Purchased: Box of 10 Toros (5.5 X 22mm) [maybe 52-54]
Cost: R$880 / ~US$175
Store: Tabacaria Roma, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Buy Again? Hell yeah, if I can find them in the US!
tldr;
It’s unfortunate that Brazilian cigars – that is, cigars produced in Brazil – aren’t very well known or spoken about in the US because from my experience, the Brazilian brands I have tried have been excellent thus far. And that includes the subject of this post.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. According to friends from Brazil, they didn’t think their country made good cigars. But I took that with a grain of salt because they’re not cigar smokers. But there’s also not much chatter about them online. There are very few cigar producers in Brazil, therefore very few blends out there. So, it’s not surprising that they’re not talked about. And with so few producers, it’s also natural to assume that the quality of what is produced is going to be far lower compared to the major cigar-producing countries. But what I’ve come to discover in just a brief period of time is that the quality and flavor of what I’ve tried rivals anything I smoke from Nicaragua, Honduras, or the DR.
Enter the Dannemann Mata Fina.
The Dannemann Mata Fina is a surprisingly complex, sophisticated, and unique-tasting smoke that is every bit as good as some top-tier cigars. While it may not be ranked as an ultra-premium, make no mistake, this is a premium cigar that deserves some attention.
The construction of the cigar is solid. The wrapper is veiny but even and there were no visible seams except at the cap, which is a triple-layer cap. The draw is perfect and exactly how I like it with just a little resistance. The burn is slow. It took me over an hour and a half to get to the nub.
At light-up, this cigar wasted no time invading my senses. It opened up with toasted cashews, cream, malt, and a light vegetal flavor that was reminiscent of bay leaf. Right out of the gate, strength was medium with a medium body.
As I got into the cigar, more flavors were added onto the base established at the start. I could taste moist earth, leather, sugar cane, and toasted bread. I had to stop a couple of times in wonderment that there was this much complexity in the first freakin’ inch of the cigar!
Getting into the second third, the malt and toast moved to the background and were replaced with fresh-cut grass, a little stronger wet soil and leather. I hadn’t ashed at this point. It was a pretty amazing stack of dimes which was a testament to its great construction.
Halfway through the smoke, strength and body were still a solid medium. The malt suddenly returned and with it came a hint of salted caramel, sugan cane, and a bit of citrus peel. The finish was leathery and tannic.
Getting to the final third, the ash finally broke off. It was over 3″ long. Nice. Like the finale of a concerto, the cigar suddenly opened up with an incredible chorus of flavors, switching from all that it had served up previously in an ever-shifting palate. Coffee finally showed up as did cacao. Added to this was charred oak and a sweet, floral-like finish. Strength also kicked up to medium+ though the body remained at medium with a long, long finish. The uptick in strength had me drinking lots of water and taking sips of my Blue Label, and some Perrier to cleanse my palate.
I nubbed this sucker. Talk about getting hit with wave after wave of flavor. How could I not? This is one special cigar that I can hopefully get in the US!
Unco B's Stogie Diary 