Taking our cue from the DW/KC review series, mrtr33 and I are proud to present the first in a series of slightly less formal reviews.

First up for me:

CAO Brazillia 6 X 96 "Trumpet" from the Artistry of Champions collection.

Please excuse the cell-phone pictures.


This monster cigar was quite intimidating, and I spent quite some time contemplating just how I would light this beast. Very solid, heavy, and overall well built. I gathered my courage, and dove in!
Clippsd the cap with my trusty cheapo cutter, (cap is about 50rg). prelight draw is just right. I really didn't think it would be a tight draw, given the sheer size of the foot. Now comes the fun part. Making sure my Colibri torch is fully fueled, I began toasting.. and toasting.. and toasting.. eventually I got an even sprinkling of white ash forming, and put it to my mouth to finish the light. A good 4 minutes spent!

Surprisingly, there was not the volume of smoke I expected. as for flavor, if you've ever smoked a brazilia, you know where this is going. roasted dark coffee, some cocoa, but predominantly "dark" tobacco flavors.
I was really expecting to have severe burn issues with this thing, but again surprised, it burned razor- straight until the end.


Once I had smoked this monster down to about 60rg, the smoke output increased to the expected levels, by that time, you probably could have swapped it out got a "GOL", and I wouldn't have noticed.




As you can see, the ash held on strong for about half of the smoke, when it finally fell, it revealed the sharpest cone ember I have ever seen!



After a few more puffs, I had had enough of this one, the flavor started getting a bit harsh, even after a purge. I wanted to end on a semi-positive note, so after 1 hour and 40 minutes, I put this one down. I can say it was in interesting experience. Nothing new flavor-wise, but the shape was quite fun to smoke.