CAO LX2 Belicoso

The look of the cigar is smooth.  There are no outstanding veins.  The smell is very inviting with a nice mild tobacco smell with a little sweetness.  I put about a ¼ inch cut on the cigar.  The wrapper was a medium dark brown.

1^st 3^rd

Right off the bat I could tell this is a full bodied smoke.  It had a nice rich tobacco flavor at the beginning.  It was a very easy draw.  The cigar had an earthy cocoa background.  The cigar from the start told its story.  This cigar was going to be a carousel of spice and sweetness.  The second half of the first third witnessed a smoothing out of flavors between spice and sweetness.  The sweetness began to disappear and the spice kicked into play.   The sides of my cheeks were watering.  The ash was a little soft and a slight bend appeared.  The ash did not fall until the end of the 1^st third.  At the end of the first third the cocoa flavors came on strong.

2^nd 3^rd

The carousel was again in affect.  The sweet gave into spice, and then the spice gave into sweetness making the middle of my tongue water.  Before long the spice came back as the predominant flavor.  A slight uneven burn began about half way through the cigar.  In the back half of the 2^nd third it became a perfect marriage between sweet and spicy.  This was well worth the wait!  This was definitely my favorite point of the cigar. The burn began to correct itself as well.  The crazy part of this cigar is that the flavor of cumin began to hit the palate.  The spice and sweetness was rolled into a very smooth flavor.  The flavor of Hungarian paprika came to my palate.

Final third

Again, smooth sweet spice filled my palate and my sinus.  The front and forward sides of my tongue were watering.  The back side of my tongue was definitely picking up spices.   Cocoa sweetness could be found.  The sweetness definitely faded into a spice flavor as the final third rolled on.  A tobacco flavor also came back into play in the final third of the cigar.  The final 1 ¼ inch was not burning hot at all.  The cigar definitely gave flavor until the bitter end.

Overall

A carousel of spice and sweetness is definitely the best way to describe he cigar.  It was a full bodied cigar that tried to bully the flavors onto your palate.  I was not anything extraordinary, the burn was ok, and the mixture of flavors seemed simple enough.  A spice with a flare of sweetness was achieved, but the cigar was nothing too profound.  Honestly, like a carousel after a couple times around the excitement was over.  Once the carousel stopped I was not aching for another go around.  If you wan a full bodied cigar without a massive amount of complexity this fit the bill.  Keep your ride tickets and enjoy the teacups.

Jester says 13/19