Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the CAO BX3 Robusto is a marbling of medium and dark brown, with lightly raised veins and coarse tooth. The seams are slightly raised while the caps are well applied. The band is primarily black with an array of secondary colors and denotes the brand and line along with a QR code on back. The aroma from the wrapper is wood, dark earth and bakers chocolate while the foot brings stewed fruit, wood and light anise. The pre-light draw brings a combination of cedar and stewed fruit.

First Third

The cigar begins with toasted cedar, earth and mustiness. At a quarter inch in, the cedar takes on a stale note. At a half inch in, a light chalkiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted, stale cedar and light earth. At an inch and a quarter, a very mild black pepper becomes present. As the third comes to a close, the profile is toasted, musty, stale cedar up front, with earth right behind and light amounts of chalkiness and black pepper in the background. The strength was slightly below medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the level of staleness lightens a bit. At a quarter inch in, the black pepper increases a bit. At a half inch in, the earth is now even with the cedar up front and the black pepper is now right behind those components. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the black pepper is exhibiting a very long finish. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is now only slightly stale and has lost the mustiness and is even with the earth and black pepper with some light chalkiness in the background. The strength has bumped up to medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the black pepper takes a slight lead in the profile. The retrohale is a very full combination of toasted cedar, earth and black pepper. At an inch in, the toasted cedar, earth and black pepper are all back to even up front. As the cigar wraps up, all of the components remain even up front along with some light chalkiness in the background. The strength remained at medium.

Burn

The burn was straight throughout and the ash held on in inch and a half increments.

Draw

The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.

Overall

The cigar began with toasted cedar, earth and mustiness. The cedar took on a stale note fairly quickly and some chalkiness joined in. The second third saw the staleness become light and the toasted cedar, earth and black pepper all became even up front. The CAO BX3 Robusto started off fairly mellow, but by the second third, the fullness of flavors really ramped up. The enjoyment level was average throughout. The price point is attractive, but the overall experience doesn’t really intrigue me enough to want to come back to this with any real frequency.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.60

Cost/Point

$1.61

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: CAO BX3 Robusto