Cigar Geeks - RoMa Craft Tobac Maquette La Maestranza

Cigar Geeks Geek Critique

RoMa Craft Tobac Maquette La Maestranza
Written by Cigar Geeks Member: Brian (bstessl)

97
Cigar Geeks Rating

Welcome to another Member sponsored Geek Critique generously sponsored by our member Cfickter (Chuck). The cigar provided for this round is the RoMa Craft Tobac Maquette La Maestranza.

"Maestranza" is loosely translated as "the people who are around you helping". And RoMa Craft owes much of their success to the "people who are around you helping", so the brand decided to honor them with this new cigar. The Maquette La Maestranza that we are reviewing is a Petit Gordo and actually the prerelease to this new line which will have three (3) sizes, but the Petit Gordo is NOT going to be part of the regular production. It has a foot ribbon rather than a band. Only 8,000 cigars of this size were produced.

RoMa Craft Maestranza's starts with a core of tobacco from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. That core is then covered inside a Brazilian binder and finished with a Mexican San Andres wrapper (but a lighter-colored version).

RoMa Craft Tobac Maquette La Maestranza

Brand:: RoMa Craft Tobac
Name:: Maquette La Maestranza
Length:: 4.25
Ring Gauge:: 56
Country of Origin:: Nicaragua
Filler:: Dominican Republic
Honduras
Nicaragua
Binder:: Brazil
Wrapper:: Mexico
Color:: Maduro
Strength:: Medium-Full
Shape:: Short Gordo
Notes:: https://halfwheel.com/craft-maquette-la-maestranza/444276/

This cigar was enjoyed with water

Pre-Light: 10 Points of 10 Possible

Dry wrapper with very few veins and almost invisible seams. The soft box press is firm with a slight give. The cap cut nicely with scissors and it has a cold draw taste of sweet tobacco. A very good looking and well made cigar.

Lighting and Burn: 14 Points of 15 Possible

Lit with a double jet torch and starts with plenty of smoke volume. The ash is strong, had a small flakey section at the start and a light grey with dark streaks. The burn is straight and even. Not a whole lot of smoke pouring out of it while resting. The ash held until I knocked it off at the halfway point.

Construction: 30 Points of 30 Possible

The draw is perfect and the wrapper is flawless. The cap held together while cutting with scissors and held strong throughout the entirety of the smoke. The wrapper had zero flaws throughout as well.

Flavor and Aroma: 43 Points of 45 Possible

This full bodied cigar starts with a black pepper punch with a strong retro.

First third - Pepper with a hint of sweetness and a bit of cedar on the aftertaste. The ash held the whole third and the burn line was pretty even/straight.

Second third - much more cedar on the retro in this portion. The pepper cools off a bit and gives way to earthy tones.

Final third - Bold espresso joins the mix while the pepper is almost gone except on the retro. The cedar is still there, but barely. It did finish with a slight bitterness at the very end though.

Summary

Thanks Chuck for the opportunity to give this one a go! Overall a very solid smoke that performed damn near flawlessly and fulfilled all expectations of a RoMa product. Well balanced and strong, but not too much so. IMO it's hard to find many better factories when it comes to quality and value.