FASA | CigarCraig's Blog

I picked up some new-to-me cigars this week at a couple different shops. I started out with the Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas in the A60 size. Funny enough, when I bought this, along with a West Tampa Red, I was sure I was getting toros, but when I got home I noticed I picked out the 6″ x 60 sizes in both. Not a big deal, I like a 60 ring. For those who don’t know, Tim Ozgener, owner of the brand, sold his family’s last brand, CAO, to Scandinavian Tobacco ten or twelve years back. The Aramas has been around for about a year, so I’m a little slow on the uptake on this one. The name Aramas is a combination of the names of Mount Ararat, a dormant volcano located near the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. In Armenian, the name of the volcano is Masis. These are made at what was then Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., now Casa Carillo, in the D.R.. The blend is a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Connecticut broadleaf. I found this to be a fairly strong cigar with a peppery start. It settled a little, with dark espresso and bitter chocolate notes. It was right up my alley, although I don’t buy a lot of $15 cigars. It was a special treat and was relaxing after a tiring Thursday.

I stopped in another shop on my way home Friday and picked up a few more new cigars, and smoked the Tatuaje PCA Exclusive 2023, which I believe, despite the date on the box, recently hit stores. I’m fortunate to have two very different shops within a two mile radius of home. This is a 6 3/8″ x 54 with an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, a Nicaraguan double binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s made at My Father Cigars S.A. in Esteli. I think this was another $15 cigar, and another cigar I would smoke more often if not for the price. This started out with a bright cane sugar sweetness that I really enjoyed. It built some spice as it went on, and was a really exceptional smoke. I was enamoured with it start to finish. No regrets.

I also picked up a couple of the new CAO FASA, the Sol and the Noche, both in the Gigante size. It was a Gordo week for me this week. I started with the Sol while watching some Star Wars movies on the porch. I usually start with the maduro, but it seemed more appropriate to smoke the Sol in the afternoon and the Noche in the evening. First off, the Gigantes in this line are around $8 (I’m in no cigar tax PA remember, your mileage may vary), quite reasonable these days. The Sol has an Olancho San Augustine wrapper. The first cigar General put out under the CAO banner, with Rick Rodriguez doing the blend, was the OSA Sol, not commercially successful, but was a tasty smoke in some sizes. They use this OSA wrapper on a lot of cigars now, they must grow tons of it in Honduras. The binder on the FASA Sol is Cameroon, with fillers from the D.R. (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli). This stares with some pepper, then some sweetness started less than in inch in. This was a really good cigar to me, I’m going to have to go back and try some of the other sizes. The spice and sweetness combined with some nutiness, it was a really nice afternoon smoke, rivalling the Tatuaje at nearly half the price.

Naturally I had high hopes for the CAO FASA Noche, also in the 6″ x 60 Gigante size. I actually did purposely buy these two in this size, I like a theme, and the CAO and Ozgener connection wasn’t enough (and I bought and smoked the West Tampa Red, which has another CAO connection). The FASA Noche has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Cameroon binder and the same filler combo as the Sol, Dominican (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli). Once again, I had high hopes. It started with what I would optimistically call espresso, but was more along the lines of the coffee that’s been sitting in the pot on the burner for about 4 hours. I expected different from the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon. It didn’t draw as well as the Sol, so I might have to revisit it, in the Toro size, probably, because this is a blend I should love, and I loved the Sol version. These cigars are a great illustration of how much the wrapper has to do with the flavor, as the wrapper is the only difference. I was unable to find where the name FASA comes from or what it’s significance is. I want to say this was the first post Rick Rodriguez CAO cigar too, but I might be wrong about that.