The Arcana Series started our several years back as a way for CAO Cigars to produce experimental blends on a small scale…generally one release per year in a single size and limited in production. The latest release is the CAO Arcana Stokk, developed in partnership with the legendary pipe tobacco company, Peter Stokkebye. They use Dominican Andullo, Cyprian Latakia, and Honduran fillers, a Nicaraguan binder, and a US Broadleaf wrapper. Andullo leaf is a rare and strong tobacco processed by wrapping the leaves tightly in palm leaves and fermenting them for up to two years. Latakia is a type of pipe tobacco produced in Turkey or Cyprus; it is cured with the smoke of aromatic woods giving it a slightly sweet, woody, and smoky flavor. While using pipe tobacco in a cigar blend is hardly earth shattering anymore, it is still a rare thing to do…and it’s even rarer to create a blend that is worth smoking more than once.
Smelling the wrapper leaf of the cigar, the presence of the Latakia is immediately present with it’s rich and pungent smokiness coming through everything else. This is a Broadleaf wrapper? I wouldn’t be able to tell by smelling as it has none of the earth or chocolate characteristics I associate with it. The foot had more of the Latakia smoke, but there was also earth and some sort of sweetness…almost a dried fruit note. The next thing to do was to determine if I wanted to try to smoke any of this before removing the band…since there was literally about an inch at the foot and an inch and a half at the head not covered by gold foil and other marketing material, I thought it best to just do away with it. There were no surprises waiting under the massive band…just an oily wrapper leaf approximately the color of milk chocolate, but with lots of mottling.
The cold draw was nothing you would not expect if you have experience smoking Oriental pipe tobacco blends. This tasted pretty much just like that, although with a little more sweetness. When I lit it up, the experience was a confusing mix…yes, plenty of pipe tobacco smokiness as expected, but the CAO Stokke also offered up notes of mocha and earth, along with a nice red pepper spice on the finish and nose. I wouldn’t even say that the Latakia had a less prominent presence after a few puffs.
As I made my way through the CAO Stokke, I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. I was all set to say that while these cigar/pipe mashups were interesting, they never left me wanting to buy another one…with this I can’t honestly say that. While it’s not something I would reach for frequently, it is something I would enjoy on occasion and I plan to buy at least a couple more before they disappear from store shelves.
