I am a CAO fan; I hope my love of the company in general doesn't prejudice my review in any way.
To begin, this cigar is really beautiful. The beautiful slight sheen of the maduro wrapper is something nice to behold. When you add the great-looking black and silver band, ths cigar is among on of the best-looking cigars made, in my opinion. The cigar I pulled didn't have any big veins in the wrappers, so this one gets an A+ from me in the appearance department.
Pre-light, the cigar drew very well, and I got a nice chololate and spice taste. The wrappers gave off the characteristic sweet foundation I notice from maduro wrappers. The sweetness was not overpowering or particularly pronounced, the taste was there.
As I lit the cigar, I got a delicious dark-chocolate taste, a bit of cream, and a nice spice. Like a great mole sauce without the peanut flavor. This flavor was dominant through the first half of the cigar.
As I hit the mid-point, the cream moved on, mostly, as did the initial chocolate flavor. I primarily got a deep espresso and medium spice througout the rest of the smoke. I was hoping for a bit of licorice, but that never happened. I thought the cigar was medium bodied.
The cigar burned a bit uneven, but that could be my lighting. I accumulated about 2 1/4" of ash prior to the eventual drop. The smoke volume was very good, what you would expect from a good cigar of this ring-gauge.
All-in-all, a great smoke. I would have liked a bit more diversity of flavor, but the flavors that were present were great and pronounced. A year or two in the humi might yeild something more complex. a delicious smoke, and probably the first of many to come of this cigar.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: MeanWillieGreen,
_____________________________________ The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. -H. L. Mencken
Posts: 1920 | Location: Bugtussle, MS | Registered: August 24, 2006
ahh, the Toro. This maduro is a definite hit with me. I keep a nice stock of them in my maduro humi. I haven't tried the other two sizes, but I'll definitely vouch for the TORO!!! Great Review
I had looked for a review of this cigar and found nothing so I thought I'd try my hand at writing a cigar review. Then, when I came to post, I found this review staring me straight in the face. Oh, well, I hope it's not bad form to step on toes here. I've been a cigar-lover for about four years and keep a wine diary, but this is my first cigar review. Let me know if I botched something up spectacularly. I guess I should say also, unlike MeanWillieGreen, I haven't had a lot of experience with CAO. Here's my review:
CAO Mx2 Toro 87 Points
9/6/2006 12:58 AM Appearance: 9/10 Wrapper was dark and very oily with prominent veining, a pretty cigar with a bit of tooth. The band is black and silver, shaped like a capital “I” and looks a bit like the font for Men in Black. It looked a bit too stylish for such a serious-looking cigar. Aroma: 17/20 Unlit, the cigar smelled rich and full of with earth, sugar cane and chocolate. Burning, it gave a nice, rich smell of wood and chocolate. My wife said the smoke was nice and earthy but a little acrid. This cigar left my office smelling like the Spanish cedar, a good thing. There was nothing offensive in the smell, but it lacked the creaminess I prefer. Burn: 13/15 The cigar lit perfectly, then burned a bit unevenly about an inch into the smoke. The wrapper rolled back and tunneled slightly. It quickly righted itself, however and burned fairly straight for the rest of the smoke. The cigar stayed lit and the wrapper kept pace with the filler. The ash was light grey faintly tinged with yellow and held on between 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches. There was prominent smoke of the same light yellow-grey color as the ash. Construction: 14/15 The cigar felt very firm but not too firm to affect the draw negatively. There were no knots or burls noticeable. I bite the cap rather than punch or cut and I get my cigars pretty wet, but this one held together very well. Not once did the tip unravel or fall apart in my mouth. The filler also stayed tight and didn’t flake. Draw: 10/10 I may have gotten a good specimen and I’ve only tried one stick so far, but the draw on this one was perfect, medium-easy and very smooth. The cigar drew at a consistent pace as well, no soft spots or knots. Flavor: 24/30 If I were a CAO marketing exec, I would call this one Dark Chocolate on a Wooden Spoon. The cigar started off well after a couple of puffs. The first half of the cigar was quite bold with wood, earth, coffee, eastern spices, heavy pepper, and chocolate flavors. Then, as the smoke progressed, the chocolate, wood and pepper asserted themselves as the prominent flavors for the duration. At times, the pepper tried to bite the back of my throat like a hot curry. I prefer a creamier cigar than this one, but maybe some time in a humidor would mellow it. Had this maduro been a bit creamier, I would have rated it near-perfect on flavor. The cigar smoked well until the last two inches when it became too hot to be really enjoyed and all the flavors fell away except a slightly tannic, peppery-metalic assault. Overall, a very, very good smoke and a great buy at about 5 bucks each.
Great review, Jason. I believe that the more information and opinions are out there regarding a product, the better. I always search for other reviwes and then post my own, too.
The more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.
_____________________________________ The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. -H. L. Mencken
Posts: 1920 | Location: Bugtussle, MS | Registered: August 24, 2006
Good reviews guys. I'm not to the point where I can pick out all the specific tastes, but I like reading these and thinking about them when I smoke. Anyways, I really like this cigar.
I'm a big CAO fan too, but the MX2 is a little overpriced. I don't really know why CAO decided to make a cigar with a maduro wrapper and maduro binder. It's not like anyone really cares what the binder looks like. Honestly, I like CAO's red label maduro better. But, my favorites are the Criollo and Italia. Just my two cents.
Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.
I remain a big fan of the Mx2 - the earthy sweetness and dark chocolate/espresso tones are very enjoyable. A number of friends that I smoke with have become Mx2 devotees after I have turned them onto this black beauty. Other CAO's I enjoy and stock up on are the Brazilia, Cameroon, Cx2 and Criollo.
Posts: 818 | Location: Central New Jersey | Registered: March 15, 2005
