Wrapper:  Nicaraguan Habano

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan (Esteli, Condega, Jalapa ligero)

Size: 6 x 54 “Torpedo”

Body: Full

Price: $7.00

Here is a cigar that’s been around for a while and it fell through the cracks on my radar. Oliva cigars are filed in my Old School cabinet. They take a long time to age properly and so one must be very patient. And like most people, I prefer a stick that finds its zenith in 2-4 weeks, rather than 4-6 months.

But I have several of these cigars in my humidor that I actually showed some patience with and allowed them to sleep the sleep of the dead.

So I am anxious to try this stick after approximately 6 months of aging.

The Cain Habano is also referred to as the Cain Straight Ligero. The blend is comprised of 25% Esteli Ligero, 27% Condega Ligero, and 30% Jalapa Ligero. How do I know this? Because that is the description on Atlantic Cigar’s web site.

Construction on these babies is rock solid. There is only the tiniest of give. The Habano wrapper is a beautiful coffee bean brown with invisible seams, some veins and a nice oily sheen. And a bit of tooth.

I sniff around and detect spice, leather, cedar, cocoa, coffee, sweetness, and baking spices. All the components you expect in a Nicaraguan puro.

I do a V cut and light up.

The first puffs are earthy. With a slight cocoa after taste. As this is a Nicaraguan puro, I grab my Diet Coke as I expect loads of cocoa and I crave the chocolate soda experience.

The draw is a little tight but just barely. Smoke is pouring from the foot. The char line is exemplary. Perfection. The cocoa ascends to the throne of the flavor profile and then the black pepper arrives. It is starting off casually but no cigar made up of this much ligero is going to have pepper stay in the back ground.

This stick is a smoker so my fingers are crossed that I get some nice artsy smoke photos.

A sweetness appears. And a fruity component I can’t recognize yet. The cigar starts off with a very pleasing format. I’m glad I waited to smoke these cigars. Actually, I did try one two weeks in and it was terrible. Tasted like musk and barnyard. What a difference a little time makes.

The first third can be characterized as subdued. An ever rising spiciness, cocoa and coffee and the sweetness and fruitiness maintain their vigil in this first third.

I’m probably a schmuck for smoking this as my first morning cigar without a single Cheerio in my belly. I will pay for this in the last third as my head spins like Linda Blair while screaming, “Your mother sells socks in Hell!!”

I might add that the flavor profile isn’t strong enough for the cola experience to work yet.

The second third sees an arrival of creaminess which enhances the other flavors. Now we’re talking. The ligero is doing its job. Although, the spiciness has been modified to a constant but manageable. The creaminess is at the head of the pack still.

At the halfway point, the cigar flavor profile really takes off. The Nic flavors of cocoa, coffee, sweetness, and something fruity are in high gear. What a delicious stick. I have to reiterate about the construction. The char line continues to be perfect as well as the draw. The cap is so well made that not a single piece of tobacco comes loose.

At this point, all I can think of is that I want more. I only bought a 5 pack. And have only 3 left. It’s time to go back to Atlantic Cigar and get me some.

The fruitiness finally defines itself. It is raisin. Not an uncommon flavor on Nic cigars. But elusive in the beginning of the stick.

I see the beginning of the last third. The body, surprisingly, has been a classic medium. So this last third is probably going to kick my ass.

I look down to the ashtray and sunlight is shining on the cigar. What a beautiful wrapper.

I’m beginning to get light headed. Go ligero! The flavor profile explodes in this last couple of inches. It doesn’t have the amount of cocoa I expected. The creaminess and spice were the main flavors. There is not much complexity. Just flavor and strength.

The words on the page begin to swirl and I’m right behind it. The ligero has really kicked up some dust.

I force myself to finish the cigar but what a mistake not putting some food in my stomach first.

If strong cigars are your thing, well; this is your cigar. And as I come close to finishing, the cocoa component moves to the front. At last. I take a swig of Coke and get that delicious concoction from my childhood.

And now for something completely different:

No bragging and name dropping in this story. It was circa 1972-1973. My band, “Homegrown” was a force to be reckoned with. We had a singer that could sing anything, especially, Led Zep. So we had a huge arsenal of Zep tunes we did plus all the rock groups of the day. So we got booked a lot. There were 5 of us.

We found our niche by playing at military bases in So Cal. Our favorite was El Toro. A Marine base. We played for the enlisted men. We played a couple times for the OC but that was a disaster. They preferred country. It was like being in Spinal Tap.

We got to know every single of the hundreds of Marines that came to see us. We were their favorite band and insisted we play there at least one weekend a month which really pissed off their booker. We were a band that would immediately learn a new hit on the radio, like “Stairway to Heaven.” The first night, we must have been forced to play it 5 times.

We all smoked the herb back then…and that’s about it. Our singer, Mark, would do about anything; short of heroin.

And the Marines, who were mostly stoners, knew this. So during the gig, grunts would walk up to the stage in the middle of a song and put a bunch of pills in Mark’s hand and he would just pop them in his mouth. No asking what they were. No looking at them. The band would always look at each other and shake our heads when this happened.

Now Mark could sing like a bird under the influence of a huge array of drugs..mostly hallucinatory. And he had charisma. We all did.

One gig, we were setting up around 5pm, and some of our Marine buddies came in and asked if we heard about Shorty. A fellow Marine that was always stoned out of his mind.

We reacted in a knee jerk response, “NO! What happened?”

“He was on the roof of the barracks over there and he fell off.” We nearly collapsed. Those roofs were at least 60 feet high. We were left speechless.

“But don’t worry; he will be here tonight when you play.”

WTF?

We did a cartoon shake of our heads. “He didn’t die?

“No. Just a bunch of bruises.”

He survived because he was so stoned; he bounced and got the wind knocked out of him. That’s it. We were stupefied. And very glad that Shorty was OK.

Just before the gig, Shorty came limping in with a huge smile on his puss. He yelled out to us and limped over. We all asked how he was and he said he was a little sore. We all lectured him and he just laughed. And then extended his hand to Mark which contained a hodge podge of pills. LOL.

Another time, there was this huge Marine that was a nasty drunk. He objected to our long hair and me in particular. He was heckling us while we played. We had roadies and one was just as big as this Marine. He was itching to pop this guy. But we told him no.

Right in the middle of a song, he rushed the stage; heading towards me. He was a couple feet away and I swung the neck of my bass and clocked him with the head of the bass. Knocked him out cold as he flew off the stage and on to his back on the dance floor. Our roadie came running to defend me further if needed. It wasn’t needed. The entire audience applauded. Apparently, this guy was known to be a big bully. And he did not appear to have friends. So I took a bow and continued to finish the song.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS