CAO Brazilia Lambada

I recently picked up a CAO Brazilia Lambada as part of a sampler. CAO has really never done anything for me as I've gone through a number of their lines without being impressed.

It does come wrapped in a nice dark, woody Brazilian leaf. There were a few large veins and it had a lack of oily sheen. The pre-light draw was nice and firm and the foot had a bit of an earthy stench to be honest.

Once lit it did produce copious amounts of smoke and a full earthy flavor. After about 1.5" it took on a more woody core with earthy notes. By 1/2 way it had swapped back but did so with what can only be described as bitter coffee overtones. Fortunately that didn't last long (or this would be the end of my review) and the mellow woods began to come to the forefront and it had a bit of spice on the finish.

The burn was uneven for much of the smoke despite several efforts to correct it. It finally evened out in the final 1/3 on its own. The ash was light gray and firm and it did have a good draw. All in all the construction was below average and the flavor was something I'd generally avoid. Despite some out there in the cigar blogosphere raving about CAOs, I'm going to have to say that this one went the way of my general experience and was a below average smoke.

Wrapper: Brazil
Filler: Nic
Binder: Nic
Rating: 87