Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro is a marbled medium brown with some raised veins on the wrapper and protruding from the binder below. The seams are smooth and the caps very well applied. The band is various shades of gray and gold and carries the company and line names. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of cedar and earth, while the foot brings cedar and some mesquite smokiness. The pre-light draw brings cedar, spice and some mesquite smokiness.
Seth: The Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro is an average looking cigar with a marbled coloring throughout. It is between Colorado Maduro and Maduro in coloring, and it has a natural tobacco coloring to the wrapper. It is silky in texture with some oils present, and it has a slight firmness throughout. The aroma on the wrapper is that of soft spices, leather and tobacco, while the foot gives off some sweetness, raisins, spices and earth.
John: The Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with the cigar information which tears when opened. There is a single, wide cigar band. I weighed the cigar at 17.1 grams, and I measured the humidity at 58.7% with the CigarMedics HumidiMeter Pro. For aromas from the wrapper, I picked out sweet tobacco, and almost a syrupy fruit juice and bread underneath with wood as a background note. From the foot, sweet tobacco, wood and hay were the primary aromas.
Jiunn: The Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro has a slick and oily Colorado red wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll on the firmer side and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas provide minerals, tea leaves and barnyard.

Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with lightly toasted cedar and some earth and spice along with a faint mesquite smokiness. At a half inch in, the earth picks up a bit. The retrohale is toasted cedar and earth with some mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, some sandalwood joins the profile, even with the lightly toasted cedar. At an inch and a half in a light chalkiness joins the profile and the sandalwood mellows a bit. As the third comes to a close, the lightly toasted cedar is up front, with earth a bit behind. The sandalwood, spice and chalkiness are a bit behind the middle of the profile and there is still a faint mesquite smokiness in the background. The strength was mild-medium.
Seth: The first third opens with a nice rich earth flavor profile. It is paired with warm baking spices, coffee beans and cocoa notes. The finish is that of tobacco and wood, and it is a solid medium in terms of strength and body. Nice long finish, with a rich but balanced profile.
John: The first third opens with creamy wood that mixes with baking spices at medium-minus strength. Mildly dry wood finishes the puff and lingers on the post draw where it’s joined by faint, musty tobacco. A vegetal note is joining the center of the retrohale with dusty earth coming in through the finish. As the first third settles in, the baking spices from the center of the profile are now lingering on the post draw between each puff at light plus strength. By the bottom half of the first third, wood is leading off, joined in the center of the profile by musty tobacco at light strength and a mildly tannic, dry wood to finish and linger on the post draw.
Jiunn: The first third gives off delicious slightly sweetened puff pastry, chewy meatiness, a hint of savory salted peanuts and well mannered dried red pepper spice. Through retrohaling, not only is the pepper spice increased, there’s a greater sense of meatiness. Strength and body is medium.

Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the toast level of the cedar increases. At a half inch in, the chalkiness picks up a bit. The retrohale remains toasted cedar and earth with mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the earth is now right behind the toasted cedar. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is just ahead of the earth, with the chalkiness in the middle of the profile and sandalwood, spice and faint mesquite smokiness in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly below medium.
Seth: The second third is in line with that of the first. Rich earth notes with some coffee and cocoa qualities. Bits of tobacco, wood and baking spices are present as well. Again, rich but balanced. The cigar has a nice, sweet tobacco finish. Medium in strength and body.
John: The second third gets started with creamy wood as musty tobacco moves into the center, and spicy wood finishes at light plus strength lingering on the post draw. I find the dryness on the post draw intensifying to medium-minus as the second third settles. Through the retrohale, sweet tobacco is leading off as spicy wood follows in the center at medium, and stays on my palate through the finish. Approaching the halfway point, the baking spices have fallen to a background note, with the musty tobacco moving into the post draw. Through the bottom half, medium strength earth is coming into the profile on the finish, and bringing with it light, sweet tobacco.
Jiunn: The second third continues to impress. There’s more spice levels coming through, especially on the mouth draws. This elevates the profile. The other flavors are still intact and full of flavors. Strength reaches medium-full, while body remains medium.

Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level of the cedar increases a bit more. At a quarter inch in, a light creaminess joins the profile. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with a bit fuller black pepper. At an inch in, the toast level is now pretty heavy and a slight bitterness comes along with it. At an inch and a quarter, a vegetal note joins in, which is carrying the bitterness. As the cigar wraps up, the heavily toasted cedar is just ahead of the earth, with the chalkiness and bitter vegetal note in the middle of the profile and sandalwood, spice, creaminess and faint mesquite smokiness in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.
Seth: The final third delivers a similar profile to the first and second. Some mineral notes are present with the tobacco and wood flavors, but it is still delivering those warm spices with coffee and cocoa qualities. Rich earth present throughout. Like the first two thirds, medium in strength and body. Long finish with the cigar.
John: The last third begins with creamy earth and tobacco, as medium strength slightly toasted earth comes into the finish to linger on my palate. That earth is receding to light-plus. Once the last third has settled in, tannic wood breaks into the finish and post draw. I find the profile is being defined by medium strength wood as it approaches the halfway point, with dry tannic wood also making up the finish and post draw. Through the bottom half of the last third, the wood on the finish gains some sharpness to it.
Jiunn: The final third’s flavor complexities decrease to mainly spicy cedar and nuts. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium, respectively.

Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout, and the ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.
Seth: Burn was good from start to finish.
John: I found the burn to be razor straight through the entire review process.
Jiunn: Great burn performance, providing an even burn, tight ashes and cool burning temperature.

Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The cigar had a nice draw throughout.
John: For the draw, I measured the cigar at 64 inches of water with the CigarMedics draw tester. My impression was that the cigar was 2 to 2-1/2 notches towards the resistant spectrum.
Jiunn: Great draw performance as well, providing the ideal air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with lightly toasted cedar and some earth and spice along with a faint mesquite smokiness. Some sandalwood joined a bit past the halfway mark and some chalkiness a bit later. The second third has the toast level and chalkiness increasing a bit. The final third saw the toast become heavy and a vegetal bitterness join in. Construction was perfect. The Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro had an average flavor profile throughout. There were some nice components in the profile, but they never came together as a cohesive profile that elevated the profile. I just don’t see myself coming back to this with any regularity, but it is a lower strength offering that is an easy try based on the lower price point.
Seth: I enjoyed the Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro, and while I believe the score is the same as the Clásico, I prefer this blend overall. I felt it showed more complexities and a larger profile. I would prefer the blend in a smaller format, but the larger Toro was not out of hand. Honduran Trojes has always been a favorite of mine, and when Alec Bradley used it well, they had great blends. There is a sweetness to the blend, but it is balanced with warm baking spices. The Nicaraguan tobacco plays its part in this blend, and it elevates the overall blend. It’s not about where the tobacco is from, but if it is good tobacco.
John: I found the Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro to be interesting in the first third, and as it progressed it became more centered around flavors of wood and earth, then primarily wood-driven through the last third. The burn was amazing, while the draw had some resistance to it. Overall, I don’t think this is something I would return to. While the first third was pleasant, the overall flavor profile was rather mundane and I didn’t find myself particularly engaged. The price point is pretty attractive for the 2025 cigar market. Total smoking time was a bit on the quick side at 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Jiunn: I’m not surprised by liking this Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro. Ralph is a good blender and knows how to layer tobacco. The cigar had great depth in flavors and the flavors showed good complexities, giving off umami, sweetness and overall a pleasant experience. Plus, you can’t beat a tasty $10 Toro.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$1.85

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.92

Cost/Point

$1.54

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$1.95

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$1.56

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Raices Cubanas Liga de Reyes Toro