At the first day of the most recent Amsterdam herf, the owner of the B&M that hosted the herf, Hartman Cigars, handed me two C.A.O. La Traviata divinos that she got from a representative to try. The La Traviata isn't for sale in The Netherlands yet, but will be soon.

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This 5 x 50 robusto comes wrapped in cellophane and looks quite nice, the band is tasteful with warm colors. The Ecuadorian habano wrapper is smooth, oily and shiny with a lot of small veins. The other tobaccos used to create this cigar are a Cameroon binder and a filler from Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco.

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The construction feels good and the cigar has a pretty strong aroma. The aroma reminds me of a barnyard. I punched the cigar and got a predraw that was to my liking, not too loose, not too hard. I could taste raisin which was a little spicy.

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I can taste a spicy but muddy coffee flavor and after about a quarter of an inch I can also taste some wood while the muddy flavor fades away. The cigar gets better by the puff. The coffee fades away too, wood becomes the dominant flavor and the texture of the smoke in my mouth is a bit creamy.

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The flavors don't really progress a lot, but I like what I taste. Once I passed the middle point of the cigar a mild nut flavor joins the wood for a while but it disappears near the end. At the end I can taste some pepper through the wood.

The cigar produces a lot of thick white smoke and very light colored ash, almost white. The draw and burn on this stick are great. I got a full flavor but strength wise I would rate it medium bodied. It lasted 75 minutes before I burned my fingers on the nub.

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Would I buy this cigar again? Yes. I never had a C.A.O. I liked before and even though I heard good stuff about the La Traviata I was skeptic, but the cigar surprised me pleasantly.

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10
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thanks for the review. Had one a few weeks ago and my impressions were consistent withy your tasting notes. Very enjoyable cigar. very earthy tones. Not a very complex cigar however, very enjoyable.
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smoked one of these last weekend. I found it very enjoyable, especially at it's price point. Construction and burn were great on the sample I had.
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I havent tried this one yet, buy I look forward to doing so. I love all the CAO lines I have tried
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I bought a box of the Intrepidos in Feb. Very good smoke! The best CAO out there IMHO.
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One of the few CAOs that I enjoy. Nice review Ferdie. :-)
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Just got two singles of these and I can't wait to try it!
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