CAO La Traviata Intrépido

Overall Score

1 review for CAO La Traviata Intrépido

  1. M***

    CAO La Traviata Intrépido

    Origin : Nicaragua
    CAO CigarsFormat : Double Corona
    Size : 7.0? x 54
    Wrapper : Ecuadorian Habano
    Filler : Nicaraguan and Dominican
    Binder : Cameroon
    Hand-Made
    Price : $6 each

    I don’t know about you, but over the past several years it seemed to me that everything CAO did was centered around some kind of gimmick. Neon lighted humidors, barber pole wrappers, car trunk cigar boxes, etc. The focus has been all on the marketing and gimmicks to the point it seemed as if they had lost touch with just making cigars. It showed in the quality of the smokes they were putting out too. Then the go and release the La Taviata. No gimmicks, no fancy boxes or over the top elaborate modernized bands. Just a classic style cigar with a classic looking band and even using an old classic Cuban brand name. Very un-CAO like really. I have to say they should concentrate on the cigar itself more often, but more on that soon.

    The Intrépido is a BIG cigar. I called it a double corona in the stats list above, but with a 54 ring gauge it is one big ass DC. Perhaps calling it a Gigante would be more accurate. It has a good-looking Colorado wrapper, a little oily and a bit bumpy. It is finished off with a sloppy looking cap and moderately simple band. As big as this cigar is, it is packed full of tobacco. There were no soft spots to be found, the draw excellent and the burn was razor-sharp.

    After a bit of a peppery start this cigar is very woodsy with lots of cedar and oak as the dominate flavors and just beneath the covers is a slightly sweet spice the balances it out nicely. I have to think that is courtesy of the Cameroon binder. At different times during this very long smoke (I smoked this a little north of two hours) I picked up some leather, coffee,and licorice. I found it to be a nicely balanced and decently complex smoke. It is a far better cigar than its very modest price tag would imply. The Intrépido is the largest size in the line and it only costs around $6. CAO departed from their glitzy high-priced and gimmicky approach with this cigar and it is easily the best cigar they have made in the past decade and it is an inexpensive and economical smoke that far outperforms its price tag. I found it to be a very good medium bodied cigar. This size however is a bit too large for me. It was very hard pressed to finish it. I wouldn’t classify this as a strong cigar, but rather because of it size and the sheer volume of tobacco I had to smoke to get through it, I started to feel a little green towards the end. I think the shorter vitolas would suit me much better.

    [sz]cao traviata[/sz]

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Cigar Region Nicaragua
Filler Nicaragua and Dominican
Wrapper Ecuadorian Habano
Binder Cameroon
Length 7
Ring Gauge 54
Vitola Double Corona
Construction Hand Made
Price Paid $6