Here’s what’s been going on around the blogs:

• CAO Gold Vintage – Toasted Foot
• Tatuaje Especiales – Fire Up That Cigar
• Cohiba Behike BHK 56 – Cigars. ie
• Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Legend – Doc Stogie
• Malfetano – Stogie Review

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Second, I wanna thank Se7en_Vandalay for doing this guest review.  He had it to me over a week ago and I had every intention to get it up in a timely manner, but well, see my first point.  Anyway, here you go.  Leave a comment and let him know how you like this review!

Cigar: CAO Brazilia Vitola: Box Press Size: 5½ x 55 Origin: Danli, Honduras Wrapper: Brazilian Colorado Maduro Binder: Nicaraguan Filler: Nicaraguan Price: $7.20 + CO tax

The CAO Brazilia has been a long time favorite of mine. I have smoked nearly all the vitolas in the line. And haven’t found a bad one yet. I’m impressed by the overall quality and flavor consistency. I think I have a good handle on this line which is why I chose it for this Guest Review for Cigar Command. So I got home last night, pulled one out of the humidor and sat down outside to enjoy a great Colorado evening with thunderstorms rolling off in the distance.

Appearance/Presentation: (18/20)
The CAO Brazilia comes in a beautiful dark chocolate Brazilian Colorado Maduro wrapper. From the dark wrapper there is incredible contrast to the dual bands of the Brazilia. The primary band displays the cigar name in Gold over the Green, Yellow & Blue of the Brazilian Flag. The secondary band displays the vitola, Box-Press, in Gold over a Yellow field with accent stripes. That beautiful wrapper was lightly oily with some tooth. Also there were some superficial blemishes towards the foot. The cigar was well packed head to foot, with no hard or soft spots. The cap was well placed, but did come undone a bit once cut.

Light/Burn: (14/15)
The CAO Brazilia lights up like a champ. A few moments with my torch produces an even white foot telling me I am ready to smoke. The burn was fairly sharp considering I was outside and those thunderstorms in the distance gave me some wind to deal with. As the cigar rested it had a very light and even smoke and produced a nice and solid grey ash. I found that the cigar burned at a very nice rate and never required any re-lighting.

Construction: (27/30)
The draw of the CAO Brazilia was near perfect to begin with. It did ease up into the second third but returned to a nice medium draw through the remainder. Despite my note about the head coming undone after I cut the cap, the wrapper stayed intact very well.

Taste: (35/35)
I could not find anything wrong with the taste of this cigar. The flavors are so intense and so enjoyable. The pre-light is tobacco with hints of chocolate. Once lit, this guy takes off. The dark chocolate flavors are pleasant and linger throughout most of the cigar. There is also a delicious coffee flavor under the chocolate. The spice picks up in the second third and remains ’til the end. The body of the CAO Brazilia starts off medium-full and progresses to full along the way. It’s such an enjoyable experience every time, which keeps me coming back.

Overall: (94/100)
Well. As I said in the beginning this is one of my all time favorites and I guess the score show that. I remember being introduced the the box-press late last year and it has quickly risen to the top of the line for me. The concentration of flavors from this vitola make it like no other. I would highly recommend picking the CAO Brazilia Box-Press. I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed.

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I realize how lucky I am to be sponsored by cigar retailers who send me cigars to review. I was reminded when this cigar showed up in my mailbox sent by Heather and Ralph at Fumee World. Now, you’ll notice that there aren’t very many CAOs reviewed here (yet), and that’s because I haven’t really bought into all of the hype. One cigar of theirs, though, that’s been a winner for me is the Brazilia. Now, this is my first tasting of the Lambada, but I can tell you that I love the Gol and the Piranha. I’m hoping this sexy stick lives up to its name.

Appearance: I’m always surprised at how oily the Brazilias are. This one is no different. While not as oily as others I’ve had, the sheen on the wrapper is tantalizing. Smooth veins can be seen, but they’re not prominent. The wrapper has a little tooth, but it’s dark chocolate coloring is quite appealing. The double cap is almost imperceptible.

Taste: This cigar started strong with spice and wood. This is pretty usual for the Brazilias and quite pleasant in its mix. After about an inch, there was a hint of fresh bread that shadowed these other two flavors, but that’s about the gist of it for this cigar. Not complex at all, but still good. About halfway through, though, the strength increased from medium body to a full in-your-face body.

Aroma: Holding this to my nose, I get a pungent mix of tobacco and strong dark chocolate. Very strong aromas that promise full flavor once it’s lit.

Construction: Gently squeezing this sample along its length, it felt a little spongy, though consistently so. It’s a lot looser than I’m used to when it comes to quality sticks. After cutting, I drew and got firm resistance. Firmer than I like. Upon lighting, though, I knew there were going to be problems. I had a hard time keeping this thing lit and it only wanted to burn on one side of the cigar, requiring numerous touch-ups and re-lights. Halfway through, though, it finally eased up and got back to where it was supposed to be. I’m sorry to say that this seems to be a common problem with CAO.

Overall: I have to say that the construction problems influenced the rating on this, otherwise I’d give it another full star. These cigars are always full flavor, if not always full-bodied (though this one turn out to be). The Gol still remains my favorite in this line, but these aren’t far behind in my book. Now, if I could just get a CAO that burns well…

Cigar Rating:

- Ricky

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This was a cigar given to me many months ago by a good friend who dug into his aged stock. Now, I don’t know how long ago he obtained this, but I’ve had it in my humidor for about eight months now. This blend has been discontinued, but can still be found in certain sizes.

Appearance: This is not your show-off cigar. This is just a cigar. Average band, average stick. There was nothing special to this stick that would make you think it was good or bad. Guess you just have to smoke it before you can judge it.

Taste: Ever chew on a strap of leather? Me neither, but if I ever do, this stick is what I imagine it tasting like. Pure leather. A medium-bodied strength that wasn’t too light nor too overpowering, this stick is consistent in its flavor, never once changing from beginning to end. And trust me, I almost burned my fingers waiting to see if this would change. I must say that it was good, even if not complex. The flavor was satisfying and enjoyable.

Aroma: I knew I was in for a ride of rawhide when I held this puro to my nose and whiffed. I must say that it got my salivary glands going, though. Many cigars don’t do this for me. Once lit, it had a pure tobacco smell. The kind your wife or girlfriend complains you stink like when you come home from poker night.

Construction: Eh… it was average. The draw was loose as was the ash, but the burn was decent. The stick didn’t feel too bad when squeezing it looking for plugs and inconsistencies. One plus with this stick was the amazing amount of smoke that came with it. I like it when my cigars can fill a room by themselves and this one delivered.

Overall: CAO makes good cigars. Not great cigars, but good cigars (yes, there is one that I love, so don’t think I’m knocking CAO). You can’t fault them their marketing, because they are an extremely popular brand. This cigar fell in the top echelon of good. It wasn’t great, but it was quite enjoyable. I may have to pick up some of these while they can still be had.

Cigar Rating:

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Image provided by Stogie Fresh

Wrapper: Connecticut-Ecuador
Binder: Habano-seed Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico

I recently decided that I would light up a CAO Black that I had sitting in my humidor. It had been in there for a couple of months, so I know it was well rested. I generally enjoy CAO products, so I was hoping that this would be no exception. With that said, here’ s what I thought.

Pre-Light: As I examined this cigar, I noticed that there was a small tear in the wrapper leaf toward the head, right where I would put my mouth. I didn’t think much of it, and it didn’t prove to be a problem. As I took the cigar lengthwise along my nose, I got some nice leathery smells, with some spice and a little bit of coffee. I clipped the head with my ever-trusty Palio cutter, and lit it up with my Ronson Jet-lite.

1/3: As I started in on this cigar, the draw was a little tighter than I liked, but not totally unmanageable. The first few puffs were pure spice, with little else. As I continued, the flavor of spice became a bit more muted, and the leathery and coffee flavors started to show themselves a bit. So far, I am really enjoying the complexity of flavors in this cigar!

2/3: As I continued to the next third of this cigar, I decided to ash the smoke, as I didn’t want to end up wearing the ash. The ash was holding firm, and the cigar was burning razor sharp. As I sat and enjoyed this portion of the cigar, the complexity started to fade away, just a little. The flavors became mostly leather and coffee, and the spice seemed to almost go completely away. That was fine with me, since it was early morning, and I enjoy the coffee flavors with my cup of coffee.

3/3: As I was finishing up this cigar, the burn was still razor straight, and the ash was holding strong. The draw still is a little tight, but not so tight that I wasn’t enjoying the cigar. As I got down to the end of the smoke, the flavors didn’t change much. The coffee and leather flavors were still there, but that was ok, because I was really enjoying it.

All in all, I didn’t want to put this cigar down when I was done with it. It started out pretty complex, then settled down to a solid, enjoyable smoke.

cigar rating:

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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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