-Tony

In 2014, Jose Seijas released his new brand Matilde to the public in the form of the Matilde Renacer, which garnered high praise from reviewers (you can read Tony’s review of it here).  The next year brought a follow-up, the Matilde Oscura, wrapped in a San Andrés leaf.  The Oscura follows the same size and price structure of the Renacer, coming in Corona 5½ x 44, Robusto 5¼ x 50, Toro Bravo 6½ x 54, and Grande 6 x 60, in boxes of 20.  Prices run from $7.50 to $9.00.  The cigars are produced at Tabacalera la Matilde in the Dominican Republic.

I acquired a couple of these cigars from the good folks at Cuenca Cigars.

The Basics:

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Sumatra
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, US Pennsylvania
Size: Robusto 5¼ X 50
Price: $8.00
Smoking time: One hour, thirty minutes
Pairing: Black Raven Coco Jones Coconut Porter (ABV 5.6%)

Pre-light:

The Matilde Oscuro gives a nice impression with its dark brown wrapper pocked with darker splotches and nice oil sheen.  A couple of fine to medium veins are apparent, it is moderately toothy to the touch, and the pack is extremely firm, even hard, with no soft spots.  Tight seams lead to a nicely rounded cap.  Although the green bands seem a little drab by themselves, they match well with the wrapper.  The wrapper gives up a light earthiness, while the foot shows stronger earth, natural tobacco, and light cocoa and wood notes.  The cold draw is a little snug and shows light notes of sweet peppery spice and cedar on top of natural tobacco.

First third:

Earth, oak, and leather are the primary notes as the Matilde Oscura starts off, with pepper lingering on the palate and prominent on the retrohale.  Sweet spice and light bread joins in as the earthiness steps back.  Leather moves forward as the pepper becomes more of the hot red variety.  On the retrohale, the bite leaves my sinuses and top of my head tingling like a hot mustard or wasabi.  The cigar has been burning razor sharp and evenly, producing a solid ash that taps off at an inch.  Coffee has become notable and the flavors have merged and rounded out, even as the peppery sharpness has remained.  The first third of the Matilde Oscura winds up full flavored, medium-full bodied, and is already at a solid medium-plus strength.

Middle third:

A little ways into the second third, the pepper has finally calmed down enough to reveal more sweetness and greater cohesiveness in the mix of flavors.  Although some of the sharp tingle remains, the pepper has turned from red to pungent black, and the coffee has become a dark roast.  Breadiness has re-emerged, bringing with it a bit of minerality in the finish.  Thankfully, the strength has not intensified, but instead has stepped back a bit to give the experience a gentler feel.

Final third:

As the Matilde Oscura rolls into its final third, the mineral note has become more of a citrus-like tang and the leather has come back into play.  The wood and pepper also ramp up a bit as the cigar comes to a close with an added charred note, finishing full-bodied and at medium-full strength.  The nub is cool and little soft, and I have not once had to think of reaching for my lighter for a correction or re-light.

Conclusion:

If you’re a full-bodied smoker, the Matilde Oscura will be right up your alley with full flavors, good complexity, excellent construction and burn properties, and not insubstantial strength.  Novices and smokers of lighter bodied and lighter strength cigars will want to approach it a little more carefully, although it will not necessarily be overpowering.  The more than reasonable price makes it something that I would definitely like to have around.  As one who prefers more of a medium to medium-full smoke, it would not be an everyday cigar for me, but I would certainly want to have it as part of a broader rotation.

Pairing:

Coco Jones Coconut Porter from Redmond, WA’s Black Raven Brewing Company is just what it says: a porter aged on toasted coconut.  It is not as dark and as sweet as some, and the coconut is rather subtle, which is what I like about it, making it easier to pair up with cigars.  Boasting a lighter than expected reddish color, Coco Jones shows deep maltiness, plum, vanilla, and chocolate (not to mention the light coconut) on a clean, tart finish, all of which matched up well with what the Matilde Oscuro had to offer.  The full body of the cigar, of course, would pair terrifically with an even stronger beer such as a deeply flavored sweet stout or Imperial porter, or with a rich port.

~Jeff Oda

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The Good Stuff:

Jose Seijas is no stranger to the cigar world. Jose played the role of Vice President and General Manager of the Tabacalera de Garcia factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic for over 30 years under Altadis U.S.A.. He then retired from the company in 2012 and spent a few years working at La Flor Dominican with Little Gomez producing a selection of their cigars at his factory in La Romana before Jose announced his brand, Matilde cigars during the 2013 IPCPR show. It’s natural for a branded headed by someone of his stature to make waves, and Matilde has. From this, the Renacer was born. The Renacer features a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Dominican binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The Renacer is created in a unique way featuring only a single cut to the wrapper leaf, leaving much of the tobaccos veiny characteristics in tact. The Renacer is available now and comes in 4 sizes: the Corona (5.5 x 44), The Toro Bravo (6.5 x 54), The Robusto (5.25 x 54), and the Grande (6 x 60). All four sizes come packaged in boxes of 20 and range from $7.50 to $9.00 a cigar.

Size: 5.5 x 44
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic and Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $7.50
Pairing: Sound Brewery Dubbel Entendre (8.8% ABV Belgian Dubbel)

Prelight:

The Matilde Renacer starts out with this beautiful, shiny, oily wrapper. The light just glistens off of the thick oils found throughout the body of the cigar. The wrapper is silky smooth with a ton of leaf webbing, and smaller sized veins running the length of the cigar’s slender body. The wrapper itself is a consistent medium brown with nice orange tints. The wrapper tobacco is laid perfectly hiding the seams in the tobacco leaf. The Renacer is capped off with a perfectly round, seamless triple cap. The Renacer carries a brown, white and gold band featuring Matilde’s logo in metallic gold in front, and the words “Matilde” printed on each side.

Matilde’s Renacer is incredibly pungent in aroma. I can smell the cigar as it rests in my ashtray. The wrapper gives off a very strong barnyard/grassy aroma while the foot of the cigar is more neutral with some soft spice, tobacco, and cedar scents. The cap cup very clean, and like butter using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw was very grassy and oaty with soft hints of cedar and spice.

First Smoke:

The first few puffs on Matilde’s Renacer showcase some very soft pepper which quickly faded to let the cedar, dirt, grassy and earthy flavors in which all danced with the more natural tobacco flavors showcased in the cigar. The draw is a bit tight, but not too bad while the burnline is absolutely flawless sporting a razor sharp burnline and a probably one of the prettiest ashes I have ever seen. Bright white in color, super compact, and dead even. It looks like a stream of cement coming off my cigar. The ash held on for an inch before falling with a “clunk” into my ashtray.

Halfway There:

The draw has really opened up into the second third of the Matilde Renacer, and with it, the flavors as well. The cigar is now pumping out some strong cedar and spice notes wrapped around some interesting floral and grass flavors and a bit of honey and molasses. The retrohale is incredibly smooth coating my nasal passage with some interesting coffee notes that before that, weren’t evident in the smoking experience. The burnline is still dead even and the ash is beautiful. I am feeling absolutely no nicotine as I close out the second third.

Finish:

The final third in the Matilde Renacer is where the cigar really showcases what its all about. The spice and cedar have elevated to a whole new level while lots of sweetness, molasses has swept in finishing with some creamy coffee and soft floral flavors. The strength of the cigar has increased significantly as well and is now in the medium/full realm. The Renacer took me and hour and a half to take down and I experience absolutely no harshness at all. I was impressed with how well this cigar developed and in the end, had a hard time putting it down. It left me with absolutely no nicotine kick at all.

Overview:

This is a little cigar with a whole lot of personality. The flavor profile is pretty different, but a breath a fresh air showcasing some great floral and sweetness combined with some nice spice, and natural flavors which all developed at the right moments to keep my on my toes. Matilde’s Renacer is one of the better Dominican-rich cigars that I have smoked in a long time. The cigar delivers a super-premium experience and a value-premium price. This is a box worthy purchase for sure. I smoked a 3 of the four sizes (Robusto, Toro, and Corona) and lean towards the corona out of the three. It delivered a more heavy bodied experience than the other 2.

Pairing:

I took a bit of a gamble on this pairing, but it turned out great. This beer isn’t one I’ve actually had before. I mean, c’mon, I drink plenty of the style but I have yet to see any Sound Brewery beer in these parts. Lucky for me, I have friends and high placed and Jeff (yes, the Jeff who’s been kicking out guest reviews left and right) sent this bottle my way. After smoking my first Renacer I knew I wanted to pair it with a Belgian style Abbey. When I opened my beer closet this one stood out to me so I took a risk and paired it up. Sound Brewery is based out of Washington, and the Dubbel Entendre Belgian Style Dubbel comes in at 8.8% ABV. Right off the bat, the Dubbel Entendre leads with a whole mess of sweetness, honey, and banana with a very light mouthfeel as it finishes rather crisp with lots of fruit and caramel notes with just a hint of spice. I loved the way all the fruit and sweetness meshed in with the more organic flavors in the Renacer creating a wonderful new level to the experience while the spice and caramel married in with the already existent flavors in the cigar. This cigar would go great with some afternoon coffee, any Belgian ale, or a nice sweet bourbon.

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While in Florida this summer, I stopped by Jackie’s awesome shop to buy a few cigars and she generously gifted me a couple as well. This particular one stood out to me for two reasons. Firstly, it came in an awesome cedar chest that looked amazing. And secondly, she bragged to me about how good it was and also that it was getting harder to find them. So I had to give it a try and decided to review it as well to see what all the hype was about!

Now, I did absolutely no research on this cigar before smoking it so my review is prety much as unbiased as it comes. And I’m glad I chose to do this because after reading about it I realized it’s an Altadis brand. In the past, I haven’t been too fond of most Altadis brands. I also learned that Jose Seijas is the man behind the Tabacalera de Garcia in Dominican Republic, where this cigar is made. He also had influence in the blends of brands such as the non-Cuban Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Trinidad and H.Upmann.

A little more reading showed me that in January of this year, Jose Seijas left Altadis after more than 30 years running the factory, which is also one of the largest cigar production factories in the world. This probably explains why the brand is getting harder to find and it will probably disappear of Altadis’ inventory eventually or at least change names. So without further delay, let’s see how this blend performs tonight!

Cigar: Jose Seijas Signature Series
Drink: Ferreira Tawny Porto (Bottled in 2003)
Vitola: Churchill (7 x 50)
Wrapper: Ecuadoria Sumatra
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian
Price: Gifted by Jackie @BonitaSmokeShop
Burn Time: about 2 hours

Construction:
• A very nice cinnamon brown wrapper with some orange highlights keeps this cigar together
• There are a few bumps and veins here and there but none are major or look problematic
• There is quite a bit of spring along the whole length of this cigar when squeezed
• The foot looks very clean and well packed while the triple cap is clean along the edges but a little rough on top
• There is an interesting texture on this cigar, it’s a almost like velvet sandpaper of that makes any sense, smooth in some parts but still a bit rough in others
• After a small trim I’m getting a perfect draw on this Jose Seijas

Burn:
• The toasting here was a bit challenging, it did not want to light up evenly so lets hope that doesn’t affect the future burn here too much
• Gave a small correction about half an inch in to help correct the burn line here
• After that little correction we are burning pretty even through the first third and moving at a nice slow pace too
• A couple minor corrections through the rest of the cigar but nothing major or problematic
• The cigar also burned at a good pace, allowing me to enjoy it slowly without needing to take extra draws or relight

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite a bit of an uneven toasting, I still managed to get a ton of smoke out of the first few draws
• There isn’t much resting smoke to mention, just a thin faint line giving off a nice mild burning wood aroma
• The initial ash here is a bit of a mess probably because of my bad toasting skills and a couple small corrections
• That first ash got a little flaky so I tapped it off just short of an inch
• Around the end of the first third the resting smoke really ramped up for some reason
• Second ash easily passed the one inch mark before being tapped off, it was much cleaner and stronger now that I haven’t had to do any more corrections
• All the rest of the ash lasted past the one inch mark and stayed clean, a good sign of consistent construction here

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a light cedar aroma mixed with a touch of tobacco
• The foot has an interesting tarty fruit note to it, along with some cloves and more cedar
• The pre-light draw brings more of the tarty and clove notes to my palate
• Initial draws on the Jose Seijas bring a punch of cedar and cloves, there is a slight sweetness here but not the same fruity tart notes I was getting before
• The ceda quickly calmed down to a more mild flavor and I’m starting to pick up some interesting earthy and green pepper notes
• There are some coffee notes sneaking in here and there as well as a bit of licorice, lots of interesting flavors here
• The body here has been pretty mild for the most part but I feel it creeping into the medium section as I approach the halfway mark
• I have to mention how awesome the retrohale here is, it’s got a sort of sweet licorice finish to it along with a small bite, very nice
• The coffee flavors are definitely developing nicely along with the sweet licorice flavors that I’m really enjoying
• The flavors themselves have started to really pick up now, mostly being the coffee, licorice and cedar notes
• The sweetness seems to be tapering off in the last third and the pepper and clove notes are coming back for a stronger finale
• Body is almost into the full range now but the nice licorice finish on the retrohale is still there
• The licorice flavor is sort of changing to a deep black cherry sort of note now, very interesting, and the smoke is getting a lot more creamy near the end
• A very good finish with no harshness or bitterness, just a burst of flavors (including a pretty large blast of pepper near the end)

Final Thoughts:
I honestly did not know what to expect coming into this review. I’ll admit that I only had one sample and I have to say I regret not buying more. I typically like to have a few more to put together a review but Jackie bragged so much about it that I decided to jot down my thoughts as I smoked it and snap some pictures. And I’m glad I did. This stick had a ton of flavors going on! They weren’t in your face but they weren’t overly mild either, it was a very nice and delicate balance. And minus the toasting, the burn did very well. If you happen to stumble across these somewhere, make sure to pick one up and give it a try, definitely a worthwhile smoke! I will be seeking out a few more just in case they disappear as well.

Pairings:
Found this bottle of port in the basement and I can’t actually remember where it came from. If I’m correct, I believe someone brought it over a while back when we enjoyed a cigar. So I decided to give it a go tonight with my cigar pairing and see how it went. The Ferreira Tawny Porto is a late bottled vintage variety and although the bottle doesn’t state the year, you can always find it on the white label that covers the cork. This 2003 was pretty light in color but offered a pretty rich blend of boldness and dark berry sweetness along with a very noticeable oak flavor. It made for a very nice pairing with this medium bodied cigar. I also think a good dark beer, triple or even a strong cup of coffee would have gone well here tonight.

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