C.A.O. Black Mosaic Review

[TMoneYNYY]

I smoked this 6x42 beast at the last NYC herf, and I gotta say as an avid C.A.O. fan, it's my favorite to date. The construction was absolutely perfect. It had the smoothest wrapper of any cigar I've had in recent memory, and the cap was perfect.

I used my scissors to clip the cap, and the pre-light draw seemed tighter than I like, but it was perfect after lighting it. The foot smelled of the cedar it was wrapped in (which is always a good thing!), with hints of coffee. I had a little scotch and lit this stick up with some matches.

Burn/Draw: As I said, the construction was perfect. It burned very well throughout its 1.5 hour lifespan, and the draw had a small amount of resistance, and produced plenty of smoke. I wouldn't worry about taking off the cello to let the stogie breathe in your humi, nor worry about mold. The extra cedar makes a world of difference.

Flavor: What can I say about this stogie, other than heaven! Every puff was full of coffee bean, with a hint of almond. Many C.A.O.'s I've had taste like hazelnut, but this was much more subtle, masked with a ton of cedar.

Overall Reaction: If I could get my hands on more of these, they'd be on the top of my list for stogies to buy. It almost has an ISOM flavor to it, which is another bonus! I wish all my cigars had been constructed like this one, it would be a much better world! It's an intimidating stick, but totally worth it.

Rating: 9.5/10

[houdini]

Awesome review Tanner! I love the CAO's too....I had a Brazilia that night among other great sticks.

6.0??

[TMoneYNYY]

Originally Posted by houdini

Awesome review Tanner! I love the CAO's too....I had a Brazilia that night among other great sticks.

6.0??

C.A.O. has always been a solid performer, in my book. Aside from the Brazilia tins, I can't recall a bad one.

6.0? Of course! Maybe even at 7, 8, 9... and beyond!

[My371]

Thanks for the review!!

I have a couple of these restin'...May have to fire one up!!

[thebiglebowski]

Originally Posted by TMoneYNYY

I smoked this 6x42 beast at the last NYC herf, and I gotta say as an avid C.A.O. fan, it's my favorite to date. The construction was absolutely perfect. It had the smoothest wrapper of any cigar I've had in recent memory, and the cap was perfect.

I used my scissors to clip the cap, and the pre-light draw seemed tighter than I like, but it was perfect after lighting it. The foot smelled of the cedar it was wrapped in (which is always a good thing!), with hints of coffee. I had a little scotch and lit this stick up with some matches.

Burn/Draw: As I said, the construction was perfect. It burned very well throughout its 1.5 hour lifespan, and the draw had a small amount of resistance, and produced plenty of smoke. I wouldn't worry about taking off the cello to let the stogie breathe in your humi, nor worry about mold. The extra cedar makes a world of difference.

Flavor: What can I say about this stogie, other than heaven! Every puff was full of coffee bean, with a hint of almond. Many C.A.O.'s I've had taste like hazelnut, but this was much more subtle, masked with a ton of cedar.

Overall Reaction: If I could get my hands on more of these, they'd be on the top of my list for stogies to buy. It almost has an ISOM flavor to it, which is another bonus! I wish all my cigars had been constructed like this one, it would be a much better world! It's an intimidating stick, but totally worth it.

Rating: 9.5/10

not trying to sound weird, but is your measurements of the cigar wrong? it doesn't seem like 6x42 should be intimidating?

[TMoneYNYY]

Originally Posted by thebiglebowski

not trying to sound weird, but is your measurements of the cigar wrong? it doesn't seem like 6x42 should be intimidating?

Well, I had just a weeeeee bit of wine, so every task was daunting!