Re: CAO OSA Lot 54
Well, I picked up two of the Lot 50 to try about a week ago ROTT at my B&M. Got around to smoking one last night, and the first thing I noticed is that, despite spending almost a week in a box on my counter top, these things are still wet. I mean spongy-picked-last-night-rolled-this-morning-in-a-tropical storm-WET! Hopefully the second one will dry out a bit more in a few weeks.
For a pre-light, it reminds me of wet tobacco...similar to tea leaves almost. Surprisingly, it had a razor straight burn that required no touch-up work, but it burned slow. A 5x50 managed to take me two hours to smoke, which is about30-45min longer than I would have expected a longer smoke to take.
Overall, there wasn't much flavor in the mouth, just burning tobacco with occasional citrus hints. Through the nose the citrus and a certain sweetness I would associate with dried fruit (figs, raisins, etc) were predominant, although sparse overall. It was around a medium body, very light on flavor. The smoke had a slightly rough quality to it, something I normally associate more with a drier Nicaraguan tobacco than an oily and wet Honduran. The whole smoke stayed pleasantly cool down to the last inch, where it started to get warn and I tossed it.
Also at this point I should note that, the wrapper and cap were flawlessly constructed, because I ended up chewing on the last two inches absentmindedly while I was reading a book and it still held together.
Overall, I'd say the presentation and quality of construction were top notch, but the flavor was just too faint (or perhaps subtle to my palate) for me. I'd buy another handful to sit on them for a few years just to see if they get any better, but I wouldn't buy a box or any more to smoke right now.
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