Casa Torano Maduro on a nice Spring day
Like many of the younger generation who has smoked more than a few, I really like a good Maduro cigar. I love the Maduros that kick up the strength like the CAO LX2 and Partagas Black. I love the sweeter side of Maduro like the Sancho Panza Double Maduros. Now, I am also a fan of the vast Carlos Torano line, so naturally when I saw they recently took their house blend called the Casa Torano and wrapped it in a very black maduro wrapper, I had to try one.
I snagged one of their generous Torpedo size…a 6.5×54 gauge. I examined the jet blackness and I could see the nice sheen of oils coming off this Ecuadorian grown maduro wrapper and my juices were flowing. It smelled nice and sweet and was very aromatic pre-light. I cut off part of the torpedo and lit it up with my favorite stick matches provided by Top Hat Tobacco.
Oh, I hope Santa is nicer to me than Carlos Torano on this day. For very rarely am I this excited to try smoke and get smacked down almost instantly. Wow…immediately I got a nasty peppery acid in the back of my throat. The smell of the smoke was very foul and thick…it smelled…well, smoky I guess. More like the way a room smells the day after smoking than during the experience. Perhaps I jumped on these new sticks too soon and should have let them age in Top Hat’s humidor a bit longer.
I had to go to their website and see what they had to say about this thing:
“Casa Torano is a nice little story. What was once used as the family’s house blend, and a cigar only handed out at Torano rolling events, has now become one of Carlos Torano’s top-selling brands. So much so, it was only necessary to give it a maduro-wrapped counterpart. And so, Casa Torano Maduro was born, a mellow blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers wrapped in a dark and toothy maduro leaf. Complex, yet balanced, this mild to medium-bodied mixture results in a creamy, spicy, earthy smoke with a rich, naturally sweet aftertaste. It’s mild enough to pair with your morning cup of coffee and flavorful enough to top off a hearty steak dinner.”
Now I find those notes amusing because anytime I’ve been to a cigar rolling event, the cigar has always tasted the way this one does…very bitter and not yet ready to smoke. But because you are at the event, you light it up anyway interested to know what a freshly rolled stogie tastes like, only to be re-taught a valuable lesson. Thankfully I had a stiff Schlafly Oatmeal Stout beer to wash down the strong cigar tastes.
I will say that about half way through, the cigar did warm up a bit and started to provide some coffee aftertaste and a little more pleasant spice in the throat, but you really shouldn’t have to smoke half of a cigar before you enjoy it. It did produce a nice white non-flaking ash that broke off after it reached about 2 inches.
In Torano’s defense, I do think they make outstanding cigars and we offer nearly their full line in our shop, especially the spicy Virtuoso line. And I will say that last night I actually smoked the Casa Torano natural and thought it was a nice mild smoke. But, I think maybe this Maduro version was pushed out a little too soon to jump on the Maduro bandwagon.
If you do want to try these out anyway, Top Hat sells them for around $120 a box…very reasonable and I think over time they will loose some of their bitter opening. Or at least I hope so! They are much too pretty to taste so bad….
 Written by Eric | Cigar Reviews and Related Topics www.tophatcigar.com  |
I saw this story and wanted to share it with you, because it shows that there is no “best” or “worst” cigar, they are really a matter of personal taste.
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