CAO America Staff Review
CAO America is an old standby in the CAO portfolio, and it’s part of the brand’s collection of World cigars, a series that highlights tobaccos from specific regions around the globe. I’m firing up a chunky 5-by-56 format called the Potomac for today’s review.
CAO is named for brand founder Cano A. Ozgener, who sold the company in 2007 to Scandinavian Tobacco, the parent company of General Cigars, which also produces Macanudo and non-Cuban Cohiba cigars. CAO cigars are often marketed around a theme, like hotrods for the Flathead blend. CAO goes “where the tobacco takes us” according to the company’s tagline. And with its World collection, CAO America is called a “melting pot” blend, with tobaccos from four different countries.
The first thing you’ll notice about CAO America is the wrapper leaf – it’s a barber-pole cigar, meaning it’s finished in two different wrappers that alternate around the exterior like the stripes on a barber-pole. For America, the wrapper features a dark Connecticut Broadleaf mixed with a thin pinstripe of Connecticut Shade tobacco. Inside is a complex recipe of Dominican, Italian, Nicaraguan, and additional Connecticut tobaccos tucked within a Brazilian binder. Sounds like the blenders spent considerable time in the kitchen cooking up the recipe for CAO America.
What’s unique about barber-pole cigars is how the flavor changes throughout the smoke. The shift in taste is less dramatic in CAO America, though, because the Connecticut Shade wrapper is so much thinner by comparison. Of course, America is dressed in a patriotic red-white-and-blue cigar band. The Potomac is chunky and put together nicely when I choose a cigar from a fresh box and gently pinch it. The cap slips off with a quick snip through my Xikar Enso cutter. Nutty notes of pecan and fresh toast mingle with a slightly floral aftertaste in the cold draw.
Once I toast the foot with my torch lighter, the first draws weave a nice tapestry of tasting notes, including cocoa powder, coffee bean, and pepper throughout the first five minutes. I think I’m able to pick up some meaningful shifts in taste from the alternating wrappers. The Potomac definitely boasts classic Connecticut Broadleaf flavors, making it a solid smoke to go with bourbon.
Throughout the middle, the cigar’s 56-ring size keeps it burning at a steady, cool pace. I don’t smoke big ring cigars regularly because they’re a little less comfortable in my mouth, but the Potomac from CAO America offers a good amount of complexity with an accessible aftertaste.
About fifty minutes are off the clock by the time I take the cigar band off to enjoy the final third. The profile culminates in a leathery finale with some spice and sweetness baked in. CAO America is full-flavored but not full-bodied. I think the finish is decent, but I was expecting more fireworks at the end. This cigar is less intense than the CAO Brazilia I reviewed a while back, and it’s not quite so earthy.
CAO America picks up some sweetness before the nub expires. Although, the ash flaked off in a few places, the cigar didn’t burn messy for long. Order CAO America for your humidor and decide if it’s one of the best CAO cigars you’ve had. I think it’s a reliable barber-pole smoke with a decent finish for around ten bucks apiece. The price drops to under $7 per cigar when you grab a 20-count box on sale, though.
