CAO L'Anniversaire Cameroon Tubo 1
Reviewed by Dave Francis
An interesting one, this. The
label on this five and a half inch, 46 gauge perfecto
(interesting in itself) pronounces the cigar to be "1998"
- whether that's the vintage of the Cameroon wrapper or
the Nicaraguan filler or binder is debatable, but I think
it's a bit of a swizzle to describe a cigar as "1998" if
only the wrapper dates from then. Let's put it down to
"marketing" - with our cynical hat on - and see if the CAO
knocks that particular hat off when lit - which is the
only time that it matters.
"Marketing" also tells us that this cigar
tastes of "nuts, caramel and sweet coffee" - we'll see about that
in a moment. Firstly, impressions of the stogie itself - first
things first. The CAO L'anniversaire Cameroon Tubo #1 is a box
pressed perfecto - (and you don't see that too often) and comes -
of all things - in a square tube. "Say it ain't so ! " -
the whizzing sound you hear is tradition flying out of the window,
possibly impelled by "marketing" again. Incidentally, the CAO
range also contains a maduro Napoleon - parejo (straight) head and
perfecto (tapered and unclosed) foot which is even more
unusually kitted out than the Tubo #1. Now there's something to
write home to Mama about. Even more surprisingly, look as I might,
there was no cedar wrapper in the tube. I'm not of the opinion
that cedar makes a blind bit of difference to a tubo, but now we'd
find out.
"Cuban Shmooban" says the CAO site -
"marketing schmarketing" says I - let's see how it smokes, which,
end of the day, will be the final determinant of the customer
repeat buying.
The wrapper itself is a good quality
Cameroon one. No major veins, and nicely rolled. However, the foot
of the perfecto - always a difficult cigar to roll - shows
evidence of only being properly rolled on one side. The dinky
little cap has been delicately applied, and if you were just
looking at the cigar, you'd conclude that it'd been well made. Not
quite up to Cuban torcedor standards, but - you couldn't complain.
There were, however, some worryingly rock hard spots in it, even
after a fortnight in the humidor. With that in mind, I decided to
cut this one as wide as possible, so it's out with the cutter,
snick off a generous measure and apply fire. I always, by the way,
cut as much as I can off tubos - you can never be quite sure how
old a tubed cigar is or how badly kept its' been - I tend to let
'em stew for as long as possible in the humidor and cut them very
wide.
The cap came off with a pleasant snick,
revealing a tightly packed head. Inhaling through the cigar
pre-light showed something of a tight draw - this was going to be
a slow smoker. The open foot lit easily and I was immediately
struck by an extremely unusual and pleasant nutty aroma. I was
vaguely reminded - by the mere shape of the cigar - of a Cuaba,
and must say that if the CAO tasted like a Cuaba, I was going to
be a regular buyer. And the CAO was proving, within the first half
inch, to be a most interesting cigar indeed, releasing great
clouds of tangy, nutty smoke. An inch later, and amidst a
wonderful taste of wood, leather and nuts, I took the
L'Anniversaire out of my mouth and thought - "Must buy more of
these."
The L'Anniversaire Cameroon Tubo had, to be
quite honest, revealed itself to be more than hype. I can
definitely say that, with perhaps just a little more oomph behind
it, I could have been convinced I was smoking a Cuaba Generoses,
the only difference being the colour of the ash. The CAO produced
white ash, not particularly dense, but ash which stayed on long
enough to give no cause for alarm, complaint or letters to the
editor.
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The stogie was burning down just fine, and I thought to
myself, "This sure tastes Cuban to me." Wreathed in positive
clouds of smoke, I sat back and tried to think of analogies to
the taste and aroma, and I kept coming back to Cuban cigars, every
single time. I really, really was enjoying this one.
In between those woody, leathery flavours was
an indefinable hazlenut taste, almost - a sort of faint lingering
perfume. As you may gather, this was a complex little cigar, and
it was getting more complex by the moment. Strength was medium -
it had somewhat less prescence than a Cuaba (although I had the
distinct inkling that the last third was going to be memorable)
wasn't as smooth as a Sancho Panza nor as rough and ready as a
Montecristo - it possessed pleasantly sharp woody notes - there
was the same kind of taste in my mouth that one gets when walking
into a furniture store, yet somehow different than Cuban ones -
more sharp - the whole thing balanced out just fine. A very
competent bit of blending..
No burn problems, no need to relight or
correct - the CAO was behaving itself impeccably as half way
approached. Amidst a sharp, clear landscape of wood, underpinned
by pleasant background leather tones (the two making highly
enjoyable scenery) here and there was a faint whiff of hazlenut. I
could best describe the texture of the smoke as "flour like" - the
CAO didn't provide a smooth rush of flavours but presented them
all in an expansive cloud. Verrrrry interesting indeed. At no
times did the L'Anniversaire threaten to overwhelm or dominate -
in a world of nondescript smokes, I always think that a good cigar
should capture the imagination and attention. This particular
perfecto certainly had done both of those. Is it a beginners'
cigar ? Well, the strength is a little too much for that, and
there's probably too much prescence, but - I'm sure this is a
cigar which every cigar smoker with but a few stogies under his
belt will appreciate.
Halfway point being surpassed, a definite
flavour change began to set in, with the sharp (not harsh but
sharp) notes disappearing from the woody tones. I think my
previous wood and leather landscape was becoming a more mellow
autumn picture with falling leaves and soft leather. Quite a
pleasant place to spend a few minutes - the scenery in Nicaragua
this year seems to be just as pleasant as in Cuba - perhaps a
little more interesting in places. I've occasionally heard smokers
say that they can taste the soil in cigars - the CAO must have
grown in a particularly pleasant vista, that's for sure. I was
quite surprised to find that the strength of the cigar building up
so quickly as I began to reach the end - then remembered that some
Cuabas tended to exhibit a strong final third. As I suspected, the
last few inches of the CAO were going to prove to be very
interesting. I wasn't let down. In true Montecristo fashion, the
CAO had changed appearance, chameleon like again, and was now
smoking like a Monte 4 - with bags full of wood and spice.
Excellent. I sat back in the chair, trying to remind myself that
this was a tubed cigar - additionally not from Cuba - and I had a
hard job doing it, I can tell you.
As we reached the end, the CAO was totally
convincing me it wasn't from Nicaragua. I think if you'd
blindfolded a Cuban cigar buff or given him this with the label
off, he'd have embarrassed himself several times over by now. Even
down to the nub, the CAO didn't bite, maintaining a pleasant
twangy spice and power and there again was that certain Magic
Ingredient - a smell of nuts that just can't be found in Havana
cigars. I definitely had a beaming smile by now. In the last
inch, and this was the kind of cigar you'd smoke to the last inch,
the wrapper split - not too badly - who cared ? Not me.
Quite frankly, this cigar made my day. The
tendency with perfectos is to compare them to the Cuaba range,
and, for my money, this is just as enjoyable a smoke, if not more
so.Not too overpowering. Not too dull. Perfectly behaved,
verrrrrrrrrry interesting - I'd had one of those "Oh yeah !! "
cigar moments and I certainly will be repeating the
pleasure very shortly. I am at a complete loss to even begin to
wonder how CAO and those fellas in Nicaragua made this one, but
I'm very grateful that they did. A perfecto perfecto, indeed.
"Cuban schmooban" -
Cano - agreed. For this particular one, anyway.
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