CAO America Potomac

In 1968 Cano A. Ozgener started making pipes out of his garage as a hobby. Over time, he started shipping them all over the country with the help of his wife, son, and daughter. A retailer in North Carolina was interested in the pipes since it was a new design and he like the way that it smoked. Once the retailer started featuring them in his store, people began calling Mr. Ozgener’s house and asking him for more, so he started putting his initials (C.A.O.) on the pipes for people to remember where they came from. During trade shows where Mr. Ozgener was featuring his pipes, he noticed the need for humidors and started making and selling them as well, and soon the humidor business starting outselling his pipe business. During the cigar boom in the early 1990’s he was introduced to Carlos Toraño who in turn introduced him to Nestor Plasencia and they created the first C.A.O. blend called "C.A.O. Black". After taking several risks creating unique packaging and using unusual blends, C.A.O. established itself into the highly respected brand we know today. With the C.A.O. America Potomac, you’ll first notice that the look of this cigar is nothing less than a work of art with its spectacular barber pole finish using two amazing wrappers: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro and a Connecticut shade leaf. What’s inside will also amaze you with the 100% ligero mixture of Nicaraguan, Dominican, Italian, and American tobaccos all tightly held together with a Brazilian binder. The smoke is equally as stunning with flavors of cream, wood, and pepper to start, and halfway through expect to find hints of vanilla and cocoa, with all the flavors combining at the end for a sweet-peppery finish. Some of our panelists also found hints of caramel and toffee throughout. We enjoyed this medium to full bodied cigar on a warm summer’s night with a nice American IPA. The CAO American Potomac is a one of kind cigar that will have you singing the Star Spangled Banner all the way through!

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.