Review of CAO Flathead V642 Cigars

By: Dr. Mitch Fadem (aka doctoxin)

Size: Double Corona (6.5 x 42) - Box Pressed
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Connecticut Habano
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
Cigar Rating: 2.5 Stars Out of 5

The CAO Flathead 642 was a disappointment for me, and I am a fan of many CAO blends. The wrapper was very rough and the cap not impressive at all. Just so you know I smoked 4 of these to make sure that my comments were consistent with all of them.

The pre-cut aroma reminded me of fresh cut hay, the draw had a slight resistance. I could not really pick up any flavors before lighting it but it had a faint sweetness. I used a guillotine cutter on the first 3 but because of the poor cap the wrapper started to come apart on those. Not so much that I couldn’t smoke them, but it was annoying. I decided to use a punch on the last one. The problem could have been the small ring gauge.

The First Third

The cigar was easy to light and I immediately tasted leather. I’m not a fan of leather but I kept smoking them in hopes that it would change. I tried to retro-hale a few times. The taste was like white pepper. The aroma settled out to be slightly floral and quite pleasant. The burn was very even and very slow. The only other flavors I could sense were dark chocolate and strong coffee. The cigar did not generate much smoke at all.

The Middle Third

The ash fell off right at the beginning of this middle third at about 15 minutes. There was no change to the leather, chocolate, coffee flavors other than it picked up a little bitterness. The burn seemed to slow down a great deal and the lack of smoke I was not sure it was even burning. It finally went out right at the middle of the cigar. I have now been smoking for close to 45 minutes. It was extremely difficult to relight and I ended up burning my finger in the process.

The Final Third

Still no change to the aroma or flavor so it is not a very complex stick. After a total of 65 minutes the cigar went out again. I did not re-light it. This was just not a good enough smoking experience to want to stretch this out for the final 2 inches. I stopped and put it down.

Final Thoughts

I got a five pack of these from Cigars International on one of their Daily Specials for $15. This is around half of what they normally cost, which was a seemingly great deal. Would I smoke them again? No. I did not enjoy this at all with the leather flavor, very slow burn and the fact that it went out and could barely get a good re-light. This is just an average cigar and I will not purchase them again.