CAO Italia Review

Size/Strength: 6 x 50
med – Full cigar
Wrapper: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan, Peru, Italian
Binder: Honduran

The CAO Italia has a dark oily wrapper and looked nice, with small to mid sized veins on it.
It smelled of strong tobacco, wood and earth.

The CAO Italia cigar was jammed packed with tobacco nice and firm.
The foot smelled of earth, wood, and had a sweet smell.
The pre-light draw was a little tight, and had notes of wood, earth, and sweetness.

CAO Italia Fire-up the tobacco, wood and earth smell stood true, with a mild spice and a hint of coffee.

1/2 way through the CAO Italia spice picked up a bit to a mild- medium spice and
the CAO Italia had a bold flavor for a med-full cigar

3/4 into the CAO Italia I had a tar build up problem that would not go away

The tar build up problem really frustrated me, the tar buildup made the cigar
to bitter and I had to but the thing down

The Diamond Crown Maximus
First I am going to tell you I really like this cigar, for the type that it is.

pyramid No. 3
Size – 6-5/8″ x 50 ring
Construction – Near Perfect
Draw – Perfect
Burn- Perfect
Smoke quality – thick and creamy

This tasty blend, is smooth and slightly spicy. Full in flavor but a mild
cigar. The Maximus has hints of nuts, earth, and a very small hint cocoa
and coffee sweetness

I have said it before and I will say it again
The Maximus is a great beginner smoke or early morning smoke

Diamond Crown Maximus for most people I know say
that its not enough bang for the buck.

To me this cigar, at times calls my name. I will almost always
have a Diamond Crown Maximus or 5 in my humidor

this was nubbed but no pic sorry

— Short —
The cigar looks beautiful it draws right, burns smooth, long ash, good flavor If you like Maduros and want great quality at a fair price. I would say order a box now, and park it for 8 months

— Long —
Like I said the cigar looks beautiful, with a dark and oily Maduro wrapper.
The wrapper had a good aroma. When I pinched the Oliva Serie G Maduro Belicoso, it felt firm and full of tobacco.

The Oliva Series G Maduro Belicoso, made medium thick clouds of smoke. The first few puffs were mild. The flavor was that of a good Maduro with a bitter chocolate base with an enjoyable spice.

As I smoked into the first 1/3 of the cigar I was really impressed with this $2.50 stick.

The half way point.

The initial spice was now only slightly edgy. Leaving a hint of bitter chocolate with very mild tones of nuts and coffee.
The mid point only became creamier as I smoked, while this smoke was consistent in the Mild spectrum. The burn was even with a good firm light Grey ash.

After the half way point it was like someone flipped a switch from mild to medium. The cigar went from good to great.

(The first ash dropped off after careful removal of the band)

The smoke became very smooth and the bitter chocolate faded, while the flavors of coffee and nuts picked up, and the spice began to slowly come back into this cigar.

The half way point construction was good. The burn was still even, and producing a firm Grey ash with a very attractive oily ring at the burn line.
The finish stayed very smooth and creamy while the mildness of this Oliva Series G Maduro, Belicoso built-up to medium-full.

I recently had the chance to smoke a Romeo Y Julieta Viejo Robusto.  I chose the Robusto over the bigger sizes because I did not have a lot of time, and wanted to savor it over time.  My drink of choice was a Diet Dr Pepper.  My favorite drink of choice with cigars is a Vanilla Iced Coffee in the summer, or a dark strong coffee in the colder days.

The construction of the Romeo Y Julieta Viejo was fantastic.  Not veiny at all, perfect, nice square-press.  After cutting the cigar and putting it in my mouth, my first thought was, this is a very tasty delicious maduro wrapper.  Almost candy like.  It was a bit windy, so it took me a while to get the cigar lit.   Once I got it lit, the cigar burned evenly without any effort.

The draw on this cigar was quite tough for me.  Not so much that it was unpleasent, but tougher then I prefer.  After getting it lit and smoking it for a few puffs, I got a really tasty hazel nut, dark chocolate taste.  The taste stayed with the cigar all the way down to the nub.

I have smoked other Romeo Y Julieta Viejo’s, and they have consistently given me the same results.  Good sweet wrapper, tasty hazel nutty taste as I smoke it.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I give this cigar a 7.  While it’s not an “Wow This is Amazing” cigar, the relatively lower price, good even burn, good taste, and good construction make it worthy of a 7.

Maintenance
The ideal humidity in a humidor is around 65-75% of relative humidity. The more empty space, the easier the humidity will drop and or fluctuate.

Each humidor has to be seasoned after being bought or having been dry for a while.

First clean your humidor I blow it out mine with compressed air. Or this can be done by taking a clean cloth moisten it with distilled water and wiping down the interior to remove any dust. Many experts do not recommend wiping the cedar of any interior with water, but many do it as it can season the humidor faster.

A small container of 50/50 Humidifying Solution** is then placed inside the humidor with a Digital Hygrometer*** and left for around 10 days with the lid closed. Check 50/50 Humidifying Solution level once a day every day. after the 10th day your humidor should maintain the 65-75% of relative humidity. After this is done the use of distilled water with 5% Propylene Glycol is recommended for its lack of minerals, additives, or bacteria.

Sometimes, bacteria and mold can begin to build up within the humidor. Unfortunately, mold can ruin your entire collection cigars and any cigar with mold on it should be trashed immediately. If you used the 50/50 Humidifying Solution to season you humidor at first, this should not happen.

**Pre-Mixed 50/50 Solution of Propylene Glycol and Distilled Water
***Digital Hygrometer/Thermometer Display shows temperature/humidity. °C or °F range selectable.

Bill

First for the people new to the cigar world

Cigar humidors are storage units designed to hold, preserve and display a collection of cigars. They come in varying shapes and sizes. Cigar humidors are a a must for any cigar aficionado, and can be priced anywhere from $50 for a simple wood box made to hold a few cigars, up into the thousands for an elegant, handcrafted display case.

You can not just get buy with only a cigar humidor you must purchase a Humidifier and a Hygrometer to help maintain the ideal humidity in a humidor which is around 65-75% of relative humidity

Humidor cases are typically made of of Wood or wood-board with an interior veneer of Spanish-cedar wood or mahogany.

Spanish-cedar is the most frequently used wood for the interior veneer of humidors. It has the following desirable characteristics for cigar storage:

• Spanish-cedar Humidors holds more moisture than most woods, so it helps maintain humidity.
• Spanish-cedar Humidors imparts its aroma to cigars if they are stored in it for long enough. For the same reason, some cigars are wrapped in Spanish-cedar sheets before they are sold.
• Some say Spanish-cedar wood can repel tobacco beetles. 
• Spanish-cedar Humidors properties are not prone to “warping” or “cupping” in high humidity.

This is one of my humidors

Bill's, Life Tik Humidor

Bill's, Life Tik Humidor

Cigars are commonly categorized by the size and shape of the cigar.

The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches).

Parejo
The most common shape is the parejo, which has a cylindrical body, straight sides, one end open, and a round tobacco-leaf “cap” on the other end which must be sliced off, have a V-shaped notch made in it with a special cutter, or punched through before smoking.

Parejos are designated by the following terms:

Coronas

Rothschilds (4 ½” x 50)
Robusto (4 ⅞” x 50)
Hermosos No. 4 (5″ x 48)
Mareva/Petit Corona (5 ⅛” x 42)
Corona (5 ½” x 42)
Corona Gorda (5 ⅝” x 46)
Toro (6″ x 50)
Corona Grande (6 ⅛” x 42)
Cervantes/Lonsdale (6 ½” x 42),
Dalia (6 ¾” x 43)
Julieta, also known as Churchill (7″ x 47),
Prominente/Double Corona (7 ⅝” x 49)
Presidente (8″ x 50)
Gran Corona (9 ¼” x 47)

Panatelas – longer and generally thinner than Coronas

Small Panatela (5″ x 33)
Carlota (5 ⅝” x 35)
Short Panatela (5″ x 38)
Slim Panatela (6″ x 34.9)
Panatela (6″ x 38)
Deliciados/Laguito No. 1 (7 ¼” x 38)

Actual dimensions can vary considerably.

size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches)

      Maduro literally translates as “ripe” in Spanish and is not a specific type of tobacco plaint,

      The Maduro process is employed on any variety of tobacco leafs to extract extra sugars from the leaf through an extended fermentation of tobacco leaf. This process is lengthy, producing high levels of heat and turns the tobacco a beautiful, dark color with an oily texture. When done properly, a good Maduro cigar wrapper will possess sweet qualities and the flavors are detected both on the lips and in the cigar smoke. Not all tobacco leaf wrappers are suited for Maduro cigars. A hefty variety of tobacco leaf is needed to withstand the extra steps in fermentation that are very hard on the tobacco leaf. For this reason, mostly broadleaves or Habano seeds are most often used for Maduro cigar wrappers.

     The bad rap that Maduro cigars have as producing more strength began during the “cigar boom” of the 1990′s. During this “boom”, demand was so high that it outweighed supply. Cigar makers had to cut corners to bring Maduro cigars to market as quickly as possible. Since most cigar makers at the time did not have the patience to wait the time that was  necessary to process maduro wrapper naturally, many cigar makers had to “Fake it” by coloring or painting their Maduro cigar tobacco wraper so it would appear as a fully fermented Maduro cigar. Since they were not fully fermented, it was often described as super strong, edgy and bitter in flavor.

     Maduro cigar is currently the best it has ever been. The higher standards have bee set, and a fully fermented and aged tobacco is here, which is why many people are moving back to the sweet and flavorful qualities of a well-aged wrapper, and oftentimes well-aged interior maduro wrapped cigars.