The Tabak Especial Toro Negra was designed by Drew Estate, the modern cigar makers who are famous for their Acid cigars. The company was started toward the end of the cigar boom of the 90s by Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel, two friends in New York City with nothing driving them forward but creativity, determination, and a dream of being a cigar making success. While the two had very little money to scrape by on in the beginning, they survived the initial stages of their enterprise and eventually garnered world attention and appreciation with their ingenious blends and artistic marketing.
This cigar measures 6×52 and features a Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper around a Nicaraguan Sumatra and Criollo binder and filler. This puro has a shaggy foot construction. If you aren’t familiar with shaggy foot cigars, this is a cigar where the filler extends beyond the wrapper. The wrapper is a very dark maduro, wafting suggestions of cocoa, cedar and coffee.
The Tabak Especial Toro Negra is easy to light, thanks to this construction. This cigar is fairly sweet, though not sickeningly so. The taste and aroma is mostly milk chocolate, accompanied by notes of coffee and tobacco. The cigar produces a lot of creamy smoke and burns evenly. The ash tends to drop off rather quickly, but it’s not a problem. This isn’t a strong cigar; the experience is light and very enjoyable, even though the flavor doesn’t change much. While it’s a mild smoke, it doesn’t really mellow out or do anything else unpredictable.
You can buy the Tabak Especial Toro Negra for about $7.00. This is an infused cigar, and many cigar smokers think that flavored cigars aren’t for them. While many flavored cigars are overpoweringly sweet, the Tabak Especial Toro Negra is different. This cigar is certainly on the sweet side, but it’s a balanced sweetness with other notes interacting in the blend.