Churchill, 6.875" x 48 ring gauge, $8.95The CAO Maduro used to be known as the "L'anniversaire Maduro" and it still bears the dates 1968 and 1998 on the band. It shares this with the Cameroon, another anniversary blend, and at one point this was considered the top of CAO's offerings. Much has changed since that time--the world has just about completely moved on.
It is hard to say where the fault lies for the appearance of this cigar--it just is not good, though. The wrapper has a fairly serious cut in it (which I didn't notice at the time of purchase because of the cello wrapper) and the band seems too small by a size or two, making the rest of the stick look like it is bulging out. Other than that, the stick has a nice box press shape and a dark, oily wrapper with a well-done cap. The aroma from the body is vanilla and from the foot there is chocolate and some coffee. These last two flavors are also very evident in the prelight draw.
Initially, the smoke was heavy and full and the flavors were earthy with a decent amount of spice. The draw at the start was firm but not so much that it caused me to huff-and-puff heavily. That continued through the first third, but the overwhelming impression was that this is not a great cigar--funny, I remembered this being better in previous smokes.
It is rare to have a cigar turn so quickly, but this one got interesting--and much better--in the second third. The earthiness gave way to a much more pleasant nutty and leathery flavor with some maduro sweetness as an added bonus. It is disappointing, though, that I had to go through a third that I did not enjoy to get there.
In the last third, there was finally some of the coffee and chocolate that were hinted at in prelight (although that vanilla never made an appearance). Overall, it was a good-but-not-great cigar that I cannot see paying $9 for when there are so many other great sticks available at or below that price--and even several of them from CAO!
Body: 5/10
Strength: 4/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 6.5/10
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