Posted this on weekly but thought I would share here too.

Just smoked my first CAO Maduro and as the title said it was the Robusto size. I just recieved it today in a cbid shipment, along with 14 other CAOs among other things and I probably should have let it rest a few days to let it recover from shipping but I had to try one.

It was a great looking cigar and felt nice and firm and had a very nice sweet smell to it. Lit it up and took a puff and tasted a little bit of spice. About an inch in it started getting sweeter with a hint of a chocolatey taste. This seemed to get stronger as I got further into the cigar and by the end it had a pretty strong chocolate taste, like hot cocoa. A nice sweet medium strength smoke.

It was a really good cigar but it had some pretty bad burn problems. It was burning pretty unevenly to the point where I had to correct it once, and then halfway through it started doing it again. It balanced out a bit towards the end but I think it was mostly my fault for not letting it rest a bit after shipment.

Also I was caught by surprise as it really gave me a bit of a buzz. I had it with a bit of bourbon and soda (sorry to all of those I offend by tainting the bourbon with pop ) and by the time I finished I was pretty light headed. I stood up and definately wasn't completely steady on my feet. I wasn't quite expecting this as the cigar wasn't very strong. Maybe it was a bit of the bourbon talking but I didn't have too much of it so the cigar played some part.

Anyway I would recommend the cigar, Im definately glad I have another 8 or 9 CAO maddies in my humidor.

(btw first review attempt, hopefully it wasn't too bad)

good review, cao always a good smoke.

Good review. I have always had to let my CAOs rest a bit before smoking. I got a box of the maddies last week and couldn't resist one in my workshop. In typical fashion, it canoed at first and went out several times. Let em rest, they'll be fine.

Good review, MrO.

good review! thanks for posting it.

Now THATS a review I can identify with and tells me something about what I can expect from the cigar. Thanks. As I've said before, with the exception of the Brazilia, I don't think I've ever bought a CAO, mail-order or walk-in shop, that wasn't too moist for my taste upon receipt. That said, after a little humi time they burn great and taste fabulous. Just my thoughts.....