Considered one of the best new releases in 2009, Cain provides substantial flavor and body as it contains 100% Nicaraguan ligero long leaves from Condega, Jalapa and Esteli, Nicaragua while maintaining a smooth character due to its triple-fermented tobacco.

The Oliva family has left a substantial mark on the cigar industry over the past five years. As one of the world’s most reputable cigar makers, their highly rated blends can only be found at the most reputable tobacconists throughout the world. In 2007, Oliva received an unprecedented '94' rating from Cigar Aficionado for their Serie ‘V’ line, which was also designated as the top new release that year. Their more recent release of Nub has also been well received by most in the industry and was developed by Sam Leccia, the same mastermind behind Cain.

Cain is simply a powerfully balanced blend. The idea was to create a strong cigar using all ligero leaves from Nicaragua's top three growing regions while maintaining a smooth character and Sam Leccia hit the nail on the head. These leaves are then draped with either a toothy Habano wrapper, adding more robust nuances to the blend, or a sleek and oily maduro which will provide sweet flavors in the finish. Right off the bat you'll experience dry earth with a spicy aftertaste but the finish is surprisingly light. The blend builds in strengh as the cigar burns slowly and even. With a pleasant aroma consisting of hints of cedar, this full-bodied cigar is an excellent afternoon delight or an evening night cap. Be warned, you will feel the strength of the ligero filler in your head and gut, but Cain is still a great cigar for the full-bodied enthusiast searching for a strong yet balanced everyday indulgence.

Q: What is the difference between a cigar's aroma and its flavor?

A: Naturally, most assume a cigar's aroma is simply "what the smoke smells like." However this is not 100% true. A cigar's aroma not only consists of the smoke produced from the burning tobacco, but also how the cigar smells before being lit. Before you toast the foot of any cigar you plan to enjoy, you should practice what is referred to as the "pre-light ritual." Before lighting, examine your cigar in your hands, feel it, put the foot to your nostrils and smell the raw tobaccos that make up the filler. Smell the wrapper and draw through the cigar before lighting to pick up some of its raw flavor. This will help you to taste all the different nuances that will be produced once the cigar is lit. These qualities all contribute to a cigar's aroma.

Flavor, on the other hand, is the combination of what you smell (aroma) and what you taste. You cannot decipher a cigar's flavor without knowing its aroma. Although your tongue will detect salty, acidic, bitter or sweet nuances, these are not the only characteristics that determine the overall flavor of a blend. You must evaluate the nuances picked up between your taste buds and compare them to the aroma of the cigar to correctly identify its flavor. It is this reason that it is highly recommended to cycle the smoke through your nostrils as you'll find flavor characteristics that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Another fantastic blend from the award winning 5 Vegas line, Triple-A combines tobaccos from Nicaragua's top growing regions with an oily Pennsylvania Broadleaf maduro wrapper to create a full-bodied array of complex flavors guaranteed to stimulate your palate for hours of enjoyment.

Aficionados and enthusiasts across the globe have come to love 5 Vegas. The brand is simply perfect: there is a blend suitable for every palate, the cigars are consistent in flavor and construction time and time again, the price points are simply stunning and they've even earned ratings as high as '90' by Cigar Aficionado. With those types of characteristics, there is no surprise that 5 Vegas is the "go-to" brand for cigar enthusiasts from all walks of life.

When you pick up Triple-A, you'll immediately notice its weight - the blend is very heavy in the hand since it's so densely packed with premium Nicaraguan ligero leaves from Condega, Jalapa and Esteli. Upon lighting, you'll experience a smooth character of earthy nuances with sweetness in the aftertaste before the blend immediately blasts your palate with black pepper which transforms to toasty hints of oak and leather. Espresso and cocoa flavors are easily noticable on the finish as the cigar burns even and cool from the start. The beautiful maduro wrapper creates a super tasty rich nuance and thick, milky smoke. We truly enjoy this great addition to the 5 Vegas portofolio of blends.

Triple-A (5"x56) The wrapper is incredibly oily with light veins and a smooth, seamless appearance. Very attractive. Upon lighting, light earthy nuances exist as thick smoke engulfs your palate. Cycle the smoke through your nose and you'll find sweet, coffee-like flavors on the finish. Expect a cool burn and effortless draw due to the thick ring gauge as the strength increases from medium to full as the blend burns. Rich and complex, this cigar is easily comparable to Camacho Triple Maduro or Don Pepin Garcia Serie JJ Maduro. Excellent. 90/100 [Buy Now]

Joya de Nicaragua Fuerte Serie B - Made by Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca, one of the most legendary cigar makers in the world, Fuerte Serie B encapsulates all you would except from Joya de Nicaragua but with an incredibly attractive price point!

El Mejor Espresso - El Mejor Espresso is one of the best tasting maduros on the market for less than $2.50 a stick!

Man O' War Special Edition - Contains the same filler and binder found in the original Man O' War blend, but comes wrapped with the premium Habano wrapper found on Man O' War Ruination for a completely different, unique, yet enjoyable full-bodied experience.

San Cristobal Seleccion Del Sol - A full-bodied addition to the highly rated San Cristobal line, Seleccion Del Sol received rave reviews upon its release and features some of the most premium tobaccos grown by master blender Don Pepin Garica.

02/17/2010: Join Tim and Alex as they answer some tough questions from our customers. Thank you to the Cigar.com forum members for providing many great questions! [Listen Now]

Working in the cigar industry is best described as “interesting.” Everyone outside the company – including my own family! – thinks this is the dream job, where R&D consists of smoking endless handmade cigars, feet up on desk, amidst a haze of cigar smoke and half-empty bottles of scotch. Alright well there may be a shred of truth to that but mostly it boils down to a big pile of work too. So here’s a little slice of life into what really happens here at Cigar.com, and we’ll just focus on our weekly Monday morning meeting.

Monday, December 7th, 2009

It’s 8am as I pull into the parking lot, exhausted from a week of shenanigans – er, work - in Nicaragua. I dump a suitcase full of new samples on the conference room table and stand guard while the rest of the team files in. Jeff “Scoop” Jackson has been hard at work for an hour preparing orders for his clients. Tim on the other hand strolls in nonchalantly, looking a touch disheveled from… well…what can best be described as a very long weekend. With coffees in hand and a steady supply of idle chatter about everyone’s weekend activities, the conversation evolves into a furious, cigar-geek debate about the merits of Corojo wrapper between Jim and Josh as Kelly tries to keep order and I begin distributing new samples.

The guys light up the sticks and provide instant feedback, most of which is negative. So be it. On to the next sample. I can’t deny it is an amazing perk, being able to light up handmade cigars at any moment, it is. But, and I know you won’t shed any tears for me, the majority of cigars we taste are ultimately rejected. In fact, when it comes to blends, often it seems our #1 job is saying “no.” Even when those samples are blends we specifically requested or even blended ourselves in the factories.

I move on to provide a production report on a few different categories of brands we sell and the factories I visited on my most recent trip. Will there really be a tobacco shortage in 2010? What is the status of the new proprietary cigar blends we’re working on? Anything specific that our customers are requesting? We pull out some forum posts and customer emails to read aloud, quickly identifying special requests while attacking more of the samples.

Tim interjects, “how soon are we getting that shipment of Perdomo cigars, I’ve got a boatload of backorders piling up.” No worries Tim, you can’t rush perfection, my friend, they’re due to ship this week and the quality looks exceptional. Unlike many of our competitors who simply place re-stocking orders, we actually hand-select the boxes while physically on location at the factory. This matters to us. In fact, this is a big part of the Cigar.com difference, ensuring our customers get the freshest and highest quality product direct from the factories. Believe me, we understand how important each order is to you.

By 9am the call queue begins piling up and Jeff leaves the meeting to assist on the phones. Tim turns to me with slightly curled lip and says, “you know Alex, we could have done better on some pricing, I’ve got an inbox full of emails on our new sampler pricing plus requests for a few Daily Deal items.” Customer feedback is paramount, as every email, every forum post, every communication is fully considered. As a result, we modify some pricing and load up the next week of Daily Deals with new products.

Suddenly a debate begins to simmer and escalate between Josh, Tim, and myself regarding a sample I provided. Josh hates the flavor, I love the body and aroma, Tim is on the fence. After 10 minutes of discussion, we reach out to a few of our best customers and offer them a free sample in return for their honest assessment. This is exactly how our Cigar.com House Blends came to fruition in fact. We don’t simply create and blend cigars we enjoy, it’s all about servicing customers with affordable, premium cigars you can’t find elsewhere – and as a result, we take a tremendous amount of pride in the blends that ultimately make it to production.

By now it’s 11am and Rocky Patel calls in for a scheduled meeting. Rocky begins the conversation with, “Swanson, are you crazy? At the prices you want, I won’t even be able to cover your whisky tab from two weeks ago." After 45 minutes of banter, Rocky finally gives in and adds jokingly, “okay, we can do those prices, but I will need to call my girlfriend and tell her to cancel this week’s groceries.” The call ends and we wrap up the meeting. “See you tomorrow at 8am sharp, right?” Tim laughs and races to the phones while Josh and I head to the Graphic Design Department to work on the next catalog… (to be continued).