Vitola: Associate- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $6.99
- Samples provided by General Cigar
Background
It’s genuinely hard to believe that a very famous show set in New Jersey and following a tightly-knit family business premiered almost 18 years ago. Equally difficult to believe that the program last aired a new episode over 9 years ago. That show was a cultural icon that starred some actors who have become very well-known since then…including the main actor who has since died…which means that in that famous final scene, yes, Tony dies, too.
Near the end of the show’s run, CAO Cigars out of Nashville inked a deal with the studio to make a cigar tie-in. It was very well-received, even earning a Top 25 ranking from a big lifestyle magazine for 2005. I read somewhere (I’m not linking to it, because I honestly can’t remember where it was) that the original blend got changed along the way because of difficulty finding enough supply of the right leaf. Then the Nashville company was subsumed into General Cigar catalog in late 2010/early 2011. I had a conversation with someone high up in the “new CAO” hierarchy soon after the first product launch with General and specifically asked about the cigar I am conspicuously not naming…he said, “It’s going away soon, but don’t be surprised if in a year or two another cigar comes out with a different name, but the same blend.” It took a little longer than he seemed to intimate, but…that day has come.
There was a great CAO cigar that came in a red lacquered box. One day it was gone. Everyone assumed it was sleeping with the fishes.
A certain crew of guys who smoke CAO made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. They said bring back that wise guy cigar, or else. So we delivered the goods.
Consigliere is handmade in Nicaragua, with a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, bound with a Honduran leaf and features a blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican and Colombian leaves. This is a bold cigar with flavors of espresso, wood and spice.
Rick Rodriguez, CAO’s blender/ambassador was mostly tight-lipped about the new Consigliere launch. “Right now, all I can say is leave the cannolis and take the cigars. Capisce?”
General Cigar was kind enough to send some samples of the Consigliere along so I could review them. This is about the 4th I’ve smoked, as far as I can remember.
Prelight
If you remember the old cigar, the new Consigliere version will be comfortably familiar to you. The main band is the same, with CAO in red type, inside a black oval trimmed in more red, all held on by two sets of arms that wrap around the leaf…also in black with red trim. What’s missing is the foot band, but that didn’t bother me. The red box that the cigars come in is very similar, but not identical, to the original. While the original was meant to look more like a car trunk (“dat’s a 3 body trunk!”), the new version really doesn’t, but it will still remind you of the old one.
The Brazilian wrapper leaf had a very oily feel to it and it was the color of dark chocolate. It was moderately veiny, but nothing I felt was too much. To the nose, the aroma from the leaf was a straight-up classic humidor mix of ripe earth, leather, and wood, while the foot had still stronger earthiness and a note of semi-sweet chocolate.
The cold draw was very good and had a mix of earth, wood, and coffee notes.
Flavor
The Consigliere lit up fairly quickly and I was treated to a largely earthy mix of flavors that featured some rich coffee bean, cocoa powder, and leather up front, along with a dried dark fruit finish and peppery retrohale. So the question I would ask is this: does this version taste like the original version of the old brand? I would say…maybe. I don’t recall the early releases all that much; it was a very expensive brand back then and not something I would smoke often. I did have it on occasion and enjoyed it, though, then I had some that I picked up on the cheap from an online sale. The first batch of those was pretty good; the next batch was pretty bad. So it would seem to me that there was definitely an issue with consistency with the old product. Only time will tell if this will be more the same from year to year. That all said, I like the way the Consigliere started off…it was a rich, medium-to-full in body and pleasantly complex.
As I got into the second third, the sweetness had taken a bump up, while the notes of coffee and leather had dipped a bit. The red pepper on the retrohale was weaker but still hanging around, and there was the addition of a low-level pepper burn on the back of the palate.
The last third saw the sweetness abate a bit with more a leathery note come to the fore. The pepper burn died off a bit on the palate and was minimal by this time on the nose.
Construction
The draw was nearly perfect, the burn line was even enough for a Maduro, and the ash was pretty solid.
Value
Did you notice the price tag of this cigar? I was once told that the marketing tie-in with the original version added $2 to $4 to the price of the stick, but this new version is about $8 cheaper, from what I can remember. And it’s really good, so that’s what I call spectacular value.
Conclusions
The CAO Consigliere is a very good addition to the catalog…or should that be a re-addition? As someone who experienced the changes and lack of consistency with the original brand, this version is a welcome surprise and I think it will sell very well, especially since the price tag is greatly reduced from the original. If you liked the old one, you should definitely give Consigliere a try–it might just make you want to sing like a…well, like a soprano!
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
