Size: 7 x 50
Wrapper: Connecticut Shade and Broadleaf
Binder and Filler: Brazilian binder, Nicaraguan, Italian, Dominican and American filler
Strength: Medium to Full
Price: Just over $6.00 a piece

Behind The Stick:

CAO has decided to bring a newer, more patriotic cigar to the table and in turn has created the CAO America, a great looking pinstriped cigar adorned with the American colors across the band. Although this cigar has been out for a while, aside from the generic ‘this is a cigar in celebration of America’ (gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious) there really is not too much information out there about these cigars. They do come in a few different sizes, the Potomac at 5 x 56, the Monument (for this review) is a 6� x 54 topedo and the Landmark their 6 x 60, the Consitution their robusto at 6 x 50 and finally the one I reviewed here, the bottle rocket at 7 x 50.

For me this cigar has been a bit of anticipation in the making – when I first started this site (about a year ago) I went to a local B&M and started bs-ing about what ‘special cigar are you going to smoke for the 4th of July’ – well being the noob that I am when it comes to cigars – I asked for a direction and these are what he pointed out. I picked up two, one for that day and one for the another time. I went with my mother and father and their dogs to the park to watch the fire works and I decided what better of a time and place to light up. I sat down on the blanket, prepped the cigar and was taking my pre-light draw when one of the dogs jumped up on me, snapping the cigar in half. Fucking awesome. I ended up smoking a different cigar but I’ve been dieing to try this smoke.

This is a single impression, I have only been able to have one (damn dogs) but it has been sitting in my humidor for over a year and I figured what better of a day to give this one a smoke! I did smoke this one before the Holiday, so sue me haha! Happy 4th of July Everyone, let me know what you smoked today!

Construction:

What a well made cigar! I’m not sure if the skill required to make the pinstripe was taken into consideration when the rollers started making these, but they must have been made by a very gifted cigar roller. The reason I say this is that although a little loose at the end, this cigar was perfectly packed from head to foot and the head was finished in almost text book fashion. There were a few, tiny veins that ran throughout the cigar but did nothing to concern me.

When it came time for my pet peeve, the band – son of a bitch. The wrapper on the foot was damn well destroyed, about half way through the pin stripe started to split open and at the end the cap came off. Perhaps a storage issue on my side, but 68% at 70deg constant for a year – I was expecting a bit better performance.

Flavor:

Initially I was hit with a natural sweet tobacco flavor, a small hint of something I could not pin point added that needed ‘oompf’ that make this a decent start. A bitter earth flavor mixed very well with the sweet natural tobacco. A mild pepper sensation offset this around the first quarter, changing the subtle note to what I can only describe as light dried fruit with a mix of cedar. This change in flavor pretty much stuck through till the end where it started to become a touch more bitter – my hint to put it down.

Overall:

I love a lot of the cigars that are produced by the CAO company – that being said, in my opinion this is one of their gimmick cigars. By no reason does that mean this is a bad thing, just my opinion. The American flag on the main band while the foot band was blue, adorned with a silver eagle and stars emphasizing the patriotism this cigar was meant to. The flavors were decent but very linear – pretty much what you started with is what you ended with. Now, as I said before this does not make this a bad cigar, in fact I think this cigar would go great while watching a fireworks display or cooking with friends and family – a time when you want to smoke a good cigar but do not want to devote your full attention. The cigar was good, consistent, well balanced and was at a decent price – the drawback would be that if your looking for a ‘knock out’ cigar, I’d keep looking. If your in the mood to support American patriotism, are a CAO fan or are just out looking for a new cigar to try, go pick up one or two but I would not suggest much more than that.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory