Noob Review: CAO Black VR Full Fathom Five

CAO Black VR Full Fathom Five, 5.5x55, HON. Aged 3 months.
Smoked December 9, 2012
Smoke time 1:40

Pre-Light:   Box press, dark chocolate brown, no soft spots, very heavy and firm. Very toothy, the splattered foot band is kind of cool looking. VERY strong earthy/dirt aroma.

Cold Draw:   Sweet tobacco, not much else I could pick out.

 First 3rd:   Draw was good. Slight pepper and wood flavors, ash held over an inch. Some bitter chocolate flavors in and out, no sweetness to anything yet. Definite pepper on the retrohale, and maybe another spice, just couldn't put my finger on it... Very slow burn so far.

Drinking water.

 Second 3rd:   Pepper smoothes out, there was a little initial bitterness, but it's faded, there's not as much "bite" to the flavor. It seems a little sweeter, but not a nutty sweetness (nutty flavors seem to be the easiest for me to pick out right now). The draw is getting a little tighter.

Last 3rd:   Now we've got a little of that nutty flavor I seem to like and identify quickest. Still a little pepper, and the nutty flavor is more of a bitter nut flavor, not sweet. I read reviews finding caramel, toffee, cocoa flavors... I'm not noticing any of these, mostly pepper, wood, and nuts.




Smoke was quite thick, with a very thick finish/coat on my tongue.
6.5/10
Not sure this will stay in my lineup, maybe try one again in a few months and see if they develop any as I do... Not impressed at the moment...

Reviews to come...

Well I missed smoking my cigar yesterday... Had to be in to work early, then got sidetracked after work, and never got to it... Ah well, life goes on...

Just thought I'd post a list of my pending cigar reviews that I've gotten done, just not typed up yet... Hopefully I'll get caught up later this weekend.

CAO Black VR Full Fathom Five
CAO Criollo Pato
AVO Heritage Short Torpedo
Rocky Patel The Edge Maduro
CAO Mx2 Box-Press

Not sure what I'll move on to next since I'm pretty much through my CAO lineup (I've got some others, but they're a little fresh yet). Maybe Rocky Patel, possibly Oliva, DE, or Torano... Undecided yet. I think it'll be a DE later tonight, but haven't though much further ahead than that.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em!

Noob Review: CAO Gold Robusto

Smoked December 6, 2012
Rested over 3 months
Smoke time: 25 minutes (see review)

Pre-Light: Nice golden brown, very little tooth. Firm full pack. Slight flaking/tear on the wrapper towards the foot... Wrapper was borderline dry feeling... Sweet hay/grass/barnyard smell.
Cold Draw: Definite barnyard and grass tastes.

1st Third:   Very loose draw. Not much flavor to start. About ½" in I get a definite cedar on the retrohale. Wrapper starting to crack/split towards the foot. Very thick coating on my tongue and roof of my mouth. Mild flavors.

2nd Third:   Going downhill fast. The more i smoke, the more the wrapper is splitting and cracking, binder is bulging out, not much smoke production as half of it is going out the splits in the wrapper.
Gave up quickly.








3.5/10
The flavors weren't bad, when I could get any, but seemed too mild for me. The wrapper was the huge problem. After checking things out when I got back inside, it seems when I was putting some cigar bombs together, the upper tray got set in crooked and may have been propping the humidor lid up, humidity was at 59%, probably had been for a day or so. I've got a Gold Vintage Cremant I'll get to later, so with proper humidity, it might give me a better idea of the quality. Still too mild for me on strength though.

Noob Review: CAO L'Anniversaire Maduro Deluxe

Well, so now that I've got a pretty good idea of the Man O' War lines that I have, moving on to some of the CAO lines I have...

Smoked December 5, 2012
Rested roughly 2 months
Smoke Time: 1 hr.

Pre-Light: Dark chocolate brown, toothy, box-press with a perfecto-type shape... Chocolaty earth smell.

Cold Draw: Sweet woody taste.

1st Third:   Tight draw, clipped twice with my CC Perfect Cutter, opened the draw a bit with my little finishing nail I use for a draw tool. Slight bitter taste to start with, settled pretty quick. Woody and sweet flavor, with a little pepper, very thick, leathery finish on my tongue... Draw tightening back up by the end of this third. Ash hung on about an inch.

2nd Third:   Bitterness completely gone, some roasted/non-sweet nut flavors, some slightly sweet flavors I can't quite pick out, maybe a sweet spice? Still a very thick leathery coating/finish on my tongue. Draw still tight, getting tighter. ash held on another inch or so.

Last Third:   Clipped once more, helped the draw quite a bit, good amount of smoke now, for about 15 minutes. Draw got very tight again, less smoke, and needing to puff too hard. Started to get hot and bitter, and I gave up. Burn was a little ragged towards the end, I might have touched it up if they draw was better, but I was over it by then.






6/10
I liked the flavors, but the draw caused no end of problems. I've got another L'Anniversaire Maduro in a Robusto I think, gonna let it settle a while and try it, and hopefully without the draw issues... Will try this line again.

Noob Review: Man O' War Original Robusto

Smoked December 4, 2012
Rested 9 weeks or so
Smoke Time :1 hr. 20 mins.

Pre-Light: Dark even brown, toothy, slightly oily. Sweet cocoa smell.
Cold Draw: Bitter cocoa/chocolate.

1st Third:   Open draw, very loose. Strong pepper to start, as expected. Faded quickly. Left my mouth pretty dry, retrohale singed a bit, lol. Thick creamy smoke.

2nd Third:   Mainly pepper to me, some hints of sweetness now and then, wood notes coming in. Burn got crooked, corrected it once. Ash held on about 2". More wood and some leather. Feels very thick on the tongue.

Last Third:   Slight nutty notes, but not the sweet cashew flavor I was hoping for based on some of the other MoW lines... Mainly leather, pepper, and wood. I never really picked out any chocolate. Draw started to get a little tighter, but still loose. Burned fast and hot. Pepper started to come back with some bitterness. Burn was crooked again. Tossed it right after this picture.

5/10
Burn was too fast and hot, plenty of bitterness. Not really my cup of tea. This is the last of the MoW lines I've got, and I think that may be all of their lines, just not all their vitolas. I think I'll stick with the Puro Authentico, Ruination, and SP: Little Devil.

Noob Review: Man O' War Armada Corona

Smoked December 3, 2012
Rested about 3 months or so.
Smoke time: 1 hr.

 Pre-Light: Sweet smell, faint cocoa? One small vein visible, slight tooth.
Cold Draw: Definite hay/grass taste.

 1st Third:   Pepper right off the bat. Took a little longer to smooth out, maybe 3/4" or so. Burn was straight, though the ash had a funny split to it. Ash held maybe a little bit over an inch.










2nd Third:   Pepper, but not as strong. Some sweet notes, hard to pin down. Burn is still pretty straight, ash held about an inch again. Some slightly sweet grass notes.

Last Third:   Burn got a little wavy, not a huge deal, no correction needed. I didn't get much change in the last two thirds... Pepper still backing off a bit, another flavor coming out, more of a wood flavor...









5/10
No more for me thanks. Reading reviews, these Armadas are supposed to be expensive smokes, and a lot of reviewers pulling various flavors out of them... Not me. Maybe my palate still isn't developed... Or maybe there's a lot of hype. Either way, didn't fit my profile enough. got a couple left, they might end up flying to a good new home sometime down the road...

Noob Review: Man O' War Ruination Robusto No. 1

Ok, and thus begins my cigar a day until Xmas, or maybe New Years... I missed December 1, but I've been doing good since then.

Smoked December 2, 2012
Rested a little over 3 months.
Smoke time: 1 hr. 40 mins.

Pre-Light: HEAVY, packed full, no soft spots. Sweet tobacco smell, faint chocolate notes...
Cold Draw: Very faint, didn't get a lot, grassy and mild?

 1st Third:   Pepper, wood, and leather. Started with some bitterness, faded within the first ½". Might need to work on my light method... Maybe try the toast, clip, then light method, instead of clip, toast, light... Burn started very straight. Plenty of pepper and leather. Singed my nose a bit on the retrohale (first time, my nose hairs will never forgive me for that...)

 2nd Third:   Burn started getting a little crooked and jagged, corrected itself pretty well without help. Pepper fading out a bit, starting to get some sweeter taste... Ash dropped around 1½", burn started going a little crooked again. Towards the end of this third, the pepper started coming back strong, along with some roasted nut flavor, with some very faint sweetness.

Last Third:   Ash dropped at around 1" this time. The nut and pepper flavors kind of went back and forth. Every now and then, something else kind of hinted in, but I never could really put my finger on it... Either is was just too faint, or my palate isn't developed enough yet... Lips were a little tingly.





Definitely full flavor. I never did get any of the chocolate or cocoa flavors I've seen other reviewers mention. I'm not crazy about the pepper flavors, but I've loved the cashew/nutty flavors I've gotten in a few of the Man O' War line now... Towards the end the burn was a little crooked again, and it was getting a bit hot. I didn't nub it, but smoked it down pretty good.

7/10
Got a few more, gonna re-visit them in a few months... Might pick up a smaller vitola to try.