JC Newman

May 21, 2011

CAO LX2 Bam

The weekend began with a trip to the Tobacco Merchant's 13th anniversary event where they had a CAO event going on. I met up with Will Woodcock, rep for General Cigar and CAO.

Since there was a CAO event I decided to purchase a cigar that Will brought to the South Carolina Sit Down; the CAO LX2 Bam. The one I had was very good and I wanted to see if I had the same thoughts about the second one. I purchased 2 at the event. The Bam is a short cigar, only 4" long with a ring gauge of 45. It is square pressed. Below is my review of the CAO LX2 Bam.

CAO LX2 Bam (4x45)

Video review here.


This cigar looks great. It appears to be very well made. It is square pressed.

 
The test draw was just a tad firm but almost effortless.
 Lx2 means ligero times two. Ligero represents the highest priming on a tobacco plant. Since this portion of the plant receives the most sunlight, it produces a dark and thick leaf that’s loaded with flavor, strength, and spice. CAO Lx2 utilizes a bold mixture of 100% ligeros, including a dark and oily Nicaraguan wrapper cloaking a robust recipe of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers.

After 1/2 inch there were a lot of intense cinnamon and grapefruit spice notes with some almond notes on the back end. The finish was long with vanilla. Nice pepper on both ends. There is a darkness to the cigar, much like coffee. There is also a touch of sweetness.

Just past the 1/2 inch point the spice became a sweet, rich orange citrus. The finish remained the same and the pepper was still very good. It appears the ligero is giving the cigar the dark, full bodied notes instead of coffee.

At the midpoint (about half hour) the richness of the orange citrus has become the main flavor with the cinnamon taking a secondary place. There are some vanilla notes mixed in with the orange citrus. The vanilla is still very good on the finish.

About 3/4 into the cigar the main flavors are still the same with the addition of some roasted almonds on the back end of the spice.

The burn was pretty even. The cigar boils down to a nice orange citrus with cinnamon and some roasted almond notes with vanilla. The finish was long with primarily vanilla notes. The pepper was very good on both ends.

The cigar took just over 45 minutes to smoke so it's short enough to have a good cigar in a short time.

To me this is the best of the LX2's that I've had.

Score: 91

2 comments:

garth said...

CAO Lx2 Bam Natural cigars are full-bodied, concentrated cigars called for the priming of the tobacco plant that produces a dark, strong, and ambrosial leaf.

drew estate

Tim Rollins said...

Thanks Garth. The Bam was a good cigar that I really enjoyed.