flamchop
65/65
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2008
- Messages
- 1,185
I was gifted one of these CAO Ying Yangs from a great BOTL at the last Philly herf. I had never heard of them or seen them before but it looked interesting to say the least. From what I can find, at some point CAO put out a sampler of 5 smokes in a box called the Ying Yang sampler. Ying Yang because they are a mix of the CAO Black and CAO VR blends. One full VR, one full Black, and the three in the middle are "half and half" mixtures of some kind. This is the one in the middle, the figurado shape with the first 2/3 the CAO VR blend (maduro-ish dark wrapper) and the last 1/3 is the Black blend (natural looking wrapper).
The blend is a mixture of tobacco from Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, maybe some others thrown in for good measure?
After clipping and toasting, this smoke reminded me of the days where all I was smoking was CAO. I haven't had a CAO of any kind in probably 6 months, and this one brought me back! I know CAO isn't among the favorite brands around here, and for me there aren't many CAO's I'm liking these days but there are a few. For example the CAO Criollo is one of the most under-rated smokes in my opinion.
The first inch or so was very leathery and the draw was funny. I got plenty of smoke but it seemed like I had to take a few puffs to get the smoke to pull through right each time. I clipped a little more off the cap and that helped. After that first inch the leather was gone and it turned into a very pleasant almost spicy taste. It kind of reminded me of the CAO Gold and Gold Maduro. The ash was bright white and the burn wasn't too bad, no touch-ups. There wasn't a ton of flavor but the spicy cinnamon-like flavor was nice throughout the first 2/3. At the "switch" to the standard Black portion of the cigar, the spice was gone. It was mostly smoke and air. Not a bad taste but very mild and not all that interesting on the palette.
I've never had a Black or a VR but from this experience I think I wouldn't mind having a CAO VR or two in the humi, but I'm not sure I'd smoke a regular Black.
The blend is a mixture of tobacco from Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, maybe some others thrown in for good measure?
After clipping and toasting, this smoke reminded me of the days where all I was smoking was CAO. I haven't had a CAO of any kind in probably 6 months, and this one brought me back! I know CAO isn't among the favorite brands around here, and for me there aren't many CAO's I'm liking these days but there are a few. For example the CAO Criollo is one of the most under-rated smokes in my opinion.
The first inch or so was very leathery and the draw was funny. I got plenty of smoke but it seemed like I had to take a few puffs to get the smoke to pull through right each time. I clipped a little more off the cap and that helped. After that first inch the leather was gone and it turned into a very pleasant almost spicy taste. It kind of reminded me of the CAO Gold and Gold Maduro. The ash was bright white and the burn wasn't too bad, no touch-ups. There wasn't a ton of flavor but the spicy cinnamon-like flavor was nice throughout the first 2/3. At the "switch" to the standard Black portion of the cigar, the spice was gone. It was mostly smoke and air. Not a bad taste but very mild and not all that interesting on the palette.
I've never had a Black or a VR but from this experience I think I wouldn't mind having a CAO VR or two in the humi, but I'm not sure I'd smoke a regular Black.
