CAO 60 Torque review by Don José
Hey team, Don José here back with another review.
Today we have the
Torque
by CAO
If this is your first time here, my reviews rate each cigar on 10 factors and each factor gets a rating out of 10 giving me an overall out of 100. The 10 factors are: Construction, Draw, Burn, Flavour, 1/3 overall, 2/3 overall, 3/3 overall, Journey (how well it flows), Complexity & Value for money.
This seemed like the perfect cigar to review on Bathurst day!
One of the largest CAO cigars in the brand’s history, the CAO 60 Torque is a massive 8x60 vitola that uses a Honduran Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan Habano binder and fillers from Nicaragua. It comes packaged in a tin designed to look like an oil can that holds eight cigars.
CAO has been a go-to brand for me for a very long time now, their flathead line never fails me and as a brand they have always been consistent, delivering tasty sticks that smoke great and don't break the bank.
This cigar is from their CAO 60 line, if you can call it that, so far this is the only offering in the range.
According to blender and brand ambassador Rick Rodriguez, the blend is medium to full in strength. “This cigar is equivalent to revving the engine of a classic muscle car,” he says. “With 60, it was either go big or go home.”
Details:
Brand: CAO
Factory: Nicaragua, STG Estelí factory
Size: 'Torque' 8x60
Wrapper: Honduran habano
Binder: Nicaraguan habano
Filler: Nicaragua
Aside from the vintage muscle car themed band, the Torque also comes in a rather unique 'box'. It's basically a vintage oil can where you can remove the whole top to access the 8 cigars within. It's pretty damn cool actually and I note the extra awesomeness of the oil cans lid, actually being able to be unscrewed!
Ok, so now let's talk a little about the wrapper
Habano cigar wrapper is a leaf grown from a Cuban seed, hence the word “Habano” or “Havano,” referring to Cuba's capitol. Habano tobacco wrapper is darker in colour, has a much spicier flavour, a richer aroma, and has been grown in Nicaragua's Jalapa Valley and Estelí since the 1990's.
More important than the pronunciation are the reasons we like Habano cigar wrappers. Mainly we like the Habano wrapper’s flavour. It’s spicy, rich and the colour is generally dark. Chocolate is commonly tasted in Habano wrappers. And the Habano cigar wrapper is going on many of your favourite cigars.
While Nicaragua Habano is less common than Ecuador Habano, the varietal can be found on a handful of stronger cigars.
let's get into the review.
Construction
Fantastic construction as always from CAO. Their usual 'tight' roll and a nice chocolate brown wrapper with a little tooth to it.
Burn & Draw Much like Erebus and Jack Perkins today, this thing puts out a lot of smoke. Luckily for us tho, thats a good thing in this case. Draw is great, burn is also, which is impressive for a cigar this big.
Flavour & Complexity Opening very nutty and mid strength but getting stronger and spicier as you progress. Flavours of cocao, coffee and a little pepper throughout. Not overly complex but well blended, nothing jumping out as the dominant flavour overall, its a real mix weaving back and forth.
Strength 60 % - Mid-full. A little lighter than I would say is 'normal' for CAO but then they do make so many cigars that thats not really true. I think what i mean is it's lighter than their flathead line, but stronger that they cigars of the world line.
Enjoyment / Journey It's Sunday, Bathurst is on, I have a cigar that comes in an oil can, it's huge and lasts a massive 3hrs... Whats not to love? But those things aside, this is a tasty stick that gets better as it burns, the flavours are great and there is plenty of it!
Overall This is a great new offering by CAO and General Cigar co. Sitting an inch longer that the big block but at 60g rather than 70 they are fairly equal as far as size goes. This is a shorter smoke and it's also lighter than the big block, so if you have smoked them before that should help you gauge this one.
With xmas just around the corner id say this is a perfect xmas morning cigar.
I rate this cigar 89 points.
A look at the numbers.
Construction -- 10/10
Burn -- 10/10
Draw -- 9/10
Flavour -- 8/10
Complexity -- 7/10
First 1/3 -- 8/10
Second 1/3 -- 8/10
Third 1/3 -- 9/10
Journey -- 10/10
Value -- 10/10
