Made in the same vein as Foundation’s 2022 headliner—Olmec—the company debuted Metapa in the summer of 2023. Where the former cigar focused on Mexican heritage, the Metapa returned to Foundation’s comfort zone of Nicaragua. Specifically, the cigars are themed around the country’s Ciudad Darío region and the poet Rubén Darío. Being considered one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language, Darío’s birthplace of Metapa was renamed in his honor, though Foundation has plucked the original Metapa title for this project.
As with the Olmec, Metapa uses an old-school strategy in terms of wrapper shade, offering the cigars in two variations (Maduro and Claro) without distinguishing between the two on the cigars’ bands. Instead, as each variation is essentially differentiated by color sorting (with each using the same Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper), with a small ribbon on the boxes themselves providing the only clue as to which cigar is the Claro and which is the Maduro.
While perhaps having more similarities in profile between the two as compared to the Olmec, we found the Metapa Claro to be the more enjoyable/complex Metapa blend. Despite the claro designation, the cigars are more in the natural/Colorado ballpark—perhaps even a tick darker. It’s one of the more complex recipes we’ve seen to date from Foundation, including two regions of Nicaraguan leaf in the filler, a Broadleaf binder, and the signature Sumatra wrapper. This makes for a dense, chewy smoke, being quick to engulf the palate and sing through the nostrils with each puff. The cigar is fairly hefty in terms of profile, stinging with cinnamon and nutmeg before settling into lingering complexities of roasted chestnut, buttery coffee bean, and sweet brown sugar.
Metapa Claro Breakdown
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaragua (Estelí | Jalapa)
Factory: Tabacalera A.J. Fernández Cigars de Nicaragua (Nicaragua)
Production: Regular Production
Vitolas: 4
Price: $14.50–$18.00 (MSRP)
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