CAO Italia Ciao

Founder and creator of C.A.O., Cano A. Ozgener, started making some of the best-known Meerschaum pipes in the world in his garage as a hobby. While traveling to different trade shows, he noticed the need for humidors and started making those as well. During the cigar boom of the 1990s, he was introduced to Carlos Toraño who then introduced him to Nestor Plasencia. The rest is, well, history as the pair began creating unique blends that have developed into the cigar brand that we all know and love today.

Italy is one of the most romantic and beautiful countries in the world, known for its wine, food, architecture, culture, and… tobacco? Well, ok maybe not tobacco but one puff of the CAO Italia and you may start including it on your list of all things Italy. Introduced in 2004, the team at CAO traveled to the South of Italy to the Benevento region – located between Rome and Naples – where the tobacco used in this handmade was grown from Habano seeds that were brought to Italy from Cuba over 50 years prior. It was then combined with other select filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Peru that are bound with a Nicaraguan binder and completed with a lusciously dark Habano Maduro wrapper from Honduras. This intricate 4-country blend is amazingly rich, bold, and complex with flavors of earth, leather, wood, with hints of sweetness. Not only did our panel love this smoke but so did Cigar Aficionado with a solid rating of 91. Our panel recommend enjoying it with a Pinot Nior with your favorite Italian dish. Ciao!

The Nicaraguan cigar industry originated when Cuban cigar makers escaped the revolution and re-established their livelihood in Nicaragua with Cuban-seed tobacco. Blessed with dark, rich soil, their new home was ideal for tobacco cultivation and Nicaragua quickly became known for cigars that rivaled Cuban quality. Unfortunately, revolution and war came to Nicaragua in the 1980s and devastated the industry, but it’s rebounded dramatically and is once again producing tobacco considered by many to be the finest in the world.

The Esteli Valley is in many ways the heart of Nicaraguan production and is known for its very powerful and spicy tobacco. The Jalapa Valley produces arguably the finest tobacco in the country: somewhat sweeter and less intense than Esteli, but extremely complex. The tobacco of the Condega Valley is often described as a blend of the other two regions.