Pre-light Experience

Seth: The CAO America 250th Anniversary is a decent looking cigar. I don’t think it’s a great looking barber-pole cigar, although I think the pressing is cool. It has dark maduro wrapper that is dominant, and the minor Connecticut wrapper has a nice contrast. Medium sized veins. Nice give to the cigar with aromas of earth, tobacco and spices.
John: The CAO America 250th Anniversary has a Colorado Maduro wrapper with Colorado Claro pinstriping along the cigar. For artisanal complications, the cigar is box pressed and appears to be a Robusto Extra vitola. The cap appears to be roughly applied in some places. I weighed the cigar at 13.9 grams and measured the humidity at 61.8% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included subtle dry wood and dry tobacco. From the foot, I was getting sweet tobacco, hay and wood.
Jiunn: The CAO America 250th Anniversary has a Colorado maduro background, with the barber pole style that is Colorado. The barber pole is applied in a sloppy manner, with various missing wrapper pieces and the symmetry is also off. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas give barnyard.

CAO America 250th Anniversary

First Third

Seth: The cigar begins by delivering rich earth, tobacco, baking spices and faint chocolate cake flavors. The cake notes are not overly sweet, but present. The cigar smokes at a medium-full level in terms of strength and body.
John: The first third begins with creamy tobacco sweetness leading off and slightly punchy, medium strength baking spices in the center. The baking spices linger into the finish and post draw, with some wood also coming into play. The baking spices continue to ramp up, moving to medium-full strength through the retrohale. Sweet wood moves up to join the front of the profile as the cigar continues. The baking spices have moved down to just over medium strength by the halfway point, but I find they are largely defining the profile at this point.
Jiunn: The first third’s flavor experience is a toasty one. Flavors of toasted cedar wood, burnt toast and minerals. Retrohaling provides sharp minerals. The finish is lackluster with soft toasted cedar wood. Strength and body is medium.

CAO America 250th Anniversary

Second Third

Seth: The second third is in line with the first. I think the pressing helps the barber pole blend, but it is still one-dimensional, delivering a nearly identical profile.
John: The second third gets things going with creamy sweet wood leading off and medium strength baking spices mixing in. The baking spices define the center of the profile and linger through the post draw and between each puff. Earth moves into the retrohale as the second third settles in, with wood joining the post draw. As the cigar progresses towards the halfway point of the second third, the baking spices have largely fallen away, with sweet tobacco and wood becoming the primary flavor drivers. I find the second third to be pleasant but largely uncomplicated. Earth is present through the post draw in the bottom half of the second third.
Jiunn: The second third continues the trend of toasted everything. This time it’s much more earthy in toasted minerals and cedar. The burnt toast is essentially gone. At this point, the flavors feel a bit mundane and engagement is starting to be poor. Strength and body remains medium.

CAO America 250th Anniversary

Final Third

Seth: The final third delivers more mineral notes than the first two thirds, but the profile for the most part is in line with the first and second. Long finish to the cigar.
John: The last third kicks off with creamy sweet wood followed by earth, which lingers through the post draw at medium strength. Some bitterness joins the finish as the last third continues. A vegetal and wood combination is present in the center of the profile by the halfway point. The earth intensifies to over medium strength through the bottom half of the final third.
Jiunn: The final third continues to be…zzz…. zzzz. Fell asleep for a little bit there. Still the same toasted earthiness in minerals and cedar galore. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

CAO America 250th Anniversary

Burn

Seth: The burn is good from beginning to end.
John: The burn was fairly straight through the first third, very straight through the second third and had some unevenness through the last third. No interventions were required.
Jiunn: Burn performance was overall good. A couple touch-ups were needed to get the burn back on track within the first and second third.

CAO America 250th Anniversary

Draw

Seth: The draw is very good from start to finish.
John: The draw measured 35 inches of water on the Cigar Medics draw tester. Subjectively, it was right in the ideal zone for a draw.
Jiunn: The draw was perfect, providing the ideal air flow and resistance.

Overall

Seth: I guess I just don’t care for barber-pole cigars any more. I know what I am going to get when I smoke these cigars nine times of out ten. At best, the cigar is going to be average to good for the first two-thirds. The CAO America 250th Anniversary is an average cigar, and it’s a cigar lacking in terms of appearances for a barber-pole. Perhaps the band is great, but that won’t make a difference.
John: Blind Cigar #1586 started out with an engaging combination of creamy tobacco sweetness and punchy baking spices. The spices quickly ramped up to medium-full strength and were the defining characteristic of the first third, while sweet wood helped provide some balance at the front of the profile. I enjoyed the intensity of the baking spices and found the first third to be the most interesting part of the smoking experience. The cigar became less dynamic moving into the second third. Sweet tobacco and wood took over as the primary flavor drivers once the baking spices faded, with earth gradually working its way into the profile. The combination was pleasant, but largely uncomplicated, and there wasn’t enough evolution to elevate the experience beyond an Average rating. The final third continued with creamy sweet wood and an increasingly prominent earth component. Bitterness and vegetal notes joined as the cigar progressed, while earth intensified through the bottom half and became the dominant flavor. Overall, the first third of the CAO America 250th Anniversary showed the most promise and complexity, but the cigar steadily simplified as it progressed. Construction was excellent, with no burn interventions required and an ideal draw. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Jiunn: Gosh, I hope this isn’t the cigar STG made to celebrate America’s anniversary. But I am afraid it is the CAO America 250th Anniversary. Assuming this, oof this is not good. The barber pole flare looks terrible and the flavor profile isn’t that far off either. Sorry fellow Americans.

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$1.85

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$1.64

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.55

Cost/Point

$1.80

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: CAO America 250th Anniversary