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Unlit Impressions

Firmly filled, but not too tight either, with a cleanly cut and applied cap on one end, my unlit critique of this premium cigar blend has never been anything less than outstanding. Its turbinado sugar-colored wrapper smells the way it looks, and comes backed by the expected "shady" mixture of dried straw, grass, cedar, and milder baking spices. Not all that vein-heavy, and flaunting both a bit of bloom and tooth, the wrapper on this smoke is just now beginning to show its age.

Now, regarding the foot. That section starts with the pithy, sweet, pulpy smell of orange marmalade, followed by a bit of cinnamon-sprinkled graham cracker, various wood shavings, and a spicy hint of ginger toward the end. Cold draws stay true to these aromas and only vary by adding some heavily aged tobacco leaf tastes on the tongue. This primarily translates to more cedar sawdust and some dusty manuscripts conscribed on tattered parchment paper. Mmm... dusty manuscripts...

Oh, and speaking of papyrus. The upper band is, in true Fratello fashion, sharply angled, and the company name is printed in the opposite direction of what is commonly found on cigars. You know, for all you lefties out there. Being that Oro means "gold" in Spanish, both the upper band and the foot band sport the shiny sheen of the precious metal, making for an eye-catching, but equally challenging bit of marketing to photograph. 

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Initial Smoke

Buttered pecans are one of my favorite flavors, regardless of when or where they are detected in a dish, dessert, drink, or cigar. This blend opens up with this unmistakable flavor, and then allows a grassy, herbal undertone to take over. Before long, things get fairly spicy as ligero leaf strikes a counterbalance to the smoke slowly shifting toward a tangy, sweet first third. Powered by more cinnamon than graham cracker, the secondary notes offer a nice alternative, as retrohales become lush and more medium the more you puff.

1st Half

Faintly funky, but in a playful sort of fashion, tastes take on a mixture between light and bright, and mature and mellow. Sweet cedar shines brighter as you go, making aromatics and flavors alike glow, as a buttery French toast taste evolves out of the cinnamon-coated grahams. Turbinado sugar tastes, and that touch of the sweetness that it is known for follows afterward, leaving a clean, medium-length finish on the tongue, and one hell of a bright, tangy retrohale on the nose.

By the time you get to the second third, the filler mixture has encouraged that nutty Cameroon binder to play ball with more vigor than ever before. Deeper in magnitude, but not heavier, the shift into second gear is a smooth one, and loaded with lively flavors and smoky textures. Pecan nuts of the buttered and toasted variety, a little bit of ligero spiciness and strength, and a creamy, citrusy, medium-bodied finish make the senses sing with smoking satisfaction. 

2nd Half

Allowing the second third to transform into its true self means being comfortable with embracing the ligero side of the cigar. Spicy at times, strong at others, and undeniably sun-grown in taste, this oily, resinous section of the filler blend controls much of what is detected in the second third and beyond. 

It starts with some darker tobacco tastes, primarily of soil and damp wood. But before long, bold leather flavors and a strong retrohale rolling in nuttiness come in to keep things from growing entirely too heavy. Citrus peel, potentially of the tangerine variety, continues to provide a pleasant, piquant pithiness that is slightly sweet. Further down the barrel, when the final third is in full swing, the aromatics of old parchment paper and dust resurface, which encourages a slightly funky, vintage tobacco leaf flavor to form. 

Body and strength are on the lower end of medium by now, with flavor being a few clicks ahead. The draw remains right on the money, and smoke production has increased by a good bit, which unfortunately, causes the final third to overheat a bit on me here and there.

Parting Puffs

Sharp and unpleasantly strong on the tongue, with an astringent finish unfolding after each exhale, I found the spicy, uncouth end to this blend to be anything but enjoyable. Sadly, this and an overwhelming amount of physical heat prevented any additional points from being allotted, as the cigar was deemed unsmokable by that point. 

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

A near-perfect bunch, bind, and roll resulted in a good burn on my review cigar, as well as on my sample stick. Although the ash wasn't the tightest or cleanest looking, it never bloomed out or grew very flaky. The draw was also ideal, even with a V-cut or punch, and I liked how the levels of smoke increased as the blend burned, while the occasionally wavy burn line never once required a touch from my Overland torch.

But overheating in the final third did not let up on either cigar, causing the cigar to not only feel hot, but taste hot as well. This would ultimately result in me giving up on the cigar far earlier than I normally would, thus voiding any parting puffs points from being allotted. 

Final Thoughts 

Substantial stretches of Fratello's reblended version of the Oro are so stunningly good, that I had to take a step back and reevaluate what I was tasting. From the bright citrus peel notes and the pleasantly pithy tastes and sensations that they impart, to the near constant accent of pecan clusters, turbinado sugar, and butter, Oro rules when it is in full-blown gold mode.

I also appreciate that it uses a combination of Cameroon and Colombian tobacco leaf inside, which is quite the uncommon combo. The transitions that occurred in the first and second third, and to an extent, the final third as well, all left me thoroughly impressed by their cleanliness and creative accents. It's a premium cigar blend that gradually grows more bold as it goes, and both the aromatics and flavors found in the majority of the barrel are downright delightful. 

But gold can also easily corrupt, and will bend and distort under heat and pressure. While the clean combustion of the cigar was top-notch, all of that heat was pretty oppressive and nearly ruined the last fifteen minutes of the cigar for me. My sample cigar did burn a tad cooler, but not by much, and suffered from the same "unsmokable" astringency issues in parting puffs. 

However, the biggest annoyance came when I realized that the bands on this blend were glued in such a way that their removal resulted in a chunk of the wrapper coming off with them. This happened on both cigars smoked, and despite staying on track burn-wise, it did make the start to the smoking experience and its closure quite unsightly. 

Once Fratello figures out how to keep the last 15–20 minutes of this cigar from growing hotter than a furnace, and gets its production crew to cut back on the band glue a bit, it will have one hell of an appealing medium-strength Connecticut Shade cigar blend on its hands. That, or at least the most interesting Connecticut Shade cigar in its own portfolio, which last we checked there were three options. Let's just hope this happens sooner rather than later, though, because many of us like it when we can smoke a cigar down to the nub, and I am already in the mood for another taste of that golden goodness that is the first third. 

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