Guayacan Sabor de Esteli Maduro Toro (6 x 52)

Video review HERE.

The Guayacan Sabor de Esteli is another cigar under the House of Emilio umbrella. Gary Griffith continues to find some amazing boutique cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua. Today we will explore this maduro version from Guayacan.

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés

Binder: Nicaraguan – Corojo ‘99

Filler: Nicaraguan – Hybrid Corojo, Criollo

Sabor de Esteli means “The flavor of Esteli.” 

The cigar comes in 3 sizes; all box pressed:

Robusto: 5 x 50

Toro: 6 x 52 (REVIEWED TODAY)

Gordo: 6 x 60

The cigar is a maduro but it's not nearly as dark as some other maduros you've seen before. It is box pressed and well made. Here is a (bad) shot of the foot and density.

Sorry for the bad pic.

The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The initial flavors were a very sweet boysenberry, chocolate, black coffee, earth, and black pepper rated at an 8+.

One inch in the cigar is picking up more sweetness, richness, and buttery notes. The boysenberry notes seem to be changing over to a sweet cedar but for now they are still primarily boysenberry. There are still nice buttery rich notes in the boysenberry. The chocolate notes are starting to come out more. The coffee is a black coffee similar to a dark roast. The earthiness is starting to fade into the background due to the elevated sweetness and richness. The cigar is a solid medium but I expect it to move up. The finish is a sweet cream with a high pitched sweetness similar to the boysenberries. There is a good amount of lingering black pepper also. 

At the midpoint we now have a sweet cedar which combines very nicely with the chocolate notes giving you a flavor similar to chocolate icing. It's not quite as overly sweet as chocolate icing but it reminds me of that. The earthiness is far in the background. The black coffee is still very good. The pepper remains very good. The finish is now one of a faux chocolate icing flavor with great lingering black pepper. The cigar is now medium to full bodied.

In the final third I lost a little of the buttery richness and in it's place there was some dry wood. You still have the chocolate flavor, sweet cedar, black coffee, and nice black pepper. The earthiness is pretty much gone. The cigar is still medium to full bodied. The finish is about the same. This was another great cigar from House of Emilio and Gary Griffith. This was a very good maduro cigar. I enjoyed it very much. Look for these and put them on your "must try" list.

Score: 93