Smoke Notes: Casada Connecticut Toro

This month Tex Cigars sent me a couple cigars I have yet to try called Casada. The toro is the perfect size for me today. Sitting in my Las Vegas hotel room I have all night to relax before starting my treacherous work and long hours of setting up the G2E Gaming show. G2E is the biggest casino convention in the world and it comes once a year. You will find casino executives, any manufacturer that has to do with the casino business, a couple playboy bunnies, a couple celebs and some of the biggest ass kissing parties on earth. Lucky for me I don’t have to put up with any of it, I’m a grunt this week. After setting up a couple hundred slot machines, some electronic poker tables and 6-8 overhead signs I might walk around the show one day and visit a couple customers I deal with. The whole ass kissing party scene just isn’t me (but I would like to meet the Soprano crew that will be at our party), we will be at one of the many local PT’s or maybe even the Crown N’ Anchor where the real parties are. As for the strip we might hit it one night, I usually only go down if someone comes with me. The strip is for looking only, you will find some of the most tightest slot machines and the most expensive drinks. Sure you can drink free if you are spending the money gambling but I don’t gamble much and I refuse to pay $5-$6 for a domestic unless I’m at a football game. If you want to have better odds and cheaper drinks you need to go to the “local” joints.

OK I babbled enough lets get to the review.

What Tex has to say about these cigars:

The Casada line of cigars is hand-made in Nicaragua and has tobacco grown, blended, and wrapped by the Oliva Family. The connecticut wrapper is one of the very favorites around here at Tex Cigars.  The Casada Connecticut Toro has a golden wrapper with a creamy and smooth blend of tobacco.

Filler: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut
Size: 6×50
Price: $79.99 (Buy Now)

Pre-light: This is a “normal” looking cigar, not much standing out. I don’t want to say it looks cheap but it looks like it should be in the bargain pile. A golden looking wrapper that is not without defects. A small part of the foot cracked off, it looks like it might have happened when it was placed in the cellophane sleeve. I also noticed a small pin hole at about the 2/3 mark. It looks to only be the wrapper so I should not run into any trouble with it. The veins are very small and few between and I do not feel any soft spots. The wrapper is very smooth to the touch and the head is a rough but it cut well. A mild tobacco flavor on the  pre-draw. Since I could not fly with my lighter I had to use hotel matches but it fired up with no troubles. The band came off with no issue.

The burn: The burn line is very good on this cigar. I only ran into a issue with it at about the half way mark but nothing that didn’t correct itself. I would give the burn a 8. It has a good draw with a decant amount of smoke. I like the draw to produce a little more but it is decant. The ash is white/grey that held on pretty good. I didn’t think the construction was going to be that good but it held on for over an inch and only dropped with a tap.

The taste: Well not much here on this one. It pretty much stayed a mild wood flavor throughout. Definitely not complex.

Over all: Truthfully, I personally think this smoke is over priced at $80 a box. This should be a  bundled smoke and I think compares to the Big City Cigars that run about $30 per bundle. These are made by Oliva and when you get into the $80 range they have many better smokes for the money. I might pick them up if they go to closeout to hand out to friends or smoke while working in the yard.

What others say about the Casada:

• Velvet Cigar’s review.
• Cigar Monkey’s review of this cigar.