CAO America Monument

6 1/4" X 54, Barber Pole (Natural Connecticut & Maduro Connecticut)

Appearance: No one can argue that this is a pretty cool looking cigar. The picture tells the story better than I can, with the beautiful tan "pinstripe" swirling around the rich and oily maduro wrapper. Coupled wit the cool, and a bit over the top band, it is quite a sight to behold.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy and the draw seemed like it was going to be kind of on the loose side, but not unpleasant. The pre light flavors were a light tang and a bit of nuttiness.

Burn/Draw: This was a very pleasant burning cigar. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as I was kind of expecting the dual wrappers to burn a little funky, but this just was not the case. The burn was relatively even (and self correcting) down the entire length of the cigar. The draw was free and easy and produced tons of round feeling white smoke. The ash was relatively firm and light in color and held as long as I liked.


Flavor: Well right off the bat it has to be said that despite the claims of the CAO website, there is no way that this a full strength cigar. More likely medium bodied and medium strength at best. there were some nice tangy flavors, and a bit of almondy nuttiness. The problem is, that there really isn't a ton of flavor to it. So while it was a generally pleasant smoking experience it did leave me decidedly lacking. A disappointment.

TomC