Today’s review is not some newly-discovered brand or recently launched blend, but it’s one that in a short time has become one of my favorite blends in regular rotation. And while I have sampled this blend previously (EXTENSIVELY), I have not yet done a full critical review. It’s something I discovered by chance, thought not without searching, supporting the long-held truth that chance favors the prepared mind.
The idea of chance weighs heavily on my mind today. I was recently involved in the most serious car crash of my life, and I can’t help but reflect upon the many different predicates of chance that greatly affected the outcome of that event. The crash was caused by a tire blow-out. As chance would have it, the blown tire was on the left rear of the long-bed F-350 crew cab truck. The increased friction on that side caused the vehicle to veer left, into the oncoming lane of the two-lane highway. As chance would have it, there were no other cars coming in the opposite direction at the time, and the driver managed to correct the swerve and redirect us into the proper lane. As we attempted to slow the truck and enter the shoulder, the vehicle again began to swerve to the left, but was held by the driver, and as we edged towards the shoulder, the rear wheels began to slide to the right in the gravel. That put us into a full rightward sideways skid, which continued until the undercarriage of the long-bed got hung-up on the steepening edge of the shoulder where it drops off from the pavement. That sent us into a 360 rightward lateral roll. As chance would have it, much of our speed had come off in the sideways skid, and while dramatic and frightening as it was, the roll was relatively mild. It was not by chance that we were wearing seatbelts, which no doubt contributed greatly to our walking away with nothing more than minor scrapes and bruises, but no further injury. Quoting a CHP friend, “There are two kinds of roll-over accidents, the fatalities and the non-injuries, and the difference is seatbelts.”
Chance. Had the right-rear tire blown, our initial veer would have been in the opposite direction, leading us straight to the gravel shoulder, and possibly sending us into the roll much sooner, and likewise much faster and more dangerous. Had the incident occured even one hundred yards earlier on the road, we would likely have come to a stop before the shoulder became so steep, and rather than a life-threatening roll-over crash, we would have experienced nothing more than a very dramatic, but all-together salvageable blow-out. And the most alarming potentiality is that of on-coming traffic in the other lane, of which it is still to near to even discuss.
The Carlos Toraño Signature Collection is hand-made in the Dominican Republic of Dominican and Nicaraguan ligero filler for richness, a broadleaf maduro binder for balance and complexity, and Brazilian wrapper for smoothness (this is a true “double-maduro”). The roll is perfect and light, and the Mata Fina wrapper is smooth and veinless. The draw on this Churchill (7×48) is even and full from a single wedge-cut, and the burn is ring-straight to the nub, producing a flaky white 1-inch double-cone ash, shortening and flattening towards the nub, as can be expected with ligero blends. The smoke volume is large with medium strength.
The flavors begin as rich tangy oak, with complex layers of cocoa, dark chocolate, and tangy maduro sweetness with the slightest suggestion of spice. By mid-way the flavors are steady, but showing some earthy notes which are hearty, but not heavy. By the end, the initial flavors remain, but become fuller and richer, and slightly darker in character, while maintaining their delicate smoothness.
I am pleased to give this cigar a rating of 9.3. The three component parts of this blend (filler, binder, and wrapper) do exactly what they are supposed to do (richness, balance, and smoothness), and those terms also perfectly describe the smoking experience. And while it’s no great mystery that the best cigars combine these three characteristics in just the right proportions, the magic is in the execution. It’s a testament to the skilled mastery of the subtle art of blending that brings these simple components together so deftly. And while much of life is attributable to chance, I know also that in less-steady hands, those three elements fall far short of excellence, just as our accident could have had a very different outcome, had less steady hands been at the wheel.
Until next time, this is the Cigar Sasquatch saying, “Love what you smoke, and smoke what you love.”
Carlos Toraño Signature Collection Churchill 7×48
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