CAO La Traviata
Up next for review is the long-awaited La Traviata by CAO.
CAO La Traviata
Jon Huber, Director of Lifestyle Marketing for CAO cigars in Nashville TN, sponsors tons of contests almost daily from his twitter account (@caocigars). I was fortunate enough to have won a contest and have a few of these pop up on my door step. If you’re on twitter, and aren’t following him, I suggest you jump on the ball. Not only will you be able to capture great CAO news, but if you’re lucky you may be able to grab a few sticks before they even hit stores.
The Good Stuff: “La Traviata” is a brand that originated in Cuba over a hundred years ago at the Tabacalera Cubana, Agramonte no. 106 in Havana. CAO basically took this appeal and created am incredible cigar alike closely resembling “La Traviata’s” taste, construction, and Cuban roots.
As stated before La Traviata is just now barely hitting stores. The cigar itself was announced by CAO at this year’s International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association Trade Show in New Orleans. The CAO La Traviata is a full bodied cigar constructed of two different ligero fillers, one from the Domincan Republic and the other from the Pueblo Nuevo farm in Nicaragua. La Trivata uses a Cameroon binder and is then tightly wrapped with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper.
Size: 5 x 50 - Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano - Binder: Cameroon - Filler: Nicaragua/Dominican Republic Ligero
CAO La Traviata
Prelight: La Traviata is a very toothy, darkly wrapped cigar. The habano wrapper is actually quite darker than most habanos that I have seen. Following CAO standards there are absolutely no blemishes, soft spots, or wrapper misconstruction. In fact, this cigar is very tightly pressed and hard to the touch. La Traviata divino sports a very round cap, and the foot gives off a pre-light aroma of cocoa, and cashew. There were a few noticable veins, but nothing that will affect the overall smoke. The band itself differs quite a bit from what you normally see out of the CAO factory. Strong, romanesque marr0on and gold, with a very powerful font, and texture. I think they were hinting on to something.
CAO La Traviata
First Smoke: As usual, the Ligero in the Traviata took quite sometime to light. The first draws were extremely tight, and I was forced to hit the crap out of the cigar before actually getting a decent draw. The first tastes were very smooth cocoa mixed with maple syrup and subtle grassy nutty flavors. La Traviata starts off very smooth, not boasting the outrageous strength and spice that ligero usually gives off. The burn is pretty even, there is a small trouble spot following one of the veins but I suspect this won’t be a problem. La Traviata is very tightly packed, and is giving me slight complications trying to get the massive draw that I am looking for at first. Withing about five minutes the cigar finally starts giving off a good smoke, and I’m extremely pleased. I really hoped the draw wasn’t going to ruin it for me. I got almost an inch and 3/4 off La Traviata before it gave way.
CAO La Traviata
Halfway There: At the halfway point La Traviata is producing massive amounts of thick smoke, in an almost perfect draw. The flavors are extremely subtle, and well balanced. I’ve noticed a lot of that cocoa flavor has tapered off and its more of a leathery, walnut, syrup, cedar, smooth tobacco taste. Although La Traviata is full-bodied and packed full of ligero, it isn’t quite giving me the shakes you’d expect. It’s a much more enjoyable experience. Don’t be fooled by the size of this CAO, this cigar is burning incredibly slow, this may be an all nighter. The burn is dead on and I have yet to have to relight, or touch up.
Finish: Overall La Traviata Divino took well over 2 hours to smoke, which, for its small size, completely caught me off guard. There was no harshness at all towards the end of this cigar. I did however, notice a slight increase in strength, but nothing overwhelming. The flavors finished just as complex as they started with just a tad more raw tobacco flavor. The burn? Amazing. No relights, no touch ups. That’s incredible for ligero.
CAO La Traviata
Overview: This is an incredible cigar. Needless to say I will buy it again, I will recommend it, and I will recommend it to anyone from novice to the most experienced cigar smoker. The rich tobacco, smooth smokability, and creamy flavors make a perfect mixture. And one last thing. Rumor has it these cigars will be priced in ranges from $4.95 to $6.00. How incredible is that. This means they will be about $13.oo at my local shop, if they even get them. But I am just happy I had a chance to have just one.
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Tony Casas is a 30 year old Creative Managing/Webdesigning/Craft Beer Drinking Cigar smoker from El Paso, Texas. When he isn't loving his wife he is either sleepy, hungry, or suffering from a headache.
Write on with the review……I enjoyed the smoke butw as shocked at how long it lasted!
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Yessir Thomas. The wife usually sits with me the entire duration of my smokes. She’s a champ. She listens to me boast about the cigars as if she cares. I picked this one cause it was chilly out and night was approaching so I knew it had to be a smaller cigar. Little did I know how long this bad boy was going to last. I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on another one. Thanks for the read and the ReTweet love man!
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Hi Tony:
Enjoyed the review, the photography was almost too good. The first picture looks like the Cigar was shellacked but you said it took 2 hours to smoke. Now this is a robusto so if you had Shellacked it would have burned to the nub in about 6 mins. lol
Seriously with a little work I could see you working in advertising for the cigar industry. If you already do…I take back the “with a little work” comment. lol
Pappy
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Hey Paps!
First of all, thanks for the read. I love photography. I’m actually an art director for a big web development company in west texas, and board of directors for the advertising federation down here. I love anything to do with design, imagery, visual, ect. As far as mixing that with the cigar industry?! IN A HEARTBEAT
I started the blog as just something to kill time in hopes to get feedback and make BOTL friends along the way. And that’s exactly whats been happening. I’m in the process of actually laying down a design, and possible rebranding this blog in the near future. And it’s readers/friends/and comment love like yours that inspire me to do so.
Thanks so much again!
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Loved the review. I just received a La Traviata myself about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been trying to fit it into my “cigar schedule”. After reading this, I definitely plan on enjoying this soon. Great photos too!
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Thanks for the comment. Honestly, it was a lot better than I expected. Not that I had low expectations for this stick in any way, it’s just a hell of a smoke. Can’t wait to to hear your thoughts! I have the Kuba Kuba Maduro scheduled in for a review as well. Loved your review on that one, and loved the smoke! Picked up a couple of them as I knew they’d be great.
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Great review! I am going to give some of these a try, but I keep seeing varied stories on the strength. You never know till you try one yourself, I have always been told
Mike
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Thanks man. Honestly, thanks to @caosmoker, and the ligero in the stick, i thought this cigar was going to be incredibly strong. But honestly, I found them very smooth and well balanced. I didn’t get anywhere close the light-headedness I got off the Cain Habano.
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Mike and anyone else out there listening in. This why you have to try for yourself. I found this to be a very good enjoyable cigar. Like Tony, I did not find this to be an overly strong cigar. All are tastes and tolerance levels are different. Some cigars give me the sweats and having me running to the bathroom and sweating some more. I have seen reviews of those cigars praising their smoothness (?). I prefer a cigar that in low in nicotine and large in flavor. I do not need to smoke cigars to feel pain or satisfy a nicotine addiction. Some people do.
If your like me you should definately give this cigar a try. It’s just a feeling but I think it will age very well. Pappy
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Dead on Pappy, Dead on. I’ve heard people talk about how smooth the Ruinations are. That cigar practically killed me. You just gotta try em out yourself.
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one of the best cigars to hit the shelves this year hands down…
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I had one of these on Sunday (Easter). It was sitting in my humidor for about 3 months or so. It smoked really well. The smell off the stick after unwrapping the celo was a really nice leathery scent. Its definitely a stick I’d smoke again.
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I had one of these today in the torpedo size- was really surprised by some of the early flavors before getting into the first third. The smoke had this very sweet doughy taste which blew me and my friend away. I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience.
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