San Lotano Oval maduro in Robusto

This 5 X 52 oval shaped cigar, appears to be flat.  It almost appears that it is squished, but does keep some of the traditional roundness of most cigars.  Its has a dark brown wrapper.  The wrapper is light brown in some areas but is overall a dark maduro. It has visible seems and a few veins.  First light reveals a rich coffee and black pepper flavor on the draw and a earthy sweetness on the finish and after taste.  The draw is fairly loose. There are large plumes of smoke and the flavors remain the same through the first inch.  The burn is near razor sharp.

Now I'm onto the second inch. The burn is wavy and the wrapper is very thick, giving a few burn issues. Its giving me the impression that it may be tunneling and going out.  Smoke production has dramatically decreased and a bitterness is hitting my palate hard.  Two more draws and the cigar has gone out.  I taped the ash off to discover that it is indeed tunneling.  I am smoking this outside.  Its about 64 degrees here in central Illinois today.  The wind may be a factor to the burn.  However, I am sheltered by a few trees, the wind is at about 6-10 miles an hour.  I am dong my best to keep the cigar out of the wind.

After relighting, I smoked the cigar down another inch or so.  The coffee and black pepper are back on the draw, but are slightly bitter and chalky feeling in my mouth.  I think this "chalky" feel is due to the relight,  I get this often after relighting cigars.  The pepper is at a 6-10 on the pepper scale and is quite powerful at times going  up to a 7-10 during a few draws.  at about the 3 1/2 inch mark the chalky feel and bitterness have gone away.  The burn is very wonky and did require another two touch ups. The smoke production has never quite caught up to the first inch and is only giving medium out put.  The flavors remained unchanged.  Its still a rich coffee and pepper on the draw, and a sweet earthy after taste that continues until the next puff.

I sat the cigar down with around 1 1/2 inches to go where the cigar went out by itself.  The overall burn time was about an hour. Overall, the cigar had good flavor but was not complex.  I have had cheaper maduro cigars that performed much better with the burn and had near the same flavor.  The La Perla Habana Classic Maduro comes to mind.  I have one more sample of this cigar in my humidor.  I will review it again after a few months of rest to see if it preforms better.

Price: $8.50
Appearance: 90
Draw: 88
Burn: 82
Flavor: 89
Burn Time: 87

Overall Score: 87