Smoking Through a Cain Cigar Sampler

Last week I was auditing some of my advertising partners (OK, that’s a euphemism, I was shopping…), and I picked up a couple Cain samplers from CigarThief. This happens all the time, I start browsing and see something that I don’t need or have room for and the price is too good to pass up, I’d be nuts not to buy it, so I do. I then have to worry about where to put the stuff later. In this case it was the five cigar sampler of Cain cigars from Oliva. It arrived the next day. I remember walking in to my local shop at the time and the proprietor, fresh back from the trade show, said to me “throw away your Cubans, you gotta try this new cigar called “Cain”. This guy was a guy who was into Havanas too, he had gotten into some trouble years earlier with the BATF for having them in the store. This was a major boast coming from this guy. Of course, I had to wait for them to come in. Turns out that this was another brand that Sam Leccia was behind, following his success as the brand ambassador for Nub with Oliva Cigars. He would continue to do rolling events featuring both cigars for a few years until his unceremonious departure. I was a fan of the Cains early on, smoked a bunch of them, I was especially fond of the Cain F Lancero, which is what prompted me to take this little sentimental journey.

Cain Cigars are made by Oliva Cigar Co., although you wouldn’t know it looking at their website. I can’t figure this out. Is Cain still in production? It seems like they are still widely available. I just can’t find them on a website anywhere. It’s a cigar they should embrace! I started with the original Habano 550. Their sizes are confusing, because this one is 5¾” x 50, which is pretty close to a toro, which is like, but it ain’t 550. I’m not sure what they call the 5″ x 50, which they clearly have in the portfolio. This is where having them listed on the manufacturer website comes in handy. Retailers websites aren’t always all-inclusive. I seem to recall the old Studio Tabac website having a breakdown of the blend, with percentages of the ligero too. These were billed as “Straight Ligero”, which, of course, didn’t mean they were 100% ligero. They are bold cigars, and the Habano was excellent. It took me back to one of my very first blog posts, where I was celebrating the birthday which I received the CigarCraig.com domain as a gift with a Cain Habano. Deep, rich earthy flavors. These remain very good cigars.

I deviated from the chronological order of the brand’s releases by smoking the Cain Daytona next. I believe this cigar came after Sam’s departure. This was a little bit mellower representation of the Cain blend, maybe more sophisticated. This one, whatever they called it, was definitely 5″ x 50, has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers. This is probably better suited for a sunday morning with coffee cigar, but it was a great cigar for a Saturday afternoon after cutting the grass and running errands, before taking a nap. Just enough strength and loads of flavor. Definitely a solid robusto, and I am fairly certain I have an old lancero or two in the humidor.

Last night I tackled the Cain Maduro. I’m pretty sure this is a the same blend as the Habano with a Maduro wrapper, although,, lacking information on a manufacturer’s website, I have no way to verify that. As a maduro lover, I have to say that I can do without this cigar in the line. It’s a good cigar, if it was the only Cain, I’d be happy with it, but I think the other iterations are better. The wrapper adds the espresso component, but I actually prefer the Habano wrapped version more. If I’m picking Cains, I admit that the Maduro is on the bottom of my list. Weird, huh? It’s still a pretty strong cigar, having a high percentage of Ligero.

Sometime around 2012 They came out with the Cain F. I think the F stood for Fuerte, maybe Sam had his hand in it before he left, I don’t recall. By 2013 they had replaced Sam with a guy named Byran Scholle. They had trained him to do rolling demonstrations something like Sam did, without the artistic flair. Bryan’s signature was. rolling a cigar he called the Cain FU, which was an amped up Cain F, which I smoked fresh and it wasn’t all that ass-kicking. I am smoking the Cain F 550 Robusto as I write this and it’s a rich, flavorful cigar, with a fair amount of strength, especially for a Sunday morning. It’s especially good with coffee, and I’m glad I had a heaping bowl of Cheerios! I can’t tell you how many Cain F Lanceros I’ve smoked over the years, and I still have a couple squirreled away, so I’m fairly familiar with the cigar. I like it a great deal. I don’t know why I like it , I just do, it checks all the boxes for me. It’s burning perfectly for me, although I have let it go out a few times. It’s a good way to start the day! I’m glad I picked up a few of these samplers! It’s been a fun trip down memory lane!