Vitola: Toro Grande- 6” x 54 ring gauge
- $9.49
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Every year the Tobacconist Association of America (TAA) gathers in the first half of the year for the owners of the member shops to have a nice vacation and bacchanalia in a tropical locale, while pretending to do some work. OK…there is actually some work that happens while everyone is there…including ordering the current year’s batch of TAA-exclusive blends. For the first time, CAO Cigars is providing one of those blends. Originally reported to ship around mid-August, the cigars were actually the first TAA exclusive to ship and started showing up in early May around the time the shop owners were getting back into their shops. This is the first of several 2018 TAA releases that I have on the schedule to review; I will not be attempting to review every single TAA release that comes out this year, but I will hit as many of them as I am able to lay hands on.
CAO Esteli is available in a single “Toro Grande” vitola in boxes of 10 sticks. With a name like “CAO Esteli” you might suspect this is a Nicaraguan-heavy blend showcasing the power of Esteli leaf. You would be completely wrong. The blend features Dominican Ligero, Honduran and Nicaraguan Seco fillers, a Honduran binder, and a Nicaraguan Jalapa wrapper. It is made at STG’s Esteli facility, though, which is how they justified calling it the CAO Esteli. Personally, I find this to be one of the worst examples of cigar naming and very misleading. Every person I asked (before they tried it) said with a name like that they would expect it to be a Nicaraguan powerhouse. Despite that, I will be evaluating the cigar based on what it does bring to the table, not what the name implies.
I smoked a couple of these before the review sample, buying all of them at Burns Tobacconist.
Prelight
The band on this stick has a white background with black type and gold foil. The center of the band is rather plain and uninspiring. It’s like they spent the bare minimum amount of time putting together this band. The arms of the band have the TAA 50th Anniversary logo printed on them. I know some people say packaging doesn’t matter…but those who actually have worked in stores know the truth: it absolutely matters. Creative and attractive bands and boxes are important to make your product stand out in a crowded humidor full of visual noise and distraction. With the money and experience CAO’s parent company (STG) has behind them, I honestly can’t see why this was done so poorly.
The wrapper leaf of the cigar itself is actually really nice-looking after getting past the band. It had a milk chocolate brown hue with a bit of darker mottling and a really nice amount of oiliness. It smelled of earth and leather, with just a touch of sweetness. The foot of the cigar had notes of hay, bread, earth and cedar.
After clipping, there was a very good draw and the cold flavors were a mix of chocolate and berries with just a touch of coffee and earth.
Flavor
The CAO Esteli lit up easily and evenly, immediately giving up flavors of leather and a yeasty bread up front. Behind that I got earth and touches of anise and pepper. The retrohale had more bread and black pepper, along with a bit of nuttiness. As I got close to the end of the first third, I noted that the flavor had taken on a very earthy profile with bread, leather, pepper and coffee playing supporting roles. Still, the flavors seemed a little muddied and muted, which is something I’ve gotten in the past on Honduran-heavy blends.
The second third continued with a strong earth note, while coffee bean came on strong as a secondary flavor. Leather and pepper provided continual backing flavors, while the bread notes faded away.
In the last third, the CAO Esteli was earthy (again) with a little pepper spice, but not much else. As I got near the end, I was started to get bored.
Construction
I had a solid ash, very good draw and even burn line.
Value
The price tag on this was excellent, despite it being a limited-production item.
Conclusions
The CAO Esteli is NOT a Nicaraguan powerhouse cigar. What it is is a good multi-country blend that fails to highlight anything in particular. It had some complexity in the early going, but soon fell into a category I call “just a cigar.” Like I said, it’s not that it’s “bad”…but it just isn’t compelling or special, which is something I feel a TAA release should be. But that’s just my take on it…in the shop it’s selling well and people are coming back to buy 3 or 4 at a time. So, this is one of those times I have to encourage you to make up your own mind about it.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10
