CAO Flathead 554 Review

Buy the CAO Flathead at Famous Smoke Shop

• Size: 5″ x 54 (Robusto)
• MSRP: $198.96 (box of 20); $8.25 for a single
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Habano Connecticut
• Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero and Piloto
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Humidor Time Prior to Review: 11 months
• Cigars Smoked Prior to Review: 2
• Source: Purchased with Personal Funds
• Date Smoked: December 2, 2018

CAO is known for doing some funky stuff over the years with their marketing. The Flathead, is a cigar with a flat head, and is inspired by hot rods and pin-up girls. I probably would not have tried this one out frankly, but the cigar has gotten great reviews from others, and it’s a budget stick. You can find them regularly in the $5-7 range at retail.

Cigar Aficionado has given this cigar a 94 rating, which strikes me as an outrageous score when you consider sticks like the Padron 1926 series scores in the 91-93 range. With that kind of rating I couldn’t help but want to seek out a 5 pack to see what this was all about.

I’m reviewing the “554”, which is shorthand for 5″ x 54 ring gauge, or something approximating a robusto. Actually, the cigar is closer to 5.5 inches long, making for a large robusto, but I still think they have a cool idea here. They make these in big vitolas as well in the 6×60 and 7×70. Just too big for me. The robusto is more my speed.

Appearance and Pre-Light Aromas

The Flathead is an attractively made cigar, with a dark broadleaf wrapper, tight seams, and some veins. This is an almost square soft box press. The cigar feels dense for its size, and the wrapper is slightly oily and has a soft toothiness to it. Topping things off is a double flat cap.

Smelling the wrapper yields a barnyard aroma with notes of leather and ripe fruit. From the foot I get earth, cedar, and some pepper.

Rather than clip the cap with my Xicar double guillotine cutters, which is what I do most of the time, I reach for a cigar punch. This way I don’t unravel the cigar. I elect to make 2 slightly overlapping punches in the cigar.

I take a test draw and it’s a little snug. I’m able to get some raisin and dark chocolate on the pre-light draw however. Lets see how it smokes. Hopefully it’s not plugged up.

Start time is 1:10 P.M.

First Third

The first puffs deliver plenty of chocolate, raisin, earth and little coffee. Rich flavors I would expect from a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. A little pepper is left on the lips, and the finish is dry and woody. I’m also getting some dark berry notes here. The body out of the gate is a solid medium. Good flavors and a good start to the cigar.

It’s a balmy day here in Southwest Florida. Warm and breezy. I started this morning with some coffee and reading. Then a little writing for one of my other websites, then an hour or so of yard work, then lunch, and then here we are.

The Flathead is firing on all cylinders. Good smoke output, and plenty of strong dark flavors. A little cream has entered the fold, giving each puff a nice creamy start before bringing on the dark chocolate and coffee, the raisin and sweet tobacco, and then the earthy undertones. The retrohale has gotten spicy, with black pepper through the nose, and a little red pepper heat lingering on the back of my throat.

After 10 minutes we have burned half an inch or so. The burn line is pretty sharp. My pre-light concerns regarding the draw turned out to be mostly unfounded. The draw may be a little snug, but sometimes you need to light these cigars up and see what happens. Plenty of smoke pours out with each puff.

This is the first CAO blend I have reviewed. CAO is owned by General Cigars, a large tobacco conglomerate, and for whatever reason their offerings haven’t spoken to me. I have smoked some of their Brazilia cigars, and have a couple resting in my humidor for a future review, but they have a lot of gimmicky stuff. Like their Italia line. Who really wants to smoke a cigar with Italian tobacco? I’m Italian and it doesn’t appeal to me. What have they done, snuck some oregano and basil in there? Maybe a little mozzarella cheese? Do you get a pepperoni with each box purchase? I don’t know, about you, but it doesn’t scream “I need to smoke this.” And I feel that way about a lot of their stuff.

Anyhow, this Flathead is good, despite it’s marketing shtick. It has been pretty steady Eddie so far, with not much in the way of transitions in the first 15 minutes or so, but it’s got some good bold flavors and they give you plenty of them. Some wood has crept into the mix, but beyond that no new flavors to report. The finish of this cigar is dry, and I find myself reaching for my glass of ice water frequently.

I’ve been smoking a lot of Connecticut broadleaf blends this weekend. Friday it was a Mi Querida, yesterday a gigantic Liga Privada T52, and today the Flathead. By far the T52 is the most complex of the 3 sticks. The Mi Querida has a zesty element to it, unique and enjoyable in it’s own way, but ultimately no match for the roller coaster ride of the T52. This Flathead is significantly different from both cigars. It doesn’t have an immediately distinct flavor profile like the other two. But it’s still good.

The aroma of this cigar is sweet and fruity. Really tasty aroma. And so far it’s burning damn near perfectly, although quite slowly. At the 25 minute mark we have just gone through an inch.

The pepper on the retrohale has dialed back enough for me to get another flavor from it: cedar. Warm and aromatic. On the draw the cream has backed off, and has been replaced with dry wood, earth, and cocoa. The sweetness has backed out, which is disappointing. Hopefully it makes a comeback.

A few puffs later some dried fruit ushers into the flavor profile. That’s more like it. Big dried fruit fan over here.

I’m noticing some tunneling, and the burn line has grown wavy. Still smoking OK, but will likely need a tune up soon.

Cocoa has dialed up a notch, and I’m getting some transitions, although it seems to mostly be the various core flavors vying for dominance rather than strong sharp transitions.

I end up giving the cigar a significant burn correction. The ash is still hanging tough as we head into the second third.

The Second Third

Smoke time is 40 minutes. At this rate I’ll be dead by the time we finish this one. A 2 hour robusto is a little unusual, and the Flathead I smoked earlier this week burned a little faster. I left my stopwatch inside, but say I’m taking a puff every 30 seconds or so. Anyhow it is what it is.

The ash drops into my ash tray on its own. That seems to open things up, and I’m getting cocoa, light coffee, wood, and some raisin at the moment. Pepper has dropped down on the retrohale, and I’m now getting coffee and plain tobacco with a little lingering pepper spice. I sneeze and stamp like a quarter horse. Strength is creeping in and I feel light headed. Body is medium full.

Some black pepper is finding its way into the draw now. Just a little on the tongue. The raisin flavor from earlier is developing into a fuller flavor more like a prune. Cedar is working its way in as well. Things are happening and the cigar continues to be enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the burn line is doing some funky shit. Tunneling and waviness. I pulled this stick out of my tupperdore, which is more of a long term storage solution. I like to store my cigars at 65, and lately that tupperdore has been sitting closer to 68. I should have let it rest for a few days in my cedar humidor which breathes a little easier.

Some nice leather notes develop after my burn correction. That’s a nice addition. Perhaps the ligero in this blend is starting to burn. A little cream comes back in as well complimenting the leather and prune. Very nice.

When I started this cigar it was cloudy, but there was plenty of blue sky peaking through. Now it’s gone completely overcast, but somehow its still sunny. Welcome to Florida.

I’m currently reading a biography of Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan: A Life to be exact. Great book. I was never a big basketball fan, but Michael Jordan is an interesting guy. Actually, it was a clip from an interview of him that Cigar Aficionado did that got me interested in him. It’s a large book but highly enjoyable so far. Recommended reading and a good companion to a cigar.

Once again the sweet notes have fallen, as if someone opened a trap door beneath them. Still some cream with plenty of earth, unsweetened cocoa, coffee, and a touch of leather.

We are at the band, a big, glossy, black and silver affair. It pulls away cleanly with some effort. Overhead the wind rustles the trees sending down a steady stream of ficus leaves onto my lap and keyboard.

The smoke has taken on an oily texture. Its not a dry finish as it was earlier. The finish is long and is a combination of plain tobacco and leather. The gray ash is streaked with brown and black and is flaky. It’s hanging on but looks like it will fall at any moment. I tap it into my ash tray as a precautionary measure.

The smoke is laced with leather and thick oily wood. Gotta love these cigar reviews. It’s one of the few places you can say “thick oily wood” and have people nod along in agreement.

The Final Third

Smoke time is 1 hour 20 minutes. So we are still on pace for a 2 hour cigar. Plenty of smoke time for your money with this stick.

Notes of dark dried fruit return to the fold along with black coffee. This supports the unsweetened cocoa and earth. Leather lingers, but it has been dialed back substantially.

Nicotine is present and accounted for in this stick. My brain swims along, doing the doggy paddle at the moment. Lets hope I can hold things together long enough to finish this review. I eye the cigar suspiciously as it smoulders along.

Leather and raisin make a resurgence. This cigar makes many variations on its theme of dark flavors. Not what I would refer to as a complex smoke, but it manages to keep things bold and interesting. Body maintains at a medium full. Probably closer to medium than full. Lots of resting smoke, making me sneeze when I venture too close to it. It does a good job cleaning the sinuses. This cigar is doing a great job of kicking my ass.

Oily leather, coffee, earth, and wood are the flavors of the moment. The flavors shift continually with every few puffs.

It has been a few minutes since my last update, and not much has changed. Sweetness has left the building. Despite it being cool and breezy a light sweat as has formed my my scalp. The nicotine is running roughshod on me, and the slightly snug draw is making this cigar something of a workout to finish.

Leather returns in force and a small chunk of flaky ash lands on my lap. A little over an inch remains. Leather, wood, cocoa, coffee and earth dominate the scene. I’d put the cigar closer to full bodied at this point.

I tap out at the hour and 50 minute mark. You can easily keep going for another 10-20 minutes, but I’m done. Time to lay down.

CAO Flathead – Final Thoughts

I can see why this cigar scores high marks. It’s a nice powerful cigar throwing heavy punches at the smoker. As I mentioned in the review, I wouldn’t call this a complex cigar. But this is a bold stick, with some big simple flavors, and enough strength to take down a horse. It has some nice transitions but is continually supported by a robust medium full flavor profile featuring lots of earth, cocoa, coffee, dried fruit and leather.

I had some burn issues with this cigar, and I had burn issues with the 554 I smoked earlier in the week in anticipation of this review. I would be curious to try this one in the 642 lancero vitola. The higher concentration of broadleaf wrapper to filler would be interesting, and maybe not quite as strong.

Not a smoke for a newbie, thanks to the robust amount of nicotine in this blend, but it lacks that X factor found in more expensive broadleaf sticks like the T52, and it isn’t quite a “flavor bomb” that steamrolls you with flavors like the A.J. Fernandez New World. Still, I think budget conscious fans of strong darker blends will find a lot to like here. It doesn’t score a 94 in my book, which would put it close to being a 4.5/5 cigar on my rating scale, but it’s a good cigar. Especially for the money.

Final Score: 3.75/5 or a “1” on my 0-2 scale. I’d buy it again at the right price, assuming I wanted a strong flavorful stick.

Final Smoke Time: 1 hour 50 minutes plus

I recommend purchasing the CAO Flathead at Famous Smoke Shop. Please consider that purchasing things through any of the links on this website, including Amazon.com, helps support the website and keeps it going. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.