Matacan

Matacan is the cigar the San Andrés valley smokes itself. Made entirely from Mexican tobaccos — filler, binder and wrapper — it is a puro in the strict sense, sold in bundles rather than boxes and at a price that puts it out of competition with the great brands.

It comes out of the SAME factory as Te Amo: Nueva Matacapan Tabacos, which belongs to the Turrents, the family that has dominated Mexican tobacco for four generations. The Mexico page thus counts four entries linked to that single family — Te Amo, Santa Clara 1830, Casa Turrent and Matacan. That is not a flaw in the atlas: it is the reality of a country where one family holds the terroir.

Its references carry numbers rather than names, which says enough about its purpose: it is not a prestige brand but a range of formats, where you pick a figure according to the time you have. The presentation is minimal, often without a band.

The taste, though, is instructive: the San Andrés wrapper without the Nicaraguan or Dominican tobaccos that usually accompany it — so the Mexican terroir alone, frank and a little rough. To understand what Mexico really brings to the blends of the continent, it is the most direct sample there is.

Range Depth

• Matacan No.2

  Wrapper San Andrés · Strength Medium

  A Mexican puro in the strict sense: filler, binder and wrapper all from the country. The San Andrés terroir alone, without the tobaccos that usually accompany it — cocoa, earth, a natural sweetness.

  Robusto

• Matacan No.4

  Wrapper San Andrés Maduro · Strength Medium

  The long format of the range, under a darker wrapper. The same frankness, more cocoa, a fast burn that calls for a slow draw.

  Toro

🥃 Pairings

• Young mezcal

  Spirits

  Two products of the same region, and the same acknowledged roughness.

• Veracruz coffee

  Coffee

  Grown on the neighbouring slopes: the shortest pairing possible.