Review - CAO Last Stick Standing - C

So CAO/General Cigar Co. is doing this little marketing campaign right now called Last Stick Standing.  Basically, the short of it is that if you buy 6 cigars from a participating shop, you get the tri-pack of unreleased cigars.  CAO only asks that you smoke them, rate them on the LSS site by/before June 30, share your ratings, and in the end, you may win a trip to the CAO factory.  Gimmickly, the three cigars are banded as C, A, and O. 

I bought the 6 CAO's and received the tri-pack at G&R Premium Cigars in Wichita Falls, TX on my way through for work.  I finally had time to smoke one last night.  It seemed obvious that I ought to try the C first.  I smoked it while finishing off a Wasatch Brewing Devastator, although there were no major devastational impacts from the beer on the cigar.  Below are my quick notes from last night:


-Tight draw, even after second clipping.
-Immediate hints of that acrid flavor one gets from drawing too hard, too often.
-Smoke is thin and near flavorless on the pallet.
-Some aromas waft, though very softly.
-Faint hints of milk chocolate, leather, wood.
-A bit of a hassle to smoke so far at 1/3rd point.
-Burn went wonky and had to touch up and relight.
-Finally quit at the midpoint.  Mouth sore from pulling on a further tightening draw.


All-in-all, this cigar failed miserably for me.  There was nothing intriguing, nothing impressive, and nothing with impact going on at all.  It was a bland, boring, and irritating cigar.  It was, simply, a cigar.  Fingers crossed that the next two pique my interest a bit more.