Boss, 7" x 56 ring, approx. $16In what is likely the only collaboration of its kind, HBO contracted with CAO to create a cigar to celebrate their hit show, The Sopranos. This cigar had to be bold and strong in order to represent such a "tough guy" inspiration, so CAO used a blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican and Columbian tobacco for the filler, Honduran leaf for the binder and a dark, oily, super-rich Brazilian wrapper.
This cigar is intimidating in its appearance, long and thick with the very rich Brazilian wrapper--if a cigar can exude attitude, then surely this one does. The CAO website rates this as full-bodied and, honestly, the look of the cigar makes you think that this cigar does not even have to prove that assumption. The aromas form the body and foot of the unlit cigar are very faint, maybe just a little coffee there. The prelight draw is easy and tastes of coffee and dark chocolate, with just a little spicy tingle on the lips.
It was easy to see this was going to be a fun smoke--right from the beginning the body was full and the flavors were "in your face." There was strong coffee and semi-sweet chocolate with a decent amount of black pepper, too. If these sticks did not carry such a hefty price tag (probably owing in some part to the TV show tie-in), I could easily see this one getting in my regular rotation. It was bold and peppery right out of the barrel of the gun. I thought I probably should try to retrohale this beast, but I did it anyway--that is one way to experience a spicy blast! And come close to choking yourself in the process--this thing had some seriously powerful smoke.
At about a third in, the Sopranos Edition started taking on a leathery not. The retrohale was easier at this point and the pepper had died down quite a bit. The burn started to canoe at one point, but it did not get bad and eventually corrected itself.
After another third of the cigar had been put to rest, or sent to sleep with the fish, I was having a newfound respect and love for this cigar. The flavor was still on the leathery side, but with some spice popping up from time to time. The construction was simply fantastic--no draw issues, the one burn issue corrected itself and there was no tendency to unravel as I have experienced in many figurado-shaped stogies in the past. Even the tiny wrapper split that occurred did not run or affect the smoking enjoyment in any way.
Final thoughts--this is a great cigar! Full-bodied but not overpoweringly strong in the nicotine department. The flavors were bold right from the start and did not let up even as they changed. The one drawback, again, is the price. Unless someone makes me an offer I can't refuse, this will be relegated to the "special occasion cigar" status.
On other thought that occurred to me: how much longer will this cigar be made? The TV show that was in the inspiration for this smoke ended almost two years ago, and although its popularity is still high, I would not expect that to remain the case forever. Will this cigar end up being discontinued at some point? Will the blend be retains and repackaged when the deal with HBO is over? I hope that is the case. This is a great cigar and I would love to see it be a permanent part of the CAO line-up.
Body: 9/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 8/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9.5/10
0 comments:
Post a Comment