I mentioned in a previous post that these cigars came my way from the HPSF Traveling humidor:

Dominican Sweets – Back in the day, I use to smoke packs of Backwoods cigars that were vanilla flavored. It’s been a couple years since I’ve tried any kind of flavored cigar. I went in with an open mind although when my wife said that the cigar smelled nice, I won’t lie, doubt did enter my mind. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer that cigars are totally a personal choice when it comes to what you smoke. This just wasn’t my cup of tea. I was overwhelmed with how concentrated the vanilla flavor was. Most flavored cigars are usually dipped in something or the cap is flavored. This guy was flavored from light up to burn out. The process the company uses is actually neat. Instead of flavoring by soaking in a liquid or injecting it, they actually have their cigars sit in a humidor and flavor the air around the cigars to let the cigars naturally soak up the flavor while the tobacco breaths. Outside of the flavoring process I couldn’t find too much info on who manufactures them and what the filler is composed of. Other flavors available are Cognac, Honey and Rum.

All in all I gave the cigar a grade of “C” with a score of 72. I couldn’t find any other scores online. I thought the flavor was too concentrated and overpowered any distinguishable cigar flavors and traits. The aroma was very nice and actually was enjoyable to smell as it lingered in my room. Kind of like a sugar cookie type smell. I can definitely see how this could be a cigar for someone who is progressing from a mass machined produced flavored cigar, like Backwoods to a more handmade style cigar. I’d be interested in finding out if the other flavors have the same level of flavor concentration.

Carlos Torano 1916 Cameroon – When I saw this guy was added to the traveling humidor I immediately was excited. I’m a big fan of the Torano line with the Signature Series being one of my “go to” cigars. The 1916 Cameroon did nothing but further justify in my mind what a quality cigar Carlos Torano puts out. Mild cigar with a well balanced peppery and sweet spice flavors. Like other Torano cigars, the 1916 Cameroon was a slow burner. This one was a Torpedo style sizing in at 6.5 x 54. A bigger sized smoke than I am accustomed to but still as enjoyable. The cedar wrapping provides an enjoyable smooth woody finish. It smoked nicely with the cup of hickory coffee I had.

I graded the 1916 Cameroon as a “B” with a score of 81. As I smoked it and completed my scoring sheet I was sure that it was definitely an “A” with an easy score of in the 90’s like Cigar Aficionado rated it a “90” back in February 2004. The big fault with this cigar is the construction. Like other Cameroon wrappers they suffer from burn issues. The wrappers are very delicate and vulnerable to even the small change in humidity levels. Basically they are the attention whores of the humidor.