Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Size: 6 x 50 (Toro)
Factory: Tabacos de Exportación / Quesada Cigars, Dominican Republic
Strength: Mild-plus → Medium-plus
Price: $8–$12 (varies by retailer)
Release: Originally part of the Nat Sherman Metropolitan Selection; relaunched under Ferio Tego in 2021
Experience Rating: 94
This is a sleeper hiding in plain sight.
There aren’t many reviews of the Ferio Tego Metropolitan Maduro, and the ones available tend to describe it as a good, mellow cigar. One even dismissed it after eating jalapeño chips halfway through the smoke, which tells you something about the review.
Maybe it’s the Nat Sherman baggage the line still carries. Maybe people see Metropolitan and expect something modest, familiar, and easy to overlook. But make no mistake: this is a cigar with authorship, and it carries the unmistakable fingerprints of what Michael Herklots brings to the table.
Though Herklots and Brendon Scott acquired the original blends from Nat Sherman, we don’t know the proportions, tobacco age, sorting, fermentation, wrapper selection, or how the current Quesada production is being managed. The same blend stats on paper don’t necessarily mean the same cigar.
I smoked one of these back in 2018, and while I can’t remember the specifics of the profile, my intuition tells me this current iteration is a much better cigar than the one I originally smoked.
Up front, the Metropolitan Maduro carries all the signatures of Connecticut Broadleaf. It is fragrant, dark, and sweet. But unlike many Broadleaf cigars that commit fully to heaviness, this one has a liveliness that prevents it from collapsing into gravity.
And that liveliness is the key to this cigar’s greatness.
The wrapper and foot don’t reveal much. The wrapper offers barnyard and sweet Broadleaf Maduro character. The foot has more of that sweetness and a buttered dinner roll. The stick is solid, if a little light. But the cold draw is perfect.
Lighting it up, I’m greeted by immediate complexity as a procession of deliciousness rolls in: syrupy Broadleaf sweetness, dark chocolate, burnt cedar, medium coffee, roasted nuts, and toasted bread, all lying on a bed of cream. I get a slight hit of nicotine.
An encouraging start.
As the cigar settles in, it hasn’t found its footing yet. It seems to be gathering itself, but the profile already feels structured and composed. Strength is mild-plus, which feels like a disconnect given the dark wrapper and the dark tone of the flavor profile. That is likely the Dominican binder and filler at work, providing a foil to the deep Broadleaf character.
A core forms around dark sweetness, coffee, cedar, toffee, and buttered toast. And the cream. Oh, the cream. It’s dreamy-creamy.
I sense a little mischievousness in the profile. The dark wrapper suggests something deep, bold, and gravitational. But the cream provides a cushion, keeping the darker qualities from taking over. There’s a playfulness at the top end that keeps the cigar from getting too serious.
A light, lingering spice appears, accenting the finish.
Then the profile hits a sweet spot.
The profile begins to transition through a range of flavors, moving from sweet to savory to earthy to bready: tangerine, citrus peel, leather, sourdough, BBQ pulled pork, earth, leather, dinner rolls, mineral, floral notes, umami, and dark chocolate. They cycle individually and in combination. But it isn’t messy. It’s still smooth and well-behaved.
Halfway through, the transitions continue. The profile remains articulate even as the palette keeps shifting. It strikes me as classic Dominican in its smoothness, but unlike many Dominican cigars that wander and feel like they might collapse at any second, this one remains coherent and structured despite its transitions.
The buttered toast shifts to a cream Danish, moving forward in the profile. Then more flavors layer in: fruitcake, flint, mineral, baking spices, and black licorice. Spice notches up, continuing to pull the profile upward, and strength increases to a solid medium.
Transitions continue, but they slow. They’re much more fluid now, almost like an electronic ticker tape on a trading floor, constantly moving and sweeping by.
In the home stretch, spice ticks up again and moves to the front, accompanied by a slight increase in nicotine. More flavors layer in as the slow transitions continue: peppermint, stone fruit, molasses, and charred wood. The cream thickens, further cushioning the profile and keeping it from collapsing. Strength remains medium.
In the last couple of inches, the dark-sweet Broadleaf character begins to assert itself. Strength stays at medium as the core compresses slightly and solidifies around burnt sugar, molasses, espresso, dark chocolate, and cream Danish. The Danish is a nice counterpoint to the darkened core.
The profile is still incredibly articulate. No muddiness. Spice is ever-present now, but it doesn’t make a move to dominate. The cream grows richer and feels more like a core component than an anchor. The smoke becomes thick and billowy.
In the final inch, the core compresses even further, though it remains articulate. The entire profile feels more gravitational now. Strength ticks up to medium-plus. Then suddenly, the cream Danish steps forward. This is a surprising and welcome move, providing tension against the gravitational pull of the core.
Then the core flavors begin to cycle and rotate around espresso. Spice continues its gradual climb, but it never dominates.
It’s active all the way to the nub.
This review cigar was the second Metropolitan Maduro I smoked. The first one, which I had last night, was expressive from beginning to end. I didn’t look at other reviews until this morning, and after smoking these back-to-back, I can’t help feeling that the Metropolitan Maduro has been short-changed. It may be mellow, earthy, sweet, creamy, and medium-strength, but those words barely scratch the surface.
Total smoke time: 1:25
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