Guest Review: Omar Ortez Short Torpedo Maduro
Editor: Today we have a great written review from someone you’ve seen on several of my review videos with me, Shawn (@thebayratt). Thanks Shawn!
Omar Ortez Original
Short Torpedo Maduro
- Size: 5×48
- Blend: Nicaraguan Puro
- Paired with: Samuel Adams Summer Ale
- Price: $2.75 (by box) & about $4-6 at a B&M
- Sizes available: Toro, Robusto, Short Torpedo, Robusto Grande, Robusto, Belicoso
1st Look:
Nice dark wrapper with a few viens. No hard or soft spots, but an overall soft feal. Cut about 1/4″ off the tip and had a dead on draw. Prelight tastes of straw and hay with a slight bitterness undertones. The band on this cigar is like no other. It is located on the foot with a “cap” that covers the foot. Good idea, in that it protects the foot from damage.
1st Third:
Nice sweet taste of hay and straw similar to the prelight draw. Slight undertones of bitter chocolate/cocoa. Nice white ash with few small flakes that held decently. The bitterness of the Summer Ale (from the lemons its made with) compliments the slight bitter cocoa in the cigar. The ash holds for about 3/4 to 1″. Tapped it off to avaoid it falling into my lap. No burn issues at all on the cigar.
2nd Third:
The bitterness of the beer is almost overpowering the bitterness of the cigar. Which makes the cigar taste a good bit better. This lets the strong straw/hay flavors prevail in the 2nd third. The burn and draw are pretty much dead on. Sometimes you get a tight draw from a torpedo and end up having to cut more off the head. But this cigar draws excellent cutting off 1/4″ off the tip. The cocoa of the smoke has turned into a dark cocoa flavor. Almost a hint of leather creeping up, but not a strong leather note. The hay/straw flavors are still the major notes in this cigar and somewhat stronger.
Final Third:
A taste of stale hay has made its way up into the final third. No touch-ups or major burn issues getting into the last part of the cigar. Nice cocoa flavors show thier heads in the last piece of the cigar after a good sized swig of the Summer Ale. The beer is a nice compliment to the cigar. The flavor of the stale hay is real prevalent on the retrohale. Slight burn problems arrising towards the end, but nothing a slight touch-up wouldn’t fix. Started buring hot towards the end and got more bitter. Not a horrible bitter flavor, but it is there.
Final Thoughts:
This is not an overly complex maduro. The hay/straw notes were in the cigar from beginning to end. For the price, its a decent maduro smoke. Medium-full in body with full flavor. Its deffinately not a Padron 64 Maduro, but for the price, its a nice smoke. Decently constructed cigar, with great draw. Its no beauty queen, but a good smoke thats deffinately worth a try.
The Beer:
Samuel Adams 2011 Summer Ale.
Nice lemon zesty bitterness tastes. Served ice cold, this is always on my “must get” list of summer beers.
“Samuel Adams® Summer Ale is an American wheat ale. This summer seasonal uses malted wheat, lemon peel and Grains of Paradise, a rare pepper from Africa first used as a brewing spice in the 13th century, to create a crisp taste, spicy flavor and medium body. The ale fermentation imparts a background tropical fruit note reminiscent of mangos and peaches. All of these flavors come together to create a thirst quenching, clean finishing beer perfect for those warm summer days.”
Good cigar, good beer, and nothing beats a nice tight ash!
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I’m not as well versed in cigar tasting, but I recently picked up one of these and echo the cocoa flavor findings. I love the ‘nutty” flavor of a good maduro smoke as well good drawing stick, which mine was. It’s a great size for a 20-30 minute opportunity. I couldn’t wait put a few in my humidor, and just ordered some. I found a vendor on line selling them as singles, whereas most outlets were selling them in their 60 count box in the $155-180 range. Any way you buy them, its a good price for anyone who likes a torpedo style maduro.