Review of CAO Arcana Mortal Coil Cigar

Mortal Coil is the first release in the CAO Arcana series. These cigars are made in Nicaragua in only the Toro size (6.125 x 50), which is priced at $10.99 per cigar. The cigars became available in the U.S. market during February 2021. Mortal Coil cigars are made with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Connecticut Shade binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Dominican Andullo and Piloto filler tobaccos. What makes these cigars somewhat unique is the old-world Andullo fermentation process for the Dominican sungrown filler tobacco used in the blend. The process involves using ropes coiled around palm tree pods filled with tobacco. More information is available in the press release.

First of all, you will notice the way that the band is “coiled” around the cigar, which requires an early removal to prevent the band from burning. However, this clever application of the band is most appropriate for a cigar that is named “Mortal Coil”, due to the way that ropes were used in the fermentation process.

Now getting to the review, the sample CAO Arcana Mortal Coil Toro cigar delivered a smooth and pleasant nutty flavor after the first few puffs. The smoke was medium bodied. After a few minutes, a woodsy taste joined the mix. By the 20 to 25-minute mark, the wood flavor became predominate as the nutty taste began to fade. Shortly beyond the one-hour point, the taste of leather emerged, which along with the wood flavor, lasted until the end of the smoking session. It took me an impressive two full hours to smoke the cigar all the way down to just 1½ inches remaining, so I guess that I must have really enjoyed it.

The Mortal Coil cigar had a good draw, relatively even burn, and held a medium-to-long ash. After the 40-minute mark, a minor touch-up was applied to even up the burn, and a couple more touch-ups were needed during the next 80 minutes that followed. No relights were required during the total 120 minutes that it took me to smoke this cigar.

I enjoyed the CAO Arcana Mortal Coil cigar well enough to rate it slightly higher than a very good four points on a 5-point scale, so let's just call it 4+. Again, the cigar lasted for a couple of hours, making the price of $10.99 seem like a bargain. The flavors were enjoyable all the way down to the end, although the taste was a little better during the first 20 to 25 minutes when the nutty flavor was predominate. Since only 5,000 boxes of these cigars were made, don't wait too long if you ever want to try one.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer.