CAO La Traviata Divino

Being bored today, I wanted to get a cigar in before the NFL Playoffs and decided it was time to see what all the buzz is about over the CAO La Traviata. CAO's newest creation is named for an old Cuban brand, tries to mimic olde-world Cuban style. Lets see how it stacks up!

CAO has picked some leathery, dark, dense tobacco for this cigar, and it feels great in your hand. The pre-light on this Robusto sized stick tastes almost exactly like the sweet raisiny flavor of Redman to me, a flavor I really enjoy. After lighting, I get a nice tug on the draw and plenty of thick smoke. The flavors consist of a creamy medley of nut, sweet, and cedar notes (the cedar being a tiny bit spicy). Burn and ash start out perfect. I am enjoying the full-bodied flavors and body, but look for some more complexity. The second third explodes with coffee and earth flavors, though the flavors from the first third still stick around. Burn is razor sharp, draw is fantastic, and ash holds for over an inch before I drop it. Finishing up, I am still getting alot of coffee flavors though with some wood and spice and some sweet molasses. I rarely compare sticks to each other, but this reminds me of a VSG in body, construction and some of the flavors- though at a Casa Magna like price. A bit more complexity and this would be perfect.

I really enjoyed all hour and fifteen minutes of the La Traviata, it is a high quality product. The flavors were robust and tasty, and the construction was top notch. I would gladly give this a 90 rating, and will definitely be smoking more of these soon.

Illusione MJ12

After having a rough week, and not smoking recently, I decided to light up the Illusione MJ12 on a whim. Must have been the fancy silver foil wrapper, because after rooting through my humi and seeing this, I knew what I wanted to smoke. Having never had an Illusione cigar before, this seems like the perfect way to dive in -a fat toro, with a chocolaty brown wrapper, in some wicked cool packaging. Illusione is a relatively small boutique brand of cigars, with an interesting name for each vitola. The 'MJ12' refers to the 'Majestic Twelve', or twelve disciples; all the names refer back to Christ, or important parts of Dion Giolito's (the creator) life.

Heading outside to the front porch, bundled up with a nice cup of fresh roasted coffee (thank you Gary!). Cut it a Xikar, and lit with matches.

Pre-Light - Initial draw is very easy, almost too much so. I can taste some sweet raisiny notes, but mostly just a mild tobacco flavor.

First Third - The first puff reveals tons of smoke, honestly, in an unventilated room this stick could easily act as a cloaking device. Nut, wood and sweet notes jump out at me, though in an odd combination, dominated by a strong raw tobacco. Some other flavor is lurking, but I can't for the life of me pick out what it is. The burn is decently straight, though the ash didn't last long the first time. No problems yet.

Second Third - Moving into the second third I notice that the ash really has no holding potential, which is fine, just interesting. Most I could get was about 3/4 of an inch. I do love the feel of the leathery smooth wrapper, and it is no doubt a well constructed stick, just not necessarily to my preferences. The flavors have muted some, and I am getting mostly tobacco and an earthy type of wood flavor. Toward the end of this third I can feel a bit of strength, just another tally for 'raw, rugged, man cigar' I suppose.Third Third - The flavors continue to be a bit one dimensional, in the same fashion of earthy tobacco. Maybe I'm just smoking too fast because its about 18 degrees here, but it seems to show some strange sulfur flavoring. The burn and draw are constant, and overall not much has changed since the first third. Even down to the band/nub, it is a good cigar, but not really in the 'great' category for me.Conclusion and Score - I did enjoy my first Illusione cigar, but would have to say I was not overly impressed. This stick was, to me, a very rugged smoke which I may call on in a moment of manliness or need for a large, consistently raw flavor. Complexity was not in the MJ12's vocabulary, though the flavors it did have were enjoyable. I would like to try another Illusione to compare, and will probably keep one or two of these around for when I get in a certain mood. I'd have to give this an 85, as it was good but not great. For the price of about $7-8, the MJ is definitely worth a try.