Cigar Review: Cain Habano

Torpedo, 6" x 54 ring gauge, $7.15
In 2008, the cigar world got to know Sam Leccia through his original creation, the Nub, a cigar specially designed to get to the heart of the flavor from the first moment you sent first to it. This year, working with the Oliva Cigar Company again, Sam has created Cain, the cigar that was all the rage at this year's IPCPR. They are billing this cigar as "Straight Ligero," although that is a bit of a misnomer as the cigar is really only about 82 percent ligero with some seco and viso tobacco blended in to ensure that the thing will actually burn. Perhaps a better appellation would have been "Max Ligero." This cigar features tobaccos from the Jalapa Valley, Condega, and Esteli regions of Nicaragua; curiously enough, these last two regions are the origins for two of the three ligero tobaccos in CAO's LX2. The Cain comes with either a fuller-bodied maduro wrapper or the "slightly milder" Habano wrapper that I smoked for this review.

The Cain Habano looks flawless upon inspection. The wrapper has a nice oily sheen and there are no defects. There are visible veins but they are hard to feel; the wrapper is toothy and slightly lumpy in places. The aroma is of barnyard and cigar-store humidor from the wrapper with a richer coffee and cocoa mixture from the foot. The feel is slightly soft toward the foot, but nothing unusual. The prelight draw had some chocolate along with some sweetness and spiciness and some other element that was hard to put a finger on.

Saying the Cain is full-bodied is a bit of an understatement. The flavor is almost thick enough to cut with a knife right from the get-go. The smoke is oily and smoother than you would expect from the reputation this cigar already has; there are some harsh edges to it from time-to-time, though. It was easy to taste both black pepper and a different "chili pepper" spice at the same time along with notes of dark roasted coffee. The ash fell off after about an inch which means no "Cain-stand" photos. :) Midway through the first third my impressions were of dark, dark coffee and black pepper; the body of the stick is pretty much off the scale--the smoke leaves the mouth feeling coated and slightly overwhelmed.

By the time the second third got underway, the Cain got a little smoother and smokeable while not lightening up in the body area one bit. The smoke is still very oily and tended to hang around the head where it stung my eyes more than any cigar in recent memory. The draw had been flawless so far and the burn line was very straight. The second third was stronger in the coffee flavor, but the pepper and spice practically disappeared.

The last third started with some bitter/sour flavors that thankfully went away quickly. The Cain returned to its strong coffee flavor and massive body. Overall, this is a very good cigar that lands somewhere between the Oliva V and the V Maduro in flavor, body, and strength. The price is simply awesome for such a flavorful and powerful stick and I will definitely be adding this to the rotation as an "after a big steak dinner" smoke. Definitely not for newbies unless you need a laugh and want to see them get green and spew.

Body: 10/10
Strength: 9/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10