Cigar Review: El Original Toro Maduro

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This cigar review of the El Original Toro Maduro is part of a series of reviews on the Top Ten Made in the USA cigars of 2006 For more information, and for more reviews of premium cigars from around the world, check the Cigar Review archive.

Speaking of the Santiago Cabana’s more famous cousin, as I mentioned above, the El Original is also a very good cigar. It also conjures up images of Cuba, but in a very different way.

The El Original packs more raw power than the SC, and I think that the maduro wrapper harmonizes especially well with it, enhancing the cigar even more. The cigar includes tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. They set out to create a Cuban cigar experience without Cuban tobacco.

They succeeded.

Smoke Magazine, in 2000, rated and ranked 57 different Maduro Cigars from around the world. The El Original Toro Maduro came out as the top rated cigar in that test. It not only beat Maduro cigars from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras — it beat every Cuban cigar entered.

If you like Maduros, then you owe it to yourself to sample the El Original. The 6 inch, 52 ring Toro seems to work best with this particular blend. Pepper and spice predominate in the flavor profile, but you will taste rich coffee notes and caramel as well — and those increase in strength as the cigar ages.

It ages very well.

One of the reasons that the El Original Toro Maduro beat every other Maduro in Smoke’s sample is that it is not only powerful, it is also flavorful. In fact, it is unusual to find this much flavor in a cigar that is this strong.

Island Smoke Shop currently offers these cigars for US $119.95 per box of 25 ($4.80 each) or $199.95 per bundle of 50 ($4.00 each). They also sell singles at $5.49 each if you want to sample a couple.

Another option is to buy one of their El Original sampler packs for $19.95. They have an all-Maduro sampler that gives you one each of the Torpedo, Churchill, Corona, and Robustos, or for the same price you can get a Corona Claro, a Churchill Natural, a Toro Maduro, and a Torpedo Natural El Original.

Your other option, of course, is to take a trip down to Key Largo and sample them in person. That has some additional benefits, because Key Largo is a very nice place to visit.