CAO Arcana Mortal Coil and Some Random Thoughts

Before I get to the cigar, let me get some stuff off my chest. Little things get under my skin that maybe shouldn’t. but they do. Simple misuse of cigar terminology, for instance. Call it a pet peeve. One that came up recently was while listening to a podcast that I don’t often listen to, and the host is a large reason why. I firmly believe that if you are hosting a cigar podcast, and consider yourself experienced in the cigar industry, you should have a good grasp on simple terminology. For instance, if someone says they take the wrapper off a cigar and put it in their wallet, I’m picturing peeling the outer leaf off and it making a big mess in someone’s billfold, leaving an ugly cigar with just the binder, basically ruining the cigar and changing the flavor dramatically. I try to correct this when I see the mistake made in forums by laymen, I pretty much correct those who refer to either cello or the band as the wrapper. Generally the question is something like: “should I remove the wrappers from my cigars when I put them in the humidor” and my response is :“ No! The wrapper is the most expensive leaf and takes skill to apply, and adds flavor to the cigar! You probably mean the cellophane” or something similarly smart ass. But I don’t expect this mistake from someone hosting a podcast, writing a cigar blog, or otherwise in cigar media. In talking to other people, this isn’t this individual’s only flaw by any stretch. I find his interviewing style egregius and he’s unentertaining. I’ve gone as far as to remove the link to the show from my site as it’s no longer worth having any association with. This is actually one of the kind of cigar media guys who could give the rest of us a bad name in the industry. That’s the end of my rant, before I go any further down a rabbit hole. I smoked cigars this week, let’s talk about that!

I smoked a few cigars this week that I can’t talk about that were really interesting, and a couple that I want to smoke more of before writing about, but the one standout was the new CAO Arcana Mortal Coil. With Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) coming to their senses and hiring back their PR director recently, samples have begun showing up in my mailbox again, and I haven’t had to journey out looking for this cigar, which I would have done anyway, because it sounded amazing. The Mortal Coil has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, with a Connecticut Shade binder and Dominican Andullo, Honduran Jamastran, Nicaraguan Esteli and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. It’s 6 1/8″ x 50 and they only made 5000 boxes (I think they left out how many per box!). I found this to be a powerhouse cigar, and I loved it. It was rich and spicy, with some nice sweet flavors, and I really enjoyed it. I wan’t enamoured with the band though, it’s about 7½” long when unfurled. I get it, it coiled around the cigar, but it’s a lot of band to deal with, and must irritate the folks in the STG factory in Esteli who have to apply it to the cigars, as it’s totally different that banding any other cigar. That being said, it’s not a cord of tobacco, so there’s that. Overall, it’s a really good cigar for my palate, and I’ll be picking up some if I see them in the shops, just to have on hand for a treat. I appreciate the interplay of the Broadleaf and shade wrapper/binder combo, the CAO Bones has the same combo and I really like that. 

Speaking of bands, my wife is working on another cigar band table project and needs yellow bands! What cigars have yellow bands? Leave comments with suggestions, or if you have some, let me know and we can come to an arrangement (wink, wink). 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig