Stogie Reviews: CAO Gold Vintage Crémant

14 Jan 2010

For years, the Gold blend has been the mild mainstay of CAO’s lineup of otherwise stronger cigars. Tim Ozgener, president of the Nashville-based company, told me in a 2008 interview that he reaches for a CAO Gold Lonsdale in the morning when he wants “a nice, smooth, buttery cigar to accompany my morning coffee.”

But this summer he and his team decided to change things up. At the IPCPR Trade Show, CAO unveiled the new Gold Vintage line—a re-blend that was sparked by a “banner harvest” for what would become the inaugural wrapper.

Each Gold Vintage includes a delicate exterior leaf grown in Ecuador in 2004. This was a year that, according to CAO’s website, “offered the perfect combination of climate, rainfall, and soil” in the South American country. The binder is Nicaraguan and the habano-seed filler is a combination of tobaccos from Jamastran and Estelí. This new blend, manufactured at the CAO Fabrica de Tabacos in Estelí, is offered in two formats: a stubby figurado called “Bouchon” (4.9 x 60) and the Crémant (6 x 52).

I sampled two Crémants for this review. This size features a smooth and seamless golden wrapper, a spongy feel, and soft pre-light notes of dry grass and honey. It’s one of those cigars that gives the impression it’s going to burn well.

And it does. From light to nub, the Crémant is a set-it-and-forget-it stick with excellent construction. The burn is straight with a clean and shiny mascara, the draw is easy, and the ash layers well for a firm hold. No problems there.

I wish, however, the flavor were a bit more exciting, especially for a cigar that sells for roughly $8 apiece or $75 for a box of 10. The profile is light and airy with traces of almond, cream, and oak. Tasty, but lacking in complexity or development. That’s why the Crémant has trouble holding my attention only halfway into the 90-minute smoke.

This criticism, mind you, comes from a cigar enthusiast who regularly fires up mild cigars. While some smokers often confuse quality with strength, mild cigars have always had a special place in my rotation. These include Ybor City Handmades, Davidoff, Don Kiki’s White Label, and Paul Garmirian, among others.

Besides being mild, all of these cigars have one thing in common: that special something that keeps me immersed and coming back for more. It’s my own fault that I can’t really put this feeling into words. What I can say, though, is that the CAO Gold Vintage Crémant, while well-built and smooth, isn’t in the same class. It earns three stogies out of five.