Cain F lancero

[Don Fernando]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjoPZqcC4k

A few months ago I got an email from Brian Shapiro, president of international sales of Oliva, who asked me if I wanted to be a member of the advisory board of Studio Tobac, a project that I only heard off a few days earlier when I did an interview with José Oliva for my Dutch website sigarenliefhebber.nl. I was honored just to be asked and ofcourse I said yes. Fast forward to February first, the mailman rang my doorbell and handed me a small box. I recognized the return address as being the Oliva headquarters. Inside the box I found a letter that I was accepted in the advisory board and two fivers, one fiver of Cain F nubs and one fiver of Cain F lancero. Those lancero are special, they will not be commercially released, they will only be available in the Studio Tobac 2011 world tour sampler which will be a 'free with purchase' gift. More info on the Cain F lancero can be found here.



The 7x38 lancero looks good with a nice, quite deep and dark, oily wrapper which looks tough. I see some veins and the wrapper has a silky feel. The cigar has a strong barnyard and wood smell. The construction feels good. Like any Nub and Cain, this cigar has a foot band. The predraw is good and I taste a spicy tobacco flavor.



I taste a lot of pepper with some earth and coffee. The coffee disappears after a quarter of an inch, I still taste pepper with an earthy flavor. After an inch I taste pepper with herbs and some wood. The earthy flavor is gone. After two inch I still taste the pepper but the wood and herbal flavors are getting smooth and the structure of the flavors is mild creamy.



After a third I get a little hint of chocolate and the pepper starts to fade away. Halfway I taste wood and herbs again, both the pepper and the chocolate have disappeared. After two thirds the pepper returns with a vengeance. It tastes like four seasons pepper, with herbs and wood.



This cigar lasted me for an hour and twenty five minutes. I got a lot of thick white smoke. The draw and the burn are very good. The pepper and salt colored ash isn't very firm. This cigar is full flavored and full bodied.



Would I buy this cigar again? I will have to buy a box at the Studio Tobac world tour, just to get a sampler

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10