Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the CAO Italia Ciao is dark brown and has some thick, raised veins present. The seams are smooth and the head is pretty well finished. The band is blue, gold and black, along with the Italian flag being repeated throughout. It carries the brand and line names as well. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of cedar and earth, while the foot brings raising bread. The pre-light draw is pretty snug as the filler looks pretty packed at the foot, but brings cedar, earth and raisin bread.

CAO Italia Ciao

First Third

The cigar begins with cedar and construction paper along with a dark oak note. At a quarter inch in, the dark oak transitions to dark walnut shell, with the typical light bitterness associated with it. The retrohale is cedar and earth with a light amount of construction paper. At an inch in, the construction paper gains some dampness. At an inch and a quarter, some mustiness joins in. As the third comes to a close, the cedar is just ahead of the slightly damp construction paper, with dark walnut shell in the middle of the profile and mustiness in the back half. The strength was mild-medium.

CAO Italia Ciao

Second Third

As the second third, some chalkiness mixes in with the mustiness and the construction paper loses the dampness. The retrohale is now cedar, damp construction paper and earth. At an inch in, the bitterness from the walnut shell increases a fair amount and some earth joins the profile. At an inch in, the bitterness mellows back down. As the third comes to a close, the cedar remains just ahead of the construction paper, with dark walnut shell in the middle of the profile, earth right behind and a musty chalky mix in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly below medium.

CAO Italia Ciao

Final Third

As the final third begins, the earth increases a fair amount and some black pepper joins the profile. At a quarter inch in, the earth is even up front with the cedar and the construction paper has mellowed a bit. At a half inch in, the cedar takes on a heavy toast. The retrohale is now cedar, earth, construction paper and mild black pepper. At an inch in, a fair amount of wood bitterness joins the profile. As the cigar wraps up, the heavily toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with construction paper a bit behind. The dark walnut shell and wood bitterness are in the middle of the profile and the chalky mustiness and black pepper were in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.

CAO Italia Ciao

Burn

The burn was a bit wavy to start, but straightened up about an inch in and was straight the rest of the way. The ash held on in inch and a half increments.

CAO Italia Ciao

Draw

The draw was quite snug through the first two thirds and then opened up a bit in the final third. It caused low smoke production early on and likely restricted flavor delivery.

Overall

The cigar began with cedar and construction paper along with a dark oak note. The dark oak transitioned to dark walnut shell pretty quickly. Then, the construction paper gained some dampness and some mustiness joined in. The second third saw some chalkiness join with the mustiness and the construction paper lost the dampness. The bitterness from the walnut shell increases for a quarter inch before returning back to its previous level. The final third saw the earth increase until it was even up front with the cedar and some black pepper joined in. Later, the cedar took on a heavy toast and then a decent level of wood bitterness joined in. The CAO Italia Ciao started with an average flavor profile but took a step down in the second third and remained that way through to the end. I’m pretty sure the very tight draw just didn’t let this profile exhibit what it was supposed to be, as smoke production was low early on and required multiple draws. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can really report on what this cigar really is based on the draw issue, and I’m not sure if I’ll return to see if I can get a better constructed one.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

3.98

Cost/Point

$2.66

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: CAO Italia Ciao