Cain Habano – Pre Release

Reviews19 Comments on Cain Habano – Pre Release

Cain Habano – Pre Release

Cain Cigar Bands
Photo Credit: Ian Hummel of The Oliva Family of Cigars

On Tuesday I got word from my Oliva Representative that he was out to visit my local shop, Kensington Tobacconist, and left a cigar for me to pick up. The cigar in question was the new Cain by Sam Leccia. Unfortunately, he only received six samples in all and needed to spread them around wisely, so I could only have a single cigar.

During his time at the shop, he and Kurt, my local shop owner, sat down and each smoked one of the few Cain Cigars in his possession. During their discussion the rep mentioned that I should get the message to “Smoke this cigar first”, so that I could take in the whole experience.

On my weekly visit to the shop, I picked up my sample and spoke to Kurt a little about it. He passed along the message to smoke it first and went into telling me about his experience with the cigar. I laughed it off and picked a Camacho Connecticut out of my bag of purchased cigars. Removing it from the cellophane, I got a look from Kurt and he said that he was serious, the rep wanted me to smoke it before I had anything else.

Now, you should know that I have smoked some serious power bombs with this rep and I immediately knew what he was getting at by telling me to smoke it first. With a sigh, I tossed my Camacho Connecticut back in my bag and took out the monster 6.00 x 60 (I’m guessing) Cain and began looking it over.

I mentioned to Kurt that since I only had one I couldn’t possibly smoke it now and had to save it for a review. He laughed and said something along the lines of “not everything has to be reviewed on Stogie Review”. As Kurt walked away to take care of business in the shop, I reached for my cutter, considered this a challenge from my rep, and got underway.

Knowing that I just had to relay my Cain experience with the folks of Stogie Review, I did the only thing I could think of. I used my Blackberry to do a play by play review on Twitter, with random pictures along the way.

About a half inch into the cigar, I asked Kurt a little more about his experience and motioned to my burning Cain Habano in the ashtray. With a smile spreading wide across his face, that reminded me of the Grinch who stole Christmas, he laughed and went into his account.

Below you can find the conversation I had on Twitter about the Cain Habano as well as my play-by-play account. To makes things easier to follow later on, I used the hash-tag #First_Cain so that it could easily be searched.

Twitter Cigar Review

Cain Habano to start of the day.
Tobacconist recommended, think its gonna hurt this early.

Cain Habano - 6x60 - 1

Walt: Pretty stout to start. Aroma off lit foot is kind of pungent. Body very full but draw too loose, smoke mildly lacking.

DaByrdman33: What size vitola?

Walt: Its a monster, looks like a 660 (which I don’t normally smoke). Looks great, thin veins, consistent color, oily.

DaByrdman33: I’m jealous mine was a toro (about 50 ring & easily 6 inches long). I wanted that 60 ring “powerbomb”.

Walt: Leaves a very thick texture behind with each puff. Curious if it will become more powerful as it goes or if it levels out.

Cain after about a half inch. Burn a little wavy but decent.
Cain Habano - 6x60 - 2

homebrewmstr: have the Cains been officially released yet?

Walt: No, not released yet. One was left for me at my local shop by a rep I know. They come out at #IPCPR

OlivaIan: when you going to get a review up Walt? Is this your first one?

Walt: This is my one and only. I was told I had to smoke it first today, that’s why all the tweet updates. Will post on SR.

OlivaIan: nice. Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts.

Holding a nice firm ash. Tightly compacted, burn line is better at this point.
Cain Habano - 6x60 - 3

soxnfinsfan: My first question is, did you enjoy it?

Walt: Still smoking it. Very potent this early but I’m enjoying. Very full bodied and surprisingly smooth.

Walt: Having a little difficulty picking out a dominant flavor. Doesn’t seem to be one standing out among the others.

Walt: Notable flavors include a sweetness that I’m having trouble describing. Almost like caramelized meat or something. Leather & wood

Burn line a little funky. Draw still loose and making the smoke a little thin.
Cain Habano - 6x60 - 4

Walt: Sheer strength of this cigar is a little rough on the palate. Not that the cigar isn’t smooth, just makes palate feel tired out.

Walt: Body seems to have leveled out. Very full with mildly creamy finish. Nicotine making me feel a little shaky though.

soxnfinsfan: Fail?

Walt: A touch up quickly took care of that wavy burn line. Also needed a couple touch ups to keep lit.

Walt: Touch ups are expected due all of the ligero in the cigar. Hasn’t been too bad though, better than I expected.

madoqa: I like tweet review also:)

Walt: Next time Ill have to organize it a little better so that people can participate in the fun.

Walt: While I am not feeling cigar sick from the Cain in a nausea sense, I feel very wobbly and may need to sit down before its done.

Jerry: are you seeing double yet?

Walt: No double vision yet lol. But I feel like drank a pot and a half of coffee and got the shakes. Very potent stick.

Cigar is beginning to burn hot due to loose draw.
Not bad, but can really start to feel heat.

Cain Habano - 6x60 - 5

Brian Hewitt: The mighty @waltw brought to his knees by his #First_Cain! LOL

Walt: Not brought down yet but if this thing was another inch longer I might just be on the floor. Potent is best description.

Brian Hewitt: What size is that Cain, and what cigars is it similar in terms of potency?

Walt: Not sure, maybe an El Cobre on steroids? It is what appears to be a 6.00 x 60

Getting down to the last bit. Has been very consistent
with Sweetness, Leather, and Wood.

Cain Habano - 6x60 - 6

Walt: Coming down the home stretch now. Smoking slower solved the heat issue. Very consistent in flavor, body, and finish.

Walt: May sound stupid but it feels like I have lost some hand to eye coordination due to these shakes. Harder to type.

OlivaIan: lol, I’m loving it.

I can now say I’ve joined the ranks of those that have survived the Cain.
Cain Habano - 6x60 - 7

Final Thoughts:
When it was all said and done, I like to think I passed the Cain challenge. What I mean by that is that it was my first cigar of the day and was smoked before lunch. This is a common practice for me with much milder cigars but in this case the Oliva rep knew that I would be strolling into the cigar shop at 11:00 AM for my weekly visit.

While this cigar never made me sick to the stomach, the niccotine content gave me the shakes and made me feel a little wobbly. Smoking this cigar so early in the day is probably very foolish, but in my case it came down to one of those “man up and smoke the cigar” type moments. Because I managed to not fall down or vomit, I’ll consider myself as having passed the Cain challenge from here on out.

If smoked under the same circumstances, I think this cigar could easily have a few single word descriptions; potent, strong, full, and maybe even wicked. If you were to smoke this later on in the evening, I think it would be tolerable in regards to strength and body. Its surprisingly smooth for all the ligero that it is loaded with and I could definately see myself smoking these in the evening among cigars like the El Cobre, Top Shelf Signature Select Red Label, and La Flor Dominicana Cheroots.


After the IPCPR trade show, when these are released, anyone
else up to giving the Cain challenge a shot? 😉


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19 thoughts on “Cain Habano – Pre Release

  1. Great review Walt! I watched the play-by-play on Twitter and that was fun..

    I love this line… “May sound stupid but it feels like I have lost some hand to eye coordination due to these shakes. Harder to type.”

    LOL, now that’s a powerful cigar!

  2. Great review. I also was following the play by play on twitter and was wondering what your were planning on doing.

    Great idea!!!

  3. WOW! I might try one of these in the evening hours, but I would have probably been on the floor at about halfway 🙂 Might make it fun for everyone else if I smoke it on tokbox – LOL

    Only thing I dont really care for is it seems like it is more about the power and less about the flavors. Maybe I am wrong, but that is the impression I have gotten.

    Mike

  4. Mike,
    The power is the focus here, at least that is what I was most focused on. I don’t think this was intended to be a finesse cigar, but something for the people that were craving a new power-bomb from the industry.

    I think that if I smoked this in the evening, I may not have been so distracted by the strength and been able to pay more attention to the finer points/flavors of the cigar.

    TimD & Matthew,
    Glad you enjoyed the Twitter part. It was fun for me as well and I hope to be able to do it again in the future, maybe next time we can organize a time and cigar so that more people could participate.

    Keep the comments coming
    -Walt

  5. I took the Cain challenge on Wednesday night and posted my take on my blogpsot page. I got mine from Sam Leccia at last week’s NUB Live event in Severna Park, MD. A couple of other guys who lit their cigars at the event also commented on the strength and how they had to sit down to finish it. I can attest that it is strong but having that 660 size had to be the difference maker for you. I like the play-by-play on Twitter and I would have commented more but my work schedule prevented that. Looking forward to the next one.

  6. Hi Walt. the nubs have just started to appear over here in the uk…any idea if we will get these at some point?

  7. A well aged Cuban,
    I’m sure they will be available at some point. When I talked to Sam Leccia and Jose Oliva last, they were doing pretty well with introducing their product outside the US.

    I don’t know what the delay would wind up being though.

    -Walt

  8. Nice review. I like how you worked in the twitter conversations. I’m a Ligero fan can’t wait to find these on the shelves at my local.

  9. Walt is da man… He smokes El Jacko’s for breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill…

    Great review!

  10. Khyber,
    It has been a long time since I smoked a Double Ligero. I think the last one I had was a Chisel and I could only guess at which one was more powerful. With the Cain fresh in my mind, I would think that it is the more powerful cigar.

    I guess I should pick up a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero ,the next time I’m in the shop, and get a fresh perspective on it so that I could make a more accurate comparison.

    -Walt

  11. Nice review Walt, can’t believe a cigar can be that strong. Curious to try one. I think it was a neat idea how you used twitter to take down your thoughts and interact with people while doing the review.

    Great work

  12. Oliva’s playing both extremes! The Connecticut (my favorite mild smoke on the market right now) and now the Cain! As a fan of the DL Chisel and miscellaneous other of LFD’s stronger smokes, I am definitely looking forward to trying out this monster.

  13. I double dare everyone on this CAIN challenge

    When these come out I will wake up and smoke the two back to back with my morning coffee… I think I can hang with WW lets find out!

  14. I just had my first Cain challenge last night. First time in a long time I had a stogie make me get up and go outside to get some air. Though it did not make me sick it did give my body a loose and uncoornated. I did enjoy the experience with the Cain. Best with a beer. I followed it up with a Cain maduro. Very good but does lack the smoke but when smoking it smokes good. The maduro was more flavorful and less the beating as to the habano. Yet I do recommend those who like it a little rough and tough, but through it all very smooth.

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