Indian Tabac Super Fuerte Toro Maduro Review

[radar]

First off, I'm not a fan of Indian Tabac or Rocky. Most of the Indian Tabac products I've smoked in the past were like fat cigarettes to me, no depth whatsoever. I'm also not a huge fan of Maduro wrappers.
That being said........
Damn what a surprise! This cheap ass smoke was good!
I bought a sampler pack from the devil (Cigar Bid) to try the Indian Tabac Fire, and four of these came in the sampler.
It was a good looking cigar, dark mottled wrapper, oily looking, and box pressed. The construction was excellent, burned beautifully. The ash was strong and attractive. The taste was medium bodied with some sweetness throughout the cigar. The sweetness seemed to strengthen in the second third of the cigar. The finish was strong but not overpowering and it left a mild but pleasant aftertaste. I have badmouthed Indian Tabac so much over the years, that I had to sit back a minute and smile after this one. I want some more of these! And for under two bucks, whodda thunk it?

I give it a 7.5 on flavor and an 8 on construction and burn.

If any newbies are looking for an inexpensive maduro to develop their buds on, this is one I suggest strongly.

Radar

[Scott M]

Thanks for the heads-up! I think I have one of those in my humi. A little scared to try it up to now. Maybe this afternoon.

Scott"guineapig"M

[SmokusMaximus]

As I do more reading than reviewing, I thought I would write up a review for this cigar. After I did some composing in my head, I sat down to write up the review. While checking for duplicate reviews, I found that Radar’s write-up.

All in all, even with different people reviewing and a 9-month time span between reviews. The comments by Radar still stand. With that, here’s my take on the Indian Tabac Super Fuerte Toro Maduro.

I too, am not a fan of Indian Tabac’s or Rocky Patel’s as I think they are over rated. I got this stick in a sampler from the devil’s site also.

I was looking for something different to have tonight. I wasn’t in the mood for a Padron, Perdomo, or Monte. I wanted to try something that was kind of mellow. I first reached for a La Perla Habana Classic Toro, but at the last minute, I decided on the Indian Tabac. I gave it the once over and headed out to the patio with a Kahlua and cream and a report from work to read over.

This is my first Indian Tabac cigar. I’ve seen them in the shops but I thought that they were way overpriced for a mass-market hand made stick. Well, I took the stogie out of the cello and took a look at it closely. The Super Fuerte line is billed as boxed pressed and this maddie was pressed nicely. I would say that it was kind of semi-box pressed as the back side of the cigar had very sharp angles but the front or top of the cigar’s angles were less pronounced.

The cigar is very beautiful with its dark maduro wrapper with what I call “Freckles” on the wrapper leaf.

The clip and pre-draw was uneventful and a little tight for my liking but not enough to really notice. One negative that I noticed but is of no consequence, is that the cap is rather small so one has to be careful not to clip very much.

Upon lighting, I immediately noticed the earthy smell and taste along with a hint of pepper. That taste was very pleasant and surprisingly, not offensive. This is a cigar with a medium to full-bodied flavor profile. However it is not “Not your socks off” strong like a Joya de Nicaragua Celebracion Torpedo. The flavor profile got slightly stronger in the second half of the cigar, but overall, stayed consistent. I believe that this is an attribute of Rocky’s line. It’s not a bad trait, but don’t expect any surprises with this smoke. It is predictable from start to finish.

The one downside of this stick is the burn in the first half. The burn had to be touched up twice and then corrected itself. The last half burn was very acceptable. Not perfect, but OK. The ash is a little loose and whitish gray. Ashing at 1-inch intervals is mandatory unless you want to wear it.

My overall experience with this Maddie is one of surprise. I thought for sure that this cigar would meet my very low expectations for an Indian Tabac cigar. I was so wrong. This is a very nice smoke. I like it enough that I will pick up some more to have in the humi. This is a good solid “B+” cigar. I would say this is a good “Herfing” cigar with the boys.

In addition to the normal ratings, I will also give, what I call the “Wife-O-Meter” rating. This is the rating of what my wife gives the smell of the smoke. She is usually a pretty good judge of what a good cigar smells like, so I do pay attention to her comments. In short, she said it smelled “OK” but the smell was a little “Sharp”. To me, her “OK” translates to, “don’t even think about trying to burn one in the house”. To compare, she thinks that Padrons smell very nice as well as Opus X’s, some Perdomo’s, etc. She knows a good smoke when she smells one.

Now, the best part. I only paid $1.75 for this stick! That’s a hell of a smoke for less than $2.00. I would say this is a very good bargain smoke if you can get them for less than $2.50 a cigar. I would probably not pay more than that though. I'm just cheap. CI has them for that now on their retail site. Bargain hunters who frequent the Devil’s lair will do better.

So here’s how I rated the Indian Tabac Super Fuerte Toro Maduro:

Construction: 4/5
Burn: 3/5 – due to first half burn issues.
Taste: 4.5/5
Value: 5/5
Wife-O-Meter: 3/5

Overall rating: 3.9 out of 5 “That’s a keeper in my book.”

[miki]

Thanks for the review. I received a IT super fuerte natural from K-Hat and he said that it was aged for a year. I thought that it was just full of great flavour and the burn was very good. I have a maduro that I will have to try after reading this review.

[Cap'n Mike]

Dave, that was simply an OUTSTANDING review! I have a couple that a "podna" gave me about six months ago and I think I might fire one up tonight... with a couple, or six, ice cold St. Pauli Girls.

Thanks

Mike