Gift Review – CAO Vision Prana

Another in our ongoing series of occasional reviews of cigars given to us as gifts. Featured this time is the CAO Vision Prana, given to me by my friends at 10-7ha back in January of this year.

Vitola: Figurado
Origin: Dominican Republic
Length: 6 ¼”
Ring Gauge: 52
Filler: Dom. Rep., Nicaragua, Brazil
Binder: Dom. Rep.
Wrapper: Corojo (Dom. Rep.)
Strength: Medium-to-Full
MSRP: $16.00

Produced by La Aurora S.A. for C.A.O. International, these cigars come packaged in their trademarked Sensi-Box, a beautiful white humidor with a digital readout on the front. The current Cigar Aficionado rating for it is 90 (Aug ’07).

Following Cigar Aficionado's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression) I sat down to rate this cigar while enjoying a glass of Basil Hayden bourbon.

With a graceful conical-shaped head, it appeared very well-constructed. It drew alright and everything started off real nice until, bam! It split at about the mid-way point. From then on it went down hill. Though I tried my best to keep it together, there was no hope and a few minutes into the second half I had to put it down.

The flavors before the meltdown were quite pleasant. A bit of cedar or sandalwood and a touch of nutmeg had me very interested through the first third. It did start to go a little tannic on me before bursting, but ultimately, it’s a little tough to give this cigar a thorough evaluation – which is a sizable disappointment because the robusto Vision I had about a year ago was pretty darn good. It’s a shame this one came apart on me as I was pretty optimistic about how good it was going to be.

My rating for the CAO Vision Prana is 77.
Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 12 pts (80% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 21 pts (84% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 18 pts (72% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 26 pts (74% of the points possible)

Nonetheless, I did appreciate the gift and look forward to trying one again soon.

© 2009 The Cohiba Club - All rights reserved.

Herf 25 - Small But Beautiful

June 7th, 2009 - Shoreline, WA

In attendance were Fernand, Robert, John, Pat, Joe, and Brad. As usual, we gathered to enjoy a good cigar and give our opinion on it by holding a 'group tasting' following dinner.

The six of us dined on Joe’s fabulous beer-soaked bratwurst, pasta salad, broccoli salad, chips and homemade salsa. Amazing! It was all washed down with plenty of microbrews, rum, and bourbon. As we ate out on Joe’s back deck, the sun emerged from the clouds just in time to keep things from cooling off too much; the perfect setting to conduct the cigar tasting session and continue the evening’s relaxation and camaraderie.

Our selection for this Herf was the Cabaiguan Guapos Junior. A beautiful little corona with a twisted cap (not really pigtail curly) measuring 4 5/8 inches long by a 42 ring guage. It’s made in Miami by Don Pepin Garcia for Pete Johnson. This Cabaiguan was Cigar of the Week back on April 20th. The current Cigar Aficionado rating for it is 90.

Following CA's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression) we began the tasting.

The pigtail cap was almost too pretty to cut. The beautiful Rosado color of the Ecuadorian wrapper had us all captivated as we sat there studying it for a moment, observing it's fine 'tooth', and anticipating the enjoyment of Pepin’s efforts sitting right there in our hands.

Not one of us had any complaints about the draw of our cigars, they were all perfect. Each burned quite evenly too, though a couple did go out or waver a bit near the end. We were amazed at how much smoke was produced by such small cigars. The ash was fairly stable and well-formed with no noticeable flaking.

Everyone commented on what a pleasurable flavor profile it started out with; a little woody (like a faint dry cedar) smooth, and easy going. One of the members, Pat, noted a slight sense of chocolate at the half-way point warming to a peppery final third. All agreed it was consistently pleasant all the way through and these sticks got mighty short too.

About the only failing we could come up with (which is pretty weak, really) was that the flavors were so consistent as to almost come off as being a little simple. But this didn’t stop one of the Co-Founders, John, from coming out with the quote that summed up the evening, simply put “I was sorry when it was gone!”

After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Cabaiguan Guapos Junior is 90. An outstanding cigar.

Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 22 pts (88% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 22 pts (88% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 32 pts (91% of the points possible)

All in all, a very enjoyable cigar which we highly recommend!

See you at the next herf, August 2nd.

© 2009 The Cohiba Club All rights reserved.