Erez Maduro Strikes a Chord

What do you do when you retire at age 34? Yaniv Erez smoked cigars. He didn’t always smoke but a five year stint in the Navy left him with a taste for both good cigars and the camara

derie that accompanies them. But, retirement was boring so rather than just smoke cigars, Erez decided to get into the business. He found that many times guys would sit down to smoke and finish at different times because they were smoking different cigars. So, he decided to make three different blends, each with a distinctive taste, in eight shapes. That way regardless of your taste you could get a smoke that you could finish in the time available. I met Yaniv at TPE in Las Vegas and it’s no surprise why he is successful. His passion for cigars and business comes out of him as smoke comes from his cigars.

When you first look at the cigar, you’ll notice the double band. Erez, placed at the normal position on each cigar, and the maduro band placed at the foot of the stick. To make it easier to see in the box and a humidor the writing on the bands is going in the vertical direction. The cigar itself was rough looking very veiny and oily. It clipped without a problem and lit easily. Once lit it gave a pleasing aroma.

The construction of this cigar is excellent. Made by Augusto Reyes in the Dominican, the draw is open and clean. The nearly perfect ash is almost pure white and holds beautifully. This stick could easily be a winner in the longest ash contest. The edge was even and remained very tight until the last puff.

This is a strong cigar. It burns cool, is a full bodied or ‘dinner’ cigar with a long heavy after taste. It starts with a rich earthy taste that has just a hint of sweetness, perhaps from the beautiful wrapper. In the second third I got more cedar, leather and spice. This continued with the spice ramping up in the last third of the stick.

If you like a full flavored, rich stick this is for you. It is well made. All of that contributes to the price, which at $9.00 is not insignificant. But then, neither is this cigar. If you want strength of flavor in a nice cigar, enjoy Erez maduro.