dualing la traviata's

trendo · 02-16-2012, 10:33 PM

Hello everyone, like many of you I like to see how cigars change over time. I bought two boxes of CAO la traviata divino cigars almost exactly a year apart. I thought it would be interesting to smoke two of them at the same time, to see if I could notice any difference.

In addition to being a year apart, I belive that they represent CAO under two different owners. It is my understanding that CAO was recently bought by a large company (General?). The first box was bought in late 2010 at tex cigars, and the second was bought in january 2012 at cigarplace.biz.

There are significant differences in appearance and packaging, but I want to make it clear that I am NOT accusing any retailer of foul play, I like both texcigars and cigarplace, I am just trying to show any difference between the two vintages.

First, if anyone cares, the box. I dont know if you can see it in the picture, but the 2010 box (bottom) has a much crisper print on it. The wood used in the 2010 is also much more dense.

Next (again, if you care), is the band. The 2010 (on bottom) again has crisper lines, and much clearer embossing. It also contains more black lines surrounding the text of "la traviata".

Last, and what I assume you all care about, is the cigars. I am certain that it does not show up on my crappy iphone picture, but the 2010 has tons of oil, it is shiny and beautifull. The 2010 has similar color and veins, but is dry in comparison. I dont know if it is because of the age, or the wrapper. I dont have enough experience to know if age brings out oils, so I would love your feedback on this.

The draw on the 2012 is tight. To be fair, it has only been in my humidor for a couple of weeks, and I only tried one stick. The draw on the 2010 is much loosser. Again, this is a sample of only one stick.

Flavor. For the first half of both cigars, the flavor was very different. The 2012 was good, but the 2010 had all the same flavors, along with lots of vanilla and citrius. The older cigar also has better smoke volume, and is fuller bodied, with stronger flavors.

For the second half, the flavors were nearly identical it taste, but not fullness of flavor. The vanilla and citrius dissapeared from the 2010, leaving the two sticks hard to tell apart. The 2010 did have better smoke volume, and larger flavor.

So what did I learn? I think that bigger is not always better when it comes to cigar makers. La Traviata became popular after aficianado gave it some good reviews, and maybe it suffered a little. I dont think most people will care, because the biggest differences were cosmetic. Bands, boxes, and oily wrappers dont mean much in the end, but it is nice to see that the old CAO put some effort into it. While the flavor of the old cigar was clearly better, I imagine that most of that has to do with the extra year in the humidor, and not a change in blend.

thanks for taking the time to read the thread, and if any of you guys have identical cigars with different ages, I would love to see some of you smoke em both and note the difference.

02-16-2012, 10:33 PM	#1
trendo Still Watching My Back Join Date: Jan 2012 First Name: Troy Location: Maui Posts: 223 Trading: (16)	dualing la traviata's Hello everyone, like many of you I like to see how cigars change over time. I bought two boxes of CAO la traviata divino cigars almost exactly a year apart. I thought it would be interesting to smoke two of them at the same time, to see if I could notice any difference. In addition to being a year apart, I belive that they represent CAO under two different owners. It is my understanding that CAO was recently bought by a large company (General?). The first box was bought in late 2010 at tex cigars, and the second was bought in january 2012 at cigarplace.biz. There are significant differences in appearance and packaging, but I want to make it clear that I am NOT accusing any retailer of foul play, I like both texcigars and cigarplace, I am just trying to show any difference between the two vintages. First, if anyone cares, the box. I dont know if you can see it in the picture, but the 2010 box (bottom) has a much crisper print on it. The wood used in the 2010 is also much more dense. Next (again, if you care), is the band. The 2010 (on bottom) again has crisper lines, and much clearer embossing. It also contains more black lines surrounding the text of "la traviata". Last, and what I assume you all care about, is the cigars. I am certain that it does not show up on my crappy iphone picture, but the 2010 has tons of oil, it is shiny and beautifull. The 2010 has similar color and veins, but is dry in comparison. I dont know if it is because of the age, or the wrapper. I dont have enough experience to know if age brings out oils, so I would love your feedback on this. The draw on the 2012 is tight. To be fair, it has only been in my humidor for a couple of weeks, and I only tried one stick. The draw on the 2010 is much loosser. Again, this is a sample of only one stick. Flavor. For the first half of both cigars, the flavor was very different. The 2012 was good, but the 2010 had all the same flavors, along with lots of vanilla and citrius. The older cigar also has better smoke volume, and is fuller bodied, with stronger flavors. For the second half, the flavors were nearly identical it taste, but not fullness of flavor. The vanilla and citrius dissapeared from the 2010, leaving the two sticks hard to tell apart. The 2010 did have better smoke volume, and larger flavor. So what did I learn? I think that bigger is not always better when it comes to cigar makers. La Traviata became popular after aficianado gave it some good reviews, and maybe it suffered a little. I dont think most people will care, because the biggest differences were cosmetic. Bands, boxes, and oily wrappers dont mean much in the end, but it is nice to see that the old CAO put some effort into it. While the flavor of the old cigar was clearly better, I imagine that most of that has to do with the extra year in the humidor, and not a change in blend. thanks for taking the time to read the thread, and if any of you guys have identical cigars with different ages, I would love to see some of you smoke em both and note the difference.