CAO Maduro Staff Review
I’m smoking an old-school cigar, CAO Maduro, in a 5.5-by-55 Toro for today’s review. CAO Maduro cigars hail from Nicaragua, where they’re produced by General Cigar, the brand’s parent company, in a sizeable portfolio that includes Macanudo and non-Cuban Cohiba cigars.
The brand is named after the initials of its founder, Cano Aret Ozgener, an engineer by trade who entered the tobacco business making meerschaum pipes in the 1970s. He introduced his cigar line in 1993 and grew the brand with his son, Tim, and daughter, Ayleen, before selling the company to General in 2007. Over the years, General Cigar has introduced new CAO cigars, such as the 95-rated Flathead and Pilón, while also maintaining CAO’s original core blends, including CAO Gold, CAO Cameroon, and the CAO Maduro I’m smoking today.
A dark and toothy Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper covers a binder grown in Ecuador and long-filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This complex concoction is noted for its hearty taste and consistency. CAO Maduro cigars are box-pressed and dressed in a pair of reflective red-and-white cigar bands that draw attention to the dark complexion of the wrapper leaf.
Once I slip the cellophane off a fresh Toro and cut the cap, CAO Maduro imparts a sharp and earthy profile of dark cocoa, coffee grinds, and pepper in the cold draw. Hints of hickory and raisin loom in the aftertaste. The texture is a touch dry, but the draw offers favorable airflow from the moment it’s lit.
Tasting notes of pepper, anise, and birch bark weave an intriguing portrait over a bittersweet foundation of dark chocolate and minerals. CAO Maduro cigars sell for around ten dollars apiece and cater to the niche above the budget category but below higher-end cigars. Near the halfway mark, slightly acidic notes of salt and pepper interfere with the otherwise smooth and chocolatey flavor that CAO Maduro possesses.
A flaky ash necessitates a few touch-ups with my torch lighter in the second half of the Toro. The flavor oscillates between a balanced profile of cocoa, molasses, and rum while an undercurrent of minerals and earth overrides the cigar’s sweeter intonations. I suggest pairing CAO Maduro with Bulleit Bourbon to mitigate the fleeting but bitter influence in the taste.
The Toro burns for a solid forty minutes before I gently peel the bands off and breach the nub. The cigar’s dry texture has largely subsided, but an uneven burn plagues the final fifteen minutes. CAO Maduro finishes with a respectable crescendo of bittersweet baker’s chocolate, wood, and spice, despite the cigar’s fluctuating performance. For my closing thoughts, rely on CAO Maduro when you need a box of rudimentary cigars to share with your pals, but buy them on sale.
