Cigar Review: EO 601 Maduro Blue Toro

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I picked the 601 up for the Cigar Beat Group Review this month in the forum. After a long aggravating week of getting stuck in Chicago from a snow storm in the Upper Peninsula, finding another cigar shop in Canada that fell victim to the smoking bans and then a long trip home from delays at the airports I needed a couple good smokes. I’m looking forward to the 601!

The EO brand (United Tobacco) was founded in 2003 by two long time friends Erik Espinosa and Eddie Ortega. They both have a long history in the cigar industry. The EO 601 line of cigars are blended by Pepin Garcia so I should enjoy this.

Country: Esteli, Nicaragua
Length/Ring: 5 1/4X 52
Shape: Robusto
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Maduro
Body: Medium-Full
Strength: Full
Price: $128.96 (Buy Now)

Pre-light: This is a beautiful box pressed cigar with a good cap, smooth wrapper and small/medium sized veins. The smell is of deep dark tobacco and the construction is just about perfect. No soft spots, just the right amount of give and almost a perfect box press. This cigar comes with a large cigar band of red/blue/gold. The band comes off with no issue at all, it is one of the bands that you can get off in one piece before you even put fire to the cigar. This thing is beautiful all the way around.

The burn: The burn was never perfect but only needed a touch up or two. It holds about and inch worth of grey/dark grey ash that did flake at times. You get plenty of smooth smoke from this cigar that makes you want more and more.

The taste: I was expecting the first part of this cigar to be very powerful but I was wrong again. This cigar has smooth flavors from the first puff throughout. A coco flavor dominates the first half of this cigar with some roasted nuts (I could not figure out the roasted nut flavor but after reading other reviews it made since to me). I would also consider the first half full body but more medium in strength (maybe because I smoked extra slow). The second half things pick up in the strength department and you start to get a lot more tingle when you retrohale. The coco turned more dark and I also picked up some spice and maybe some rich wood type flavors with a long finish.

Over all: I’ll be honest with you, I was a little nervous about the strength of this one so I took Jesse’s advice and made it a point to smoke this cigar extra slow. I still caught myself wanting to smoke a little fast but I always corrected myself and slowed it down. The result was a great taste and just a rewarding experience. At about $6.75 at my local B&M I highly recommend that you give these a try.

For some reason these cost much more online but while doing some price searches I found a good price on these at only $123.99 for a box of the toro at www.texcigars.com. The robusto is even cheaper at $108.99 a box! This might be a box purchase later on after my other two purchases in line.

What others say about the EO 601 Maduro:

• Cigar Jack loved this smoke.