CAO Black Gothic Torpedo

CAO Black Gothic Torpedo

Going to spend a weekend afternoon in the garage? Maybe doing some word-working or sharpening the lawn mower blades? If so, I'd recommend you reach for the CAO Black Gothic torpedo; the perfect cigar for hanging out around the house or workshop.

Construction: Honduran, Nicaraguan and Mexican fillers with a Habano-seed Nicaraguan binder surrounded by a Connecticut-Ecuador wrapper. Not shown here is the cedar wrapper in which it's stored.

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Pre light - CAO Black Gothic

The one I'm smoking today has been in the humidor for seven weeks.

Before lighting, the flavors are startlingly spicy, almost like there's a dash of Habanero pepper mixed in there along with a wood-shop woodiness and tool-belt leathers. At 3:42 I attempt to toast this in the daylight with my torch and proceed to give it a real char-job.

Blue smoke just pours off this stick, I feel like I could use this for smoke signals. The initial flavors are strong cedar, lighter woods with a dash of Tex-Mex spices.

The draw is solid. I'd give it a 4/5 in terms of draw strength. To be honest, I always struggle with where to clip a torpedo. I end up clipping it twice more, past the point where I feel I "should" be clipping it, and I'm finally rewarded with an easier draw.

Getting some yellow cake on the retro. Very nice, like baked goods during Thanksgiving.

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Throughout most of the stick I get nice mild cedars with red pepper with baked goods and leather on the retro.

Very temperature resistant with an impressively strong ash. Beautiful striations. It clings on till at least 1 1/3 inches!

The wrapper on mine is very cracked. I think I read this has to do with it being a bit too humid and the inside swells before the wrapper? It does appear to have swelled.

I settle in to relax and enjoy the smoke. Through to the end are: cedar, lighter woods, semi-sweet creams, spices, red pepper morphing towards black pepper at the end, touches of leather on the tongue. Gets just a tad tarry towards the end.  For strength, I'd rate this maybe a 3.5 - 3.8 out of 5.

I think this cigar is perfect for golfing or puttering around the house. The tastes and the strength of the ash make this a great cigar if you're up and about.

 I give this a 3.8 out of 5. Deductions for the cracked wrapper and the lack of variety from about the halfway point through to the end. Maybe not box-worthy, but certainly 5-pack worthy.

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