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Cigar Reviews This room is for organized blind reviews, individual reviews by CW Members and reviews entered into the database that the Editors feel are particularly well done. |
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06-20-2008, 07:37 AM | #12 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Delaware, Ohio
Posts: 605
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CAO Sopranos Edition Associate
Cigar Size = 5 x 52 (robusto) Country of Origin = Nicaragua Wrapper = Brazilian Maduro Binder = Honduran Filler = Nicaraguan / Dominican / Columbian Purchased From = Smoke Signals, Columbus, Oh Purchase Date = 2006-10-23 Purchase price = $13.50 Smoke Date = 2008-06-08 Appearance = 8.8 This cigar is a dark brown robusto. The wrapper has rough oily look with a great dark brown color, what you'd expect from a good maduro. It is straight and has no lumps save the smalls veins. The cap was applied perfectly and looks smooth. It has a black CAO band near the cap and a bright red Sopranos band at the foot that makes it look over done. Once removed this was a great looking cigar with only minor blemishes. Construction = 8.7 Pre-smoke draw was just a little easy. It was firm in the fingers and burnt at an angle most of the time (this could be due to how windy it was when I smoked it). After lighting the draw was a bit easy throughout, but more than acceptable. It burned cool to start out, but the last couple inches it burnt very hot. The ash was gray with a little black peppered in and was a little flakey. Taste = 8.7 Pre-smoke was sweet with a little spice. Although overpowering at first, the flavor mellowed to rich and medium-full. The cigar was medium-full strength, so not too overpowering. It was nutty with light hints of cinnamon and hints of a rich fruit flavor (after seeing the CAO site they described as black cherry). It's had a long finish with the cinnamon spice flavors lingering. Overall This was a delightful change to my typical cigar. It would be great to have more of these, but I can't justify the high price. If I see a cheap 5 pack of these is an larger size I'd probably get them. I don't think it would have burnt as hot in a larger size. Appearance = 8.8 x 1 Construction = 8.7 x 3 Taste = 8.7 x 6 Overall = 8.71 Strenth Rating = Medium-Full Rating scale: 10.0 - 9.5 = buy at any price 9.5 - 9.0 = premium price box worthy 9.0 - 8.5 = box worthy 8.5 - 8.0 = single or 5 pack worthy 8.0 - 7.0 = single worthy if dirt cheap 7.0 - 6.0 = will smoke if given for free 6.0 - 5.0 = suffer through if have to 5.0 - 4.0 = unsmokable 4.0 - 2.0 = would rather stick my head in a dirty toilet 2.0 - 0.0 = would rather stick my head in a dirty toilet with my mouth open |