CAO "La Traviata" ~ Pretty Dang Good!

[fuente~fuente]

Last night @ the B&M I was poking around, looking for something to smoke, & found that we just got in a few boxes of CAO's new cigar, the La Traviata. I'll go on the record that I'm really not a big fan of CAO, or at least I don't consider myself one.......(although they do make good cigars IMO), but It's not like I'm waiting to trounce on anything new that they decide to come out with, if you get my drift.

The first thing that struck me about this cigar is the different road they took on the overall look of the brand. The packaging & band are really nothing like most CAO stuff. It's really more classic & elegant looking. Gone are the tribal designs, glowing boxes, edgy looking stuff that CAO has been putting out. The band itself is really beautiful & classy looking. But enough with the fashion show... I don't think anyone really cares about that crap. Lets get down to it...... How does it deliver????

I grabbed the "Divino". This cigar is a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, with a Cameroon binder, & a Dominican/Nicaraguan filler. The construction of this cigar looked really good to me. It felt really dense, & seemed to be packed full of tobacco. The wrapper was nice & sheeny, & was flawless. The foot smelled of a little hay. The pre-light draw had a little more tug than I'd consider "perfect", but It wasn't bad at all. This was the 1st cigar taken ROTT from any of the 3 vitolas that were available, & probably will loosen up after they set after recent shipping.

The first third of this cigar had your coffee & cocoa notes, with a bit of cedar & earth thrown in there as well.... I also picked up a couple of caramel notes every once in a while. Really creamy too. This cigar was very smooth, & there is a little spice, but only through the nose. Pretty good so far!
The second third got a bit more rich, & now the earth & coffee are dominating the palate, but I still was getting the creamy notes, & still getting the spice through the nostrils.
The last third was even more rich... This is a fairly complex cigar, & has some body to it as well, that creeps up slowly. I'd say it's in the Medium-Full for me. Earth is what it's about in the last part of this cigar.

I enjoyed this this cigar alot!!! Really suprised the heck out of me... It had no burn issues, even though it was probably a tad moist from shipment. The flavor satisfied me, which is the most important thing. These cigars are at a recession busting price too! I paid under $6 for this cigar, & I'm all about saving a little $$$ for a decent stick these days! I think CAO has a real winner on their hands with this line up, & would reccomend them to anyone wanting a really good affordable cigar.

Hats off to the Ozinger's for this one!

[holmes711]

Great review Jason. I'll have to look for these at my local B&M. Thanks!

[Criminal]

Is there a current CAO cigar to which you can make a comparison?

[fuente~fuente]

Originally Posted by Criminal

Is there a current CAO cigar to which you can make a comparison?

Not to my knowledge...

Although, besides the Italia & LX2, I've only smoked Maduro's from CAO.

[Redheadz]

Okay, so I was given one of these last weekend by Mr Huber at a Cigar Event in New Hampshire. I was so blown away by this cigar that I can't stop talking about it. Nice spice on the first third and the wrapper was shiny to the point it looked like it had a coat of urethane on it. Wonderful aroma and flavors of cedar, leather and coffee. Left a nice creamy and chewy taste in the mouth.

Now here's my dilemma...I can't find any!! My local B&M didn't buy them at the show and I can't find any online retailers that have any. I am looking for boxes here. This stick fills that void for an affordable everyday smoke with tremendous flavor.

Any help would be appreciated.