It’s been CAO week so far. Got off to a good start with a CAO La Traviata natural. This was the first of this line I’ve smoked. Why, you ask? I don’t know, I just never came across them in the store until I went out to blow the Living Social Gift certificates I received for Father’s Day and decided to grab one. I had smoked a Maduro, which had been a trade show sample from last year’s IPCPR show, and I didn’t care for it. The CAO brand is like that with me, hit or miss. I really wanted to like the Italia and the Criollo, but don’t like either. The black and gold lines are pretty good, and I really liked the MX2, CX2 and the occasional LX2, and the Cameroon Anniversary was really good (I still have a Tubo from a box I purchased over 8 years ago! So I was a little “eh” on trying the La Traviata after the disappointment of the maduro. However, after all the hype I figured I owed the natural a shot. I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed the cigar. One complaint about this cigar is that it has the look of a bundle cigar, and specifically I refer to the lack of a discernible cap line, which may have caused the cut to be a bit ragged. This only detracted from the experience a little bit, I can be a little CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, LIKE IT SHOULD BE!) about a nice clean cut on a cigar. It burned well and had a pleasing flavor. This is a cigar that I will pick up again.
I took my Monday evening walk accompanied by a year and a half old CAO Brazilia Gol. The Gol is listed at 5″ x 56. For some reason, it seemed closer to 50, but maybe that has something to do with the trend towards 60 ring cigars making 50 the new 42? I don’t know, it just seemed like my perspective is thrown off by all of these beefy ring gauge cigars lately. Whatever the ring gauge, I have enjoyed these in the past, as I tend to like nice, dark, heavy cigars from time to time. This cigar had a very well applied cap and cut very cleanly. Not a whole lot I can say about this cigar other than I enjoyed the heck out of it down to a finger burning nub. Beautiful dark and oily wrapper on these!
After deciding on a CAO theme, I figured it would be a good time to light up the new CAO OSA Sol Lot 50, which was just released at the IPCPR show a few weeks ago. This particular cigar has a nice milk chocalate colored wrapper,and, disappointingly, has that same lack of a discernible cap line as the La Traviata. I know it’s a small thing, and doesn’t take away from the flavor, but it take a little bit away from the overall presentation of the cigar. Speaking of presentation, the box these come in is pretty nice looking! It’s a white box with a green “stripe” weaving across the lid. Very striking! I punched the cigar to avoid the same ragged cut I got from the similarly capped La Traviata and was pleased with the draw. I was also quite pleased with the flavors. This is a solidly medium bodied smoke, it’s smooth, it’s well made, it’s tasty. I will probably smoke the one other sample I have too soon and have to wait until they hit the shelves to get some more because I will be impatient and want to enjoy this cigar again. I only wish that the cigar had been longer, because it seemed to be finished too soon. I REALLY enjoyed this cigar!
In this video from the trade show, Ed McKenna and Rick Rodriguez tell us about the new CAO OSA Sol:
Apologies for the low volume in the video, but it gets the point across.
One more tidbit: I came across a new podcast, as if I needed one more in my rotation, it’s called CigarSnapshot. It’s hosted by Bill Berris, who is another alt.smokers.cigars usenet group veteran. His format is short, to the point, podcasts, which will fit in well with my habits. Good Luck Bill!
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
By the way, I had a relaxing afternoon yesterday with my wife, an 
