Cain Maduro
I had pretty good results with the Cain Habano, and figured it was only fair to give the maduro wrapped version of this cigar a try. The quick run down is that this is a triple ligero cigar. What that means is a large percentage of the binder, filler, and the wrapper consists of ligero tobacco leaves. Ligero comes from the top of the tobacco plant. Those leaves are most exposed to the sun and elements. This in turn causes a thicker, darker, and fuller bodied tobacco. Learn more by visiting their website. Armed with a glass of water and an empty stomach, I ventured into reviewing this full bodied cigar.
Wrapper: Mexican Maduro
Filler & Binder: Nicaragua
Size: 5.75 x 50
Price: Around $7.00
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The first thing I noticed about this cigar was the rugged looking dark wrapper. It was oily, a little bumpy, and had small to medium size veins. Sniffing the wrapper revealed a fairly strong sweet spice. When sniffing the foot, I found a sweet and somewhat strong peppery sensation. The pre-light draw was a little stiff, and didn’t have a lot of taste. Perhaps a slight odor of a barn with an added sweetness. I found the cigar to be tightly packed, yet it felt a little doughy when pinching the entire length.
The burn required a few corrections, and the snug draw became less of an issue as I progressed past the first third. If you look closely in the picture of the 2nd third, the wrapper developed a big split from expansion of the filler and binder. The ash held for well over an inch.
Flavor:
The first third was fairly simple, yet full in body and strength. I detected smooth earthy notes combined with a dry sweetness. When retro-haling, fairly strong pepper was noticed. The smoke feel was thick, yet the snug draw left me wanting more volume.
The second third didn’t offer too much in terms of complexities. It did creep a bit higher in the full bodied scale. This third left me with an obvious nicotine buzz but no sickness at all. The smoke feel was thick and coated the inside of the mouth. The flavor it left was dry and woody. The only other flavor I could pick out was a nice smooth pepper with no harshness.
The last third took me well into the upper full bodied range. With a full on nicotine buzz, it was refined and left me with no queasiness. The smoke feel remained thick and coated the mouth. The dominant dry, peppery/woody flavor remained. There was an addition of slight mocha notes and rounded out the flavor profile.
Conclusion:
It is strongly suggested that the Cain is smoked after a meal. I opted to not take this advice, and had no problems at all. This tells me this isn’t a cheap-o cigar. I enjoyed the power and simple flavors and could appreciate the refined smoke feel. If I were to find a flaw, I’d have to say it seems like the focus of the Cain is on power over flavor complexities. That is fine for those who enjoy that type of cigar. I think there is a market for this, and from time to time I’ll reach for a Cain. I can only suggest that you try it and see if it’s for you.
