Tag Archives: CAO

by CigarCraig | February 16, 2011 · 10:23 pm

Take a Cigar For a Walk: Xikar HC, Murcialago, Tommy’s Guest Review No.2 – Sunday February 20, 2011

Well, we’ve been walking and smoking this week. I started out taking a Xikar HC Criolllo Robusto for a walk and I was sorely disappointed with this cigar. I just didn’t dig the flavor of this one, and I felt especially let down given the $8.00 price tag. Criollo wrappers just don’t seem to do it for me, I can recall not liking the CAO Criollo line either, although I really wanted to. I will have to make a conscious effort to avoid this wrapper in the future. To be fair to the cigar, it was very well made and burned perfectly. I purchased this cigar at a Xikar event at a local shop last fall and was a little put off by the high prices of this line. I rather expect to be “wowed” by a cigar in this price range. I have a Connecticut ans a Habano still in the humidor, I enjoyed the Habano, although I don’t remember being particularly “wowed”, I hope the Connecticut is more to my liking.

Here’s another guest review by Tommy Berry Jr., he’s been taking a cigar for a walk and sending me his reports:

“Yea! I just got back in from a 60 minute walk. The night wasperfect…around 60 degrees, cool air and a bright moon. I watched an episode of an A&E show, Heavy…I have been watching the series since it started, but tonight it got me off my feet and on to the streets. I put my headphones on, played a couple of Gypsy Kings albums, selected my cigar…cut it and lit it as i began to walk. Tonight’s cigar of choice was a nice CAO Gold Maduro Robusto. I really enjoy the strength of this particular cigar and smoking maduros while walking…at least for now. I loved how this cigar kept its ash very well, stayed lit the entire walk and burned perfectly without any flaws. I thought I was smoking it rather slowly, but I finished it to the nub within about 55 minutes. This may be due to my swinging arms and the cool breeze that we had here tonight. Either way, I would recommend this cigar to anyone interested in a maduro.

Like I said earlier, the walk was great. I have a knee that has been bothering me from walking the last time in below freezing weather…but it did not hurt until the last few minutes. This was a Blessing for sure! Our neighborhood is very hilly, which is a great challenge for the walk. I walked about 80% of

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it at a rather quick pace…then started getting slower as time ran down. I was glad for that feeling as it made me feel as if I was doing something good with my body. I look forward to next walk…and the best part about it is thinking of which cigar will I smoke next!”

Keep up the good work, Tommy, and thank you for your continued contributions!!

I finished off the week with a Murcialago Robusto. This jet black, San Andreas wrapped, box pressed beauty is not a cigar I would characterize as delicate, subtle, or even refined. It grabs you by the lapels and says “hey, you’re smoking a cigar”! It’s got a strong flavor, but isn’t really a strong cigar, if that makes sense. It burned very well and was quite enjoyable. I purchased this cigar at an event last summer that Eddie Ortega of EO Brands was the guest of honor. While this isn’t a particularly complex cigar, it’s one I enjoy for it’s boldness. I wa

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s pretty bummed when this one was finished as I enjoyed it right down to about a half an inch. It was a 60 degree February day in Pennsylvania, not something that often happens and a welcome change from the fairly harsh winter we’ve been having.

That’s all I have for now, it’s been terribly windy here today, which is one weather condition that I just can’t enjoy a cigar in, so I hope it dies down before long (and the trees near my house stay vertical!)

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on Take a Cigar For a Walk: Xikar HC, Murcialago, Tommy’s Guest Review No.2 – Sunday February 20, 2011

Filed under Guest Review, Review

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, hc, Murcialago, Take A Cigar For A Walk, xikar

by CigarCraig | · 5:00 am

Take A Cigar For A Walk: Guest Review by Tommy Berry Jr. – Wednesday February 16, 2011

Here’s the first in what I hope will be a long series of guest reviews in what I’d like to call “Take A Cigar For A Walk”. I will be contributing to this as well as Tommy, and I’d like to encourage others to “Take A Cigar For A Walk” and I will happily include reader submissions as guest reviews. Again, I don’t want to come off like some fitness zealot, because I’m not, but lets face it, walking is something we all do (barring unfortunate accidents or birth defects) and could probably all do more of. Sure sitting and relaxing with a cigar is nice, but there’s something to be said for hoofing it around the block with a nice cigar too! Without further ado, here’s Tommy Berry Jr.’s “Take A Cigar For A Walk” review:

“I took the first walk this week, only one…but it was a start! I walked this past Tuesday night for sixty five minutes with a buddy of mine, Dr. Scotty Short. It was cold but we enjoyed a great walk, great conversation and a great smoke. We both had a full body Rocky Patel Maduro. I chose a full body smoke as I feel when it is cold, you get the most from a full body smoke…something strong. As the air is so cold, a lighter, Connecticut style cigar seems to lose it’s “punch” and aromatic qualities as your senses seem muted by the cold air. The Maduro has many great features, one being my favorite, “leather”. It also had many “woodsy” hints…something that went well with the cold air and burning wood in the air from area fireplaces. Anyw

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ay, enough scientific mess…we both loved the “punch” that this cigar had. I seem to like any strength of cigar, but I really enjoyed this stick by Rocky. Like I said, we ended up walking a full 65 minutes. It wore my lazy rear out…but it was so worth it. I don’t really have any good excuses for not walking since…but I am not done. Who knows, maybe I will make the time to walk again very soon and enjoy another fine smoke during the hike. The weather is warming up here…so I won’t be able to use “its too cold” as an excuse anymore!

Oh, by the way…let me address this for some of you. As you may have read in my previous post with a bit of my bio…I am largely overweight. With that being said…and because of the fact that with smoking cigars, you don’t inhale…I never lost my breath. I had no problem walking a strait, hard 65 minutes, carrying on a great conversation…while smoke a full body cigar. So, if you are scared of such, take the chance and see that you too can do the same. I have to say, with the smoke…I really enjoyed the walk. I look forward to doing it again.”

I too took a cigar for a walk on Sunday. My wife and I had some errands to run around town so we decided to do it on foot. We ended up walking about 3 miles as I enjoyed a CAO Black Bengal. This cigar is one that is an OK cigar to me. It’s not a bad cigar by any means, but it lacks any real “wow” factor. For me it’s just kind of a generic cigar. My wife got me three 5 packs of CAO cigars for Valentine’s Day last year and this it the last of these. I will say that this was the best of the three. All that being said, this was an enjoyable cigar for a long walk in the cold. I chose this cigar for a couple of sentimental reasons, one of which being that it w

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as a day shy of being a year old. I still have a couple Brazilias and an Italia from that batch of cigars, the previous Italias have had terrible burns. There were also some CAO VRs in maduro which I enjoyed quite a bit, as well as MX2s that were very good.

Anyway, that’s about it for now. Thanks to those who have offered words of encouragement and to anyone who wants to join us in “Take A Cigar For A Walk” and contribute a review, feel free to send it to me at craig@cigarcraig.com.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Guest Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, rocky patel, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | November 12, 2010 · 5:19 pm

A Week Without Cigars, and Some News – Friday November 12, 2010

I’m going to open by saying that it’s a good thing I don’t worry too much about passing on every bit of industry news that comes along as I just don’t have the time to react fast enough. It seems that all of the really good news comes out during working hours, at which time I am otherwise occupied. I wish I could say that writing a cigar blog was my full time job, but in all honesty, it’s a few pegs down on the priority meter in the grand scheme of things. Work and family always comes first. Since my last installment, I’ve been battling a sinus infection, so I thought it would be in my best interest to lay off cigars until I was pain free. Sucks, I know, but it’s the reality of things.

Anyway, as I alluded to earlier, there have been quite a few pretty big announcements in the past week. Two days after I had the good fortune of hanging out with Sam Leccia, it was announced that he would be parting company with Oliva, who owns the NUb and Cain brands which Sam developed. I really hope that this is going to be a good move for Sam, it’s a shame he has to leave his creations behind, but he can certainly take pride in having developed 2 hit brands. Also in the news was the resignation of Tim Ozgener as the president of CAO. It was reported that he would be leaving the premium cigar industry, however, the Tiki Bar Online published a statement from him stating that he would remain involved in the trade organizations and the political and social fronts. Also leaving CAO is Lifestyle Marketing Director Jon Huber. I’ve had the good fortune to have met both of these gentlemen and I wish them the best in their future endeavors. I’m sure we will see all of these guys someplace in the not too distant future. Of course, rumors abound. The only insight I can provide is that none of these guys are either purchasing, or going to work for Drew Estate, I was able to confirm this in a series of text messages with Steve Saka (half in jest of course, I like giving Steve the business, even though sometimes I don’t think he gets my wise-ass sense of humor!).

Another area where having a real job gets in the way is when you receive an e-mail in the middle of the morning saying someone like Jose Blanco is stopping by a The Wooden Indian Cigar shop that’s an hour or so a way and there’s just no way you can get away from life to go meet him. Obviously I torture myself by checking e-mail at work, maybe I should get away from doing that. I would have liked to have met Jose, but I’m sure there will be another time.

That’s about all the rambling I can manage tonight. I am working on another exciting celebrity interview which will hopefully be out next week. Also, I mentioned a contest in my last post, and I am overdue. I’m waiting for a couple interesting things to materialize, so please be patient, I don’t want to do things half-assed.

So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on A Week Without Cigars, and Some News – Friday November 12, 2010

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Tagged as cain, CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, nub, oliva

by CigarCraig | September 17, 2010 · 6:37 pm

The Week’s Cigars: Camacho, Murcialago, CAO – Friday, September 17, 2010

Sunday evening my family went to our local park to see the final installment of the Concerts in the Park series which featured Liverpool Beat, a Philadelphia area Beatles tribute band. I took along a Camacho Connecticut 11/18 to smoke during the show. Both the band and the cigar were excellent. The 11/18 is a perfecto shape of sorts, looks like a toro with a bulging middle (not unlike myself), at 6″ x 48/54/48 ring gauge. The Connecticut wrapper, which was flawless, tempers the strength of the blend a bit, but it’s still a formidable cigar strength-wise. I like the Camacho line quite a bit, but the lines that lean more toward medium are my favorites, the Havana line, Connecticut and, yes, the Corojo Candela are cigars that suit my palate the best. The band played a rousing set of early Beatles hits in costume and in character and were very entertaining. You can see my wife’s review of the band on her site Beatles-Freak.com.

On Thursday I noticed a tweet from Eddie Ortega (@eddieor) of EO Brands that he was traveling to the Philly area and visiting a local shop. My son and I took the 20 minute drive to Old Havana Cigars in West Chester to say hello. Eddie greeted us like an old friend. I picked up a handful of Murcialago robustos and lit one up (it was the traditional “buy 3, get one” deal, I got 3 robustos and got a free 601 Robusto). I lit up the Murcialago and hung out with Eddie for a while. Old Havana Cigars is a nice shop with a spacious lounge in the back. The walk-in humidor is also quite large and seemed well stocked. I have only stopped into this shop once before and fou

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nd their prices on the high side, but I’m a cheap bastard and am easily sticker-shocked. The Murcialagos were in the $6 range and the 601s were around $7, which isn’t bad, all things considered. The cigar was very nice. It had a dark Mexican madur

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o wrapper that was very pretty. The burn was good and it had a nice, full flavor. I gave my son one and he enjoyed it as well. Here’s some cigar math for you: I purchased 3 cigars and got one free. I smoked one and gave one to my son, I walked out with two cigars. My son purchased 3 cigars, got one free, AND Eddie hooked him up with another cigar. He walked out with 5 cigars. Something went horribly wrong for me! Generally the rules of cigar math are that when you go to a herf or an event, no matter how many cigars you smoke or gift, you always seem to come home with more than you took (which, in fairness, I did). I just have to assume that every once in a while there has to be some karmic correction or something. What comes around, goes around. In all seriousness, I take great pleasure in gifting a cigar, and to know that my son enjoyed the cigar and doesn’t mind hanging out with his old dad for an evening is worth much more to me than the cost of a fine cigar. I took a little tangent there… It was a very nice evening hanging out with Eddie, who is a great guy and quite a character, as well as the folks at the shop. We spent quite a while chatting with one of the locals, a lawyer we’ll call “Alex”. Chatting with “Alex” reinforced my opinion that cigars can bring folks together that perhaps normally wouldn’t have the chance to interact with one another. We came across so many little things we had in common in a brief chat that it was pretty incredible. All in all it was a nice way to spend a rainy Thursday evening.

This Just In!

In the “new inmates in the humidor” department, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy a box of Chateau Real Small Club Coronas on JR Cigars Dutch Auction this week. As I’m sure you know, I really enjoy this line and I fear that it is going away. I’ll get some confirmation on that, but I picked up the box of 32 for under $50 delivered, which I thought was a dynamite deal for a cigar I like. Heck, I’ve paid more than that for cigars I don’t like! I also threw in a couple of cheap Klip-it key ring punch cutters to make me feel better about the $8.95 shipping charge. Believe it or not, in 15 years of smoking cigars I’ve never owned a punch. I figured for a whopping $1.25 I’d get a couple and see how they work. s I’m writing this I’m enjoying a CAO Black Bengal that I punched. I have not particularly enjoyed this cigar in the past, but this one is very nice. I doubt very much that the punch has anything to do with that, perhaps a couple more months in the humidor has helped, or maybe something else. This is a nice, medium smoke that I’ve been enjoying on my deck as I type. The burn has been dead even and except for a little flakiness in the ash, it’s exceeded my expectations. The punch will find a home on my key ring for sure.

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as 601, Camacho, CAO, chateau real, cigar, cigars, connecticut, drew estate, EO, JR Cigars, Murcialago, Old Havana Cigars, twitter

by CigarCraig | September 3, 2010 · 6:20 pm

New Cigar: CAO Brazilia Corcovado – Friday September 3, 2010

The CAO Brazilia Corcovado was an IPCPR sample that was given to me by Paul Spence, whom I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting several times and is a real good guy. I had my eye on a Brazila robusto in the humidor when I remembered having this one and figured it was one I really hadn’t seen any reviews or heard much buzz about. This cigar is in a format that seems to be growing in popularity. Sam Leccia’s NUb line came on the seen a few years ago in this short and fat format and I would guess it’s just about the most coppied vitola in recent memory. The CAO Brazilia I had had a jet black wrapper and had a very prominent vein running the length of the cigar. I will say right now that I should have left this one sit for a while longer in the humidor. It seemed “not ready” to me, which is a shame for a IPCPR sample which is s

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upposed to entice the smoker to buy these cigars. I work near a company that manufactures molases, so I’ve occasionally smelled the pungeant aromas that is produced there. This had a raw molases flavor to it thatbrought to mind that factory. It also left me a little queezy afterward, which is not a sensation I am looking for in a cigar. No doubt a year or so of age would settle this cigar down in my opinion and I do regret smoking this one too soon. In the same bag from CAO was a LX2 in a 60 ring gauge, but 6″ l

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ong which I will let mature for a year or so, as past experiece with the LX2 has told me that I like these more with some age. I should have smoked the LA Traviata Maduro from the same bag, but it seems like it’s being reviewed to death and as much as I look forward to smoking that particular cigar I think I’ll wait a bit. Unfortunately this particular sample didn’t really do it for me this time. I would never trash a cigar based on one example though and I will try this one again if I have

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the

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chance.

Editorial

This cigar got me to thinking about why it is that everyone is putting out cigars with enormous ring gauges lately? Is it possible that, since the SCHIP tax is the same for any size cigar, that fatter cigars are perceived as a better value? Could it be that smoking bans cause people to have less time to enjoy a cigar and a short, fat cigar gives the impression that they smoke quicker? I am really baffled by this as I had thought that (or hoped may be a better word) that we had moved past the “bigger is better” thing. I’ve actually gotten to the point where a 50 ring gauge cigar looks pretty slim! I personally enjoy a smaller ring gauge cigar, although I smoke darned few of them it seems. Anyone who has any theories they’d like to share on the subject is welcome to leave them in the comments.

Contest Update!

I know I had promised a contest winner announcement, but I’ve been slacking off! Hopefully by Sunday I will have concocted a clever and entertaining (yet totally fair and impartial) method of selecting the winner. There have been 21 entries so far, and the contest remains open until at least midnight Saturday, September 4. You can leave a comment to enter to win a hat, cutter and Liga Privada T52 Belicoso courtesy of Drew Estate here.

That’s about it for now (as I enjoy a Chateau Real maduro while writing this). Until the next time,

CigarCraig