Living in the subtropics means having a rainy season. While we haven’t had a named storm hit the area so far (knock on wood, tiki bars, anything!), the precipitation has been steady and relentless this year. Many areas are just a few scant inches away from flooding, and there’s not a day in the next week and a half that doesn’t have “Afternoon Thunderstorm” or “Thunderstorms likely” in the forecast. After a few weeks of pruny fingers and squishy yards, one gets a desire to give the rain the middle finger. That being said, my friends were sweet enough to let me build a fire in their fire pit. I was successful at keeping the fire going during a light rainfall, and by evening it was perfect. The rain had actually brought in a bit of cooler weather, and we had a lovely evening of eating fancy sausages and marshmallows cooked by fire, and then cigars and libations.
My choice of smoke for this amazing evening was a Cain by Olvia, which was a part of a 90+ rated sampler that was sent to me by my Brother-in-Law. This is another cigar with an understated cigar ring, but remarkable flavors. Unlit, the cigar smells earthy, with notes of cinnamon and pepper. I opted to smoke this with a variety of spiked sparkling water flavors– started with Lime, then Black Cherry, then Raspberry. Personally, I felt the Raspberry was the best with this cigar as it was the brightest of the flavors that wasn’t competing with the dark beauty of this stick.
After lighting, a pleasant cedar aroma is added to the earthiness. At the midpoint of this cigar, I still hadn’t ashed yet. This cigar draws quite easily and this would probably have been a bigger foot if I had more confidence in not dropping it all over myself.
This is a full bodied cigar that smokes evenly and cleanly. While the earthiness is the predominant taste, the cedar and pepperiness come in at the end of the cigar. Due to the calm after the rains, the smoke from this stick had an even better opportunity to linger before dissipating. Within the smoke, I could even get a few notes of vanilla and leather. This cigar had a variety of nuances to it and was a delight to smoke, and even though the draw was easy it did not smoke quickly at all. The Cain was a great way to end a day of rain.