Cigar Review: The Rake by MoyaRuiz

• Vitola: Cut
• 5” x 52 ring gauge
• Price ~$9
• Samples provided by manufacturer

I actually got these samples from the manufacturer quite a while before the IPCPR show and finished the review a couple weeks before the show…but never got around to posting it. Now seemed like a good time. More show preview samples next time I post…

Background

MoyaRuiz Cigars announced their newest addition in April 2015: The Rake. I wondered if the name was in reference to the gardening tool or morally questionable man (to which one person answered, “I wasn’t looking for the rake, I want the hoe!”…which seems to fit with both definitions), but then I looked at the press release and found it referred to neither. Danny Moya says, “The Rake is a poker term which describes the fee taken by the card room for operating the poker game. You gotta pay to play!”

This fits in nicely with their earlier release, La Jugada, which took its name from Domino terms. They describe The Rake as medium-to-full in body, with full flavor stemming from the use of four ligero leaves. The first two are from Jalapa, known for producing sweeter tobacco, and the others are from Estelí, known for producing stronger leaf. They topped it off with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, also known for sweetness, spice and strength. They worked closely with Erik Espinosa and Hector Alfonso, Sr., in creating the blend and it is produced at La Zona, Espinosa’s factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The company sent me 4 samples of The Rake and I’m writing this review based on the last one. I smoked the other 3 in the last few weeks since the cigars originally showed up on my doorstep. I will admit that the first day they arrived I almost immediately lit one up and found it to be pretty bland. I waited a week before smoking the next one and found it to be completely different. Lesson learned (and passed along): avoid the temptation of lighting up as soon as the mailman (or UPS or FedEx driver) drops the cigars off. If you can’t stop yourself, at least expect that they will improve after sitting in a properly stable and humidified environment for a week or more.

Prelight

The look of the band and box make a lot more sense to me after reading the press release. It’s cool and old-timey looking, but pretty obscure with references to speakeasys and obscure poker terms. I’m not going to say I’m a card expert (far from it, in fact), but I have played a few times and seen plenty of movies…yet I’ve never heard references to The Rake, Cut, Vig, etc. Fun and educational, it may be, but fairly obscure as well. While unique, I think the references will be lost on most people who will end up just passing the cigar by without knowing the whole story.

That would be a shame because looking at this wrapper leaf, I can tell things are going to get tasty…but that may just be the Broadleaf ho in me making itself known. The dark chocolate brown wrapper leaf has a little oil to the eye, but plenty under my fingers. It had a rich earthy aroma with more than a touch of clean manure. The foot of the stick had earth, cedar and hay notes, with a touch of pepper. The whole thing had a soft box-press that felt just right in my hand.

The prelight draw of the cigar had a good amount of semi-sweet cocoa flavor as well as earth and a touch of pepper.

Flavor

The early puffs of The Rake had a solid earthy quality, as well as notes of cedar and pepper spice. Hidden toward the finish of each puff was a sweet chocolatey flavor. The retrohale was nutty and very peppery.

The second third continued the pepper notes right up front, but the sweetness came on stronger. Cedar and earth followed right behind and the whole thing had a very good balance. So far the cigar was close to full in body and was fairly strong as well.

Cedar notes came back to the fore in the last third, joining the sweet chocolate flavor and the addition of some espresso bean. The pepper spice was only diminished a bit from where it began

Construction

Great draw, very even burn line and solid ash equal great construction.

Value

This cigar lands right in the middle of the sweet spot for today’s cigar pricing. With a very good flavor profile, I rate it as a good value.

Conclusions

The Rake is a definite win for MoyaRuiz and La Zona where it is made. I found it to be a very good example of a unique Connecticut Broadleaf-wrapped cigar that brought more pepper and cedar than typically found in these blends. Overall it had a very good balance and was pleasing from end to end.

By-The-Numbers

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