CAO Brazilia Robusto

[Royale Duke]

So, to celebrate feeling the best I have in the past couple weeks of being sick, and being absent from school for a week(NOT A GOOD THING! So much work to do...) I decided to smoke a cigar. This one has been taunting me in my humidor for awhile now, so I went ahead a burnt it.

It was also one of the FEW nice days we see in Colorado during winter.

Brand: CAO
Line: Brazilia
Size: Gol!, 5X50 Robusto
Filler: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Wrapper: Brazilian grown Maduro

Drink: Starbucks Via! Italian Dark roast coffee and a glass of ice cold water
Location: Front Porch, in a comfy chair

Pre-light:

Man, this is one dark and oily cigar! Not to mention this cigar(alongside the Italia) has one of the coolest bands of all the CAO Cigars barring the America(which I also love, not just for its patriotism but also for being a good smoke) and the LX2(which I haven't had yet).

Smelling the wrapper I noted the usual lovely maduro smell that is all at once wonderful and unique to that particular wrapper. There was also a sort of "Spiciness" to the smell of the wrapper that went well with the usual maduro smell of barnyard(not ammonia) mixed with a hint of cocoa or chocolate. Smelling the foot of the cigar produced an overwhelming smell of dark chocolate and cocoa.

Lopping off the cap, while noting absolutely wonderful construction with no soft spots, I tested the draw which was perfect; Something I find common with CAO in that I've never had one that had a really tight or terrible draw.

The pre-light flavors were spicy, with lot's of traditional maduro flavor mixed with a bit of dark chocolate. I actually almost thought this was a DPG blended smoke because of the spice.

1st Third:

Upon lighting I was rewarded with tons of maduro flavor and a unique spiciness on the palatte that would soon become the trademark of this cigar. There were also light flavors of nuts, coffee, wood. The burn was dead even, and there were voluminous amounts of tastey thick white smoke to be had.

I could write pages about the spicy flavor this cigar had, in fact it is the most unique spicy flavor I'd ever tasted. The spiciness is unlike any other spiciness I've ever had in any cigar, be it DPG blended or any other. I think a lot of the flavor of this smoke comes from the very unusual Brazilian grown wrapper.

2nd Third:

The transition here was pretty good, it was pretty definite because it transitioned from the woody nutty and maduro tones to a more traditional maduro and leather flavors. The previous flavors resided themselves to the background while the spiciness kicked up a notch and mixed itself with a bit of pepper. The stick continued its tasty sweet maduro flavor while bringing some full-bodied flavors of leather,earth, and some other flavors I couldn't quite place but were tasty none the less.

Throughout this stick was that wonderful Maduro flavor that is unique to that wrapper, if you've ever had a maduro stick you probably know what I am talking about. Maduro wrappers are often "in your face" with its flavors, and the flavors are unlike any other wrapper and are very unique, not to mention the wrapper itself has a very unique smell to it.

Final Third:

Well, I definitely tried to nub it but the wrapper cracked a little when I took the band off, and it got worse as I smoked closer and closer to the nub. So eventually I had to put her down at a little under half an inch. But even then, it was still a tastey full bodied maduro smoke.

Conclusion:

Despite the wrapper cracking at the last moment, it was an absolutely wonderful smoke. I love maduro smokes, and I'd say this is the best and most unique maduro cigar I've ever smoked. I loved its spiciness and smoothness on the palate and it was just a wonderful smoke overall.

I'd give the CAO Brazilia Robusto a 92/100, If you love maduro's or you just wnat to try something different I'd say you should give this CAO a try.

I would like to also add on a personal note, that it is nice to be revisiting CAO after a long, almost 2 year hiatus.

[dartstothesea]

Pretty spot-on review there.

Kudos!

[roughrider]

I had some burn issues with the Brazillia but it was still an enjoyable smoke.

[Wolf4Fun]

Very nice review. I agree completely.
CAO Brazilia is one of my favorites.

[DaReallyPoGigolo]

Nice review. I also very much enjoyed this cigar, although I did experience the same cracking issue that you did.

[tx_tuff]

Top notch review, I enjoyed reading it. And sounded like a perfect cigar smoking moment which prob made the cigar even better

[Slaterstogies]

review im gonna have to definitly go pick one up and try it out

[arodgers]

Thanks for the review. I absolutely love the Italia, and the Brazilia is next on my wishlist.

[suretolose]

Nice review, I like this one as well.

[andrewsutherland2002]

Thanks for the review. The Brazilia is the only worthwile CAO, IMHO.

[mrmoose411]

Brazilia is also the only CAO I buy, can't get enough of that unique flavor. I do have seem to have a lot of draw problems (the last 6-7 CAO's I've had have been WAY tight), smaller ring gauges less so.

[Corpus]

Nice review.

I smoked a box of these about a month ago and only had 1 or 2 with draw problems. The biggest issue, for me, was how incredibly delicate the wrapper was. It seemed to 'dissolve' under my fingertips.

[Herf N Turf]

Smoke these all the time and love'm. One of my go-to's Im never without.

[Frinkiac7]

It's a good smoke for sure...I never get much spice out of it, just deep, rich, hearty sweet maduro and chocolate or rich coffee notes. Interesting how all of our palates are a little different.

[Cigar Runner]

What a great review. Smoked one last weekend and was equally impressed.

Cheers