CAO eXtreme Review

[ghost]

With the end of the year I had some vacation days that I had to use or lose. So being home all alone and it being a nice mild day in NYC I decided to try the CAO eXtreme. I am a big fan of the Brazilia and Black lines so looked forward to giving this one a try.

Setting: Outdoors on the deck with temps in the mid to upper 50s. Light up was at around 12:30PM. Mild humidity, with little wind.

Appearance: Rick brown color that smells wonderful, even when not lit. Great looking stick. Body was firm; just right.

Cut: Used my Palio for a nice, clean cut.

1/3rd: I toasted the foot and the placed the cigar in my mouth to light it up and began getting hints of what was to come. Upon lighting up a full blast of cocoa and coffee bean flavors hit my pallete. Very enjoyable. As the smoke progressed it seems like these two flavors kept replacing each other, one more coffee in flavor, the other more cocoa in flavor. Smoke was excellent; white and plentiful. Draw was perfect. The same with the burn. The only think I noticed was that the ash seemed very brittle, coming off before an inch even.

2/3rd: The two flavors started to meld and smooth out. A sort of 'creamy' quality started to come through giving a toffee like impression. Some spice started coming throuh, nothing crazy but just enough to keep things intresting. Strength wise I would say about medium to full. Burn continued to stay sharp for the most part. Once and while some uneveness came through but it corrected itself. Smoke still very good. Towards the end of this thrid started getting a bit light-headed.

3/3rd: More of the same as above. Hints of some more sweetness started coming through. Some harshness in the very end but that was to be expected as I was burning my fingers since I did not want it to end. Burn became a little uneven in this third and I had to touch it up once.

Smoke: Full amount of white, creamy smoke. Nice aroma to it.

Ash: Nice white/gray ash. As stated above, the only thing curious was that the ash fell off on its own rather quickly. I would say at most one inch and then it would fall off.

Final Impressions: This was one DYNAMITE cigar. I may have found a new favorite. Not as complex as some other smokes but really enjoyed the flavors. This would be a great after-meal smoke as the flavors pretty much amount to dessert (at least to me anyway). I did not want it to end the experience was so good. If you try this cigar guys, my advice is, do nothing else but smoke and enjoy this stick. Don't walk, do housework, play with the kids/dog whatever. Relax, concentrate on the smoke and I am sure you will enjoy it.

I hope you guys found this review helpful.

Stay strong and happy smokes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[kheffelf]

Thanks for the review, I have never tried one yet but have been interested.

[Slow Burn]

Great review. I am headed to the local B & M at lunch and may have to pick a few up to try. Sounds like a great break away from the fast paced moving world.

[cigarluver]

One of my all-time favorites. Has never dissapointed me.
Thanks for the review.

[ghost]

Thanks guys!

I just wanted to add that this smoke was from Devil's and had about a day or two in my coolerdor. I am going to rest the others for a few weeks to see whether that does anything for the smoke.

[Seanohue]

great rewiew, you've caught my attention on these. I think I'm going to have to try it.

[Yogi]

Excellent review man. I have only had the pleasure of enjoying one of these cigars, and it was when I first started smoking (part of a C.A.O. sampler,) but I do remember enjoying it very much. I am probably going to revisit this one now. Thanx

[a2vr6]

Looks like CAO makes some great Cigars, looking forward to trying this smoke in the sampler I am getting.

[yayson]

was in the humi a few hours ago doing some bead spritzing and stick shuffling and found one of these lookin at me sideways. I admired it's construction and went out with a coffee and RP v90 and lingering thoughts of that flawless wrapper and super pointy torp head.

Now I'm back here reading this and the CAO Extreme has been pulled... I'ma go get another cup of coffe!

I'll let you know how it goes, thanks for the review/push.

[yayson]

I found this review to be pretty much spot on regarding the progression of flavor and contruction, burn, draw points, I'd only add "nutty" to the flavors mentioned.

Mine was a belicoso and I think I'd much rather smoke this thing in a smaller rg with a tighter draw, I started taking smaller puffs after the first inch and found the flavor more palatable, more suiting my preferred flavor profile. I prefer a little more sweet and sour and this was definitely more earthy or bitter (cocoa, coffee) throughout.

Well made as all CAO's are but a bit out of range on my preferred flavors. Maybe a Coke instead of coffee as a companion next time.

[muziq]

Nice review...I'm headed to my B&M now to get one!

PS: 2nd set of nanners = new avatar

[DrStankus]

I'll have to try one of these again.

The one I had before was rolled unbelievably tight. I had to chuck it.