Firstly apologies about the picture, I took it when this cigar arrived in my humidor a few months ago, and forgot to check it.
This is the first Cain cigar I have smoked, but as its from the Oliva family, and I love the Serie V so much I was pretty hopeful that I would like this. Prior to smoking this cigar I had been warned it was a pretty strong stick, so I decided to have it after some food just to make sure it did not kick me too much.
Appearance 7.5/10
The poor picture does not really show it but the wrapper had a fair few spots and blemishes. It also seemed to lack the oily sheen of other Maduro wrappers I have seen, the wrapper was like this when the cigar arrived so I assumed it was a little dry, which is why I left it in my humidor for a few months, but the wrapper did not change.
The slightly dry wrapper felt a little odd between my fingers, and gave the cigar wrapper a brittle feel.
There were also a few small veins, as well as being seen these could be felt as ridges on the wrapper, which detracted from the overall appearance.
Construction & Draw 8.5/10
Wrapper issues aside, this is a well constructed cigar, cap construction is excellent, and I got a really clean cut. I could detect no soft or hard spots when squeezing the cigar, so I was expecting a consistent draw and burn.
The draw on this cigar was excellent, it was slightly tighter than some other cigars of a similar ring gauge I have smoked, but sometimes for me large ring gauge cigars are a little too easy on the draw, so I felt the draw was pretty much perfect for me on this cigar.
The burn line on this cigar got a little erratic about half way through the stick, but it did not require a touch up, and quickly corrected itself when a problem occurred.
Flavour 8.0/10
Pre-light this cigar had a spicy and slightly musty smell, after lighting the stick I was greeted with a pretty powerful hit of peppery spice, which for me was a little over powering, but luckily it soon backed off a little.
The general flavour profile was a little bit static for me, somehow because of the strength of this cigar I expected it to have complex flavours that changed notably during the life of the stick. Once the initial pepper/spice backed off I could detect a woody flavour coupled with a slight cocoa taste, for the majority of the stick this is how the flavour profile stayed, it was only once I got into the last third that I detected some nutty notes, and the spice came back again.
I really enjoyed the flavour of this stick, it quite suited my palette, however I would have preferred the profile to evolve and change a little more, whilst enjoyable this cigar was a little more one dimensional that I would have liked.
This is a strong powerful smoke so I decided to pair it with a Whisky of similar characteristics, so I chose a drop of Highland Park 18 which turned out to be a good pairing, both adding to the flavours of the other. I think if you used a less smokey Whisky then the cigar would overpower the drink.
One interesting thing I noticed was the effect of the smoke on my eyes, if the smoke drifted directly into my eyes, I could feel the irritation, I have never had a stick irritate my eyes before. Even if you were not smoking this stick the strength of the smoke would tell you how strong the cigar is.
Value 8.5/10
At 8.50 USD you are getting a lot of cigar for your money, but just getting a lot for you money with cigars is not what you should be looking for, luckily this is a pretty good to very good cigar, which lasted around 2 hours, so I think it represents good value for money.
Summary 8.0/10
This is not a cigar to have on an empty stomach, I am very glad that I had this soon after eating, as it is a powerhouse of a cigar, probably one of, if not the strongest cigar I have smoked. What lets this cigar down is the appearance, and the slightly disappointing flavor profile.
However this is still a good cigar, and if you are looking for something to blow you away with its strength then this is a good stick. This is not an everyday smoke, and you would need to be careful when you smoke it, but if I can I will probably try to add a couple to my humidor.
UK Cigarnewbie 