Esteban Carreras Devil's Hand Corojo Maduro — Esteban Carreras Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro Toro

Today, we review Esteban Carreras’s Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro in the Toro size. The original Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo was debuted by Esteban Carreras in 2022. The cigar introduced the first Corojo-wrapped cigar into the Esteban Carreras cigar lineup. One year later, Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro debuted. Esteban Carreras is a company that focuses on regular production cigars. In the case of the Corojo Maduro, it’s an ongoing limited-production cigar – meaning this cigar is produced in more limited quantities. The Maduro wrapper undergoes an additional two years of fermentation, which restricts the available production materials.

The story behind the name Taken From The Devil’s Hand goes back to the 1990s in Cuba. At the time, Gonzalo Puentes, the Minister of Tobacco, was tasked with enhancing the Corojo. This was done through positive selection by growing 100 plants, taking the best five, and regenerating them several times. Eventually, the positive selection seeds from the best plants were chosen. It turns out the best seeds from the project were smuggled out of Cuba to Ecuador and Nicaragua – leaving the negative selection seeds to Cuba (or the “Devil,” aka Fidel Castro).

Esteban Carreras Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro Toro – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro consists of an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper. As mentioned, the wrapper has been fermented for an extra two years. The remainder of the blend consists of all-Nicaraguan tobacco for the binder and filler.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera Carreras

Vitolas Offered

Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro comes in three sizes. Both the Toro and Sixty are packaged in 20-count boxes, while the Bootlit is in 32-count boxes.

Bootlit: 4 3/4 x 46
Toro: 6 x 50
Sixty: 6 x 60

Appearance (*)

The cigar’s Corojo Maduro wrapper was dark cinnamon-colored. There wasn’t much oil on the wrapper’s surface. Upon closer examination, some mottling and a slight amount of toothiness could be seen on the wrapper’s surface. There were some visible veins. Any visible wrapper seams were on the thin side.

Esteban Carreras Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro Toro (Paper Sleeve removed)

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

After removing the tissue sleeve from the Corojo Maduro Toro, I used a straight cut to remove the cap. I moved to the pre-light draw ritual once the cap was detached. The cold draw delivered a mix of wood, earth, and nut. It wasn’t a very exciting pre-light draw. Since the pre-light draw was not scored, there was no loss of points here. At this point, it was time to toast up the Corojo Maduro Toro and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Corojo Maduro Toro opened with notes of coffee, cream, wood, earth, and some mixed pepper. Early on, the coffee and wood notes moved into the forefront. The cream, earth, and mixed pepper notes settled in the background. Meanwhile, the retro-hale produced additional layers of both wood and mixed pepper.

The second third of the Corojo Maduro Toro saw the wood notes increase in intensity and the cream notes decrease in intensity. By midway, the wood notes took over as the primary flavor. The coffee notes from the forefront receded into the background. Meanwhile, the cream notes dissipated. There still were notes of wood and earth in the background, but the pepper notes started to increase.

The pepper notes joined the wood in the forefront by the final third. Meanwhile, in the background, the coffee and earth notes rounded things off. A slight amount of harshness emerged during this. As the Corojo Maduro came to a close, the cigar finished cool in temperature and soft to the touch.

Burn

While the Corojo Maduro Toro had a straight burn line and burn path, it took some effort to maintain that. This cigar required frequent touch-ups to keep the burn on track. The resulting ash was silver-gray in color, slightly skewed toward the looser side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Draw

The draw to the Corojo Maduro Toro had a touch of resistance to it, which I like. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

The Corojo Maduro Toro opened with medium-strength and medium-bodied flavors. The intensity levels of both attributes increased, but in the end, the Corojo Maduro remained in the medium range of the spectrum. In terms of strength versus body, both attributes balanced each other nicely, with neither overshadowing the other.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

My comments about the packaging of the Corojo Maduro are very similar to those I made about the non-maduro blend Taken From the Devil’s Hand.

Packaging of the Esteban Carreras Taken From the Devil’s Hand Corojo Maduro

On the one hand, when it comes to packaging, I’ve always felt Esteban Carreras does an outstanding job, and indeed, the packaging of the Corojo Maduro is impressive. On the other hand, while I like the design and banding of the Corojo Maduro, I wouldn’t say I liked how the tissue sleeve or secondary band was implemented. It turns out the secondary band is affixed to the paper sleeve. To remove it, you first must remove the footer ribbon. Then, the secondary band must be removed to get the paper sleeve off. It’s non-intuitive to figure this out, and I hate that the secondary band gets removed in the process. I like the secondary band to remain visible when smoking a cigar.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

When it came to the Corojo Maduro vs the Corojo of the Taken From the Devil’s Hand, I still preferred the original Corojo blend. Regarding my experience with the Toro, the extra fermentation of the wrapper didn’t produce better flavors in my book. I also think it took away some of the complexity of the blend. The $11.50 price point isn’t bad in today’s market. As I often say, cigar reviews are supposed to be subjective, and this review is my opinion. In the end, when it comes to the Corojo Maduro, you may want to try a sample and see what you think.

Summary

Key Flavors: Wood, Coffee, Earth, Cream, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium Minus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good