Vitola: Gran Toro
Size: 6.5” x 60 ring gauge
MSRP $8.30
Purchased at Islands Cigar Lounge
Background
Almost since its initial release in 2001, the CAO Brazilia was a cigar I continued to gravitate toward and come back to. It was one of earlier memories of the CAO brand and something I found to still be to my liking this past summer, when I tried the sample General sent me for their collaborative work with Flying Dog Brewery. The shops I normally go to, though, don’t carry much CAO anymore, though…call it a grudge from the Volunteer State, if you must. So it took a while to get my hands on the “Carnivale” version of Brazilia.
The Brazilia Carnivale came out in the first half of 2013 in a single size: 6.5 x 60. The price was reasonable, coming in well under the $10 mark. And the blend was tweaked. The original cigar used Nicaraguan filler and binder with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper; while the Carnivale uses fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, “including a hefty dose of ligero.” Then they use a Connecticut-grown Habano leaf (which they are calling “Habano Grueso”) for the wrapper and move the Brazilian leaf to the binder location. (Some information for this came from Cigar Aficionado)
The cigar is listed as “limited production” but I couldn’t find a number anywhere on the CA online story or CAO’s website. I bought one sample when I was visiting California earlier this year and saved it for this review.
Prelight
The original Brazilia band is a classic CAO “world” band, using the colors and some design elements from the Brazilian flag worked into an attractive and recognizable band. It is left untouched here, but a foot band is added, with the word “Carnivale” in green-outlined gold foil on a dark yellow background. As the foot band wraps around some elements of the main band are echoed, so it all works together well.
If I hadn’t been told already that the wrapper was different on this, I probably would not have noticed…at least not if it was all by itself like this…if I had a standard Brazilia to compare to side-by-side, I’m sure there would be noticeable differences. It was a dark chocolate brown shade with some slightly lighter mottling and a smooth, oily feel under my fingers. It smelled earthy and a bit ripe, but also with a touch of anise. The foot had a rich earthiness to it, along with a whiff of cocoa powder. The cold draw was good and the prelight flavor was a nice mix of dark fruit, cocoa powder, coffee and earth.
Flavor
I took my time lighting 60 ring gauge foot evenly with a single-flame torch and got a good initial flavor out of the Brazilia Carnivale. I noted flavors of earth and cocoa powder right up front, with pepper spice, anise, and cedar coming up behind that, then a graham cracker finish. The retrohale had a good pepper spice note, as well. As I moved through the first third, the pepper spice abated a bit and soon I could more clearly taste the toasty and grassy aspects of the Dominican leaf along with the earthier notes of the Nicaraguan. Some notes of anise and raisin floated around in there, too.
The second third displayed more earthiness and some dark fruit sweetness. Pepper was very subtle, but still hanging around. The smoke was thick and oily and full-bodied, and it was a bit harsh on the back of the throat.
The harshness was toned down in the final third, which showed a great deal of earthiness and a bit of espresso bean flavor. There was a just a touch of sweetness at this point and I would have liked a bit more.
Construction
The Brazilia Carnivale had an excellent draw and solid ash. As has been the case on most Brazilias I’ve smoked, the burn line had to be touched up a few times, but that’s fairly normal with Maduro wrappers (and sometimes binder leaves, as is the case here).
Value
Under $8.50 is a great MSRP for a stick that is (1) a limited production and (2) a very good smoking experience.
Conclusions
Overall the Brazilia Carnivale was a great tweak to an old CAO blend, showing that there is still some life in the cigars we came to love before the company was moved out of Nashville. I enjoyed this cigar and would definitely opt for more of them if I could find them; the price is great and the experience is definitely worthwhile. The use of extra Ligero in the blend definitely made for a tasty cigar in this large ring gauge format; it was full-bodied and full-flavored throughout, with strength just getting into the bottom of the full range.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
Carnivale sounds like a winner. Haven’t tried Brazil yet, but have one in the humi.
I haven’t smoked much CAO since it got bought out, Maybe one of these days, the idea of a box press makes the massive 6×60 sound a bit better.
Nice write up. I have enjoyed quite a few CAO over the few years I have been smoking, thinking back I think the Brazil might have been one of my first. Ill look around for this and see if I can find one.
Trying light a 6×60 with a single flame can be tough. I picked up a quad flame that has worked out perfect but it absolutely destroys a small RG! I haven’t found a carnival but I have enjoyed a Brazilia. Good stuff!
I have not tried one.. yet, but looks like I need to give them a try.. Thanks
The Brazilia was the first cigar I purchased and smoked, it was my first premium cigar experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very interesting read especially with the tidbits about the blend tweak and wrapper substitute. I first assumed that Carnivale was just an added extension but that was quickly corrected while reading. I do have a soft spot for the Brazilia though I haven’t had one in quite some time, I wouldn’t mind trying one of these and the box pressed 60 seems a little easier to handle for me than a round 60.