Cimarron Maduro Robusto

Cigars have been named after any number of things through the years: classic movie monsters, dances and even a component in nuclear weapons.

However, a new release from El Artista Cigars carries the name Cimarron, a reference to the Cimarron region in the southern U.S. that runs roughly from Oklahoma to Colorado. In fact, there are three distinct lines under the Cimarron moniker—Cimmaron Maduro, Cimmaron Connecticut and Cimmaron Habano—all of which incorporate a blend of tobaccos in the filler that include T13, a hybrid leaf that was developed by the company’s founder, Ram Rodriguez. El Artista has said this tobacco is similar to San Vicente, and it is grown on the company’s farms in the Dominican Republic.

The cigar I am reviewing today is the Cimarron Maduro, a three-vitola line that is covered in a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Dominican negrito binder and filler tobaccos that include not only the aforementioned T13 ligero, but also leaves from Colombia, broadleaf and a Dominican corojo viso.

The photo above is of the toro vitola.

After debuting at the 2018 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, both the Cimarron Maduro and Cimarron Connecticut started shipping to retailers in August packaged in 20-count boxes.

There are three sizes in the Cimarron Maduro line.

• Cimarron Maduro Robusto (5 x 54) — $7.50 (Boxes of 20, $150)
• Cimarron Maduro Toro (6 x 50) — $7.60 (Boxes of 20, $152)
• Cimarron Maduro Doble Toro (6 x 60) — $8.30 (Boxes of 20, $166)

• Cigar Reviewed: Cimarron Maduro Robusto
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera El Artista S.R.L.
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés Maduro)
• Binder: Dominican Republic (Negrito)
• Filler: Colombia & Dominican Republic (T13, Corojo Viso)
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Robusto Extra
• MSRP: $7.20 (Boxes of 20, $144)
• Release Date: August 2018
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Cimarron Maduro is covered in a rich espresso brown wrapper that is extremely rough to the touch, and shows virtually no oil at all. There are a number of veins running up and down the length of the cigar and it is almost shockingly spongy when squeezed. Aroma from the wrapper is a combination of hazelnuts, peanut shells, earth, dark chocolate, leather and sweet hay while the cold draw brings flavors of strong bitter cocoa powder, earth, leather, oak and cinnamon with some slight spice.

From the first puff, the Cimarron Maduro features a blast of black pepper on the palate that calms down quickly, leaving behind a dominant combination of oak and dark chocolate, followed by cinnamon, vegetables, earth and wheat. The finish has both mild sweetness and espresso bean bitterness, but neither are strong enough to make much of an impact on the profile overall at this point. There is a touch of indeterminate sweetness and black pepper on the retrohale that are also not very strong, as well as some slight spice on my tongue. The draw features a great resistance after a simple straight cut, and while the burn is a bit wavy, it is far from bad enough to need correcting so far. Strength-wise, the cigar shows seems content to begin and end in about the same spot, hitting a point about halfway between medium and mild by the time the first third ends.

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Unfortunately, the indeterminate sweetness shows no signs of increasing during the second third of the Cimarron Maduro, while the dominant flavors remain the same oak and dark chocolate combination. Other notes of nuts, cinnamon, earth, bread, coffee and yeast flit in and out, and although the black pepper on the retrohale has increased a little, the spice that I noticed in the first third is long gone by the halfway point. Construction-wise, the Cimarron Maduro still features an excellent draw and plenty of smoke, but the burn decides to not play ball, meaning I have to touch it up a couple of times before it gets out of hand. The overall strength increases somewhat, but still fails to hit the medium mark by the time the second draws to a close, and does not seem to be going any further any time soon.

The final third of the Cimarron Maduro is very close to a carbon copy to the second third, with the same oak and dark chocolate combination dominant—in almost exactly the same amounts—and the same indeterminate sweetness on the retrohale. Secondary flavors of espresso beans, gritty earth, popcorn and hay are all present, as is a slightly reduced amount of black pepper on the retrohale. The burn evens up nicely and the draw continues to impress, while the overall strength goes almost nowhere compared to the second third, and finishes below the medium mark when I put the nub down with about an inch to go.

Final Notes

• While the Cimmaron Maduro and Cimmaron Connecticut shipped to retailers in the U.S., the Cimmaron Habano is an exclusive for Europe and is made with a corojo-seed wrapper, an Indonesian binder and filler tobaccos that include criollo 98 ligero and seco as well as Nicaraguan ligero.
• I was really hoping the hazelnut note from the aroma would show up somewhere in the profile, but alas, that was not to be.
• Overall construction was decent though not amazing: each of the cigars had to be touched up at least once, but I never felt like the burn was getting out of control, and the draw was excellent on all three after a straight cut.
• Final smoking time for all three samples averaged one hour and 20 minutes.
• The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.