Aaron Loomis

 John McTavish

Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto is milk chocolate brown and has a network of lightly raised veins. The seams are smooth and the head has a top cap with some raised edges. The band is black, brick red and white and denotes the brand, line and sub-line. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of earth and cocoa powder, while the foot brings sweet wood and earth. The pre-light draw brings cardboard, cedar and earth.
John: The CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto comes in cellophane with a UPC sticker that tears when opened. It features a single primary band. I weighed the cigar at 11.8 grams and measured the humidity at 65.9% using the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet tobacco, wood and faint earth, while the foot delivered a more intense, barrel-aged sweetness to the tobacco.

CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with chalky earth and toasted cedar. At a quarter inch in, a very mild black pepper becomes present. At a half inch in, the chalkiness becomes pretty mild as some cardboard joins the profile. The retrohale is just toasted cedar and earth. At an inch in, the black pepper increases a bit. As thew third comes to a close, the lightly chalky earth is just ahead of the toasted cedar, with black pepper and cardboard in the back half of the profile. The strength was slightly below medium.
John: The first third opens with sweet tobacco leading, followed by a combination of espresso and earth. Baking spices and wood appear on the retrohale at light-plus strength. Through the bottom half, wood takes over as the primary driver, with baking spices in the center and dry wood lingering into the finish.

CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the toasted cedar increases to become even with the lightly chalky earth up front. At a half inch in, the earth loses the chalkiness and increases a bit to take the lead in the profile once again. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with a bit of cardboard. At an inch in, the black pepper increases a bit more. At an inch and a quarter, the earth and toasted cedar become even up front again. At an inch and a half in, a creamy cocoa joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the black pepper a bit behind the middle of the profile and some creamy cocoa and cardboard in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.
John: The second third begins with baking spices and wood at medium-minus strength, both lingering into a medium-length finish. As the cigar progresses toward the halfway point, wood becomes the dominant flavor on the main profile, while baking spices define the retrohale. The profile remains consistent but shows limited evolution.

CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level of the cedar increases a fair amount and a light wood bitterness accompanies it. At a half inch in, the black pepper increases a bit more. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with black pepper in the middle of the profile. In the background was creamy cocoa, cardboard and wood bitterness. The strength remained at medium.
John: The final third opens with creamy wood, with mild spices and wood carrying through the finish. As the cigar progresses, a sharpness begins to accent the wood. Moving further in, bitterness and char develop on the finish as the cigar heats up, adding a harsher edge to the experience.

CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy throughout, and required one touch-up to keep things in line. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.
John: The burn showed minor waviness throughout but required no intervention, maintaining solid overall performance.

CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
John: The draw measured 58 inches of water on the Cigar Medics draw tester. Subjectively, it sat between two-and-a-half and three notches into the resistant spectrum.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with chalky earth and toasted cedar. Mild black pepper joined in fairly quickly. Then, the chalkiness mellowed and some cardboard joined in. Later, the black pepper increased a bit. The second third saw the toasted cedar become even with the earth up front and the chalkiness departed. The earth then took a slight lead again. The black pepper also increased a bit more. Then, the toasted cedar became even with the earth again and a creamy cocoa joined in. The final third saw the toast level increase a fair amount and some wood bitterness came with it. Later, the black pepper increased some more. The CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto had an average flavor profile throughout, focused around earth and toasted cedar. The black pepper built up as the cigar went along and the creamy cocoa was a nice touch. While this isn’t a cigar I’d come back to with any real frequency, this is a fantastic bundle and budget cigar. The score matches up with many cigars that are priced 5 to 10 times what this costs. If you are a smoker on a budget, you’d be hard pressed to find a cigar that performs better than this at around the two dollar mark.
John: This cigar starts with a fairly classic maduro profile with sweet tobacco, espresso, earth and baking spices, all of which align well with what you’d expect from a San Andrés wrapper cigar in this category. There’s a brief moment in the first third where the balance between sweetness and darker notes feels like it could build into something more layered. However, as the cigar progresses, the profile settles into a more wood-dominant experience. The baking spices and espresso notes remain present but don’t evolve, instead acting more as background accents. By the final third, the increasing sharpness, along with the introduction of bitterness and char, shifts the experience away from balance and toward a more abrasive finish. From a construction standpoint, the cigar performs well overall. The burn requires no intervention, and the draw is on the resistant side. In the end, this is a straightforward, budget-friendly maduro that delivers expected core flavors but doesn’t expand on them. It’s a serviceable, everyday smoke that lands squarely in the average category. The profile is familiar, but ultimately limited in complexity and progression. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.55

Cost/Point

$0.38

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$0.38

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: CAO Surplus Maduro Robusto