Linus
01-23-2009, 05:42 PM
Cigar Name: CAO (http://www.caocigars.com/) Lx2 Robusto (5 x 52)
Cigar Description: Nicaraguan wrapper enveloping 100% Ligero Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers
Cigar Strength: Full
Review of the Cigar itself: Ah, the weekend. It kinda started early for me today since I finished teaching early. And since I got rave reviews from my students, I figured I was more than deserving of a good cigar. I had recently seen through a variety of twitter cigar folks (http://twittgroups.com/group/cigars) discussion about CAO's LX2 cigar and I figured this would be one that would fit into that classification. I soon discovered that I wouldn't be disappointed.
The wrapper is a beautiful dark, dark chocolate-like oily wrapper. The dual-bands displayed elegant detail around an extremely well constructed cigar. As I lit the foot and took my first draw, I couldn't escape the bitter-sweet mocha taste that tickled my tongue and lit up my taste buds. Oh my. This was a great start and it was one that would eventually convince me that I had a new favourite CAO cigar. That first draw was a tad difficult but once it got going, it was wonderful. The aroma was a wonderful earthy spicey and mocha scent, wrapped with deeper allusions of coffee. Since mocha coffee is one of my regular coffee choices when possible, this was almost like smoking my favourite coffee drink.
I blathered away with some BOTL via twitter and went to take pictures when I noticed how quickly the cigar seemed to disappear. I had been enjoying the wonderful flavours so much that the cigar had nearly dwindled away. There were a few moments of rich smoke but these didn't take away from the cigar. In fact, they added to it as they were infused with a rich, deep earthy scent twisted with hints of paprika and wood. The cigar maintained its burn well, even when I got distracted. I was able to puff a little and get it going again. Only once did I actually need to fire up my Blazer a second time to get it going. The ash remained solid until I forcibly knocked it off.
As I got down to the last third and nearly to a nub, the sweet mocha savoriness remained on my tongue, almost like my tastebuds were trying to capture the flavour for later enjoyment. I tasted bits of walnuts and cedar. The nub gave me very distinct black pepper taste. Since I'm often over-sensitive to pepper, this would normally cause me reason to pause but this was actually a pleasant taste. For whatever reason, it made me think of when I put pepper on my salty fries -- a very tasty and mouth-water thought (for those of you that eat meat, think peppery steak).
For a full cigar it wasn't overwhelming. This is, to me, an indication of a well-designed and excellently constructed cigar. If you can enjoy it without having to worry, then the manufacturer has found that "sweet" spot. I almost regretted sending the 2nd stick I had to someone else as part of a cigar bomb but I'm also glad I did send it. They would also get to enjoy this as much as I did. This will be put on my list of top 5 cigars I enjoy: DCM #2, AF Hemingway Short Story, Padron Anniversary1926, Lieb 100 and now CAO's Lx2.
The one downside I did find with it was the occassional tugboating that the cigar would do. Often it would self correct but sometimes I did have to nudge it a bit. In fact, that and the initial draw were the only problems I ran into with this cigar. Both, however, were easy to work around. Oh.. there was another. This cigar was so enjoyable that I burned my fingers on it.
If you haven't picked up one yet, definitely add it to your list of cigars to enjoy this year.
Enjoyed with: water and a bag of Miss Vickies Smokehose BBQ chips.
Smoke time: approximately 90 minutes
Final Review Rating: 8.9/10
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-1.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=630)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-2.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=631)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-3.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=632)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-4.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=633)
Cigar Description: Nicaraguan wrapper enveloping 100% Ligero Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers
Cigar Strength: Full
Review of the Cigar itself: Ah, the weekend. It kinda started early for me today since I finished teaching early. And since I got rave reviews from my students, I figured I was more than deserving of a good cigar. I had recently seen through a variety of twitter cigar folks (http://twittgroups.com/group/cigars) discussion about CAO's LX2 cigar and I figured this would be one that would fit into that classification. I soon discovered that I wouldn't be disappointed.
The wrapper is a beautiful dark, dark chocolate-like oily wrapper. The dual-bands displayed elegant detail around an extremely well constructed cigar. As I lit the foot and took my first draw, I couldn't escape the bitter-sweet mocha taste that tickled my tongue and lit up my taste buds. Oh my. This was a great start and it was one that would eventually convince me that I had a new favourite CAO cigar. That first draw was a tad difficult but once it got going, it was wonderful. The aroma was a wonderful earthy spicey and mocha scent, wrapped with deeper allusions of coffee. Since mocha coffee is one of my regular coffee choices when possible, this was almost like smoking my favourite coffee drink.
I blathered away with some BOTL via twitter and went to take pictures when I noticed how quickly the cigar seemed to disappear. I had been enjoying the wonderful flavours so much that the cigar had nearly dwindled away. There were a few moments of rich smoke but these didn't take away from the cigar. In fact, they added to it as they were infused with a rich, deep earthy scent twisted with hints of paprika and wood. The cigar maintained its burn well, even when I got distracted. I was able to puff a little and get it going again. Only once did I actually need to fire up my Blazer a second time to get it going. The ash remained solid until I forcibly knocked it off.
As I got down to the last third and nearly to a nub, the sweet mocha savoriness remained on my tongue, almost like my tastebuds were trying to capture the flavour for later enjoyment. I tasted bits of walnuts and cedar. The nub gave me very distinct black pepper taste. Since I'm often over-sensitive to pepper, this would normally cause me reason to pause but this was actually a pleasant taste. For whatever reason, it made me think of when I put pepper on my salty fries -- a very tasty and mouth-water thought (for those of you that eat meat, think peppery steak).
For a full cigar it wasn't overwhelming. This is, to me, an indication of a well-designed and excellently constructed cigar. If you can enjoy it without having to worry, then the manufacturer has found that "sweet" spot. I almost regretted sending the 2nd stick I had to someone else as part of a cigar bomb but I'm also glad I did send it. They would also get to enjoy this as much as I did. This will be put on my list of top 5 cigars I enjoy: DCM #2, AF Hemingway Short Story, Padron Anniversary1926, Lieb 100 and now CAO's Lx2.
The one downside I did find with it was the occassional tugboating that the cigar would do. Often it would self correct but sometimes I did have to nudge it a bit. In fact, that and the initial draw were the only problems I ran into with this cigar. Both, however, were easy to work around. Oh.. there was another. This cigar was so enjoyable that I burned my fingers on it.
If you haven't picked up one yet, definitely add it to your list of cigars to enjoy this year.
Enjoyed with: water and a bag of Miss Vickies Smokehose BBQ chips.
Smoke time: approximately 90 minutes
Final Review Rating: 8.9/10
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-1.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=630)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-2.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=631)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-3.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=632)
http://www.cigarnewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cao-lx2-4.jpg (http://www.cigarnewbie.com/?attachment_id=633)