If you recall, back in October of 2020, Tarazona Cigars announced a special new bundled line of cigars known as the Mazo 305. The Spanish word “mazo” means bundle in English. The new production line for the company was born out of a cancelled large chain shop order and their loss is your gain as the Mazo 305 is a Tarazona Cigars value priced bundled cigar.
The Tarazona Cigars Mazo 305 is available in 3 blends:
- Connecticut
- Habano
- Maduro
Each blend is expressed in a number of popular vitolas. MSRP ranges from $6.00 to $7.50 per cigar and they come packaged in 20-count bundles.
The company also offers a 4-count robusto sampler for $19.99 that will include 2 Mazo 305 Habano and 2 Mazo 305 Maduro blends.
Tarazona Cigars sent me some 5 pack robusto samples of each blend to review on Stogie Press, and today I offer a review of the Tarazona Cigars Mazo 305 Habano blend.
The company describes the Mazo 305 habano blend as:
- Capa – H2000 Ecuador
- Capote – Nicaragua (Jalapa)
- Tripa – Nicaragua (Estelí and Jalapa)
The habano blend happens to have the most diversity in vitolas. They are offered in 7 different formats:
- M454H (4.5 x 54)
- M550H (5 x 50)
- M552H (5 x 52)
- M552TH (5 x 52) Torpedo
- M554H (5 x 56)
- M556H (5 x 56)
- M652H (6 X52)
For this review I sampled 3 Tarazona Cigars Mazo 305 Habano robustos.
Pre-Light Examination
To start with with, all Mazo 305 cigars are naked cigars, meaning they are un-banded. At that is ok with me, bands are cool, but they had a little to the cost as do boxes. So going with naked cigars in bundles keep the price down.
As for the Tarazona Cigars Mazo 305 Habano, it is a medium brown and veiny cigar with a few bumps along the barrel. No beauty contest winner here, but the look of the cigar does not really move my needle when it comes to reviews. The cigar is fairly solid to the touch, with just a slight soft spot near the head. A simple but decently applied cap finishes the presentation.
Running the Mazo 305 Habano across the nose I picked up a pungent fermented leaf and spice aroma along the barrel and a spectacularly rich chocolate note off the foot.
I sliced the cap straight across the shoulder and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that had a decent draw and offered cayenne pepper notes
and chocolate notes. A few more puffs, the pepper warmed the lips and it was time to fire it up. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Peppery shot to the palate and nasals off the first puffs
- Thick creamy smoke fills the palate
- Light grey ash forms on a medium thick char line
- Dry fruit notes add to the profile as the pepper recedes
- Chocolate adds to the profile in the second third
- Strength moves up to medium full
- Savory notes deep in second third
- Nut moves in the final and eventually reveals itself as almond
- Medium-Full in strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 20 minutes
Overall, the Tarazona Cigars Mazo 305 Habano Robusto was a surprise morsel of enjoyment. It may not win a beauty contest and it is not overly complex, but the flavors and aromas transitioned well and pleased the palate. I only wish the almond note hit the palate earlier in the journey so that it would blend with the chocolate notes. It had a few burn issues but that ash, man it carried for a long time. I rate this a 91.
Point Deductions:(-1) Slight Soft Spot near head; (-1) Slightly Jagged burn; (-1) Slight Off Burn; (-1) Off centered burn cone
Bonus Points: (+1) Long Ash
