Cigar Review: Does Leccia's Cain Live Up To It's Legendary Name?

Everyone knows the tale of Cain and Abel, that Cain was the first son of Adam and Eve and eventually murdered his brother Abel, so I was expecting something very dark, rich, and, well honestly, evil from Oliva's Cain Habano double toro straight ligero cigar.

The irony of my smoking this cigar, with such heavy mythical implications, was not lost on me as I was enjoying this cigar at Edwards Pipe and Cigar while watching news coverage of the Dark Knight Rises shooting victims vigil. A truly evil act in contemporary times.

The background of Sam Leccia's Cain cigar came out of Leccia's want to create a truly straight ligero cigar that was also flavorful. This name, however, is a bit of a misnomer, as no cigar could be truly comprised of all ligero leaf, the top part of the leaf which receives the most nutrients and sun, as it would have inherent combustion problems according to Leccia. Therefore the Cain incorporates a little bit of other leaf making this not a 100% ligero, but, and 82% ligero. The ligero used is a blend of leaf that is grown in the Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa regions of Nicaragua.

Before lighting this cigar I notice that it provides me with truly stunning notes of milk chocolate and spice! I toast my cigar, and then once lit, I am immediately greeted with heavy spice and oak flavors with the slightest hint of an undefined sugary sweetness and leather. This flavor holds for most of the first third to half of the cigar.

Once I get a little passed the second third mark, I notice that the spice has diminished a bit and the sweetness has become more defined and the closest I could describe it would be almost raisin-like. While the dried fruit sweetness takes the stage for a bit, the leather stays relatively low key and the oak dries out a bit maintaining the flavor of the spice without the punch. I've also noticed by this point that the strength of this cigar is not at all what I had anticipated. It's still very much a full-bodied cigar, but I'd honestly say that the La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero has more of a strength punch, or even the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor!

Toward the end of this cigar the pepper picks back up and the sweetness is reinforced by the leathers and oak flavors! Overall this cigar was a fantastic smoke, full-bodied but not overpowering, thanks to Leccia's triple fermentation process to take some of the ligero's edge off, while still providing the complex flavors this blend provides! I highly recommend smokers who want a nice full-bodied cigar with an interesting flavor pallet to give the Cain Habano a try!