Cigar Review - Carlos Torano Casa Torano
Torano – Casa Torano
Vitola: Churchill
Length: 7.0″
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Central & South American Blend
Pairing: San Francisco Bay Foglifter Coffee
From my stash of resting cigars last night I pulled out a Torano Casa Torano churchill. I normally don't go for churchills but I got these as part of a Torano bundle and just never got around to trying it...probably because it's a churchill and I figured it would take forever to smoke. I was only part right.
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Fit and Finish: Very smooth tan wrapper with minimal veining and no visible seams. The cap is likewise well-applied. It has a pleasant cedar aroma on the nose.
Draw: A v-cut gives an excellent draw. I had my hand at a slight angle as I made the cut and got it off center and still the draw was perfect. Light cedar and tobacco on the cold draw.
Toast/Light: Toasting is effortless and produces decent smoke. One puff with no flame and we are off and running. Excellent smoke production, all cedar on the first draw.
First third: I am not expecting a very complex cigar and initially that is what I get. After a couple of draws of predominately cedar I do start to get a little cocoa and then distinctly toasted nuttiness for the remainder of this early part of the cigar. The cedar remains but has taken a back seat. It is pairing very well with my coffee.
Second Third: The nutty profile continues with the cedar and cocoa making their statements, but about halfway through this cigar things change. A lot. Pepper makes an appearance and it is not subtle. Also, the nuttiness is gone and replaced by roasted coffee. As this third progresses, the pepper continues to ramp up. The burn line is perfect and ash retention is at about 2 ½ inches and white.
Final Third: The pepper remains but the coffee fades away to be replaced by the cocoa and a bit of cinnamon through the final third. I am pleasantly surprised as this wasn't what I expected. No real nicotine strength but plenty of flavor.
Final Thoughts: This cigar really surprised me with the depth and changes in flavor. I expected a mild cigar (and it was, strength-wise) with pleasant flavors but fairly consistent throughout. Instead I got those nice flavors and a big wallop of surprise with the pepper and the changes to the flavor profile as the cigar progressed. I was worried about the smoking time with it being a churchill, but the relatively smaller RG brought it down into a normal range for me. I knew I'd enjoy it, but was still very pleasantly surprised a just how much I enjoyed it. I would pick up another 5 pack of these in a heartbeat.
Total smoking time: 90 minutes
