Vitola: V554 (Robusto)
Size: 5.5” x 54 ring gauge
MSRP: ~$7.25
Cigars provided by General Cigar Co.
Background
General Cigar Company was kind enough to provide Dave and I samples of their most recent release for review. You can read Dave’s review here. When I head about the release of the cigar I was very intrigued since it would be featuring a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper. Like Dave this is one of my favorite wrappers. Being a bit of a car guy the name also caught my attention. Since General took over CAO I haven’t really been wowed by any of the new blends. I had hopes for this cigar. I was able to smoke at least one other of this size and some a couple other of the sizes prior to this review cigar.
Prelight
The first thing I notice when taking the cigar out of the cello, is that it has a very flat head. After you cut off the wrapper covering the head it reminds me a lot of a Villiger Export. The band and box remind me a lot more of a motorcycle cylinder head than one on an old flathead cylinder cover. The cap on this cigar was busted on both sides, however I don’t know what caused it and I can’t remember this issue on the other ones I smoked so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The wrapper on it was very dark brown in color with some almost black mottling to it. The wrapper also exhibited a good amount of tooth with some oils. The cigar feels very dense and heavy in the hand. When I gave it a squeeze there was a slight amount of give but no soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper I’m able to get the aroma of leather and barnyard from the wrapper with an intense barnyard from the foot. After clipping off the cap and taking a cold draw I got a slightly salty sweetness with a good draw.
Flavors
The cigar starts off with maple sweetness, chocolate, leather flavors. The spice is fairly strong at the beginning especially on the retrohale. As I moved into this third I could start getting light flavors of green herbs along with coffee. The spice did start to tone down but the strength was still in the medium full range. As I got into the second third the spice started to make my tongue tingle a bit. The flavors changed slightly with chocolate in the forefront with some coffee, leather and cinnamon thrown in. The final third saw the spice and strength build into the full range. I started to get a nicotine hit from it as well. The flavors I noted in the final third were of chocolate, coffee, wood, leather, cinnamon with hints of anise on the finish.
Construction
The draw was perfect throughout the entire cigar. The smoke billowed from the cigar even while I wasn’t puffing on it. It did take a bit to get lit and cause some uneven burn. It also canoed pretty bad in the first third that required correcting from my lighter.
Value
I’m very glad to see cigar companies focusing on this price point as it is the sweet spot for what I normally spend on cigars. I think CAO got the price right on this one.
Conclusion
I very much enjoyed this cigar. I do think the extra time I let it sit in my humidor smoothed out some of the flavors and allowed them to marry better. I enjoyed this one more than the couple I smoked right after they came out. Connecticut in an excellent candidate for aging IMO so this makes sense. If you like any of the other CAO maduros, and some strength doesn’t scare you away, I’d definitely give this one a try.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
Great review Keith. I have smoked a lot of the CAO’s over the years but i haven’t had these new Flatheads lines. I saw them the other day up at CI but I passed. I may have to swing back up there and pick up a couple!