CAO Soprano Review Thread

Hey guys -

I just got my first CAO Soprano and instantly knew when I would light it up. I bet a lot of people here have 1 or 2 in their humidor. I think it would be a pretty cool deal, if on June 10th we all light up our respective CAO Sopranos and post a review of the cigar and series finale. It would be something of an homage to a great show (and supposedly great cigar) - even if many think it has lost something along the past few seasons.

So if you have a CAO Soprano - save it to the 10th, review it and/or the finale, and post it here sometime that week. And if no one wants to join me, at least I'll post a review of both right here.

Unfortunately, I don't have more than 1 Soprano to send out for people to review, so instead I'll set up a contest for a 5 pack. :thumbs:

CONTEST
5er of smokes to the winner. Here's the contest, open to all members in good standing.
You should light up your CAO Soprano between June 8 and 11 and/or review it along with the series finale. How much you want to focus on the cigar vs the finale is up to you (1 line on one, a paragraph of the other - doesn't matter). Review may be posted any time after the finale and I will pick a winner on the 18th. The deadline for reviews is 11:59pm Sunday June 17. If you're like me, you'll probably end up watching it a good 2-3 times to digest the finale of a fantastic series.

Maybe a contest for best one-sentence summary of the cigar? limited to a certain number of words, maybe?

I've only had one of these and while it was a good smoke, I don't think they're worth the price.

Have fun with your contest.

sounds like a cool concept. Too bad my B&M stopped carrying them a long time ago, otherwise 'd try to join in also. Good luck on the contest!

I got one sitting in the humidor... I'll light it up that day. Cool idea.

I'm in (thanks to thehatguy!)

If you're in the Denver, CO area, the original cigar store http://theoriginalcigar.com/ has an awesome selection of the sopranos, a few boxes of all 4 editions, they also have the new visions which i really want to try

I'm in, I have an Associate that I've been wanting to burn anyway

Great idea!

The finale will certailny be bitter-sweet, and this will be a great record of it.

I haven't smoked one of these yet, but I'll try and track one down!

Going to pick one up and light up on that day. Nice idea.

Alright - well I decided to go with the review of the finale + cigar contest. 5er to the winner.

Last night's episode was the best episode since Richie Aprille and Ralph were on the show. My heart was pounding the entire time. I don't want to say any more right now as I'll let my mind marinate for the finale.

Boogs34 said:

Alright - well I decided to go with the review of the finale + cigar contest. 5er to the winner.

Last night's episode was the best episode since Richie Aprille and Ralph were on the show. My heart was pounding the entire time. I don't want to say any more right now as I'll let my mind marinate for the finale.

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I agree... Last nights show was pretty damn good IMO!!!
I'll have to see if I can dig one up to review!!!

Great idea bro!!! :thumbs:

davidr2340 said:

Boogs34 said:

Alright - well I decided to go with the review of the finale + cigar contest. 5er to the winner.

Last night's episode was the best episode since Richie Aprille and Ralph were on the show. My heart was pounding the entire time. I don't want to say any more right now as I'll let my mind marinate for the finale.

Click to expand...

I agree... Last nights show was pretty damn good IMO!!!
I'll have to see if I can dig one up to review!!!

Great idea bro!!! :thumbs:

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Not very good at reviews but I will dang sure smoke one on the 10th! :thumbs:

tasman said:

davidr2340 said:

Boogs34 said:

Alright - well I decided to go with the review of the finale + cigar contest. 5er to the winner.

Last night's episode was the best episode since Richie Aprille and Ralph were on the show. My heart was pounding the entire time. I don't want to say any more right now as I'll let my mind marinate for the finale.

Click to expand...

I agree... Last nights show was pretty damn good IMO!!!
I'll have to see if I can dig one up to review!!!

Great idea bro!!! :thumbs:

Click to expand...

Not very good at reviews but I will dang sure smoke one on the 10th! :thumbs:

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Have you read any of mine bro...??? ??? Mine aren't so hot either!!!

Let's light em up!



I can NOT wait!

What happened fellas... Where are the reviews???

I got a message from the other generals in the Noob Army. Something happened to the boss, and we had to meet. Stuff you... couldn't go into over the phone. Sunday afternoon, Mystic, CT. No one will expect us being there, so we should have plenty of privacy.

I jump into the car. Pack up the essentials.



Beer, brick oven bread, salami, provolone, and a couple bags of cigars. I needed to go armed in case Mysterea and CigarStone had something funny planned.

Flying up I-95, the cloud cover in the sky is thick. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I need something to take my mind off what could happen. I reach into one of the bags, and grab the CAO Sopranos Boss. In honor of the fallen Jonesy.

A big, dark 7x56 torpedo. This cigar looked like it was going to be an ass kicker.



Clipped it with my Xikar, prelight draw was perfect, with a hint of sweet cedar. A couple matches later, and we were underway. The sweet cedar taste I had prelight was the dominant flavor off the bat. Thick clouds of smoke, almost as thick as those in the sky, flood my mouth with every draw. About an inch and a half in, the wrapper split a little. Despite the split, the ash held firm, and the burn went right past the split with no problems.



The cedar flavor got heavier and heavier up until this point. By far, the most predominant taste. Still burning perfectly, despite having the window open, averaging about 70 mph. VERY impressed by that. I was actually contemplating the impossibilities of doing an ash stand while driving. As quickly as those thoughts entered my mind, someone cut me off, causing a little swerve, causing the ash to fall.

I hit the half way mark, and the cedar flavor started to subside, giving way to a slight spiciness. I'd say closer to white pepper. A little bite, not overpowering at all. The mix of these two flavors was something nice. Also at this point, I got a big split in the wrapper. Probably about an inch long, wrapping its way around the cigar and up a little. Again, despite the split, the cigar held its perfect burn, and went past it without any problems.

The deeper I got into the smoke, the more the cedar taste subsided, giving way to the white pepper. The cedar taste finally left, probably just short of the 2/3 mark.



I took this all the way down to about an inch, maybe less, left. It went out, was too small to relight while I was driving, and the exit was right in front of me. I got off, found the destination, and we went about our business planning our next move.

Eight hours later, plan in hand, I left for home. Good thing for TiVO, I was able to catch what happened in the Sopranos finale. We all saw it, so I'm not going to go overly in depth about the show. Anyone who has watched all along and says they are actually surprised with the way the show ended is lying. It had Chase written all over it.

A couple things about the show:

- Being that this is the series finale, I am annoyed about the quick turnaround in AJ. If it was coming back next season, I would be fine with it. The way they laid that out, AJ could eventually join the family. More wasted storylines.

- I am glad Phil got his. I LOVED the overkill aspect of the car rolling over him. Beautiful.

- Leading up to Phil's death I thought it was rushed. His uys flipped on him real quick. I think they would have been much better served making the finale two hours long. They could have easily done that with just what took place in the one hour. I would have really liked to see this aspect developed more.

- What does the ending mean? Who the hell knows. Out of everything I have seen trying to pick it apart, I think the most interesting possibility is that you, the viewer, was killed. "You never see it coming." Well, watching it, you really didn't.

I don't feel cheated as a fan of the show like I have heard so many people cry. A lot of those people say the show needs some sort of resolution. Well, you got it: Phil is dead and Tony is the king now. That aspect looks resolved to me. I just get the feeling these people would not be happy unless Tony died.

AJ - VERY cool idea for a joint review of this line of smokes on the night of the finale, and thanks for the contest. :thumbs:

Edit: Sorry about the quality of the last picture. But you try to smoke, drive, and take a picture going up 95. If I do say so myself, that second picture came out great.

Well - this wasn't as popular as originally expected. Part of the problem was that the cigar, although good, was not very complex - pretty much 1 or 2 flavors of sweetness dominating the entire time. I enjoyed Tom's review and agree that it was the viewers wacked.

Tom, I'll get something out on Friday :thumbs: . Just a little busy this week.

I love the soprano cigars, and find them to be very complex and flavorable...

Only reasons I didn't jump in on the reviews for this thread was...

1) I've reviewed them here at CP before.

2) I didn't (don't) have any left

Boogs34 said:

Well - this wasn't as popular as originally expected. Part of the problem was that the cigar, although good, was not very complex - pretty much 1 or 2 flavors of sweetness dominating the entire time. I enjoyed Tom's review and agree that it was the viewers wacked.

Tom, I'll get something out on Friday :thumbs: . Just a little busy this week.

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Yeah, I'm surprised there wasn't a real big response. But thanks for the package! :thumbs:

Damn good review Tom. I really like the way you infused the war into the way the Sopranos was going. BTW, thanks for smoking the "Boss" in my honor! :thumbs: