CAO Black Mosaic Review

[jaymz]

This little guy seemed to call out at me this evening as i was rumaging through my humidor for something to smoke. Got this stick as part of my NST trade with CaddoMoney last December.
It's funny to look back at my post from then, apparently it was calling out my name then also

Let me know what you think of the pics - I finally noticed the "low light" setting on my camera, and it seems to help with the closeups.

First impressions:
A bit smaller ring gauge than i tend to choose, but it seemed good for tonight, I wasn't looking to bunker down for 3 hours on this one. Cedar wrapper with the black cover on the foot is a nice touch. I've always liked CAO's label designs, sometimes they're better than the cigar itself ...





Cedar Band slipped off easily, all i could smell was the cedar.





dual blade guillotine cutter easily sliced through the cap. Pre-light draw was good. Not as tight as i expected at this ring gauge.





First light:
I tore off a piece of the cedar wrapper, and light it off of a candle i had going. Using this to light the cigar seemed more difficult to get an good start, but it evened out pretty quickly. Lots of pepper taste up front, may have just been the cedar.





First third:
Not a whole lot of nicotine here, decent amount of flavor. Good solid consistent nutty flavor. Hints of pepper, nothing overpowering at all.





Middle third:
Nothing really changing here. Pretty consistent with the first third on flavor and strength. Not a whole lot of complexity to these, but since I'm busy dialed into work this is exactly what I'm looking for. Started to burn a little crooked, but corrected itself pretty quickly.





Final third:
Draw started to significantly tighten and the spice kicked up a notch right about here. Quick purge didn't seem to have much affect on the spice, but the draw improved.





Overall impression:
Good medium consistent smoke. Perfect for playing poker, doesn't need much attention. Construction was excellent, there was a small wrapper defect under the label but that didn't seem to affect the burn. I would definitely recommend these to friends.

Rating: 7.5/10

Thanks again Caddo!

[travclem]

good review man, I've been wanting to here somthing about this one. thanks alot

[b128thopen]

For my taste, The "Black" is the best thing CAO does. Storm is my favorite.
Thanks for the review!

[CaddoMoney]

Awesome pics and review sir, glad I could be a part of it.

[doctorcue]

Great review with nice pics of the progress. I like to keep these around to hand out to friends who don't venture beyond medium body territory. Albeit light & one-dimensional; these are tasty.

[kugie]

nice review
Smoking a Visio right now very nice will have to try one of the Black Mosiac