Rojas Breakfast Tacos Maduro

About a year ago, we started adding these excerpts to the review. If you are reading this, you can’t see the excerpt, but if you go to the homepage, you will see bits of text below each headline that aren’t necessarily in the body of each post. To date, one of my favorite excerpts has come from Brooks Whittington.

“Great, now I’m hungry.”

It came attached to a review Brooks wrote of the Rojas Street Tacos Carnitas, a line that—in case it isn’t clear—is named after street tacos and the culture that surrounds them. Earlier this year, Rojas Cigars announced a sister line of sorts to the Street Tacos called Breakfast Tacos.

There are three different blends, each offered in a 4 1/2 x 42 petit perfecto vitola. The internal tobaccos are all Nicaraguan leaves grown by Rojas, while the wrappers are:

• Connecticut — Ecuador Connecticut
• Maduro — Mexican San Andrés
• Sumatra — Ecuador Sumatra

Each cigar has an MSRP of $6 per cigar and comes in bundles of 30. Retailers are sent a tray that is designed to hold the cigars side-by-side.

• Cigar Reviewed: Rojas Breakfast Tacos Maduro
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Rojas Cigar Factory
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 4 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 42
• Vitola: Petit Perfecto
• MSRP: $6 (Bundle of 30, $180)
• Release Date: March 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

While I vaguely remember reading about these cigars when they were announced, I never really paid any attention to the size, specifically the ring gauge. Given Noel Rojas’ “king of small ring gauges” moniker, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that these cigars are substantially thinner than just about every other perfecto on the market, but I was. The wrapper is rather dark and pretty matte, with some minor amounts of mottling and very well-integrated veins. I like the design of the band, and there are two small trapezoidal holes cut out right next to where “ROJAS” appears on the band, showing off more of the dark wrapper. Unfortunately, the cigars we purchased were not sent in cellophane and after being here for more than a month, it appears whatever aroma might have been present is no longer there. I can’t smell much from the tiny foot and am unwilling to stick the cigar into my nose, so my conclusion is that the foot of the cigar doesn’t smell like anything. Cold draws are medium-full to full with sweet cereal flavors that remind me of Corn Pops, a cereal I probably have not had in nearly two decades, along with secondary notes of cocoa and red pepper.

Despite not noticing any issues with the airflow resistance during the cold draws, each cigar has a pretty tight first draw. I find that lots of cigars with a perfecto-shaped foot tighten once lit and then open as the wider parts of the cigar start burning. Flavor-wise, those first puffs deliver muddy earthy flavors with accents of charcoal, burnt coffee, damp tree bark, fall leaves and walnuts. One cigar imparts a burning sensation on the side of my tongue, more like an alcohol burn than one from pepper. I also notice that the seams on each cigar aren’t tight as there always seems to be at least one spot where smoke is leaking from a part of the cigar that is neither the head nor foot. Earthiness, frequently damp earthiness but sometimes more charred, leads the Rojas Breakfast Tacos Maduro’s first third. Underneath are contrasting flavors that range from burnt woods and burnt waffle cone flavors to a Thousand Island dressing-like creaminess that packs sweet, fruity and vegetal accents. Unfortunately, I find the former is always stronger than the latter, frequently drowning out the creamier flavors. The finish reminds me of a relatively fresh loaf of white bread—one with the perfect audible crack—until the finish gets bitter due to the burnt flavors. Pepper emerges as well, though it’s quite minor compared to the retrohales. When I blow out smoke through my nose, a very distinct and sharp flavor of green pepper, more akin to a jalapeño than say a poblano, overwhelms my nostrils. There are some toasty flavors, but it’s probably 95 percent pepper. That pepper flavor trails off and, eventually, earthiness remerges while white pepper and tartness latch onto the sides of my tongue. Flavor is close to full, body is medium and strength is medium-full. While I avoid any reasons to deduct points for construction issues during the first third, I wouldn’t describe the construction as very good. The cigar really lives on the edge when it comes to staying lit and requires me to be very consistent about taking a puff every minute or so. Even occasionally taking an extra 30 seconds between puffs has an immediate, negative impact on combustion to the point where I decide not to risk it.

While the first third’s paragraph might be longer than my average, the time between it and the midpoint of the cigar is quite short. The second third of the Rojas Breakfast Tacos Maduro is better thanks to a reduced amount of burnt flavors. It opens the door for other flavors to temporarily take over the top spot: nuttiness, a fried savory pita bread flavor and even some fruitiness, including mild stone fruit and peach flavors. The burnt flavors, earthiness and pepper are still there, but none are as potent or consistent as before. The finish is more like the first third, burnt toastiness and mineral earthiness lead barnyard and a muted peach sweetness. Retrohales vary a lot. Two cigars are defined by white pepper and cinnamon, while another cigar has more nuttiness and even some creaminess. All three seem to have some underlying subtle sweetness and none of them have the green pepper flavors from before. The finish reminds me of some wood cleaner along with herbal flavors, generic sweetness and some creaminess. I find the retrohale’s finish to be quite mild, but I feel like that may be more due to the comparison between the intensities of the first and second thirds. Flavor is full, body is medium and strength is close to full. Construction is okay, as one cigar needs a full relight while another needs a touch-up and all three feel like they are always one bad puff away from needing one, though my quicker puff rate keeps the lighter away most of the time.

For as overwhelming as I found parts of the first half of the cigar to be, the final third is a noted departure. It is milder, though also more generic. A dry earthiness ties the secondary flavors together, a list that includes nuttiness, coffee beans, pine and even some metallic flavors. Black pepper is still present and is oftentimes isolated to a specific part of my palate, such as the center of my tongue, whereas the other flavors seem to be much more spatially present. The finish is addition by subtraction; the earthiness decreases and that allows for the nuttiness, dryness and black pepper to be more present. Retrohales have a spicy meaty flavor—a sharpness that is very different compared to the pepper from before—along with some earthiness. The finish is substantially milder, with the strongest flavor being the residual black pepper on the center of my tongue, along with some fragrant sweetness and earthiness. Flavor is medium-full or full, body is medium and strength is generally full.

Final Notes

• In January, Rojas Cigars told Patrick Lagreid these cigars were 4 1/2 x 46, Atlantic Cigar Co. lists the cigar as 4 1/2 x 44 and I measured the cigars at:
  • 4.48 x 42
  • 4.46 x 42
  • 4.49 x 42
• I’m sure there’s a double perfecto, with a binder, sold today that is smaller than this, but I can’t think of one that’s still made. Oddly, there would have been plenty of examples a century ago. I bring up the point about having a binder because Toscano could be an example of a smaller handmade cigar, but it is made without a binder.
• While the cigar didn’t lose that many points for construction issues, it seemed like combustion issues were never that far away. After just one break where the time in between puffs was extended from one minute and 15 seconds to a minute and 45 seconds, the cigar’s smoke production dropped noticeably for a few subsequent puffs. This led to some real issues, including one cigar needing a relight and the flavor getting too sharp at times. It also was somewhat taxing and took away from the overall experience.
• I cannot help but wonder whether this very thin size and seemingly pretty strong blend are to explain some of the issues. To be clear, there were times when the cigar shined, but a lot of the time, it seemed hampered.
• Rojas is not the only company that has included “tacos” in the name. It may not be the first company to come to mind, but Habanos S.A. released the Romeo y Julieta Tacos in 2018. I don’t know what the inspiration for that name was, but there are other meanings of the word beyond the food.
• While the wrapper’s color was very consistent, the finish was not. It was largely matte, though there were some distinct shiny spots in places, almost as if some wrapping tape was placed on top of some parts.
• If you retrohale on every other puff of this cigar, I don’t know how much you are going to be able to taste for the rest of the day. The retrohales of the Breakfast Tacos Maduro are about as intense as they will be on any cigar.
• Rojas Cigars promotes this as a 30-minute cigar. I averaged around an hour and 15 minutes.
• As an aside to that difference in smoking times, I have thought about the idea that I might smoke cigars for reviews very differently than most, but not all, people do for general enjoyment. While that is a flaw in the reviewing process, I think that the purpose of these reviews is to try to show an honest and thorough representation of the cigars performing as best I can make them. I think that it would be less beneficial to you if I choose to puff on a cigar faster than I thought was the rate that produces the most optimal performance.
• While I’m pretty sure I smoke slower than most people regardless of circumstance, I know that I smoke slower during reviews. As another variable, the more talking I do, the faster I smoke. Oddly, drinking alcohol doesn’t seem to affect how quickly I puff on a cigar. There’s also no question that everything else that I’m doing while smoking these cigars—making notes, not drinking anything, being by myself, doing it at roughly the same time each day as the first cigar of my day, and perhaps most importantly, consistently doing these same things—is also quite different than how I imagine most consumers enjoy their cigars. It’s certainly different than how I enjoy a cigar when not reviewing it.
• Site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. carries the Rojas Breakfast Tacos Maduro.