Quick Draw Episode 5 – CAO LX2 Robusto “Fortaleza Tres”

Seems Tony and I have been equally busy lately and have been struggling a bit to put up some content for our fine readers here. I had a pretty crazy week and it’s not gonna stop anytime soon with my wedding coming up in just a few short weeks AND starting a new job next week… But I didn’t want to leave you all without some content for the latter half of this week so I whipped up a Quick Draw! I’m trying it out with only one stick here, just to give some quick opinions on a cigar that I had.

In case you forgot what a Quick Draw is, take a read over the description from our first episode a little while back, link here.

The cigar I’m picking out tonight is a CAO LX2, and it is a damn fine looking cigar. It’s got a super duper oily wrapper that has an awesome dark chocolate and golden brown color to it. It seriously shines in the light and has only a couple tiny veins that are visible. It’s aroma is the hay and barnyard type of mixture and the foot has a bit of spice to it, but not much. When I squeeze this thing it feels like a solid metal rod, it’s super firm and even more so near the cap, hope that doesn’t translate into something bad. Surprisingly, the cap cut cleanly and easily and toasting too it’s time but lit up nice and evenly.

Right from the first draw I know I was gonna be in for a “milkshake through a straw” type of cigar. This thing is crazy tight. I cut the cap a tad more, tried rolling it tightly in my hand and even pulled out a toothpick and started poking holes, nothing seemed to help here so I’ll have to suffer through it…

Obviously the smoke volume is pretty slim due to the tight draw but the good thing is the burn line is razor sharp and the ash is looking strong and even. The ash easily lasts past an inch and taps off in one solid and clean piece. The initial flavors are mostly in the leather and almond type of area, not really any spices so far. The retrohale has more of the almond flavors and finishes with a touch of coffee. For the strength and body side of things, I’m in the lower end of medium during the first half here but I expect that to crank up a few notches soon. I got a lot of nice coffee flavors thrown into the mix as the cigar progressed. Not much else for the most part in the flavor department, it was good but nothing over the top here The body definitely ramped up quite a bit towards the end, this cigar is not for the faint hearted. Make sure you have a nice meal and a good pairing to go with it! I had mine with some Port and that went perfectly!