Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 is a marbled medium brown with tinges of green and there are a couple of raised veins running down the back of the cigar. The seams are smooth and the caps are applied pretty well. The band is matte red and gold and carries the company logo up front with the line name split out on the sides and the company name on the back. The aroma from the wrapper is cocoa, dark earth and wood while the foot brings wood, hay and nuttiness. The pre-light draw brings musty cedar and tobacco sweetness.
Seth: The wrapper on the Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 is finished with this marbled raisin, dark chocolate coloring. Easy Colorado Maduro. Veins throughout, the cigar is bumpy in texture. Not an attractive cigar. Band really saves the cigar to some degree. Aromas of rich earth, wood and sweet spices.
John: The Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 is cellophaned, and has a UPC sticker with an integrated tear point that leaves it intact when the cellophane is opened. The cigar has a single band, and the wrapper has a mildly lumpy, rustic appearance. Aromas from the wrapper were barnyard and wood. From the foot, I picked up on sweet tobacco and hay.
Jiunn: The Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 has an oily, toothy, even Colorado Maduro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head well wrapped. Aromas from the wrapper give bread, nuts and hay. Aromas from the foot tell inviting red pepper spice and nuts. Cold draw reveals cedar, hay and dehydrated vegetables.

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with dark wood, mustiness and baking spice. At a quarter inch in, some dark earth joins the profile. At a half inch in, the dark wood and dark earth are even up front with the mustiness and baking spice a bit behind. The retrohale brings toasted wood and a black pepper zing. At an inch and a quarter, the mustiness is now even with the dark wood and dark earth. The strength in this third was slightly above medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with dark earth notes that are rich, but harsh at the same time. Mineral qualities present as well. Pepper spices and wood present as well. Medium-full strength and body.
John: Sweet hay opens the first third with a combination of hay and wood to finish. A delayed medium strength pepper hits the post draw after a few puffs. Some creamy sweetness joins the retrohale not long after. As the first third began to settle, a light plus strength citrus sweetness comes at the end of the draw. The pepper on the post draw has faded away almost entirely by this point. Light baking spices join the retrohale approaching the halfway point.
Jiunn: The first third makes me think, this tastes like proper Mexican San Andres. There’s a really nice floral and cherry soft candy-like component to the cigar. I can’t identify exactly the note, but I dig it. And the more familiar rustic semi-dirty earth grittiness is also there. Retrohaling introduces baking spices but also accentuates that floral cherry candy. The finish gives slight dirt, earthiness and cedar. Strength and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the dark wood gains a mild young/green note to it. At a half inch in, the baking spice has morphed into black pepper. The retrohale is now musty, toasted wood and black pepper. At an inch and a quarter the young/green note from the wood has gone away. As the third comes to a close, the profile is musty dark wood and dark earth even up front with black pepper a bit behind. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The second third delivers a similar profile to that of the first third. I am picking up mineral notes and they are paired with earth, wood and pepper notes on the finish. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: Creamy wood took the cigar into the second third. Medium strength baking spices combine with wood into the post draw. Chocolate moves into the middle of the retrohale as it settled in. Baking spices and wood combine to linger on the post draw as it reached the halfway point.
Jiunn: The second third introduces baker’s chocolate into the fold. The bitter chocolate plays well with the existing floral, cherry candy note, as well as the semi-gritty dirt earthiness. Strength and body is unchanged at medium.

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the dark wood gains some toast. At a half inch in, the black pepper picks up a bit. The retrohale is now musty, toasted dark wood and light black pepper. The cigar maintains the musty, toasted dark wood and dry earth even with black pepper a bit behind. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third reflected another decline in performance from the cigar. It has gradually gone from bad to terrible. Harsh earth, minerals and spice notes. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: The last third kicked off with creamy wood and baking spices that finished into the post draw. By the halfway point, the profile was wood forward with a tannic wood finish. Earth moved into the center of the profile by the halfway point.
Jiunn: The final third loses out on some complexities. The floral cherry candy note I liked so much is basically gone, leaving me with semi-gritty dirt earthiness, milk minerals and baker’s chocolate. Not a bad combination by any means but just a less enjoyable one. Strength and body finish the same medium.

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy throughout and the cigar went out twice, requiring re-lights.
Seth: Burn was decent, but not great. Construction issues.
John: The burn was relatively straight, with some momentary unevenness in the second third that self corrected.
Jiunn: Burn performance was almost perfect. The cigar just need a couple quick touch-ups to get the burn back on track.

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Draw was loose and snug at the same time. Not good.
John: Initially, the draw had quite a bit of resistance to it, roughly 3 to 3-1/2 notches. As the first third progressed, the draw opened to 2 to 2-1/2 notches into the resistant spectrum.
Jiunn: The draw was perfect, giving the best balance of air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with dark wood, mustiness and baking spice with some dark earth joining in fairly quickly. A young/green note joined the second third for a bit and the baking spice transitioned to black pepper. The dark wood gained a toast note in the final third. Overall, the Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 was pretty average as the flavor profile was a bit muddled and just presented some fairly average flavor components. This is an interesting concept from the brand of delivering some small batch releases, but I didn’t find this initial release all that interesting. I look forward to future releases as I’ve liked previous offerings from the brand, but I don’t see myself coming back to this one.
Seth: I have serious concerns with cigars coming out of Tabacalera La Isla. While I have only reviewed two blends from the factory, they have both been terrible. I truly hope that this is not a reflection of Matilde releases to come. This Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 is a far departure from past Matilde releases. (I can say the same about the past Warped release from this factory.) What is also concerning is that I am not the only person saying negative things about this cigar and factory. It seems unanimous that educated cigar smokers are not pleased with Tabacalera La Isla releases. This is the worst Matilde I have ever smoked; and I don’t think they could produce a blend worse than this.
John: The Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1 provided some pleasant flavors of hay, wood, pepper, baking spices, creaminess and earth through the review experience. The flavors didn’t seem to come together in a way that harmonized or provided anything to elevate it beyond an average experience. The burn was flawless, while the draw started out quite resistant and opened up to have some resistance. This release from Matilde is a miss for me, and I’d find myself reaching for previous releases over the Exposure No. 1. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 54 minutes.
Jiunn: So nice for Matilde to come out with a new blend, it’s been a minute. I overall enjoyed this Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1. It follows the same vein of what Matilde executes so well on, being flavor centric, while not including needless strength. Many times, I find Mexican San Andres to be too earthy. Once in a while (such as this time), I find the earthiness to be well complimented by other notes (such as chocolate, fruit tones). I think this should make this cigar “less limited exposure.”

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.30

Cost/Point

$1.98

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

3.68

Cost/Point

$2.85

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$1.93

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.72

Cost/Point

$1.56

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Matilde Limited Exposure No. 1