San Lotano Oval Toro Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Filler: Nicaraguan & Honduran

Price: $9.00 - $10.00

Ever since I first heard about this cigar a couple months ago, I have dying to get my hands on some. I am a fan of the cigars that A.J. Fernandez makes for other companies, especially the Man O War lines, the Diesel lines, and the Ave Maria.  A couple weeks ago, another Brother of the Leaf sent me an Oval gordo in the mail, which was my first ever Oval and it blew me away. Well just the other day, my local shop got in a few boxes. Needless to say, I grabbed a couple.

This cigar gets its name from its shape. It is not box pressed, but actually oval pressed. The wrapper is a chocolate shade of brown and is very oily. Along with having a nice oily shine to it, the wrapper is very smooth with only a couple thin veins running through it. This stick is solid all the way through, even though most pressed cigars require them to be softer so they don’t split the wrapper. There is also a sweet and spicy smell coming off of this cigar. This is also a cigar that I highly recommend using a punch cut on. The couple I have tried seem to give out the most flavor through the punch cut.

As soon as I lit up this cigar, I was greeted with a nice accent of spice that complimented a full earth flavor. As this cigar slowly burns, the spice slowly builds and becomes more of a main flavor. Wood notes also build about an inch into this cigar. Just as the wood notes hit their peak, there is a slight leather flavor that builds on my palate. The spice started to stick to my tongue a little bit as well. The first couple inches have a ton of accent flavors that all swarm around a great earthy flavor.

As the cigar moves into the second third, the leather flavor becomes much stronger.  Just when you think this cigar couldn’t have any more flavors come out, you are greeted with a nice nuttiness. And then, just after you get that, sweetness comes out as well. The middle portion of this cigar really does explode with flavor. Even though there are a ton of flavors, there is still a strong earthy base tone.

Just shy of the halfway point of this cigar, the sweetness picks up quite a bit. The sweetness is similar to dark chocolate, but at some points it tastes like sugar. It isn’t the strongest sweetness you can find in a cigar, but it comes out every once and a awhile. With the sweetness coming out, the spice mellows out a bit.

The last couple inches are almost a complete switch from the middle portion. The leather flavor picks up even more and becomes the main focus. Also, now I am getting little hints of black coffee. The earthiness and woody tones are both still very full, but are dulled a bit by the leather. The last little bit of this stick if very flavorful. The spice picks back up to just about where it was at the start, and now there is a mix of nuttiness and leather on my palate.

The ash on this cigar is a medium to dark shade of gray. It is nicely layered and held on for about 2 inches at a time. The burn was a little uneven at times, but it always seemed to even itself out. The draw is very easy through punch cut and produces some thick clouds of white smoke. There is also a very earthy and slightly spicy aroma.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of trying this cigar yet, please do. It is a highly box-worthy cigar. Yes it has some burn issues, but the flavor will distract you enough that it should worry you too much. I give this cigar a 9 out of 10.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man