Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $9.25
- Samples provided by manufacturer
Background
Cornelius & Anthony got into the premium cigar business around two years ago and seem to be working to make up for lost time. The family has been in the tobacco-growing business in America for somewhere around 150 years and started off their premium cigar business with offerings from Titan de Bronze (in Miami) and La Zona (in Nicaragua). I’ve reviewed a few of their sticks and found the Nicaraguan-made ones to be more suitable to my palate and wallet.
Aerial is one of two new blends in 2017 for C&A, both of them coming out of the La Zone factory again. For Aerial, the goal was to created an “unprecedented spicy Connecticut” that would “surprise…with its refined complexity.” It uses Nicaraguan fillers, an unspecified “USA” binder (one person I talked to recently heavily implied the binder was Virginian, but I can’t say with certainty), and an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper.
Cornelius & Anthony sent me review samples of these cigars. I smoked one the day after they arrived in my mailbox and was impressed enough that I could hardly wait to get to the review sample a few days later.
Prelight
[Ack! I swear I took notes on other “prelight” stuff, but when I got to the point of posting this there was nothing there!]
Bottom line…the packaging falls in line with the other C&A stuff…standard band showing the company logo, then a secondary band to show the blend name. The box has a hot air balloon drawing that’s pretty cool. From what I can remember, the wrapper leaf was good looking, smooth, and not very oily.
Once cut, the cold draw was excellent and the prelight flavor was a very interesting mix of grassy and woody notes along with a nice citrus sweetness and a coolness that affected my lips like mint, but didn’t taste like it.
Flavor
The Aerial took a little patience to get completely lit, but once it was, there was an earthy core flavor with a light grassiness on top and a good amount of cedar in the mix. Pepper spice was definitely in play, as well, on the palate, but even more so on the nose. The special ingredient here, though, was whatever leaf was amping up the sweetness factor. Most Connys tend to be mildly sweet with tons of creamy, grassy notes…maybe some woody or earthy one, too, but never that much sweetness. This one had a very nice amount of sweetness right on the front end. The orange citrus note was so pronounced that when I first smoked it, my thought was “I really wouldn’t be surprised if they used some of that Brazilian Laranja leaf in this blend.” As the first third continued on, I was surprised and pleased with the mixture of smooth creaminess and rougher spice present throughout.
During the second third, I got an increase in earthy and woody notes, while the sweeter citrus note took a more secondary role, but were no less important. The pepper decreased a little as well, but continued to make a great counterpoint to the creaminess.
The last third had the pepper spice diminishing further. The sweetness morphed from citrus to a more syrupy note and melded well with the earthy and woody notes.
Construction
Aerial had pretty much perfect construction: great draw, even burn line and solid ash.
Value
The price tag is great for the experience Aerial delivers.
Conclusions
To me, this is easily the best thing so far in the Cornelius & Anthony catalog. While being a mild-to-medium Conny, it had a great complexity and truly unique flavor that is unlike anything I’ve ever had in a similar cigar. Great stick and one that I would love to repeat over and over again. If you lean toward milder sticks already, you really should give this a try.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
