Cigar Review: Arganese CL3 Torpedo

Hoooooooly crap was this stronger than I bargained for. I completely underestimated it. I guess I should have done my research… apparently “CL3” stands for corojo ligero to the third power. That would explain why I can still taste the cigar 12 hours later.

The thing was, I totally was not picking up the full-bodiedness early on. The initial puffs were so incredibly smooth I was thinking to myself, “no way is this full-bodied”. I’m used to the up-front black pepper kick, not this back-of-the-palate, tangy, slow-burn spice that you almost feel rather than taste.

It was a nutty cigar at times, occasionally tasting of coffee and cream, but really the dominant flavor was tobacco. Definitely a cigar for people who love cigars. I sure like a good cigar, sometimes even love it, and though this is a good cigar, I doubt I’d smoke another one. I blame myself — I shouldn’t have smoked the hell out of it as if it were a Macanudo Gold. Now I’ve got such a cigar hangover it’s tough to write this review.

It was easy to get carried away with an effortless draw. I cut right above the first line of the triple cap to get it going, and then decided to go to ring two for more voluminous smoke production. I never had to touch it up and the ash held nearly halfway through before I tapped it off. At this point I was loving the perfect smoothness of the tobacco but not really picking up any interesting complexity.

Outside, it started to drizzle a bit and I started puffing harder, trying to eke out some sort of distinguishing characteristic. But the stick still just tasted like tobacco to me, though having reached the middle of the cigar I was still stunned at how simultaneously rich and smooth it was.

I think trying to beat the rain is what killed me. With a cigar this full-bodied, you’re supposed to smoke leisurely so that the cigar doesn’t start to bite. I only realized I was in over my palate when I took a sip of my beer and it tasted like tobacco. This is definitely a cigar you want to pair with liquor.

The rain picked up and I put the stick down. The Arganese CL3 definitely earned my respect. It may not be the best match for my personal taste, but full-bodied aficionados will love it.