CAO La Traviata
Today’s review is a fairly new line from CAO. From what I can tell, the target audience is regular people who don’t have a ton of money to blow on cigars. I was immediately drawn to this cigar after seeing it in Ed’s cigar shop. Once again, I filled my glass with water, smoked, and bring you my thoughts on the CAO La Traviata.
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic
Size: Divino 5 x 50
Price: Around $4 to $5.00
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The first thing that struck me about this cigar was the oily wrapper. It had a sheen to it that made it look delicious. I couldn’t find any major flaws at all, just normal small to medium sized veins here and there. The foot had a sweet, almost pipe tobacco type of smell. The wrapper shared the sweet pipe tobacco-ish smells with added cedar notes. The pre-light draw was a little stiff, and had sweet spicy notes complimented with cedar.
The ash held for about one inch, and I did no burn corrections.
Flavor:
The first third greeted me with smooth earthy and sweet cedar flavors. When exhaling through the sinus there was a sweet spice that wasn’t too strong.
The second third began with the spice mellowing out quite a bit. It was still present but only with a slight kick. At around half way in, a very nice nutty flavor combined with coffee came about. I can’t think of any other way to describe it other then saying it was very nice. Woody and earthy notes lurked in the back ground. As this third came to a close, the smoke started to coat the inside of the mouth.
The last third crept into the full bodied range. The peppery spice increased in strength a bit but I wouldn’t say it was strong. For experimental purposes, I exhaled an entire draw through the nose. It did punch me in the face a little, but I recovered quickly with no real pain. Woody cedary notes mixed with nuts and coffee for an interesting blend. The earthy flavors went away completely.
Conclusion:
This cigar is a winner for CAO. It is affordable and you easily get your moneys worth. If I had to pick a flaw, it would be the snug draw. But even that bothered me less and less as I smoked. This is my go to stick many times when I walk into a cigar shop. I suggest you give it a try!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Cigar Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
rodney loveland February 16th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I keep hearing about this La Traviata by CAO and am curious to try it. I am a big CAO smoker. I am having a hard time finding a shop that sell these by the stick in the Chicago area. Any insight as to where I can score a sample size of this smoke I hear nothing but good things about?