Cigar of the Week: Carlos Torano Cameroon 1916

The Cameroon 1916 blend offers the subtlety and taste that marked some of the top Cuban-made cigars of the mid-20th Century. Made in the family’s Esteli, Nicaragua factory, it’s medium-to-full in body and has a silky-smooth, sweet and caramelized flavor.

Among connoisseurs and within the cigar trade, the Carlos Torano brand is much respected. But it deserves to be much more broadly known as one of the best on the market today.

Even within the Torano line-up, which includes 11 separate brands, the Carlos Torano Cameroon 1916 isn’t appreciated enough. This is a truly wonderful cigar.

Ir’s named for the year that Santiago Torano moved from Spain to Cuba and began a leaf-growing empire that was one of the best in the world up to the time of the Cuban Revolution. Shortly afterwards, even though the Torano family had supported the rebels, the Castro regime nationalized the family’s farms and harvested tobacco and they had to leave. The Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 brand marks the family’s departure from Cuba.

The Cameroon 1916 blend offers the subtlety and taste that marked some of the top Cuban-made cigars of the mid-20th Century. Made in the family’s Esteli, Nicaragua factory, it’s medium-to-full in body and has a silky-smooth, sweet and caramelized flavor.

There’s a danger with this cigar to draw too hard to bring even more flavor out of it, but that’s a mistake. Let it entertain you with its marvelous sweetness and lightly-toasted aroma; some of its depth comes from the elegant Cameroon wrapper.

There’s a hint of spice that appears in mid-course and adds an accent to the otherwise smooth character of the taste. It’s never heady or overpowering and once you’ve enjoyed it, you’ll wonder why all cigars aren’t this good. In our 2006 tasting, the Cameroon 1916 earned a CigarCyclopedia grade of "A+: Outstanding."

What’s even more amazing is the value in this cigar. It comes in just four basic shapes – Corona (5 1/2 inches by 42 ring), Robusto (5 1/2 x 52), Churchill (7 x 48) and Torpedo (6 1/2 x 54) in boxes of 25. But the retail prices for a cigar of undisputed quality are just $4.80 to $5.96 each, not including local sales or tobacco taxes.

You could spend two or three times as much and not get anywhere near the cigar you’ll get with the 1916. But that’s the joy of cigars, finding a gem that’s becoming more and more widely appreciated?

Rich Perelman is editor-in-chief of CigarCyclopedia.com, offering comprehensive daily coverage of cigars, accessories, issues, people and prices.

Rich Perelman

1/7/08

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