, dark wrapper (obviously, it’s a Capa Banda Tripa (am I proud of knowing that phrase? Yes I am)) covers the cigar, along with a rather nice tooth. The cigar smells like a child who played in the barn for too long, and then ran out into the rain and rolled around in the mud for a couple hours. Crazy to think that’s sort of a good thing in the world of cigars…

Smoking Experience

After cutting the nice triple cap and toasting, I take my first few puffs of this hefty maduro. Bountiful, thick, chewy smoke invades my mouth from an effortless draw (more on that ‘effortless’ draw later). The cigar seems to be about a medium body and not very complex. Notes of deep earth (there’s that dirt aroma coming true), cracked pepper, bits of floral essence, and just a touch of anise. Not a bad start to this CBT!

Getting into the first third, that dirty earth dies down a bit, but still dominates the palate. The pepper and floral notes take a rest, and the very long finish brings out more anise and licorice. The retro-hale has a good dose of anise as well, and also a little spice kick. Now about that draw… I almost want to say—no, I will say it—the draw is just a tad too loose. Now, some of you reading this (wait, people actually read my reviews?) might start trolling the comments about this—and feel free to, troll comments are better than no comments right? But here me out. When a draw is so loose that it feels like sucking through a straw, it gets really easy to heat up that cherry. Those awesome flavors can quickly turn to char if you’re not careful. The extra loose draw simply requires more awareness, that’s all. Okay, rant over.

Halfway through the stick I have to say, I’m really enjoying this! The majority of the flavors may be ‘typical maduro flavors’, but they’re really tasty ones at that! At this point, the cigar is producing really nice, sweet tobacco flavors (commonly found in maduro wrappers), but balances nicely with the earth core and anise. The retro-hale has gotten increasingly spicy however, losing almost all of the anise—replaced with a Tabasco sauce.

Down to the nub, the CBT Maduro remains very consistent. The full body earth remained throughout the entire stick, bits of floral and anise pop in-and-out, and the very spicy retro-hale slowly develops as you go along. Although maduros aren’t typically my go-to stick, this CBT definitely proved its worth of my time.

Would I smoke this again?

I don’t smoke maduros often, but when I do, it’ll be the CBT Maduro. I recommend this with a sweet coffee or beer—mid-afternoon to evening, with your family.

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