CAO Arcana Firewalker

I should start by saying, I’ve never walked on fire or burning hot coals.

I bring that up because today’s cigar is called Firewalker, specifically the CAO Arcana Firewalker. Its name is inspired by chincagre, a tobacco aging process that General Cigar Co. says is “an archaic process of primary aging used by local tobacco farmers in Western Nicaragua.” Like most cigar tobacco, the leaves are harvested and eventually find their ways into a large, organized pile called a pilón. Pilónes can range from hundreds of pounds to tons of tobacco and they typically consist of hands of tobacco leaves—usually between one and two dozens of individual leaves tied together—stacked on top of one another in a neat and organized manner. The idea is to create controlled heat by using the pressure of the pile and sometimes artificial heat sources.

For chincagre, the artificial heat is actually natural heat as the process sees the pilones buried into volcanic soil for two months. After the two months are up, General says the tobacco goes to the factory for second fermentation, which lasts nine months.

 

That tobacco eventually ends up as filler for the new CAO Arcana Firewalker, a follow-up to the CAO Arcana Mortal Coil. The Firewalker is a 6 1/2 x 56 toro gordo that uses an Ecuadorian habano rosado wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and the chincagre-cured Nicaraguan fillers, grown in Masatepe.

This is the second cigar in CAO’s Arcana Series, which is centered around unique methods related to tobacco. The Mortal Coil was notable for using andullo tobacco, another unique and older style of tobacco fermentation that is native to the Dominican Republic.

• CAO Arcana Mortal Coil (6 1/8 x 50) — February 2021 — 5,000 Boxes of 20 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)
• CAO Arcana Firewalker (6 1/2 x 56) — February 2022 — 5,000 Boxes of 20 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)

One thing of note, General Cigar Co. says these cigars are made at American Caribbean Cigars S.A., which is not a factory owned by General’s parent company, Scandinavian Tobacco Group. I can’t think of another instance when General has used American Caribbean, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the two companies have worked before.

• Cigar Reviewed: CAO Arcana Firewalker
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: American Caribbean Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano Rosado)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 56
• Vitola: Toro Gordo
• MSRP: $11.99 (Box of 20, $239.80)
• Release Date: Feb. 1, 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 5,000 Boxes of 20 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

There are few cigars that are going to have a larger band than the one General is using for the CAO Arcana Firewalker. There’s still an inch or so of visible wrapper on both the top and bottom parts of the cigar, but it’s tough to tell what the cigar looks like until the band is off. Once removed, there’s a lightly-tanned wrapper that has a fair amount of veins, though outside of a busted pigtail on one cigar, there’s not anything I’d complain about from a visual perspective. The first cigar I grab out of the box has a soft spot underneath the bottom half of the band and that puts me on alert for soft spots in the next two cigars, one of which has a noticeable soft spot, though not as bad as the first cigar. The aroma from the wrapper is a medium-full mixture led by barnyard over some peppermint candy, clay, plywood and something that reminds me a bit of the smell of chopped shallots. The foot is also medium-full though it’s sweeter thanks to raisins, gingerbread and something that reminds me of an after-dinner drink, though I wouldn’t call it amaro. One thing that stands out to me is that the wrapper’s aromas are more defined than the foot, which isn’t what I normally find when smelling cigars. Cold draws are open on all three cigars, though I really like the flavor. There’s a sweet mint that reminds me a bit of a prepackaged mojito flavor—though the citrus isn’t there—along with a more defined peppermint, earthiness and a touch of cinnamon.

After lighting the CAO Arcana Firewalker, the first few seconds taste like a Cuban cigar: slightly sweet cedar and some mild earthiness, but before I can finish writing down all of those flavors, the Nicaraguan tobaccos show their face with a muted sweet chocolate, black pepper and toastiness. Fortunately, the draw is tighter than it was prior to lighting, well, fortunately on two cigars. Less than a half-inch into the first cigar and I’m surprised at how the cigar struggles to stay lit. I’ll describe the issues more in the Final Notes, as it’s going to take quite a few words. Flavor-wise, the three cigars are pretty consistent so long as there’s smoke coming into my mouth. A semi-sweet, crisp cedar flavor leads the way with peanut shells, dry coffee and a touch of milk chocolate following in tow. The finish keeps cedar as the leading flavor, though there’s honey and bits of black pepper as the accents. Retrohales add creaminess and a more vibrant nuttiness to the profile; at times, there are floral flavors and some salty accents. If I was just doing the initial retrohales, there’d be reason to believe this could be Cuban. But then the finish of the retrohale happens and a very acute toastiness takes over followed by some black pepper and herbal flavors—the result is something that doesn’t taste very Cuban. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-plus. The first sample is a mess from a construction standpoint, the second sample requires touch-ups starting less than an inch in and the third sample avoids any need for lighter assistance during the first third. To provide some context, the first relight of the first sample takes place a few minutes after the picture below was taken.

Shortly before the halfway mark, there are signs the profile is taking more dramatic turns and I don’t think they are for the better. The largest problem is that the profile is getting both drier and sharper, two qualities that are not complementary of one another. Some puffs are still led by cedar, but more often I find that either a mineral flavor or the herbal flavor is the strongest sensation. Secondary flavors include cashews and black pepper, but they are quite different than the other three flavors. There are occasional puffs that deliver bliss where everything seems to be at an optimum level, but those moments are quite limited. The finish sharpens up a lot thanks to toastiness and black pepper. It’s weird because the smoke isn’t that dry, but the aftereffects are quite drying for my mouth. Nuttiness shows itself for brief moments during the retrohale, but it is quickly replaced by the mineral flavors; secondary notes include citrus and herbal flavors. The finish of the retrohale is more of the same—herbal flavors, mineral flavors and toastiness—though there are some puffs where I can find hints of a generic sugar that helps to reverse the dry feeling. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is slowly increasing from medium-plus to medium-full. Construction is consistent between the three cigars in the sense that all three need touch-ups and the ash is super flaky. The severity of the burn issues varies, but all three cigars are struggling a lot.

There aren’t many cigars that will transition into a dry and sharp profile in the middle part and then get significantly better at the end—this CAO isn’t one of those rare examples. The Arcana Firewalker keeps the same flavors, though the profile has noticeably changed thanks to an uptick in harshness. Toastiness and black pepper are the sensations when the smoke is in my mouth, they stick around for the finish, though joined by a mineral-laden earthiness, herbal and leather flavors. It’s a below average profile and it seems to be a result of the touch-ups, though, given the number of touch-ups on two of the samples I’m surprised it’s not worse. Retrohales are better, but still not good. There’s sawdust, leather, some terroir-like earthiness and a harsh pepper that accents everything. My notes from one of the samples describe the retrohale’s finish as “this seems to be just an indictment of where the cigar is.” It’s not all bad, but it’s usually below average. Most of the time it leaves my palate a bit metallic, but there are times in which I can find some oak overpowering cedar, earthiness, black pepper and some sugary sweetness. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-full. While touch-ups are still regularly required during the final third, the frequency has decreased for the second and third samples.

Final Notes

• While not as bad as this cigar, the first CAO Arcana Firewalker I smoked had a lot of the same issues when it came to staying lit. Less than a half-inch into the cigar, I got used to having to touch up or relight the cigar at 5-10 minute intervals. Furthermore, some parts of the ash turned super black and created weird noises when I tried to knock it off. Normally, when I knock the ash off of a cigar there is no audible noise, but in this case it created the noise that was similar to what happens when people try to smash cigar nubs into the ashtray like a cigarette, only I was just trying to knock the ash off.

• That cigar was plagued by chronicling tunneling. It’s not the worst-looking tunneling I’ve seen on a cigar, but it was a consistent problem from pretty early on.

• This is also the cigar that had the worst soft spot. The photograph is dramatic, and I should add one caveat which is that cigars do get a bit squishier once lit. That said, I could feel this soft spot before the cigar was lit and could even feel the cigar expanding after I pressed down on it.
• While it was a struggle to smoke the cigar, I actually thought the flavor was as good—particularly for the first half—as the other two cigars I smoked. That said, it crossed the point where the constant touch-ups produced heavy doses of burnt toastiness and black pepper, making the last 40 percent of the cigar far worse than the other two cigars.
• The wrapper on the third sample was a lot more fragile than the other two cigars I smoked. After the halfway mark there were continual cracking and wrapper tears until the end of the cigar. All three cigars created a mess of ash in their own ways and this didn’t seem any worse than those other cigars.
• For some comparison, the wrapper on the first sample didn’t crack when I squeezed it; while the wrapper on the final third was cracking just from normal smoking.
• I imagine the dryness and sharpness would have been a lot more tolerable if I was drinking something while smoking. I try to avoid drinking anything—including water—while reviewing cigars because I find that it changes things quite a bit.
• The mirrored text on the boxes meant that each time I went to grab a cigar out of the box, I seemed to open the box the wrong way.

• Speaking of the box, here’s a picture of the bottom of the box which says these cigars are made at STG Estelí for some reason. A representative from General Cigar Co. clarified that the cigars were made at American Caribbean Cigars S.A. but that STG Estelí produced the packaging.
• I find other parts of the bottom of the box to be rather interesting. “Arcana 2” as opposed to the name of the cigar and “Sale only allowed in the United States” are also things that stand out.
• General Cigar Co. advertises on halfwheel.
• Final smoking time ranged from two hours and 40 minutes to more than three hours for the first sample.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Famous Smoke Shop and JR Cigar carry the CAO Arcana Firewalker.