Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- $6.80
- Samples provided by General Cigar Company
Background
General Cigar Company’s CAO brand released the Pilón in the second half of 2015. It was a solid seller at the shop I worked at for quite some time after that, although I wouldn’t say it was a top seller, even within the CAO lines…solid, but not spectacular. Jon reviewed the Churchill size at the time, and I reviewed the Corona…we both rated it as sort of an “average” cigar.
Apparently the intervening years have seen either very nice crops or some tweaks in the blend as it was named “Cigar of the Year” by celebrated international cigar magazine L’Amateur de Cigare. There were apparently a total of 450 cigars rated and Pilón beat the finest cigars available in France, including Cubans. To celebrate this win, they sent samples of the Pilón Robusto so I could take a second look.
Pilón was blended by Rick Rodriguez and his team at CAO, utilizing a labor-intensive round pilón process that maximizes the flavor and color of the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The rest of the blend is made up of leaves from Esteli and Ometepe regions of Nicaragua.
If your local shop doesn’t carry CAO Cigars, you can find Pilón at Small Batch Cigar, a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor.
Notes
Since we did do full reviews of this blend—in two different sizes—5 years ago, I elected to do this as a “Cigar Extra” piece, pairing it with some whiskey. In this case, I decided on a bottle of Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bottled In Bond Bourbon that was looking lonely on the shelf in my office (to be fair, it’s a tall bottle and doesn’t fit on the same shelf with all the rest of my bottles…so it is a little lonely).
The wrapper was a medium-brown, close to milk chocolate in places, but very mottled with slightly darker and slightly lighter coloration. It smelled earthy and woody, while the foot was a slightly riper earth with a slight chocolate note. The cold draw was slightly snug and had a nice mix of earth, cocoa powder, cedar, and bell pepper. Burning it had more earth, along with strong natural tobacco notes, and just the slightest bit of cocoa powder and black pepper. The Bourbon brought more sweetness and heat to the party, even after I tamed it slightly with some water.
Honestly, the Pilón Robusto never really clicked for me any better than the Corona did five years ago. It’s still a good cigar and I’ve enjoyed a few of them that General sent me for this revisit, but it isn’t one of my favorites from them. It still hits me like a stick that’s fine if you don’t want to pay much attention to what you’re smoking, but it doesn’t hold up well to intense scrutiny for me. For the price, though, it’s an easy one to pick up and try…maybe you’ll feel as good about it as the French did!
