It's a riveted ribbed steel cylinder drum with the very worst sharp edges filed down. I presume a binary scale whether there is a cuica or not, and this definitely is a cuica. Does *the sound*, and loudly so, bringing the salsa joy instantly to literally any occasion, and incidentally will also have you booted instantly from many occasions. Weird.
The skin and stick looks a bit feeble as they do, and the only drawback here would be that the replacements costs quite a lot and for a new player you are bound to have a bit more wear and tear (or pinch and squeaks rather) than a seasoned player, so maybe throw in a freebie with these since it's something that will need replacing. Bonus points for including a cute little wrench for the clamps though that I absolutely haven't already lost in a drawer somewhere.