CAO Last Stick Standing "O"

Video review HERE.



This is the final segment of the 3 part review on the new CAO Last Stick Standing. I have previously reviewed the "C" and the "A" cigars. Both of them had their good points but fell far short of what I would like to see in CAO's next big cigar. Hopefully the "O" will be "the one".

All 3 cigars are different blends by Rick Rodriguez. As you can see, they all look very different. To this point, they have all tasted very different too.

The "O" version is a dark brown cigar that is dense and feels weighty in the hand. I am hopeful that the cigar will draw well since it is so densely packed.

After cutting the cap the test draw was effortless. The initial flavors at light up were a lot of sweet notes. There were grapefruit, cedar and coffee notes and nice pepper. The sweetness is sort of like brown sugar and it's in abundance. It seems the grapefruit notes may turn to all cedar soon.

About 1/2 inch in the cigar settled down into light grapefruit notes and they quickly turn to sweet cedar. The sweetness is like syrup. The pepper is very good and right up front. The finish is a sweet vanilla and the pepper lingers. All 3 of these cigars had a vanilla finish. The cigar already feels full bodied at this early stage.

About an inch in there is richness developing in the grapefruit and cedar. The thick sweetness continues. There are a lot of coffee notes and also some wood notes. There are no leather notes yet which were a staple with the first two cigars reviewed.

At 1 1/2 inches in the richness continues but there is a new flavor now; spearmint. It is on the back end of the spice. This is a little unusual but quite nice. The finish continues to be vanilla.


At the midpoint the grapefruit citrus has gone altogether. The cedar is still rich and the mint remains on the back end of the spice. The mint also transfers over to the finish combining with the vanilla. The pepper still lingers on the finish.

At the band there were no changes. The rich cedar and mint are quite enjoyable.

Just past the band the cedar is still rich. The mint is on the back end. The coffee is still nice and there are light wood notes. The finish is a combination of mint and vanilla with lingering pepper.

At the end of the cigar the richness continued with rich cedar notes and sweet mint and pepper. The mint actually took over the finish. This is a complex cigar and very good. I enjoyed this cigar much more than the others. This is the cigar I vote that they go to market with. Very good cigar.

Score: 91




I would like to thank CAO and General Cigar for providing these cigars for me to review. I would be interested to hear your comments on the 3 blends. Every one's tastes are different so which of the 3 were your favorite?