CAO CRS Sampler four pack.

I picked up on the 2x CAO CRS Samplers & Xikar Cutter over at Cigar.com, and I figured I've do a little review as I smoke each one of the first four pack. Here are some pictures. The cutter shown is the Xi, not the Xi2 I recieved


And the contents. Can you almost smell them?


I'll get started tomorrow I think. Its a bit late to get one of these going.

Curious as to what you think. I've had all of those and the only one I'm a bit partial to is the black.

Looking forward to your review.

They've certainly done a nice job with their packaging. Your photography makes a good presentation as well! Anxious to read your reviews...

Cool pics!
I was also thinking about CAO sampler from cigar.com, but this bigger one with 7 or 8 smokes.

Michal said:

Cool pics!
I was also thinking about CAO sampler from cigar.com, but this bigger one with 7 or 8 smokes.

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They had a deal on two of the above samplers last Friday for 44.95 with a Xi2 cutter.

Also I had about an hour before bed last night so I smoked a Criollo, so expect the review at lunch when I can crop the pictures better.

::EDIT:: It looks like my work network has blocked the ports needed to upload my images to my webspace. Looks like I'll have to wait till tonight to get the first review up.

Criollo
Here we go.

Looks pretty good in my opinion. Nice oily wrapper, I liked the little knot at the head too.
The wrapper scent was lightly woody and oddly a scent that reminded me of a puppy...
Construction was good. The draw was also quite fine.

Still looking tasty.

The initial draw was a familiar light tobacco taste. It was rather light boddied in the begining. From there to the first inch of the cigar the taste was of light coffee, slightly nutty after taste and smoke is quite mild and almost sweet, at least I thought so... More on that later.


From there to the second inch I was able to determine exactly what that lingering unknown flavor was. In the begining it was faint, very faint. However now, the taste of citrus oil could be detected. Along with that was a bit more of a bitter acidic taste, strong coffee presence and a much longer linger of cocoa.


Flavor wise the cigar was much of the same all the way till the end from that point.

With that said lets move onto the construction. Things started to get a little hairy at that point. I was going to try and ride tha ash all the way, but the burn what a little crazy on me.


I gave up on the ash and went to fix the edge with the ligther. Shortly there after...


A little bit more I had my fill and called it a night. Or so I thought.


I brushed my teeth, used some mouth wash and jumped into bed. The fiance was NOT pleased. Her exact words "Jesus, when I came outside and smelled that cigar I thought this has to be the worst cigar Hoshnasi has ever smoked and I like your other cigars and pipes!" But it got worse. Five minutes later she was begging me to turn away so she wouldn't smell the smoke. I was perplexed, after brushing my teeth for over a good minute and spending another few minutes with the mouth wash I thought I would be alright. So I went back to the sink scrubed that hell out of my face beard and even washed my hair, she said it helped but still was an arm lengths away. Frankly it was a pungent cigar. I could still get hints of it in my mouth even after the whole mouth sand blasting I went through. As a side note I was outside the whole time with a slight breeze...


Conclusion: Not bad, I'd buy them for under $5.00 a stick. The citrus was a nice surprise. Your millage my vary.. Smoke in a friendly environment...

EDIT:: Sould I put this in the main post? Its gonna get big.

Nice review. Very in depth. I'm intrigued by the cutter. It was my impression the Xi2 was part of the package. It appears to be the original Xi in your photograph. Those cigars, with that cutter, is WELL worth the $45 I recall the package being sold for.

Nice review and great zoom pics! :thumbs:

And about the mouth smell after cigar.
Unfortunatelly I dont know the way to make palete fresh at all.
I usually brush my teth too, but after 5-10 minutes I can fell the cigar again.
And ofcourse about the smell of a cigar in a bad.... I know what you're talking about

EDIT:: Sould I put this in the main post? Its gonna get big.

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I think I'd leave it here if its going to be a full sampler review

Hydrogen peroxide gargle and/or citrus and/or baking soda followed by brushing usually knocks most of my offending cigar breath down.

badhangover said:

Nice review. Very in depth. I'm intrigued by the cutter. It was my impression the Xi2 was part of the package. It appears to be the original Xi in your photograph. Those cigars, with that cutter, is WELL worth the $45 I recall the package being sold for.

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The sampler comes with a Xi2, however I only use the Xi I bought a while ago. Looking to te sell the Xi2 actually :whistling:

I mix a little drink of Bitter Lemon and orange juice. That usually takes care of the lingering cigar breath for me.

Hell guys.....The best part of being single is she has to put up with it till she owns me.......LOL...go to bed with the taste fresh on my lips and love it

Round 2 folks.

Maduro
I'd guess the length and just over 6 inches, not sure the guage. Its a thin stick in the churhill shape.

Last night the fiance wanted to go for a run around the courtyard at our appt. complex. So I grabbed this Maduro and followed her downstairs to hang out as it was after 8:00. "Keep an eye on your lady" I say.

The construction of this Maduro is tight and feels quite firm. Its box pressed and the wrapper is pretty oily. Scent is a strong maduro smokey smell as expected.


Cut and light was smooth. The X-Tend had it toasted and lit up in no time. Draw was quite good for the construction (I was a bit concerned that it would be tight).
I spent the first two inches of the cigar (about 30 minutes) in the courtyard without a camera so these two inches only have words. Pictures later!

The first inch was as expected, a smokey tobacco taste is prominent yet it was medium body and creamy. Nice is a good word to describe it. Its in no way a complex gar, but that dosen't take any value away from it. Coffee is a noticiabe after taste that is quite smooth, not a bit harsh. Which goes well with a smokey tobacco that fills the mouth, then yields to the nice coffee scents and flavors. Exhaling through the nose is tricky with the strong smoke, but in light sips its manageable. The nose is filled with scents of cedar and hints of cinnamon. A nice contrast. Inch two is MOTS as I abbreviate in my notes (More Of The Same). However the intensity has increased slightly. Its still nice though. The ash was tight and mostly light grey. Its hang time wassen't all too impressive at about an inch and a half. Although considering the guage of the stick that dosen't seem unreasonable.

At this point we headed back up the appt. and I grabbed some more shots.


From inch two its MOTS all the way to the end. Which given the context of the evening not bad. When I got back to the patio I started immediately in on some work that had to be done and the Maduro was a good friend to have on the journey, the scotch that joined us was also nice . This is a nice cigar (have I said that enough?), with on caviate. The oils tranfer to your hands. My fingers had a little film and tinge of brown about half way through. Not sure if it was the storage pre-ship of the cigars or what, but it might have been on the moist side. Even after sitting in my desk humi for the better part of a week at 65.



Would I smoke this again? Yes I would, given I was with friends and had a nice drink, most likely scotch. The smoke was crowd pleasing, the fiance even stayed with me on the patio till I was done. Which did NOT happen when reviewing the Criollo. The smoke was dense, but not in huge quantity. A good social smoke I'd say.



Thanks for reading.

Great review on a cigar I've been wanting to try. And once again, very nice pics. I can't get over how that wrapper has almost a tortoise shell appearance. Just beautiful! :thumbs:

Nice pics and such on the two so far.

None of these cigars did anything for me, curious about your opinions on the last two.

Dan66 said:

And once again, very nice pics. I can't get over how that wrapper has almost a tortoise shell appearance. Just beautiful! :thumbs:

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All you need is one of these babies. Canon 30D

Best camera I have ever used.

Great pics and a very nice review.
Im waiting for another two.

:thumbs:

Brickhouse said:

Nice pics and such on the two so far.

None of these cigars did anything for me, curious about your opinions on the last two.

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Oh, you are just a CAO-hater!

great reviews. love the ashtray, it made me laugh since i used a similar one for a long time. as for the CAO, i used to love them when i started smoking, but for some reason i haven't been able to get back into them. maybe its just the cold weather out ???

One of my everday smokes usually involves CAO and they always seem to get mixed reviews. I have tried most of the line and have had no compliants. Good to see CAO stil holds up, that was a great review as well as some great pic's. :thumbs: