Gran Habano - the Light Cigar
The word to describe the Gran Habano is Light. The color is light. A norweigian blond of a cigar. Luckily, birch furniture has gone out of style, because if you put this cigar down on a birch table you may not find it again. Nothing in my humidor looks so pale as this, also the Sosa comes close. The nebbish Connecticut shade wrapper must have stayed indoors all the time, looking as pale as the Canadian snowbirds gathered around the hotel pool.
The weight is light. Some cigars just feel substantial. The Padron Anniversario and Astral TVS come to mind. Compared to the TVS robusto in my hand, the Gran Habano torpedo is over 1" longer and 2 ring sizes fatter, but is noticably lighter.
The light weight makes one leery of a smoke that will be too hot and too fast. I like a little resistence in the draw of my cigars, so I cut just a sliver off the well-made cap and tried a draw. Too tight. Cut a little more and that's better. Lights fully and easily, producing abundant smoke.
Cigar ash seems to me to be entirely overblown. Once the tobacco gives up its smoke in a flash of oxidation, the ash is just along for the ride. All I ask of my ash is that it not fool me: stay on when you look like you're going to stay, come off when it looks like you're going to come off. I don't want to drop a big ash bomb on the carpet or my pants and play the social boob. Nor do I want to pound the cigar on the ashtray trying to dislodge the big grey snake. The lightness of the Gran Habano gives me caution that the ash may be too wimpy to hang tough, but that is not the case. Easily 1" or more of ash hangs on.
Light also describes the taste of the Gran Habano. Rather sweet and nutty, the Gran Habano is not the place to look for spices, licorice and leather. To say the GH is entirely inoffensive is to damn it with faint praise, and this cigar deserves better. It is an enjoyable smoke. After a good meal, with a brandy in the sitting room, the GH would be out of place. It simply can't stand up to meditative inspection. On the front porch with a cup of coffee and the morning paper, this is ideal. On the golf course when you're thinking about so many other things, this cigar will not disappoint.
