CAO CX2

CAO recently ran a special promotion on their website that required surfers to answer trivia question about Cameroon wrapper cigars. The prize for correctly answering the quiz was a CX2 cigar and a hat. I must have gotten the correct answers because a package arrived from CAO with two cigars a few weeks later. [They ran out of hats and substituted a CAO Crillio, a cigar JMitch has given high marks to after both Crillios he has smoked].

So after letting the CX2 sit in my humi for over 6 weeks I decided to fire it up during our first outdoor poker game of the summer. CAO sent a bigger Toro, 6" inch length with a 54 ring gauge. The Cameroon wrapper was a beautiful brown, but I noticed several cracks which caused it to unravel slightly during a couple points of the smoke, and the burn was slightly uneven and required some work keeping this thick stogie smokin'.

The flavor was woody or toasty, no spice, which was disappointing. It did produce full billows of smoke but was slightly tough to draw on. The wrapper also had little flavor so overall the experience was pretty bland and boring, a disappointing experience to a smoke I was really looking forward to smoking. Now this wasn't a bad cigar, just nothing spectacular about it. Considering the retail price on these is $8 + and they go for more than $5 each in five packs on Cbid, I don't think I'll be buying anymore of these, I'd rather smoke a Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend.


On my scale I have to give the CX2 a 2.5 out of 5. A middle of the road cigar, that is overpriced.

See how others rated the CX2 Toro on Top25cigar.com.

Triple Threat

Well friends the cigar crew at Luca's Humidor just picked up a maduro sampler full of all kinds of tasty treats. Seven black beauties to explore, none of which I've had the pleasure of smoking. Within three days we had to break one out, and chose the K.Hansotia Triple Ligero X3.

As indicated in the posts below and the general reputation held by other cigar freaks, Kaizaid Hansotia may be my favorite cigar maker to date. The man rolls a good looking, expertly rolled, and generally tasty smoke.

The X3 mixes Ligero long-fillers and dark, toothy Brazilian maduro wrapper. Pulling the cedar wrapper from the cigar you immediately notice how well rolled the cigar is, something I have noticed in all Gurkas I have smoked. The next thing you notice is the unique taste of the wrapper. At first I couldn’t place it, finding it odd, but not unpleasant. It wasn’t until later that I surmised that it had an almond-ish (yeah I just made that word up) tinge to it.

I was looking forward to the potency of the cigar as most describe it as being full or at least a strong medium. Unfortunately, the first ½ inch was disappointing, no punch, and no real flavor. I was upset, thinking I should have let the cigar sit for a while in my humidor before smoking. Then to my surprise the X3 transformed. Over the next ½ inch it became peppery and spicy, good flavor that was a sharp contrast to the mellow taste of the wrapper.

Then the power hit, a couple of pulls and I got that pleasant buzz I’ve only found in several smokes. Your head feels light, your throat clenches up, and your stomach drops a little like on a roller coaster's descent. The X3 didn’t disappoint after that pull on.

The 6 inch toro has a 52 ring gauge, and provided well over 2 hours of smoking pleasure. I’ll be looking to add more Triple Ligero X3 to my humi, and will push this to the top of my favorites list, as it just catapulted the Gurkha Class Regent.

The X3 gets a 5 out of 5.

See how other's ranked it at top25cigar.com.