I recently picked up a bunch of CAO blacks some origional and some of the new ltd. edition ones. I was wondering if anyone knows if any of the old ones had cedar sleeves? The new ones I know do, and a set of the lonsdales I got didn't and you could tell by the cello they'd been aged a very long time. The robustos I picked up however said they were origionals, but had cedar sleeves and didn't appear to be as old as they should.

Thanks for any help.

I purchased some originals CAO blacks here and they all had cedar sleeves same as the new blacks. Both great smokes.

I just heard back from Jon Huber at CAO and he told me that none of the origional CAO Blacks had cedar sleeves on them. So I'm wondering what c-bid is doing then if other auctions have had what are probably the new blacks being sold as the old ones? Anyone else experienced this?

This can be somewhat confusing, however, let me clarify so nobody is mistaken...

The CAO Black line was introduced in 1995 and had no cedar sleeves on the individual cigars. By 1997, we began to phase out production of that cigar line. Last year, we RE-launched the CAO Black as an exclusive private label cigar for Cigars International.

The blend of this private label is IDENTICAL to the blend of the 1995 production, however, we 'dressed up' the cigars a bit with the cedar sleeves and the 'artistic' boxes.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to e-mail me at:

[email protected]

Jon,

I'm confused. This is the description on the product posted by CB:
The CAO Black line was the original CAO cigar. Before CAO L’Anniversaire, before CAO Box-Pressed Tubos, before CAO Brazilia, even before CAO Gold, there was CAO Black. It’s the Honduran wonder that started these guys on their rise to the top of the cigar industry. I thought this line was gone forever, but one day while talking to Tim Ozgener of CAO, it came up. Turns out they had a very limited amount - only around 160 boxes - of the original Black. Aged over 5 years now, with striking, Ecuador-Connecticut wrappers and a savory blend of Cuban-seed Nicaraguan and San Andreas long-fillers.

Over 5 years would be 1997-1998 time frame and these came with cedar sleeves. I asked for some clarification from CB's customer service.

I have a questin, "So when it came time to produce their crown jewel, it was only natural that it would be under the CAO Black label. Needless to say, this has been carefully plotted and planned by Cano Ozgener, along with son Tim and daughter Aylin, down to every last painstaking detail. The blend was crafted with extensively aged, top-tier tobaccos, made in heartbreakingly limited quantities, and packaged in hand-painted, hand-numbered boxes." Was it really that carefully planned and contemplated? crown jewel? So this is intended to outshine the other CAO products? Or is this marketing hype? Just curious.

"one day while talking to Tim Ozgener of CAO, it came up. Turns out they had a very limited amount - only around 160 boxes - of the original Black" - TRUE. In fact, this is how the private label with CI began.

They purchased those 160 boxes and the response was so great that we took it to the next step, i.e., RE-introducing the line.

Was it really that carefully planned and contemplated? crown jewel? So this is intended to outshine the other CAO products? Or is this marketing hype? Just curious.
YES, it was that planned out. NO, none of our lines are intended to "outshine" or 'cannibalize' any of our other lines.

Look at it this way - why would Baskin Robbins offer anything past 'vanilla' if they thought their other flavors would "outshine" the rest? Each of our cigar lines are cultivated and developed to fill a niche within the cigar-smoking community.

Jon,If the new blend is the same as the old,how come I get more pepper out of the new blend? X

Just a thought, however, smoking a cigar that has been aged for 5-6 years tends to smooth-out or round-out the flavors.

One last thing...there is no "old blend" or "new blend." The 'blend' is the exact same - the only thing that changed from the 1997 version to the 2002 version is the packaging. Hope this answers everyone's questions.

Following xibumbero's line: Though the blend is the same, the tobacco would be slightly different. Isn't there variation in tobacco grown on the same land from year to year? I had a Black Pyramide the other day. I don't care for the shape, but the blend is good. I prefer it to the Gold for instance. Less sweet. More pepper and spice.

But both the old Black and the new black I ordered had the cedar sleeves. I thought only the new black had the sleeves?

xrundog - In theory, you would be correct. That is why some vintages of certain wines are considered to be better than others. That said, however, I really think that people here are comparing apples to oranges when they talk about a cigar that was made in 1997 versus one that was manufactured in 2002.

Regardless of the age of the tobaccos used, a cigar that has been rolled and allowed to sit for some 6+ years is definitely going to smooth-out versus a cigar that was made just last year. Anyone here ever hear of something called "aging?" I'm kinda amazed that this is such a difficult thing to convey here...????

whoops, a manufacturer with a tude? Aren't we your customers? I have about 4 boxes of CAO product in my humi…

Robby - No 'tude' here. Thank you for your support.

Harley: It appears as though we may have goofed up and shipped the Ltd. Edition Storm instead of the Original Label Robusto. Please check my reply on the interface. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Wow, wasn't sure my question would spark that. I wasn't aware that they were the same blends just aged- thanks everyone for helping me figure that out.

SteveR@Cbid- I think that it might have been a mix up in my order too, Storms being send instead of Robustos b/c those were the ones that came dressed in cedar

I get it! Cigars mellow with age! Oh! I guess we're past that.

Just what I need, another cigar to try, LOL! Looking forward to the "chore"....;)

Yes, the black is most definitely on the to try and shortly thereafter, the to buy list...