Cigar Review: Eiroa CBT Maduro by CLE Cigars

• Vitola: Robusto
• 5” x 50 ring gauge
• MSRP ~$10.50
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

After years heading up the Camacho Cigar company, Christian Eiroa left shortly after the business was sold to Davidoff. He spent some time outside the industry but was inspired by the question of what he would do differently if he could do it all again. In 2012, he started answering that question with the founding of Fabricas Unidas and CLE Cigars.

Fabricas Unidas is the larger entity that is responsible for making and/or distributing several brands, including Asylum, EH and Wynwood, along with Christian’s own CLE brand. CLE originally produced Corojo, Cuarenta, and Connecticut blends, then followed up with the “Eiroa” label about a year later, positioning it as a more “premium” blend within the CLE line.

I recently sampled the Eiroa Corojo and found it to be not bad, but it wasn’t really in my wheelhouse, so I opted not to pick it up for review. I later talked to our local CLE rep, Jason Robnett, and he said I really needed to try the Maduro and got me one. I found it definitely more my speed so I bought another for the purposes of this review.

The research I found on this blend ended up at Cigar-Coop (again, thanks to Will Cooper for posting more details on his site than most manufacturers get around to posting on their own). The full name of this blend is CBT Maduro and it turns out it means that Capa (wrapper), Banda (binder), and Tripa (filler) are all Maduro leaf (so kind of like a “Triple Maduro,” if you will). Will points out that they did not disclose the country of origin for the tobacco, but since this is CLE and Christian Eiroa, I’m going to go out on a limb and say “Honduras” for most…and maybe all…of it.

Prelight

The Eiroa band and presentation is a definite step up from the basic CLE line, with ample use of silver foil and embossing, along with black and red printing on a heavy-weight, textured paper stock. It’s got a rich look without being too understated OR overblown, and it doesn’t remind me of any other cigar band in the humidor.

The wrapper leaf was a dark chocolate brown and while there was a good oily feel under my fingers, I also could feel some gritty toothiness there. When I raised it to my nose, I got a rich sweet aroma of dried fruit with some lesser notes of earth and coffee; the foot of the cigar smelled mostly just earthy. The cold draw was good and had faint notes of earth and coffee.

Flavor

I lit up the Eiroa CBT Maduro and was soon enjoying flavors of dark earth, espresso bean and semi-sweet chocolate, along with a faint red pepper on the palate. On the nose, I got cedar and roasted nut notes and a searing pepper burn. Before the third was over, I picked up on some anise and raisin notes as well.

The second third continued on rich, sweet and spicy with dark undertones of earth and coffee.

In the final third the cigar got earthier and darker, with coffee notes playing a big part. It started out in the low end of the full bodied range but ended up toward the top.

Construction

Maduros are notorious for having uneven burn lines, but the Eiroa CBT Maduro had no such problem. Neither did it have any draw or flaky ash issues.

Value

As a “premium line” in the CLE catalog, this one starts around $10 and goes up from there. That being said, I found it worth the price.

Conclusions

The Eiroa CBT Maduro is a rich earthy cigar with loads of complexity, with sweetness and spice coming and going throughout. It’s also one of my favorite cigars in the CLE product line and one that I am sure to come back to again and again. Fans of full-bodied Maduros are sure to enjoy this one.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10