Cigar Review: CAO Brazilia

Box-Press, 5.5" x 55 ring gauge, $7.60
The Brazilia is one of the most consistently tasty cigars in the CAO lineup and the Box-Press is the best size, at least in my opinion. The cigar is composed of Nicaraguan filler and binder, covered in a dark, rich Brazilian wrapper.

I have had a few of these before, so I know right off the bat that the appearance of this sample is not typical. It was somewhat mottled in appearance and actually appeared to be damaged to some extent--several rips and holes were evident as well as what looked like a cut from a razor blade. Like I said, this is not typical, so I will not hold this against it in the scoring. What is typical was the wonderful aroma coming from the body of the stogie--rich in dark chocolate and black coffee. There was also a composty, fresh earth smell to the foot. The prelight draw was easy and the flavor was sweet with some alfalfa and milk chocolate; a little spice lingered on the lips, too.

At the beginning, the predominant flavors were black pepper and wood. The first third continued much the same, with some coffee and dark chocolate notes popping up from time to time. The draw was uniformly great and the burn line stayed very even.

As the second third neared its end, the burn and draw were still fantastic and the flavors of coffee and bittersweet chocolate became more predominant. There was also still a lot of pepper in the flavor, owing, no doubt, to the Nicaraguan filler and binder.

Moving through the last third of the Brazilia, there was still a strong pepper component underlying the bitter flavors of strong black coffee and dark chocolate. Overall, the body of this cigar was in the full category through the entire burn, but the strength never got overwhelming. This is an easy full-bodied smoke to recommend to anyone except absolute newbiews to cigars; it would be an excellent cigar for a mild- to medium-bodied aficionado to move up to, and the price makes it very accessible.

Body: 9/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 6/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10