Cigar Review: Matilde Renacer

Vitola: Corona
Size: 5.5” x 44 ring gauge
Price $8
Purchased from Silo Cigars

Background

After nearly 60 years in the cigar industry, Jose Seijas retired from Altadis in 2012. As proof that you can’t really get the cigar biz out of your system, a year later the interwebs were abuzz with news of his return, heading up a new company called Matilde Cigars. The brand was introduced at the 2013 IPCPR show and started shipping in early 2014.

On the company website, Jose had this to say:

Matilde is the accumulation of 40 years of my experience in the cigar industry, it is everything I ever wanted to do: it combines  my passion for a sublime smoking experience with consistency and quality without restrictions that can only be achieved by a small group of individuals all focused on bringing you the ultimate smoking experience. This is Tabacalera La Matilde. 

Tabacalera La Matilde was founded in 1876 in Dominican Republic. The revival of Matilde provides me and my team with the perfect vehicle to communicate our passion for cigars and our beloved homeland. I chose to revive this historic Dominican brand in this new chapter of my professional and personal life to celebrate my deep roots in and love for the Dominican Republic. I hope you enjoy Matilde as much as I do.

The initial release from Matilde is called “Renacer” (Spanish for “be reborn” according to Google Translate) and features Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, a Dominican binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. It is offered in 4 sizes and I chose a Corona for this review. I purchased the single stick I am using for the review at Silo Cigars, where rumor has it that they purchased the cigars because they share a similar name to the store’s deuce-and-a-half truck that sits out front, “Matilda.” (At least it used to sit out front…at the time of this writing, the final legal fate of Matilda is not known.)

Prelight

The boxes for the Matilde Renacer are traditional, unpainted wood with basic logo and type stamped into them in one color. The bands reminded me immediately of Avo Cigars’ bands, specifically the Avo Heritage, with the dark brown background color and the liberal use of gold foil. Put them side-by-side and you won’t confuse them, but at a quick glance they are very reminiscent of each other. The artwork on the center of the band seems to depict a naked person (I couldn’t make out the gender) with their hands clasped behind their head, kind of a stretching, getting out of bed type of look. Weaving around the figure is an “S” made of leaves (tobacco leaves, probably…that would be a good guess anyway). I would guess the meaning behind it all is the rebirth (Renacer) of Jose Seijas (the leafy “S”) in the industry.

The wrapper leaf was very oily, glistening in the light, and it had one medium-to-large vein running up one side. It was a bit toothy and virtually flawless, though a bit dark as Ecuadorian Habano leaves go; I would call it a milk chocolate brown. Giving the wrapper a sniff, I picked up an aroma of earth and leather along with a touch of sweetness; the foot had more earth, along with hay and a very familiar “Dominican” smell to it…something I’ve come across before in some La Flor Dominicanas, I believe. Prelight draw was good and the cold flavor gave more of an impression of Dominican sweet hay and earth than anything else.

Flavor

Firing up the Matilde Renacer was quick and easy; right away I got a strong grassiness to the flavor profile, along with an undercurrent of earth and creamy coffee. The retrohale was nutty and cedary with a sharp pepper bite at the end. Continuing through the first third, I experienced a slightly full bodied smoke that increased in earthiness quickly; creamy coffee and pepper notes diminished slightly, but the grassiness fell away altogether before the third was over.

The second third saw the Renacer move into the middle of the full-bodied range, with an up-front earth and cedar profile taking over. The pepper spice had mostly gone away by the end of the third.

In the final third the cigar continued to pour out full-bodied smoke with a solid earth and coffee profile.

Construction

Nothing wrong with construction; the Renacer displayed a great draw, very even burn line and solid ash that held on for over half an inch at a time.

Value

For what amounts to a brand-new boutique brand (despite the fact that it is a revival of an old brand and headed by someone with a long history with one of the world’s largest cigar makers), I think $8 is a very good value.

Conclusions

This was one of the strongest, fullest Dominican smokes I can remember in a very long time. The Matilde Renacer started off medium in body with some characteristic Dominican grassiness, then took a left turn into a place totally unexpected. I’ve had a couple of the cigars Jose Seijas oversaw and blended during his stint with Altadis and none of them was anything like this…this was something very different both for him and for Dominican-based blends in general. If you like full-bodied smokes, give this a try.

By-The-Numbers

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