Villa Casdagli

By Tony Casas | April 18, 2022

This week I serve time outback with a Villa Casdagli paired with a Firestone Walker Cherry Parabola.

The Good Stuff:

Villa Casdagli is the newest release from Casdagli cigar company. Released midway through last year the blend was created to celebrate the home of Emmanuel Casdagli who was a great businessman who started the family’s cotton business in the late 19th century in Cairo. the blend is based on the Daughters of the Wind blend by the company. (info courtesy of Halfwheel.com) The blend features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over an Ecuadorian Habano binder and fillers from Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru. Rolled at the Tabacos de Costa Rica S.A. factory the Villa Casdagli comes in four sizes: Robusto (5 x 52), Pigasus (5 x 54/58), Corona Gorda (5 1/2 x 46), Toro (6 x 54). Each comes packaged in boxes of 12 running between $12.50 to $16 per cigar.

• Size: 5 1/2 x 46
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
• Binder: Ecuadorian Habano
• Filler: Ecuadorian, Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $13.50
• Pairing: Firestone Walker Cherry Parabola (Imperial Stout 12.5% ABV)

Prelight:

The Villa Casdagli starts out with a consistent, milk chocolate brown wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is slightly toothy with a whole mess of oils coating it. The wrapper is an average density and hardness while the cigar feels a bit lightly packed throughout. There are a few larger veins running their course through the cigar’s body up to the cigar’s double wrapped cap. The cigar carries  a green and orange band with the Villa Estate embossed on the front along with the words “Villa Casdagli” and the Casdagli crest embossed in gold on the side.

The wrapper on the Villa Casdagli gives off a whole mess of honey aroma over some light earthiness while the foot of the cigar gives off really earthy/barnyard aromas. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a ton of honey, cashew and natural tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The Villa Casdagli starts out with a very slight black pepper kick which only lasted through the first puff or two before fading away allowing the cigar to release bold notes of cedar, honey, cashew, brown sugar, and vanilla. After a little white a really bold black cherry starts to poke through. The draw is very lightly loose but after a short period of time it began to tighten up. At this point each puff is kicking out huge clouds of thick, white smoke. The burnlife is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a trail of rightly compacted white ash which held for about an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Villa Casdagli and the flavors are pretty similar to the first. Cedar and honey leads the charge backed by brown sugar and cashew with notes of vanilla and earthiness. The retrohale brings out a little bit of spice that I fail to pickup during the normal smoking experience. The burn is still burning like a champ and I close out the second third with nothing in the nicotine department.

Final Third:

In the final third of the Villa Casdagli the honey and vanilla have now taken over the profile. Backed by cedar and cashew as well as a light earthiness. The brown sugar has dropped out. The cigar took about an hour and a half to smoke down to the nub. I experienced no harshness nor any extended heat. In fact, the cigar finished extremely mild and clean with a decent amount of body.

Overview:

This is my first cigar from the Casdagli portfolio and I must say, it makes me want to try out more of their releases. The Villa Casdagli is a solid cigar which offers a complex profile in a medium bodied experience. The flavors are fantastic. Outside of the draw being a bit wide open at the start the cigar burned great and I never once had to reach for my lighter to touchup or relight the cigar. This is something that I can easily see slotting into my daily rotation. It’s one of those cigars you can smoke in the morning and not get your ass kicked, but also have after a large meal and have enough flavor to not get muddied by whatever you just ate.

Pairing:

Brewed at the Firestone Walker Brewery in California, Cherry Parabola is a member only release of their famous Parabola imperial stout which is aged in brandy barrels and cherry bitters barrels with cherries. Coming in at 12.5% This beer leads with a bold natural cherry flavor along with dark chocolate, roasted malt, almond and light coconut with a very thick mouthfeel before finishing with more cherry and dark chocolate with just a light tartness on the finish. This version of Parabola is much more tame in terms of sweetness and stickiness but much more complex. I was really impressed with how much the cherry came through. This beer paired wonderfully with the dark cherry and nuttiness from the Villa Casdagli.