Cigar Review: CAO America Potomac

CAO released its latest addition to their line-up at the RTDA in Houston this year. As always, the marketing on this cigar is top notch and nothing short of what CAO does best. While at the RTDA, I picked up a couple samples of this and smoked them there. I had one remaining, so this morning I figured why not smoke it and tell y’all about it.Size: 5×56 Filler: Nicaragua/DR/Italy/USA Binder: Brazil Wrapper: Connecticut (double)

First, this is a monster cigar as far as the ring gauge is concerned. At a 56, it’s quite hefty. Appearance was immaculate. The bands are beautiful, the wrappers were smooth, even, not too veiny. The dark and light wrappers work well together in a fashion that I like better than the traditional barber-pole look that most double wrapper cigars use. I clipped the cap and it clipped pretty smoothly. The pre-light draw was firmer than I like, but I figured it would loosen up soon enough.

The first few pulls on this cigar surprised me. I was not expecting the sweetness that hit me in the sides of my jaw. It was pretty prevalent at first. Wood and leather were also very apparent. The smoke, as little as there was, had a slight caramel aroma. Very pleasant. By now I’m thinking, “Sweetness and caramel? Is this thing flavored?” Of course, it’s not.

The sweetness played a major part for the first inch or so, but then settled into the background where the wood and leather picked up. A hint of pepper started to coat my tongue too. This combination remained for about the first half or so. The ash on this was a very light grey that remained pretty tight.

About half way through, the leather really picked up leaving all other flavors as undertones. The pepper moved back to my throat and the sweetness was still determined to linger. But, the leather was overpowering. Not bad if that’s your thing.

I started to have burn problems, but I must say that I think that was due to the humidity outside more than any actual construction problems. No matter how much I corrected it, the problems refused to be fixed. This cigar is touted as full bodied, but of the few that I’ve had, it’s medium-bodied at best. This is not a bad thing.

Overall, I think this will be a hit for CAO. Besides their great marketing and presentation, this is a good cigar that’s different from others in their line-up. Retailing at just under $7, I’ll be picking more of these up for sure. If for nothing but to have a very pretty cigar sitting in my humidor.

Cigar Rating:

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1. 

   BigFrank says:

   September 9, 2007 at 4:40 am

   Haven’t tried to America yet, but the other CAO are good smokes, but most have given me burn troubles also… Good review keep it up.
2. 

   boonedoggle says:

   September 25, 2007 at 4:37 pm

   Very good review, and yes it is a really cool looking cigar. I was curious to see how the ligero played out, and these babies seem like they have a very dynamic character about them. I’ve always had burn problems with CAO, especially the Italia. Nicely done Ricky!
3. 

   monkeydan says:

   December 16, 2007 at 9:01 pm

   One of the worst cigars produced this year. With that said, It’s a good smoke, but very unworthy of the price and marketing. If you want a CAO, try the Crillo, Extreme or Mx2.