CAO La Traviata Divino

Size: 5 X 50

Shape: Divino

Origin: Nicaragua

Body: Medium - Full
Wrapper: Colorado Brown Equadoran
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Nicaraguan / Dominican

Smoke Clock: 1hr

A few nights ago, after a long day of work, I decided to make the short walk from my summer housing in Cortland to a nearby park to light up a bit of rolled tobacco. My companion for the evening: CAO La Traviata.

The wrapper on this guy was a rich and dark color, oily, smooth, near seamless, and absolutely mouth watering. I passed the stick beneath my nose to get a better sense of just how delicious this stick might be and smelled complex cedar and sweet farmland. This guy had a lot of promise.

I nipped the end and put the cigar to my lips for a pre-light test and tasted light spice and pepper with some subtle sweet fruit notes on the back of the palate. In addition to the excellent flavors, the draw was very open, which only added to my already mounting lack of patience to get this stick lit.

At long last I lit up and immediately tasted an excellent mingling of pepper and leather. These first light flavors stayed pretty dominant in the profile for the majority of the smoke, slowly giving way to a pure tobacco taste during the third quarter. The pepper and spice smoothed out during the second quarter and were all but gone by the second half of the cigar. Despite their slow retreat to the back of the profile, spice and pepper remained a subtle but dominant note when rolled through the nostrils.

As the finish progressed, little else occurred in the evolution of the profile. I appreciated that quality in this smoke as the tasty flavors remained tasty; never allowing a bitter note or other flavors to muddy up what was a consistently delicious flavor profile.

Having enjoyed a simple yet delicious smoke, I took my time walking home to enjoy the calm of the evening. Even though it had been a long day, it was nothing that a great smoke and a peaceful evening couldn’t fix. Fortunately for me, I got both.

Rating:

Presentation: 5/10 – I’m just not a fan of this band. The focus of the design is a bit chaotic, placing several small images around the name of the cigar which was probably meant to lend focus to the name. This plan might have succeeded if the name of the cigar wasn’t almost the same color as the background and they hadn’t executed the idea in such a busy way. My attention is drawn much more to the color of the tiny images than it is the name of the cigar, which seems counterproductive to me.

Appearance: 8/10 – A dark, oily, smooth, and near seamless wrapper holds this stick together. Despite the overall beauty of the wrapper, I did find a small blotch on it about the size of a nail head.

Construction: 33/35 – The pack was consistent and firm and the draw quite open. Nicely done.

Flavor: 43/45 – Even though this cigar wasn’t especially complex, it really delivered on the purity and quality of the flavors it intended to showcase in the blend. The profile offered some mild evolution but ultimately remained consistent all the way to the end. This is a very tasty, well executed, and straight forward blend.

Overall: 89/100 – Overall, this is a very consistent, well constructed, and tasty smoke. For those of you who enjoy a straight forward, no nonsense cigar with a consistent flavor profile, this may become your go-to smoke.