Today’s review; Ozgener Aramas comes from Ozgener Family Cigars. They might seem like a newcomer to the cigar industry, but they have been around for a long time. While the new company is run by Tim Ozgener, he got his feet wet in the cigar industry working for his dad Cano Ozgener who founded CAO Cigars.
On January 1, 2007, CAO would be sold to Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Tim would soon after leave the cigar industry. There were always rumors that Tim was somehow involved with Crowned Heads behind the scenes as the company had ties to the old days of CAO with Jon Huber and Mike Condor. But those rumors as persistent as they were, were never truly confirmed.
In June of 2022, it would become official that Tim Ozgener was coming back. Today’s review is his second regular production cigar and is an ode to his family heritage. The brands name is a reference to Mount Ararat, which is an inactive volcano located in Turkey, where Cano was born and raised. Cano’s son Tim, his son was born in Armenia where the volcano is referred to as Masis. The cigar’s name is a combination of the words Ararat and Masis. the OFC Aramas is made by cigar legend Ernesto Perez Carrillo.
Cigar Review: Ozgener Aramas
Size: 5.5 x 55
Wrapper: Mexico San Andres
Binder: Ecuador Sumatra
Filler:Dominican Republic, Nicaragua & USA Connecticut Broadleaf
Debut: Spring 2023
Box Count: 20
Final Smoking Time: 1 hour 30 Minutes
The Cigar: The band, while you can’t smoke it, I believe is horrible branding which surprised me. CAO was known for their branding as much as their cigars, but the current bands are overly busy and the printing isn’t crisp and easy to read. As far as the cigar goes the thick San Andres wrapper has a rustic look to it with a few noticeable veins and not much in the terms of oils. In the hand the cigar is hefty with no soft spots and a well packed foot.
The Taste: The cold draw has one of the most mouth watering sour taste I’ve ever seen in a cigar. It reminds me of a sour lime candy and personally I love it. There is a hint of wood in the background which is more dominant on the aroma from the foot of the cigar.
As we smoke the first third, a sandy Turkish coffee is the dominant taste with additional notes of oak, earth, salt and a touch of cumin. This medium bodied cigar sees the addition of raisins on the retrohale with a touch of pepper that grew in intensity slightly as the first third concluded.
In the second third, the flavor profile begins to rearrange itself with notes of oak becoming the focal point with a touch of caramel. The Turkish coffee that was dominant in the first third becomes more of an afterthought with notes of leather and a slight cinnamon. The retrohale is mostly black pepper but a very faint raisin still remains. The finish of the cigar is long and salty.
The final third of the Aramas from Ozgener Family Cigars sees the oak notes transition to the background while notes of leather and earth become the focal point. There is a subtle cocoa present and the pepper remains on the retrohale. The cigar finished medium-full in strength with a long finish.
Conclusion: For me the best cigars to date out of the Ozgener lines have been Pi Synesthesia. While the Bosphorus and the Aramas have been enjoyable I am sad to say neither stood out as memorable. Perhaps some of that is due to bias as I began smoking when CAO was one of the top cigars on the market when the Ozgener Family still owned them before General Cigar got their hands on them and made them a shell of what they once were. The CAO Gold, Brazilia, Criollo, MX2, CX2, L’Anniversaire: Maduro, Cameroon, Vision and Black were different from what was on the market. The team of Tim Ozgener and Jon Huber changed the way cigars are marketed, many of those schemes are still in use today by many marketing people at other companies.
With that said I got back to an earlier statement, Aramas was enjoyable.
Score: 89
Price: $15.00 (Before any local or state taxes)
