Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Box-Pressed Toro (6 x 50)
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium → Full (final inch)
Price: $5.54 per cigar ($27.69/5-pack); $4.29 per cigar ($85.80/box of 20) at Cigar Page
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A., Estelí, Nicaragua
Blender: AJ Fernandez
Release: December 2018 (Regular Production)
Smoking Time: 1:05
Experience Rating: 92
This cigar has been around a long time and has been reviewed enough that people are familiar with the profile. To be honest, I don’t know if one of my detailed analyses would be much of a benefit at this point. So I’m going to freestyle this review and give it to you as I get it.
I avoided this cigar for a long time.
Actually, I didn’t avoid it so much as pass it over for other cigars that caught my interest. After all, it was an AJ New World. It would always be around, so there was no hurry.
It took a few years before I finally smoked one.
Talk about a face-palm moment. The first time I lit one up, I chastised myself for not smoking it earlier. It’s an amazing cigar!
My local shop always has these in stock because, according to the owners, they move really well. Even though they call themselves a “blue-collar shop” and carry mostly mainstream sticks, they also have a nice selection of boutique and higher-end cigars. That’s where my attention always went. I should’ve taken the hint from Kyle, one of the owners. More often than not, when I visit the shop and he’s there, he has one of these in hand.
About a month ago, I was perusing the humidor and couldn’t decide what to buy when I noticed the NW Cameroon. I said What the hell and picked one up. I sat down, toasted the foot, then took my first puff. One word came out of my mouth: “FUCK!“
Kyle was sitting near me and said, “What did I tell you?”
I just raised my hands in supplication.
The wrapper on the Cameroon is smooth with no prominent veins, and the box press is surprisingly sharp. The overall presentation comes down to one word: tasteful.
The wrapper aroma has a fruit-candy sweetness with a little hay and sweet grass thrown in the mix, while the foot smells of stone fruit with a touch of barnyard. The cold draw has fruity sweetness, cedar, and sweet bread. It’s a little looser than I like, but not too bad.
If you like cigars that hit you with cedar upfront, you’re going to like this cigar. I love it. This is immediately followed by white pepper, nutmeg, hazelnut, and just a touch of coffee. There’s an inherent warmth to the start that always signals to me to sit back and relax.
After that delicious start, the cigar settles in, and a light spice perches itself on the top of my mouth. Mixed nuts arrive as peanut, cashew, hazelnut, and almond. Then a light but luxurious cream underpins the profile.
Since that initial smoke at the shop, this has become one of my go-tos when I visit my local lounges that carry it. Part of the reason is that it’s a quick burner. The other reason is that, despite all its flavor, it doesn’t demand much of my attention. It’s so balanced and moderate in both body and strength that I can smoke it while having a conversation without worrying that I’m going to miss something.
Some might find fault in that. But sometimes I just want to smoke a cigar and have a conversation. This is a great conversation smoke!
As I move through the first half, the coffee steps forward. But it’s not dark at all. It’s simply pleasant. The spice intensifies, still perched on top of my mouth, and starts pulsing. It provides a nice tug against the profile.
Light coffee with cream is the theme of this cigar. The flavors don’t rotate, so there’s not much movement. They just sit there. I have to look for some of them, but they’re all there. I’m okay with that because they don’t demand my attention.
Here’s a funny aside. I’m a Catholic musician, and I play Mass every Sunday at my church. Occasionally, I get hired to play services at other churches and high schools in the area. This morning, I played a Mass at the high school my sister-in-law attended to cap its 50-year reunion weekend. Because I have to play my regular service at 5 pm later today, I thought I’d be clever and use one music plan for both Masses.
But when I saw all the septuagenarians and octogenarians filing into the chapel, I realized the contemporary music I’d picked would never work. Luckily, I still had a half-hour before the service started, so I rolled the clock back about forty years and chose music they’d know. The trick was finding songs I knew by heart because I had no time to rehearse. I picked several I could use to wing my way through the Mass, and no one would be the wiser.
The NW Cameroon is like those older songs. I can smoke it knowing full well what it offers, and I don’t have to think about it much once it’s lit.
As I move into the second half, strength ticks up slightly, but it’s still in the medium range. Roasted nuts step forward a little, especially the hazelnut. There’s still not much movement, but that’s not a negative mark.
As I get to the last couple of inches, the profile darkens and compresses a little. The body becomes much thicker, while strength only nudges upward. But make no mistake. It isn’t at all overwhelming. That’s one of the things I’ve loved about this smoke. Even as the body grows, the strength remains fairly steady.
As I approach the last inch, it finally transitions. It’s really the only attention-grabber in the entire smoke, and I look forward to it every time I smoke one. The body thickens to full, and a distinct fruity note appears on the finish. Then a bowl of corn flakes arrives and mixes with the cream. It’s like I’m eating a bowl of cereal topped with blueberries. The spice migrates to my lips and adds a nice burst of energy.
It’s lovely and puts a nice punctuation mark on the experience as I smoke it down to the nub.
On the surface, you might call this a pedestrian smoke, bordering on boring. But I’d argue that it’s not boring at all. It’s just unintrusive. We’re accustomed to expecting a huge inventory of flavors and complexity, but there’s a place for cigars that are solid, consistent, and undemanding.
Cigar Page has the best prices on these bar-none. At $85.80 a box, it’s steal!
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