Tag Archives: CAO

by | September 22, 2024 · 9:28 am

New Big Payback and CAO Cigars, a Jaime Garcia and a Vegas Cubanas

This week I smoked some cigars I received from General Cigars and Forged, along with a couple cigars I picked up locally that I hadn’t smoked before.  I couple of them were obnoxiously large!  First off was the Room 101 Big Payback 70s Maduro.  I rather enjoyed the Olancho San Augustin (which they are now referring to as Sumatra, I never made that connection!) wrapped version that came out last year, despite its size.  This one has a US Broadleaf wrapper (Connecticut? Massachusetts?  Pennsylvania? My guess is the PA) over a Nicaraguan binder with fillers from the DR and Honduras, and it’s made at their factory in Honduras. I smoked this cigar for about two and a half hours and it burned well and had a pleasing flavor.  It’s pretty much what one would expect, although the excessive ring gauge makes it fairly mild. It has earthy cocoa and some sweetness.  Very nice cigar if you have a long time to do something like chat with friends or watch a game or a movie, as it doesn’t necessarily demand your attention. It has a $9 MSRP so it’s a good value.

 

I smoked a couple of the new CAO Arcana Thunder Smoke this week.  After the Arcana Firewalker debacle, I was a tad concerned.  This is an interesting blend, it has the Olancho San Augustin wrapper, a San Andrés binder and fillers from Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa and Cameroon.  I watched the final episode of The Grand Tour on Prime yesterday, and it just made sense to smoke a cigar with tobacco from Zimbabwe. I watched this on the recommendation of Nick from The Cigar Pulpit podcast, and a great recommendation it was. I’ve been a big fan of Top Gear, The Grand Tour, and many of the presenters offshoot shows for many years. This cigar, third in the Arcana series, the first was the Mortal Coil, followed by the abysmal Firewalker, then this one.  This was a really enjoyable cigar for me. It’s got a unique Mesquite flavor going on, something rather different and pleasing.  The band is oversized, but that’s about the only bad thing I can say about it!  I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Mortal Coil, which I liked a great deal. 

 

I realized that My Father cigars were severely underrepresented on my site, and in my rotation, so I decided to branch out and pick something I haven’t tried before up every now and then.  I grabbed a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Super Gordo a week or so ago at a local shop.  The Super Gordo is 5¾” x 66, in a torpedo format so the excessive girth isn’t quite so unwieldy.  This does come in a 7″ x 70, which they didn’t have, nor would I have bought.  It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuador binder and fillers from the Garcia farms in Nicaragua. Now that I remember, I smoked one of these last May in the Toro size and, although I had a cold, recall enjoying it. These are reasonably priced, hovering around $10 depending on the size. This Super Gordo might have been around $11.  This was an exceptional cigar, I really liked it.  It started out spicy, and the strength built up as it smoked, to a pretty full bodied cigar near the end. It had the sweet coffee/cocoa that I like in a Broadleaf wrapper. This was excellent. I want more.

 

Finally, I spied the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas on the shelf, the green band is ey-catching.  This is another line that has been around a while, but has eluded my attention. This is another reasonably priced cigar, I think the Generosos (6″ x 50) was under $9.  Funny, ten years ago buying an $9 cigar to me was like buying a +$15 cigar today, it was very hard for me to justify!  This cigar has a nice looking Habano Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This is one I’ll pass on revisiting, I’m afraid.  It was nice enough, although it had a floral component that didn’t really do it for me.  Maybe it would be better in the morning, although floral isn’t ever really in my wheelhouse. I tolerate it, but it’s not a preference. If you enjoy floral cigar, this is for you!  Next time I’ll pick up some other cigars in the Don Pepin line, I haven’t had any of them in a while.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 5, 2024 · 9:06 am

An Ozgerner Family Cigar, a Tatuaje and a Pair of CAOs

I picked up some new-to-me cigars this week at a couple different shops.  I started out with the Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas in the A60 size.  Funny enough, when I bought this, along with a West Tampa Red, I was sure I was getting toros, but when I got home I noticed I picked out the 6″ x 60 sizes in both.  Not a big deal, I like a 60 ring. For those who don’t know, Tim Ozgener, owner of the brand, sold his family’s last brand, CAO, to Scandinavian Tobacco ten or twelve years back. The Aramas has been around for about a year, so I’m a little slow on the uptake on this one.  The name Aramas is a combination of  the names of Mount Ararat, a dormant volcano located near the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. In Armenian, the name of the volcano is Masis. These are made at what was then Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., now Casa Carillo, in the D.R.. The blend is a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Connecticut broadleaf.  I found this to be a fairly strong cigar with a peppery start.  It settled a little, with dark espresso and bitter chocolate notes.  It was right up my alley, although I don’t buy a lot of $15 cigars.  It was a special treat and was relaxing after a tiring Thursday.

 

I stopped in another shop on my way home Friday and picked up a few more new cigars, and smoked the Tatuaje PCA Exclusive 2023, which I believe, despite the date on the box, recently hit stores. I’m fortunate to have two very different shops within a two mile radius of home.  This is a 6 3/8″ x 54 with an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, a Nicaraguan double binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s made at My Father Cigars S.A. in Esteli.  I think this was another $15 cigar, and another cigar I would smoke more often if not for the price.  This started out with a bright cane sugar sweetness that I really enjoyed. It built some spice as it went on, and was a really exceptional smoke. I was enamoured with it start to finish.  No regrets. 

 

I also picked up a couple of the new CAO FASA, the Sol and the Noche, both in the Gigante size.  It was a Gordo week for me this week.  I started with the Sol while watching some Star Wars movies on the porch. I usually start with the maduro, but it seemed more appropriate to smoke the Sol in the afternoon and the Noche in the evening.  First off, the Gigantes in this line are around $8 (I’m in no cigar tax PA remember, your mileage may vary), quite reasonable these days.  The Sol has an Olancho San Augustine wrapper.  The first cigar General put out under the CAO banner, with Rick Rodriguez doing the blend, was the OSA Sol, not commercially successful, but was a tasty smoke in some sizes.  They use this OSA wrapper on a lot of cigars now, they must grow tons of it in Honduras.  The binder on the FASA Sol is Cameroon, with fillers from the D.R. (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli).  This stares with some pepper, then some sweetness started less than in inch in.  This was a really good cigar to me, I’m going to have to go back and try some of the other sizes.  The spice and sweetness combined with some nutiness, it was a really nice afternoon smoke, rivalling the Tatuaje at nearly half the price. 

 

Naturally I had high hopes for the CAO FASA Noche, also in the 6″ x 60 Gigante size.  I actually did purposely buy these two in this size, I like a theme, and the CAO and Ozgener connection wasn’t enough (and I bought and smoked the West Tampa Red, which has another CAO connection). The FASA Noche has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Cameroon binder and the same filler combo as the Sol, Dominican (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli).  Once again, I had high hopes.  It started with what I would optimistically call espresso, but was more along the lines of the coffee that’s been sitting in the pot on the burner for about 4 hours. I expected different from the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon.  It didn’t draw as well as the Sol, so I might have to revisit it, in the Toro size, probably, because this is a blend I should love, and I loved the Sol version. These cigars are a great illustration of how much the wrapper has to do with the flavor, as the wrapper is the only difference. I was unable to find where the name FASA comes from or what it’s significance is.  I want to say this was the first post Rick Rodriguez CAO cigar too, but I might be wrong about that. 

 

Here’s a couple links for you:

Smokin Tabacco Raffle for The CFCF

https://www.smokeonos.com/

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | February 25, 2024 · 9:45 am

CAO Flathead Resonator and Punch Dragon Fire Cigars

I smoked some new stuff from General Cigars this week, both of which necessitated the use of my Adorini punch, which, in my opinion, is the finest punch on the market.  Adorini makes some excellent humidors, I have two and they are rock solid in form and finish.  I’ve had both for around ten years and they require zero maintenance.  I just throw some bovedas in every few months and they are good.  This punch has two sized punches, 9mm and 13mm, and I fund that I only ever use the larger one and there are only a few cigars that I use it on, CAO Flatheads, RoMaCraft Neanderthals, and now this Punch. The exception might be the smaller ring Flatheads,  but they are few and far between.  It’s good to have options though, and variety is the spice of life, which is why I find myself rotating through several cut styles. None of this has anything to do with the cigars, so let’s get to the CAO Flathead Resonator. First off, I think this is the first Flathead to come out in the post Rick Rodriguez era, Flathead was his baby.  It’s enormous at 8″ x 60, and took me a full 2½ hours to smoke. It’s a little surprising that they were able to pull this off in the age of Connecticut Broadleaf shortages, it takes a pretty large leaf to make 8″ cigars.  Like the rest of the line, this has a Connecticut Habano binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the STG Factory in Esteli. I’ve passed the factory on the way into Esteli on the Pan American Highway a few times, but it’s been over ten years, the town may have sprawled beyond there since.  I’d love a tour (hint, hint).  If you like the line, you’ll like this one, although it starts out a little mellower just by the nature of its length.  I had no need to touch it up over the course of the smoke, which would potentially last an entire hockey game, I think (I might test that theory today). It had the sweetness, with some black coffee and cocoa that I like, along with some earthiness.  All in all, an enjoyable, smoke, much more so than CAO’s last attempt at a 8″ x 60.

 

I suppose the elephant in the room is the question of whether General Cigar got permission from Gurkha to use “Dragon” in the name of the Punch Dragon Fire.  Considering the lack of news on a C&D or lawsuit, one might assume that they did. This is the sixth cigar in the Punch Chinese New Year series, the previous five of which had a takeout food theme (save for the Fu Manchu which took a brief departure into facial hair apparently).  They are sticking with keeping this in the budget price range, at $6.99 SRP, which is really good, I think. I have enjoyed the other releases in this series, and pick them up from time to time because they are wallet friendly and very tasty. I smoked a Kung Pow this week, which was the 2021 release, and enjoyed the crap out of it. This was a 6″ x 52 and features a short wrapper, where the first half inch is just binder and filler.  The Kung Pow had a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Honduran habano binder and fillers from Brazil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.  It’s quite a blend for a $7 cigar!  The Kung Pow is quite good, if you find them around, buy them. They might have been a part of the Pu Pu Platter box that they had that had a sampling the first few years of releases.  I’ve gotten ahead of myself.  The Punch Dragon Fire is a flat capped, 5″ x 60 cigar with a little bit of the wrapper folded over the foot (I think Enrique Sanchez of 1502 calls it the flavor lock, or something like that). Like the Flathead, this is also bade at the Esteli factory, most Punches are made in Honduras. The wrapper is Mexican, binder is Nicaraguan from Condega, and the fillers are Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran. There is a fireworks vibe to the packaging on these, and the cigar packs a punch, so to speak.  I found it to be quite spicy, lots of pepper and nicotine. I enjoyed it, but I think it will improve with some age.  The band is nice as it has the year on it, for those of us who save bands, it’s a nice reference.  I like these two new General Cigar releases, even though they are both 60 ring, they are both up my alley.  

 

If you get a minute, reach out to my buddy Kaplowitz (kaplowitzmedia(at)yahoo(dot)com) and wish him a Happy Birthday today!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | July 26, 2023 · 5:46 pm

News: CAO Arcana Mortal Coil Returns

I liked this cigar the last time it was around, much more than the Firewalker that came after it.  It was one of the best CAO cigars to come along in a while.  It seems like I heard about someone showcasing Andullo tobacco at the recent PCA show (La Aurora, maybe?).  

 

CAO Arcana Mortal Coil will soon be back by popular demand. The limited-edition cigar that
features “Andullo,” the oldest tobacco fermentation method of the Dominican Republic, will ship
to retailers on August 1.

Ed Lahmann, senior brand manager of CAO cigars said, “The fans of CAO spoke, and we
listened. We previously brought back Mortal Coil, yet the fans kept wanting more. So with this
year’s release of the blend, we’re showing the fans of CAO that we’re willing to go the extra
mile for them.”

 

CAO Mortal Coil is centered on Andullo tobacco which appears in the filler and calls upon time-
honored cultivation and curing techniques for sungrown Habano-seed tobaccos. Instead of
traditional bulk fermentation, Andullo tobacco is wrapped tightly in handcrafted palm tree pods
known as “yaguas” that are compressed with rope coiled around the pod. This old-world
process of fermentation takes approximately two years and transforms the tobacco into rough,
leathery-looking leaves with a characteristically thick texture and earthy sweetness.

Wrapped in Connecticut Broadleaf, with a Connecticut Shade binder and a filler made with
Dominican Andullo surrounded by Honduran Jamastran, Nicaraguan Esteli and Dominican Piloto
Cubano, CAO Mortal Coil is a medium-bodied cigar with an alluring aroma. The experience of
Mortal Coil brings forth notes of molasses, dark chocolate and raisin, with hints of spice.
Called “Mortal Coil Toro,” the 6 1/8” x 50 cigar will sell for a per-cigar SRP of $11.99. The
singular frontmark will be packaged in 20 count boxes.

CAO Mortal Coil is handcrafted at STG Esteli and will ship to retailers on August 1, 2023.

 

 

About CAO

CAO was originally launched in 1993 by Cano Ozgener, who was the founder of CAO International Inc., a company that up until that point was known for its tobacco pipes. The General Cigar Co., inherited the entire portfolio of CAO’s pre-existing brands after Swedish Match and ST Cigar Group Holdings merged in 2010, and the tobacco giant still distributes the brand and all its lines.

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by | June 11, 2023 · 8:53 am

New Cigars from CAO, Room 101 and Punch

I’ve been working through some samples I’ve had in the humidor for a bit.  Starting out with the CAO Amazon Basin Extra Ańejo.  The Amazon Basin came out first in 2014, and used a Brazilian Bragança leaf, which is processed what I imagine to be similar to the andullo process of twisting the leaf into tobacco sausages. They allegedly move the tobacco out of the Amazon Rainforest by canoe,  which sounds a little far-fetched.  The cigar has a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and the Brazilian, Dominican and Colombian fillers.  The Extra Ańejo was rolled in 2021 and left to age, I suppose, longer than the original batch. I’ll be honest, of the four original Amazon Basin blends, I was not a big fan of the original (or the last, I loved the middle two!).  This one was pretty darned good.  Although it isn’t one hundred percent up my alley, it was a tasty smoke.  I smoked it through the tobacco-cord “band” with no discernable flavor difference. It had some sweetness and some spice, and something unique.  I suspect if you were one who loved the original, you’ll really like this.

 

I think the Room 101 Daruma is the first Room 101 cigar to be released since the brand was acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) and put under the Forged umbrella of brands.  This is a Nicaraguan puro, oddly enough, it’s made by Oliva for Matt Booth.  I suppose this shows that nothing is really changing with the Room 101 brand, STG could very easily made this in one of their several factories.  The only criticism I have is that the fancy-pants outer sleeve on the cigar doesn’t have any identification on it save for the Fu and lotus symbols, which, if you aren’t familiar with Room 101, you won’t know what it is out of the box.  Once stripped of the outer wrappings, the band makes it clear.  I got a sweet wood profile from this cigar, and I really liked it.  It burned well, and was completely enjoyable. I dig it, and my wife wants all the outer sleeves.

 

I was hesitant to even include this last one, because I find just about everything about it to be silly.  If I  didn’t like it’s predecessor, the Punch Champion,  so much, I might have just passed on this one. Punch has been doing novelty releases for a while now, which I guess fits with the branding, which is based on the puppet Mr. Punch from the UK in the 1600s.  He was a clown, and presented slapstick comedy. The Punch Dad Bod is presented with a silly necktie band, packed 5 cigars per can in a 4 -pack.  I suppose it’s supposed to be like beer cans, but it comes off looking more like energy drinks to me. All that, and four of the five samples I received were damaged, and I’ve heard from others they they were damaged as well (both samples and in the wild).  Now, this does have a fragile Cameroon wrapper, over a Connecticut broadleaf binder, with Nicaraguan Condega, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran La Entrada and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers.  This is a six country blend in a fairly small cigar.  Once I get passed all the silliness, it’s a pretty tasty cigar, with some nuttiness, some sweetness and some earthiness.  I rather enjoyed the couple I’ve had, one had some foot damage that wasn’t an issue at all (the other one exploded!).  I have a dad bod, but I’m not particularly proud of it, so this is a Father’s Day “pass” for me, but it’s a good smoke, and it’s priced very nicely, so give it a shot.

 

That’s all for today. I’m so happy that the weather has warmed up and I can sit on the porch and write my Sunday post with a cigar, today it’s a Protocol Themis Churchill, a delicious shade cigar.  Hopefully I will see some of you next Saturday at Battleship Beef Part II on the Battleship New Jersey!  If you like food and cigars, it’s the place to be. Looking forward to seeing some great friends there!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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