CAO Brazilia Carnivale (6 1/2 x 60)

 

 

 

 

Video review HERE.

 

 

Named after the world’s hottest party, CAO Brazilia Carnivale is a spicy new twist on the Brazilia blend. By using the original Brazilia wrapper as a binder, cranking the blend up with more ligero and adding a rare Habano Grueso leaf, Rick Rodriguez and the CAO blending team developed this box-pressed beauty for the true CAO fan. This small batch cigar will only be available until the limited supply is sold out, so be on the lookout for the bright yellow, 12-count boxes at your favorite smoke shop.

Wrapper: Habano Grueso
Binder: Brazilian
Filler: Dominican, Honduran, Nicaraguan

 

 

 

 

This is the prototypical example of a "chocolate bar" cigar. It is beautiful to look at. The wrapper is oily, very oily. The box press lines are sharp. CAO did a great job on the esthetics's of this cigar. Now, what does it taste like?

 

 

The cigar has fantastic density. It feels very heavy in the hand.

 

 

The test draw after cutting the cap was great. For an extremely dense cigar the draw was fantastic! The initial flavors were a very strong espresso, sweet cedar, and light cream with some nutmeg. You can taste/feel the ligero already. The espresso overshadows the other flavors quite a bit.



About 1/2 inch in the cigar is not burning evenly. I am hopeful that it will self correct and it shows signs it will. The cedar and nutmeg are secondary to the espresso notes. There are also oak notes that have appeared. The cream has transitioned to the finish. The pepper is about a 5 but it may be overshadowed by the intense espresso. The cigar is medium to full bodied.

A few minutes later the cigar did indeed self correct.

About 1 1/2 inches in the cigar has settled down into a nice even mix of espresso, cedar, and nutmeg. The espresso notes have decreased somewhat to a more workable amount. The cigar is just shy of having some richness. The pepper has intensified to a 7 and that could be explained with the reduction in espresso.







The flavors are about the same at this point, which is the one hour point. The cigar became full bodied at about this point.

At the band the espresso and cedar notes are still nice and the nutmeg notes have decreased somewhat. The oak notes have really made a jump forward. The finish is about the same. At this point I'm at 1 hour 45 minutes. The burn is still off a little but it will also self correct in a few minutes.






At the end, which is 2 hours and 15 minutes, the cedar notes have a little sweetness but not a lot. The espresso is still your primary flavor. The nutmeg has about disappeared. The oak notes are still strong. The pepper and finish remained about the same. The cigar is full bodied and hit that at about the midpoint. For those of you who are familiar with the regular production Brazilia this cigar is nothing like it at all. This cigar is heavy with espresso notes. If you like heavy espresso/coffee noted cigars you will really like this cigar. For me, I could not smoke this cigar every day but it would make a great after dinner cigar, although it would be a very long smoke. If you missed your morning coffee this cigar would satisfy that need!

Score: 90