Tag Archives: CAO

by CigarCraig | January 10, 2016 · 10:53 am

Señorial, Perdomo, Illusione at Goose’s and CAO Flathead Cigars

It’s almost half way through January already, we’ve had no snow, it’s going to be 60 today (but raining) and, once again, I did not win the Powerball! What are the odds I didn’t win the $900,000,000 jackpot? I think something like 292 million to one. it’s kind of a long shot, and the next couple days are going to be ridiculous at the places that sell lottery tickets as it’s over a billion dollars now since nobody won. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to rely on winning the lottery to smoke nice cigars right now and lat week was another good cigar week. I started off with a Señorial Maduro in the Lognsdale Refinado size. This is a 6½” x 44 lonsdale size cigar, and I’ve found a discrepancy. The sticker on the cigar is spelled “Longsdale“, everywhere else it’s listed as “Lonsdale” (except for the Las Cumbres Tabaco website, which does not feature the six month or more old Maduro line at all…C’mon José! You’re supposed to be hip to this whole internet jive!). Call it whatever you want, it’s a great cigar. I picked up a few of these at an event with José at the Wooden Indian a couple of months ago and I’m happy I did. Loads of flavor from the San Andrés wrapper, perfect construction and a wonderful smoking experience. Great cigar from a great guy. I see a Freyja in my future, it’s been a while since I smoked one of those.

A couple of evenings this week were pretty darned cold, not that I should be surprised, it is, January anyway, but I wanted something shorter, with lots of flavor (cold and subtlety don’t mix!) so I reached for a Perdomo Champagne Noir Robusto. I didn’t care for the regular Champagne AT ALL. I would be hard pressed to try another one based upon the experience I had with the first, but the Noir is another story. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, it’s got the cocoa/coffee flavors I like and is a very nice cigar. I will eventually revisit the Connecticut wrapped 10th Anniversary Champagne, but I have an aversion to spending my cigar time with something I didn’t like the first time. If I don’t know I don’t like a cigar it’s one thing. Anyway, the Noir may be my second favorite Perdomo next to the 20th Maduro, but there are a lot of enjoyable cigars in the line. I actually wouldn’t mind taking the Perdomo factory tour one of these days.

Yesterday I wanted to get some of those Powerball tickets everyone is talking about, and I know that the seller of the winning ticket gets a nice little bonus for selling the winner, so I headed over to Goose’s in Limerick, PA and bought my lottery tickets and a handful of cigars, and settled into the lounge with an Illusione HL to watch the Flyers game. I haven’t smoked a great many Illusione cigars, and I need to change this. I’ve met Dion a bunch of times, I think he knows who I am, yet, my experience with his line is sorely lacking. The HL is the 7½” x 40 lancero in the “Original Documents” series which has to be about 10 years old, right? I didn’t really do my due diligence on this one, so I’m going to guess that this was the Habano wrapped version as it certainly wasn’t candela (on my wish list) and it didn’t strike me as San Andrés Maduro. As I was watching the hockey game in Goose’s lounge, a couple of flavors stood out to me, leather with some sweetness. I enjoyed the heck out of this perfectly constructed lancero, it was perfect for two periods of hockey, at which time I ran home to catch the end of the game.

For my Saturday evening walk I selected Cigar Aficionado’s number 3 pick on their top 25 list, the CAO Flathead 660 Carb. I’ve heard some sentiments expressed to the negative about this choice for CA, but I, who have been a fan of the line from the start, think it was a solid selection. I was out of these, so I picked some up at Goose’s (I was actually surprised they were in stock). Obviously, the 660 Carb is 6″ x 60, but it’s severely box pressed, so it really doesn’t feel like a 60 ring cigar. I punched this one, as is nearly mandatory with the flat cap, and got a great burn and draw. I find punching is the easiest way with these (and the RoMaCraft Neanderthal), but I’m going to try some other methods in the future just to see how they work. I guess I just like the neatness of the punch in this case. A large bore punch is best, my Screwpop 2.0 punch is 9mm (the 1.0 was 7m, not that you asked). I love the Broadleaf wrapper on these, and I love the fact that the different sizes present a different smoking experience. The 660 is smooth, but loaded with the great espresso, dark chocolate and tobacco flavors I love. This marque is on my shortlist of box buys right now I just don’t know which size I like best!

I would like to ask that anyone who was a winner in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways who did NOT receive your winnings please let me know. No need to publicly heap praise upon me, although the sponsors wouldn’t mind, just want to make sure everyone is happy. That’s it for now, off to enclose the back porch for the winter to make it more comfortable for cold weather cigar smoking!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

12 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, Flathead, illusione, maduro, Perdomo, Senorial

by CigarCraig | January 3, 2016 · 10:57 am

Welcome to 2016 with Sobremesa, CAO, Bolivar and Joya de Nicaragua and Tops of 2015

It’s 2016 already! Â It’s hard to believe we’re now in the second half of the second decade of the 21st century! Hopefully everything remains status quo in the cigar industry with the pending FDA nonsense and all. Today wraps up an almost two-week vacation for me, I have to summon the will to get up and go to work tomorrow! But I managed to squeeze a lot of fun in that two weeks. Â My wife and I celebrated New Year’s by driving to Cleveland, OH to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame there. Â We got there Wednesday afternoon after driving all day, wandered into the casino around the corner from our hotel, and it smelled funny. I expect casinos to have a smokey aroma, and this one smelled clean. Â Very strange, apparently Ohio has a pretty strict indoor smoking law, so we didn’t spend very long there. It was damned cold there too, so smoking a cigar outside wasn’t happening either. Â Luckily, on the way back from visiting the Hall of Fame, which was great, although it seems like the singers and guitar players get all the glory, very few drum sets on display, we visited Cousins Cigars. Â This shop had a smoking area, was ringed with cabinet humidors, and had a very nice classic selection. I picked up some of the new Bolivars and lit one up, and it was very good. Â Is still don’t care for the bands, but the cigar is right up my alley, rich, dark and full flavored. It was a great way to end 2015, and the gentlemen in the lounge were very friendly and welcoming, and Sam, the shopkeeper was excellent as well. Â I’d say this is a place to visit if you find yourself in Cleveland.

My first couple cigars of 2016 were pretty great. I started off with a Sobremesa El Americano Friday after driving home, mostly through snow. Â As I’ve come to expect, this is a complex and delicious cigar with subtle and nuanced flavors. Â Definitely a special occasion cigar. I still want to try theÂ Robusto Largo size, but so far this is my favorite of the sizes I’ve tried. Yesterday I took a nice walk with a CAO Flathead Steel Horse Apehanger, ironically, the subject of the last giveaway of 2015, the winner of which will be announced in a bit. I really like the Flathead line in general, and I like what they did changing the wrapper from the Connecticut Broadleaf on the box pressed line, to a Connecticut Habano Oscuro on the round Steel Horse line. I Â can’t imagine whoever wins these will be unhappy as they are a really good smoke to my palate. I still can’t figure out why the Steel Horse line extension isn’t listed on their website though, yet the fact that the 660 Carb was Cigar Aficionados number 3 is noted (as it should be). Â I finished off the day with a Joya de Nicaragua Cuatro Cinco Reserva Especial Toro. This cigar was released at last year’s IPCPR show, a tweaked version of the 2013 Cuatro Cinco that celebrated the companies 45 year anniversary. I guess Cuatro Siete was awkward. To me, this is reminiscent of the AntaÃ±o Dark Corojo with the rough edges knocked off. Its much more refined and smooth. Â This is another great smoke to wrap up the New Years holiday.

While everyone else in the blogosphere is posting their lists of favorite cigars of the year, It was a very weird year for me, and with everything that went on for me personally, I will continue my tradition of not making a list. It gets easier every year not to make a list! Â There were a lot of great cigars, and everyone’s palate is different. Kudos to everyone else for putting forth the effort to complete these lists. Â For me, once again the important thing is the interaction with the readers. I resolve to do a better job of responding to the comments here, I appreciate every one of them and will do better at following up. Â So my top five list is my loyal commentors:

Somehow Dan missed Â commenting on 28 posts this year, as I hit an even 100 posts in 2015. So there’s your goal for 2016, make the list! I really do appreciate everyone reading along with my nonsense, thank you!

On the contest results! This one actually got more entries than any of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways this year. Maybe I need to rethink the way I do the December contests! Â I have a few months to think about it. Â The random number generator gave me 38, which corresponds to Bob Langmaid!Â Please send me your address Bob! Hopefully you’ll share some of these with the other Langmaids I’ve seen entries from in contests over the years! Â 🙂 Â Once again, many thanks to Victoria at General Cigar Co. for sending this great box along to give away, and to Ricky Rodriguez and Ed McKenna at CAO for making great cigars. Please don’t expect another contest for a while, I’m all giveaway’d out!

That’s it for today! Â I’ve got a Prime Living article due this week that I have to finish up this week, and some Christmas cleanup yet to do around the house, and a lot of “last day of vacation” stuff to get to, including taking a nice cigar for a long walk! Â Until the next time,

CigarCraig

19 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Stores

Tagged as bolivar, CAO, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Contest, Cousins, Flathead, joya de nicaragua, Sobremasa

by CigarCraig | December 30, 2015 · 6:47 am

Happy New Year Contest! CAO Flathead Steel Horse Apehanger

You know I can’t resist getting one more contest in! CAO‘s Flathead line has been a favorite of mine since they came out, and I thought it was great, although a bit strange, that the V660 Carb got the number three spot on Cigar Aficionado’s top 25 of 2015. While I like them all, I think the V554 or V450 are a bit more to my liking, it’s awesome that they get the recognition they deserve for this blend. Rick Rodriguez is a great guy, with some great stories, and nailed it with the Flathead blend in my humble opinion. This year they added a motorcycle theme to the Flathead line with the Steel Horse Apehanger and Bullneck, with two major differences, these are offered in the round as opposed to being severely box pressed, and they have a Connecticut Habano Osciuro wrapper as opposed to the Connecticut Broadleaf of the original line. I dig the Steel Horse just about as much as the box pressed line, which is why I held on to this box of Steel Horse Apehanger for a special Happy New Year giveaway! The Apehanger is 5½” x 58, has the aforementioned Connecticut Habano Oscuro wrapper, a Brazilian Arapiraca binder and Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominican long-fillers. This is a box of 18 cigars, that still have the distinctive flat head, which in my experience is best handled with a large diameter bullet punch. Thank you, once again, to Victoria at General Cigar Co. for coming up big with this one!

The rules are the same as always, leave a comment to enter. If you won in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, please give everyone else a chance. You must be over 18 to win. I will select a winner at random on Sunday, January 3, 2016, so there’s plenty of time to sober up after New Years Eve and type a comment!

Thank you all for helping me through 2015, and I wish you all a prosperous and healthy 2016!

Until 2016,

CigarCraig

152 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as Apehanger, CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, Flathead, General Cigar Co., Steel Horse

by CigarCraig | September 2, 2015 · 4:54 pm

First Wednesday Contest Featuring Ventura Psyko Seven Cigars and Swag

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it’s contest time, following a tradition that began last month! But first I want to bore you with some tales of out latest vacation this week to Mountain Lake Lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We drove down Sunday and stopped at Luray Caverns on the way, which was expensive to get into , but spectacular to see. The organ they have down there that has strikers on pistons that strike tuned stalactites is a marvel. That was something to see, and we saw signs for half a dozen other caves and caverns on the drive south, buncha copy cats! Anyway, Mountain Lake Lodge is the place where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed back in the 80s, had we known that, we might have gone someplace else! We ate in the dining room where Baby got put in the corner…big whoop…crappy movie. Anyway, it was a very nice place, and we had it mostly to ourselves. It takes exactly one CAO Columbia Vallenato to hike the trail which goes around the lake. Spectacular morning cigar, the lake, not so much. It seems that once in a while the lake drains itself, it’s on a fault. It probably drains into one of those caverns they like so much around there. Anyway, it apparently emptied itself out in 2009 and is starting to fill back up. The pictures of the resort with the lake make it look pretty cool, the lack of a lake wasn’t so cool, although if the place weren’t called Moutain LAKE Resort one may not notice. They did have a pool and a Jacuzzi that were deserted save for my wife and I, and one Tortuga Reserva Cedro Belicoso is just enough to get a little sunburn. No pictures, I left my phone in the room. We did some more hiking around the property, and the food was very good in the restaurant in the lodge. There wasn’t a lot of night life with only 18 guests registered either. On the way home we stopped by Jefferson National Forest and hiked the two miles to Cascade Falls. It takes exactly one Leccia Luchadore El Hombre to hike two miles, and the El Hombre remains one of my favorite cigars, even in the morning it was a great walking stick. The falls were pretty cool, 66′ drop and lots of cool little falls and rapids on the hike up. The weekend was a nice getaway with some exceptional cigars.

Contest

A few months ago I received some pretty cook stuff from Ventura Cigar Co. in support of their really good Psyko Seven Maduro. I tried to find these guys at the IPCPR show, and managed to get in the Phillips and King booth (their distributor) when they were giving away a Rolex watch (I didn’t win), so it was crowded. I had some tobacco infused coffee which was interesting, but didn’t manage to find the Ventura guys. I’ll catch up with them someplace, I suppose. Anyway, the goodies in today’s contest are a nice ceramic Ventura ashtray, a Ventura single torch lighter with a flip out punch, a fun set of Rorschach Inkblot test cards so you can find out if you have an Oedipal complex or not, and two coffin boxes containing two Psyko Seven Maduro Robustos each (total of 4 cigars). The usual rules apply, must be over 18 and must not have won in the last months (sorry Matt Wells!). Leave a comment here to enter. I’ll announce a winner next Wednesday, September 9, 2015.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

77 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, leccia, Psyko Seven, Tortuga, Ventura

by CigarCraig | August 5, 2015 · 9:38 pm

What’s New at General Cigars and a Contest!

This week I’ve been smoking some of the samples from the General Cigar Co. booth from the IPCPR show, and I found myself with an abundance of samples that I want to share with one of my readers. One of several new offerings from CAO is the Pilon, which I smoked this week in the robusto size. In the Pilon line they are fermenting the tobacco in small, round pilons, as opposed to large rectangular versions that most cigar tobacco is fermented in. They are using a Cuban seed Ecuador wrapper and fillers from Esteli and Ometepe. The cigar smoked well and was woody with some spice and sweetness. I thought it was a very nice smoke and enjoyed it on a beautiful Sunday Afternoon.

After dinner I revisited the new Leccia Luchador El Gringo Frog Splash. I smoked one at the show on the first day and I’m a big fan of the Luchador line, and enjoyed this fat little cigar quite a bit. You may think a 4½” x 70 would be unwieldy, but the box press makes if feel quite a bit smaller than the 70 ring gauge in the round. It’s still got a little bit of a wavy burn, but it’s a flavorful and spicy smoke. It’s got a dark and oily Nicaraguan Oscuro wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and blend of three ligeros from Esteli, Jalapa and Pennsylvania. It’s a funny shape, but a really good smoke that I’m having trouble leaving alone.

Monday evening I wanted something a little more refined, so I selected the new Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema, released in just one size, a 6×50 Toro. I wanted something a little larger than a robusto too. This is a smooth smoke, and very delicate and subtle. It’s made with a Nicaraguan Jalapa shade wrapper with three exceptional fillers: full-bodied Nicaraguan Esteli and Jalapa, and rare Brazilian Matafina, and a hearty Connecticut Broadleaf binder. There’s a lot of sweet flavors and it burned exceptionally well. This would be a great early cigar. Dunhill is not c cigar I generally reach for, but this was a pleasant diversion, for sure.

Last night I smoked one of the new CAO Margaritaville cigars. These are licensed under the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville brand, and are available in two versions, a Piña Colada flavored cigar available in a corona and petit corona with a Cameroon wrapper and a blend of Dominican tobacco, which will fall under the Flavors line, and the one I smoked, the Havana Daydreamin’ line, which is a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos wrapped with an Ecuadoran Connecticut wrapper. As I smoked this I couldn’t help but think that it’s targeting the occasional smoker, someone who picks up a cigar once in a while on vacation, at a bar or concert, as it was a nice enough cigar, but fairly middle of the road as far as the flavor goes. It burned quickly, but evenly, and left me a bit underwhelmed. Certainly it’s mild enough to smoke several in a row on the beach. I’ll give the flavored version a try one of these days.

Tonight I went with a personal favorite lately, the CAO Flathead in the new Steel Horse size. This was the “Apehanger” size, a 5½” x 58 cigar in a round format. I’ve mentioned this in a recent post, so I won’t spend too much time on the specifics, but it’s a lovely cigar. It’s got a Connecticut Habano wrapper that is dark and oily, with the signature flat head that just about demands a punch cut, which works well (I recommend a larger bore punch if at all possible, the ScrewPop 2.0 worked well). The fillers are Honduran, Nicaraguan and Dominican and the binder is a Brazilian Arapiraca, making it a five country blend. I’m a fan of the whole line, and this shape is a great addition. Very rich and satisfying with lush flavors of espresso and dark cocoa. As I said, I’m a big fan of he Flathead line in all sizes, and this is a very nice addition.

Contest

Here’s your chance to win some of the cigars mentioned above. There are five packs of both the CAO Magaritaville cigars, as well as the CAO Pilon and Flathead Steel Horse, the Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema, the new Macanudo Estate Reserve Jamaica, which I haven’t gotten around to smoking yet, but the last Estate Reserve was really good, so I have confidence in this one, and a couple of the Leccia Luchador El Gringo Frog Splash (and a Luchador El Hombre for good measure). It’s hard to say what else might fall into the box while I’m packing it up, it’s happened. 33 cigars in all, not a bad little prize pack! Many thanks to my friends at General Cigar Co. for their generosity this year. Same rules as always, leave a comment on this post to enter, and I’ll select a winner next Wednesday, August 12, 2015. It’s been a while since I had a contest, so everyone is eligible, must be 18 to enter, one entry per person please.