As hard as it is to believe, the CAO Nicaragua Granada is the first cigar from the famously world-spanning company to specifically highlight tobaccos from the country that is the source of so many of your favorite stogies. Maybe they’ve just been gearing up the whole time to make the best stick ever, we don’t know. What we do know is this: If robust flavor and potent strength are in your wheelhouse, then get on these posthaste. It may come as a small shock that this stogie is not a Nicaraguan puro, instead bearing a radiant Honduran Jamastran leaf as the wrapper, but there’s a reason. The blenders at CAO wanted to ensure that the all-Nicaraguan filler is the all-star of the show.
You can tell just from holding a chocolate-colored CAO Nicaragua Granada that every ounce of skill the responsible torcedor possesses has been poured into the 6” X 50 Toro. An astounding amount of longleaf tobacco from Condega, Jalapa, and Esteli has been stuffed beneath the oily, lightly veined wrapper to create a uniformly solid vitola that feels like velvet and smells of wood. Starting off with a leathery burst, the profile soon expands to include white pepper, cocoa, and cream. There’s a caramel sweetness lurking in the background as the strength soon reaches medium-full, with spice, graham cracker, almond, and cedar all playing a role as the sharp burn line slowly makes its way to the nub.
The recipient of a well-deserved rating of 91, you’d be remiss to overlook these affordable smokes while searching for your next cigar obsession. Grab a rum or a coffee (or both!), put your feet up, and take a virtual journey through lush tobacco fields anchored by volcanic soils with a CAO Nicaragua Granada. It’s a trip worth taking again and again.
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