Tag Archives: CAO

February 15, 2026 · 8:58 am

Trinidad x Tommy Bahama, CAO Speed Shop and Recluse Draconian Cigars

The snow is very slowly melting off, VERY slowly! It’s been three weeks since we’ve seen the lawn. I definitely need to be on a warm beach smoking cigars this time of year. Since that isn’t in the books, we decided to go have lunch last Sunday at the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar in the King of Prussia (PA) Mall. I have been itching to get my paws on the Trinidad x Tommy Bahama Island Collection cigars that came out late last year. I did some asking around and found out that Black Cat Cigar Co, down the road from the mall had these in stock, so I stopped in there and picked some up. I got the toro, which they call the Breeze, which is 6″ x 54. It was pricier than I prefer, but I was (or should be) committed at this point. I went home and promptly lit one up. This is a really nice cigar. It’s a Nicaraguan Puro that starts out with some wood, then the citrus kicks in. I classify this as a bright flavor profile, it’s got a lot of flavor, is fairly light and refreshing, and was really enjoyable. While I would have prefered being on a tropical beach while smoking this, it made my day a little bit better. Like most of the Altadis cigars I like, this one is a collaboration with not only Tommy Bahama, but A.J. Fernandez.

Another cigar I picked up at Black Cat was the new CAO Flathead Speed Shop in the 6″ x 60 Carb size. I grabbed a couple of these because I wanted to try it, of course. General Cigars usually sends me new stuff, and, of course, a five pack of them showed up this week. I was impatient, but I spent some money with a local small business, so I ain’t complaining. I’m also glad it a really good cigar. This has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, San Andrés binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Like the rest of the Flathead line, it’s severely box pressed with a flat head, which is tricky to cut if you don’t have the right tools. I have an Adorini punch that has two sizes, 9mm and 13mm, the later is perfect for these. This reminds me of what I remember the Apehanger being. This was the round version of the Flathead with a Habano wrapper. I liked that cigar too. This one has a bit of a citrus twang also, along with some nutty earthiness. I dig it. It’s been a while since they put out anything new in the Flathead line, this one is a nice addition.

Somewhere along the line I got a sampler of cigars that included a Recluse Draconian toro. I’ve known Scott Weekes from Iconic Leaf for a long time. If you’ve had any interactions with Scott, you’ll know he’s the king of the simile. He can turn a phase quicker than a fat kid on a snickers bar. Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed the Recluse line, glad to see it’s still in the mix. I actually have a few floating around. This one looked delicious, so I lit it up. The Draconian has an Ecuador Maduro wrapper, a proprietary binder of some sort, and Brazilian Braziado, Piloto Cubano and two Dominican ligeros, one of which is called Iconic Ligero, another proprietary leaf. Maybe it’s just me with the citrus thing lately, but this had it. I rather expected a darker, heavier flavor, but I was pleased. This also has a flat head, fortunately I had failed to put my punch away, although the 6½” x 50 shape would easily have fit in a cutter. Another good cigar this week, breaking my two out of three streak!

That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

😃+

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Tagged as Altadis USA, CAO, cigar, cigars, Draconian, Iconic Leaf, Island Collection, Recluse, Tommy Bahama, trinidad

December 7, 2025 · 9:38 am

Some Alec Bradley, Panacea, Stolen Throne and CAO Cigars

I didn’t do anything as interesting this week as I have the last few weeks! I have been working on the daunting task of putting my Secret Santa package together, I hope everyone who participated is having an easier time. If I recall, I got stiffed last year, so the person who had me wasn’t invited back. If anyone was going to get the short end, I prefer it’s me anyway. It’s nice getting goodies, but I prefer the giving part. If only buying my wife gifts was as easy as sending cigars! Anyway, I managed to get some new-to-me cigars in this week, more or less. Starting out with a new release from Forged and Alec Bradley Cigars, the Do Not Disturb. The press release explains the name: “Alec Bradley’s latest offering encourages cigar lovers to press pause, unwind and let the world wait.” Honestly, that’s pretty much every cigar for me. Anyway, this cigar comes out of Tabacalera La Isla, which makes other cigars I like, so I was looking forward to trying this. It’s a Ecuador Connecticut shade cigar, which doesn’t really excite me, with a Dominican Criollo binder (not a big criollo fan), and Dominican and Mexican fillers. My first thought was along the lines of “gee, another shade cigar”, but I smoked it and it was very nice. My notes say sweet cream with a hint of bitterness, which. doesn’t really sound as good as it was. This held up well as an end of the day smoke, but would be really nice in the morning with coffee (in the summer). I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Next up was the Twisted Hitch from Panacea/Flatbed Cigar Co.. Of course, Panacea is an advertising partner here, and I probably use all of the ad revenue to buy Panacea cigars. There’s always a discount code (CCFS25 for 25% off and Free Shipping on your First Order) and there’s a widget on the left sidebar with daily specials. There’s some great cigars at good prices there every day. I encourage people to try this Dominican brand that’s been around for a long time. Anyway, I saw that the Twisted Hitch was recently released, so I picked up a 4 pack. This is a 6½” x 55 Toro Grande with a Brazilian Maduro wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan filers. This is a fairly full bodied cigar with an interesting light spice, nuts and maybe a little dark dried fruits. I think it’s got some similarities to the White Label. Looking forward to smoking more of these.

I smoked the Stolen Throne Castle 919 in the belicoso vitola a while back and was enamoured with it. I had picked up a robusto at the same time and lit it up yesterday. I needed a sweet treat after a hefty lunch, and this was it. This has an Ecuadorian Habano Claro wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder with Nicaraguan & Dominican/Peruvian fillers. The robusto is 5″ x 50. I didn’t get much of a difference in flavor between this and the belicoso, maybe it was a little shorter smoke. I get white sugar on this, it’s a flavor I enjoy in a cigar, and I really enjoyed this one. I’d pick up more, but my local shop has been low on Stolen Throne, and I haven’t been out to the Wooden Indian recently, it looks like they have them in stock. Personally, I’d pay the 50¢ more for the slightly larger belicoso, but that’s me. You aren’t going to go wrong either way, just like it’s hard to go wrong with Stolen Throne cigars (I don’t like the Yorktown, apparently some people do). Oddly, this isn’t on their website yet.

I have had some mixed results with the CAO Arcana line. I really liked the Mortal Coil and Thundersmoke, but thought the Firewalker was an abomination. The Stokk is an interesting addition to this line. It uses some Adullo, Cyprian Latakia, some Honduran fillers , A nicaraguan binder all wrapped in US Broadleaf. It’s only available in an 6½” x 52 Belicoso, where as the rest of the Arcanas are Toros. I think it’s called Stokk because of the collaboration with pipe maker Stokkebye, I doubt it’s a coincidence. The Latakia is mostly used in pipe tobacco. This pipe tobacco thing in cigars is becoming a little over done. There is the Deadwood line, Stillwell Star, Outcast, now this. Does anyone remember Sam Leccia’s Bumpy Root? That might have been the first. Anyway, the second one of these I smoked was way better than the first, moving it ahead of the Firewalker in my rankings. While note my favorite in the range, it has some interesting flavors in the beginning, transitioning to some nice, sweet tobaccos in the end.

That’s all I have for today, until next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, Arcana, CAO, Castle 919, cigar, cigars, Do Not Disturb, Flatbed Cigar Co., Panacea, Stokk, Stokkebye, Stolen Throne, Twisted Hitch

April 13, 2025 · 9:44 am

Cuba Aliados, Some New CAO, Cohiba Cigars and an Ashtray Condom

I’m not in New Orleans for the PCA show, it was a combination of not being able to get the flights I wanted, the expense of it all, and having to tend to my mother that made me decide to skip it. I’ll try again next year. I have plenty of friends there now, watch for their content: CigarProp, Cigar Pulpit, Coop and his team, Boston Jimmie, Developing Palates, etc. I’d love to have been there just to hang with friends. I understand Anthony Mackey (Captain America/Falcon) was there and must have said something wrong to Abe Dababneh, because he’s launched a bit of a smear campaign saying he was a dick to everyone. I’d love to know the whole story. Anyway, I managed to get some cigars in this week. I started out with a Cuba Aliados Original Robusto. This came in the bag from the Cigar Circus event. I have had the Aliados that E.P. Carrillo made, but not this one. This one is made by JRE Tobacco Co. in Honduras and is a Honduran Puro. I remember smoking some Cuba Aliados back in the 90s, and I seem to recall it was a favorite of Steve Saka back then. It was originally made by the Reyes family, who also made the Puros Indios brand, which had a 18″ x 64 cigar called the Chief, and was a little bit notorious for having tight draws. True to it’s roots, this example was packed really tight at the head, and the draw was on the firm side. It still smoked OK, and started with a citric sting, and ended with some cane sugar. Nice cigar, I’ll try it again.

I got a few things in the mail this week that were a surprise. General Cigar sent some samples, and I figure while a lot of the folks who would have received this are away, I’d get a head start on this batch. First was the CAO Fasa Sombra. I rather enjoyed the Sol and Noche, I think they are some of the best CAO cigars in the post-Ricky Rodriguez era. This is a Shade wrapped cigar, Ecuadorian shade-grown wrapper, a Cameroon binder and a filler blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. I smoked the 6″ x 50 toro. This was a nice shade cigar, with some bready, nutty notes. It was very pleasant, nothing overly exciting, just a solid shade cigar. Although not my favorite Fasa, It’s a nice addition to the Fasa lineup. I’ve had worse CAOs (Firewalker anyone?).

General was very generous, they provided me with a $30 cigar, the Cohiba Serie M Reserva Azul. This is made at El Titan de Bronze, a factory which the Brand Ambassador for Cohiba, Sean Williams, has a history. When I first met Sean in 2011 he was working with Sandy and Willie Herrera at El Titan making his El Primer Mundo cigars there. The first Cohibas made at ETB were just called the Serie M, and were really quite good (the lonsdale was better than the toro, to me), and I never had the 2024 Reserva Roja. Reserva Azul’s blend is a Dominican Corojo wrapper, Esteli binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa Viso & Ligero, Nicaraguan Estelí and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. This is an exceptional cigar! It starts out with some baking spices, and there’s a sweetness that comes and goes, I’m reminded of spiced gumdrops. I really enjoyed the crap out of this cigar while watching hockey. It’s competing with the Cornelius and Anthony Cornelius for my favorite ETB cigar.

An envelope from Kevin at Cigar Prop arrived this week with a strip of Cigar Porn Ashtray Condoms. I feel like he’s pranking me. There have been some incredibly useless “Cigarbage” items I can think of. The Shurikan “cutter”, the Select Draw and Five Star piercing tools, and the Cigar Bib, all silly useless gadgets. Maybe I’m being overly cynical, but an adhesive backed silicon disc to adhere to ashtray stirrups is silly. I think it’s supposed to protect your cigar from germs, I don’t know about you, but I don’t set any part of the cigar that touches my lips on an ashtray. Besides being dumb, it’s a few years too late. Maybe it would be clever if it had your logo on it and you went around to lounges putting it on ashtrays to promote your brand, I don’t know. I wouldn’t do it. Anyway, thanks Kevin! (pictured on a Cigar Prop for irony sake).

I was going to talk about the new Macanudo Emissary, but I think I’ll save that for next week so I can smoke another one. I liked it, I just was distracted and didn’t take notes. I smoked a Panacea Green Label earlier in the week that was delicious, and I can’t stress enough how good the Panacea line is. Check the daily deals on the left sidebar, you can try some cheap, and you’ll be happy you did! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Ashtray Condoms, CAO, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Cuba Aliados

September 22, 2024 · 9:28 am

New Big Payback and CAO Cigars, a Jaime Garcia and a Vegas Cubanas

This week I smoked some cigars I received from General Cigars and Forged, along with a couple cigars I picked up locally that I hadn’t smoked before. I couple of them were obnoxiously large! First off was the Room 101 Big Payback 70s Maduro. I rather enjoyed the Olancho San Augustin (which they are now referring to as Sumatra, I never made that connection!) wrapped version that came out last year, despite its size. This one has a US Broadleaf wrapper (Connecticut? Massachusetts? Pennsylvania? My guess is the PA) over a Nicaraguan binder with fillers from the DR and Honduras, and it’s made at their factory in Honduras. I smoked this cigar for about two and a half hours and it burned well and had a pleasing flavor. It’s pretty much what one would expect, although the excessive ring gauge makes it fairly mild. It has earthy cocoa and some sweetness. Very nice cigar if you have a long time to do something like chat with friends or watch a game or a movie, as it doesn’t necessarily demand your attention. It has a $9 MSRP so it’s a good value.

I smoked a couple of the new CAO Arcana Thunder Smoke this week. After the Arcana Firewalker debacle, I was a tad concerned. This is an interesting blend, it has the Olancho San Augustin wrapper, a San Andrés binder and fillers from Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa and Cameroon. I watched the final episode of The Grand Tour on Prime yesterday, and it just made sense to smoke a cigar with tobacco from Zimbabwe. I watched this on the recommendation of Nick from The Cigar Pulpit podcast, and a great recommendation it was. I’ve been a big fan of Top Gear, The Grand Tour, and many of the presenters offshoot shows for many years. This cigar, third in the Arcana series, the first was the Mortal Coil, followed by the abysmal Firewalker, then this one. This was a really enjoyable cigar for me. It’s got a unique Mesquite flavor going on, something rather different and pleasing. The band is oversized, but that’s about the only bad thing I can say about it! I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Mortal Coil, which I liked a great deal.

I realized that My Father cigars were severely underrepresented on my site, and in my rotation, so I decided to branch out and pick something I haven’t tried before up every now and then. I grabbed a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Super Gordo a week or so ago at a local shop. The Super Gordo is 5¾” x 66, in a torpedo format so the excessive girth isn’t quite so unwieldy. This does come in a 7″ x 70, which they didn’t have, nor would I have bought. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuador binder and fillers from the Garcia farms in Nicaragua. Now that I remember, I smoked one of these last May in the Toro size and, although I had a cold, recall enjoying it. These are reasonably priced, hovering around $10 depending on the size. This Super Gordo might have been around $11. This was an exceptional cigar, I really liked it. It started out spicy, and the strength built up as it smoked, to a pretty full bodied cigar near the end. It had the sweet coffee/cocoa that I like in a Broadleaf wrapper. This was excellent. I want more.

Finally, I spied the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas on the shelf, the green band is ey-catching. This is another line that has been around a while, but has eluded my attention. This is another reasonably priced cigar, I think the Generosos (6″ x 50) was under $9. Funny, ten years ago buying an $9 cigar to me was like buying a +$15 cigar today, it was very hard for me to justify! This cigar has a nice looking Habano Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This is one I’ll pass on revisiting, I’m afraid. It was nice enough, although it had a floral component that didn’t really do it for me. Maybe it would be better in the morning, although floral isn’t ever really in my wheelhouse. I tolerate it, but it’s not a preference. If you enjoy floral cigar, this is for you! Next time I’ll pick up some other cigars in the Don Pepin line, I haven’t had any of them in a while.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Arcana, Big Payback, CAO, cigar, cigars, Don Pepin Garcia, Jaime Garcia, Reserva Especial, Room 101, Super Gordo, Thunder Smoke, Vegas Cubanas

May 5, 2024 · 9:06 am

An Ozgerner Family Cigar, a Tatuaje and a Pair of CAOs

I picked up some new-to-me cigars this week at a couple different shops. I started out with the Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas in the A60 size. Funny enough, when I bought this, along with a West Tampa Red, I was sure I was getting toros, but when I got home I noticed I picked out the 6″ x 60 sizes in both. Not a big deal, I like a 60 ring. For those who don’t know, Tim Ozgener, owner of the brand, sold his family’s last brand, CAO, to Scandinavian Tobacco ten or twelve years back. The Aramas has been around for about a year, so I’m a little slow on the uptake on this one. The name Aramas is a combination of the names of Mount Ararat, a dormant volcano located near the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. In Armenian, the name of the volcano is Masis. These are made at what was then Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., now Casa Carillo, in the D.R.. The blend is a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Connecticut broadleaf. I found this to be a fairly strong cigar with a peppery start. It settled a little, with dark espresso and bitter chocolate notes. It was right up my alley, although I don’t buy a lot of $15 cigars. It was a special treat and was relaxing after a tiring Thursday.

I stopped in another shop on my way home Friday and picked up a few more new cigars, and smoked the Tatuaje PCA Exclusive 2023, which I believe, despite the date on the box, recently hit stores. I’m fortunate to have two very different shops within a two mile radius of home. This is a 6 3/8″ x 54 with an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, a Nicaraguan double binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s made at My Father Cigars S.A. in Esteli. I think this was another $15 cigar, and another cigar I would smoke more often if not for the price. This started out with a bright cane sugar sweetness that I really enjoyed. It built some spice as it went on, and was a really exceptional smoke. I was enamoured with it start to finish. No regrets.

I also picked up a couple of the new CAO FASA, the Sol and the Noche, both in the Gigante size. It was a Gordo week for me this week. I started with the Sol while watching some Star Wars movies on the porch. I usually start with the maduro, but it seemed more appropriate to smoke the Sol in the afternoon and the Noche in the evening. First off, the Gigantes in this line are around $8 (I’m in no cigar tax PA remember, your mileage may vary), quite reasonable these days. The Sol has an Olancho San Augustine wrapper. The first cigar General put out under the CAO banner, with Rick Rodriguez doing the blend, was the OSA Sol, not commercially successful, but was a tasty smoke in some sizes. They use this OSA wrapper on a lot of cigars now, they must grow tons of it in Honduras. The binder on the FASA Sol is Cameroon, with fillers from the D.R. (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli). This stares with some pepper, then some sweetness started less than in inch in. This was a really good cigar to me, I’m going to have to go back and try some of the other sizes. The spice and sweetness combined with some nutiness, it was a really nice afternoon smoke, rivalling the Tatuaje at nearly half the price.

Naturally I had high hopes for the CAO FASA Noche, also in the 6″ x 60 Gigante size. I actually did purposely buy these two in this size, I like a theme, and the CAO and Ozgener connection wasn’t enough (and I bought and smoked the West Tampa Red, which has another CAO connection). The FASA Noche has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Cameroon binder and the same filler combo as the Sol, Dominican (Piloto Cubano, and Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega and Esteli). Once again, I had high hopes. It started with what I would optimistically call espresso, but was more along the lines of the coffee that’s been sitting in the pot on the burner for about 4 hours. I expected different from the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon. It didn’t draw as well as the Sol, so I might have to revisit it, in the Toro size, probably, because this is a blend I should love, and I loved the Sol version. These cigars are a great illustration of how much the wrapper has to do with the flavor, as the wrapper is the only difference. I was unable to find where the name FASA comes from or what it’s significance is. I want to say this was the first post Rick Rodriguez CAO cigar too, but I might be wrong about that.