Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial is light brown and has a few slightly raised veins present. The seams are smooth and barely visible due to some slight color variation on the wrapper. The head is well finished with what looks like three caps. The band is black with gold artwork and borders and denotes the company name. The cigar feels a bit light in hand. The aroma from the wrapper is a light mixture of hay and leather while the foot brings a fuller version of the same combination. The pre-light draw reminds me of balsa wood.

Pre-light Experience

The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial is great in hand and sports a lovely wrapper that is between Natural and light Colorado. It is smooth and silky to touch and it has some veins present throughout. I am picking up aromas of sweet spices, nuts, toast and tobacco, and that is on the foot and wrapper.

Pre-light Experience

The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial has a well designed UPC code on the cellophane that remains intact after being opened. The wrapper on the cigar has a somewhat lumpy, rustic appearance to it. I was able to pick up aromas of sweet cedar, light earth and hay. In the foot, there is a mild, sweet plum. Examining the construction of the cigar, I found the ring gauge to measure 51 at the band, and 50 at the foot. Overall length is exactly as specified at 6 inches.

Pre-light Experience

The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial has an attractive golden caramel wrapper. Seams are tight but visible, veins well pressed, bunch and roll even with a double wrapped head. Aromas from the wrapper give soft cedar and hay. Aromas from the foot tell plenty of rich roasted nuttiness and sharper cedar. Cold draw flavors tell soft baking spices and nuts.

First Third

The cigar begins with aged cedar, mustiness and a black peppercorn note. At a half inch in, some dry earth joins the profile. At three quarters of an inch in, the peppercorn has morphed into an herbal note. At an inch in, the dry earthiness and herbal note leave the profile. The retrohale carries the cedar with light mustiness and a fuller herbal note still remains here. As the third comes to a close, the profile and retrohale both carry a musty aged cedar note. The strength in this third was mild-medium.

First Third

The first third begins by immediately delivering grass and hay notes. I am picking up some soft spices on top of that, nice white pepper notes and some saltiness as well. The finish has some citrus qualities, and they are a soft lemon peel flavor. I would classify the cigar as being medium, and that goes for body, strength and flavors.

First Third

The first third begins with nuts and mild spices with a sweetness underpinning the profile. Light pepper leads into the post draw. On the retrohale, a creamy nuttiness with a dry hay finish. The light pepper creeps into the retrohale as the cigar settles in. The nutty tones take on some savory umami character as the cigar progresses. The profile at this point is reminiscent of lightly toasted pistachios. By the halfway point, cedar has taken root in the middle of the profile, and is pushing into the post draw. In the bottom half of the first third, chocolate comes through at the end of the draw, and it mixes pleasantly with the cedar.

First Third

The first third is fairly balanced with flavors of dried nuts, inviting spice coming from baking spices and cedar. The spice dramatically shows up when retrohaling, giving a sharp baking spice as well as an equal creamed dried nuts. The finish is on the shorter end with namely tapered minerals and baking spices on the rear palate. Strength and body is medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the herbal note returns at a light level and some hay also joins in. At an inch in, the profile is aged cedar, hay and mustiness all even with a light herbal note in the background. The retrohale carries the aged cedar, mustiness and herbal note all at an even level. At an inch and a quarter, some dry earth returns. As the third comes to a close, the hay gains a toasted note to go along with the aged cedar and mustiness while the herbal note and dry earth are in the background. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly below medium.

Second Third

When I get into the second third, I find the core flavor profile of wood, white pepper and soft spices continuing on. There are some citrus qualities present as well and the finish has a slight minty quality. Like before, the cigar is medium in body, strength and flavors.

Second Third

Cedar defines the retrohale moving into the second third. Sweet nuttiness is in the middle of the profile with cedar added to that combination in the post draw. By the halfway point, mild dryness joins the cedar.

Second Third

The second thirds profile takes a dip for the worse for one main reason; burn issues. The wrappers flavor influence is so great that when the wrapper refused to burn right, it takes a fairly big hit to the fullness of flavors. Strength and body remains medium.

Final Third

The final third continues with the aged cedar, mustiness and toasted hay with some dry earth and faint herbal note. At a half inch in, a burning paper note joins the profile. The retrohale is musty aged cedar and dry earth. As the cigar comes to a close, the burning paper note is pretty light and the aged cedar, mustiness, toasted hay and dry earth are even up front. The strength in this third remained at slightly below medium.

Final Third

The finish is right in line with where the cigar has been since the beginning and it is showing hay, earth, white pepper and tobacco notes. The lemon citrus qualities have faded, and so has the saltiness. Like before, medium in strength, body and flavors.

Final Third

Sweet creaminess is the prominent flavor moving into the final third. Nuttiness returns to the middle of the profile with cedar accents as the cigar settles. A pleasant sweetness settles into the retrohale and the middle of the profile as well.

Final Third

Back to where I want it to be. That is, much better burn performance. This allowed the wrapper influence to play its rightful part. Much greater depth in flavors providing sharper baking spices, cedar and rich sweet and creamy nuttiness. Strength and body finishes medium.

Burn

The burn line was straight the whole way and the ash held on through each third. The cigar did burn a bit faster than what I typically get from a Toro.

Burn

I thought the burn was solid throughout the cigar. No problems and a nice charcoal ash on the end.

Burn

There was a slightly offset burn in the first third but it self corrected. The burn continued to be fairly consistent for the remainder of the cigar experience. Ash held on in 1 inch increments.

Burn

Burn performance was bad. The cigar constantly canoed, requiring 3 full heavy touch-ups. The cigar did burn cool and ashes stayed fairly strong.

Draw

The draw was perfect with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.

Overall

The cigar began with aged cedar, mustiness and a black peppercorn note. Some dry earth joined in fairly quickly and the peppercorn morphed into an herbal note. The second third saw these components move around with the addition of a hay note that later gained a toasted component. The final third saw the addition of a burning paper note. The construction was perfect and strength built from mild-medium to slightly below medium. The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial had a good start but saw some dryness have an effect in the second third and the burning paper in the final third dropped the enjoyment level a bit more. The strength level was a bit lower than what I was expecting and I could see this cigar appealing to the traditional Connecticut shade smoker in regards to strength and flavor profile. While it probably isn’t something that I’m going to go back to with any frequency, when I’m in the mood for something lighter it definitely could be on the list of things to pick up. With how well the cigar was constructed, it provided a very easy smoking experience.

Draw

No complaints on the draw. It drew well.

Overall

The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial really didn’t do anything. It sported a profile that was monotonous from start to finish and it was a flavor profile that was not even catchy. I don’t mind consistency from beginning to end, but have some substance if that is the case. When I lit up the cigar, there was no wowing moment. This cigar didn’t have any substance. It was a poor experience overall and when you take into account the price, I wouldn’t recommend this to others. To me it smoked like a bundle house-blend.

Draw

I rated the draw as average as the draw had significant resistance to it, up to 3-1/2 notches into the resistant spectrum.

Overall

The 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial was an enjoyable and interesting smoking experience. Flavors of nuts, cocoa, cedar and sweetness defined the profile with varying combinations through the review. Although the draw was quite resistant, it didn’t seem to impact the flavor or burn performance. Overall, I rated the cigar as good, and would light up an 1874 Series Toro Especial again if I had the opportunity. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 11 minutes.

Draw

No issues with the draw. Perfect amount of air flow.

Overall

It’s been a while since I had a cigar in which the burn performance resulted in a lack of flavorful experience. When the wrapper burns right, the cigar has richness in creamed and naturally sweet dried nuts, baking spices and cedar. But unfortunately, for a fair share of the cigar, the burn canoed, not giving a consistent rich flavored smoking experience. I look forward to my teammates on their flavor experience and hope that I had a one off experience. Even with all this said, I’ll definitely be back to have a few more of the 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.09

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

4.88

Cost/Point

$2.46

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.37

Cost/Point

$1.88

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.05

Cost/Point

$1.98

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: 7-20-4 1874 Series Toro Especial