CAO Flathead Sparkplug 450

In the spirit of tonight's Black & White Event at Legends of Fire, which Rick Rodriguez of CAO Cigars will be in attendance, I thought I'd do a full review of one of my favorite small sticks, the CAO Flathead Sparkplug 450. I actually picked this cigar up on my last visit to Legends of Fire. 

I reviewed this back when I thought "quick reviews", were the way to go. Now, I think my old quick reviews really suck so I'm going to fix a few of them. 

Looking at this CAO Flathead Sparkplug 450, it's covered in an oily, stout, Maduro wrapper. The cigar has seamless construction and there are practically no veins visible. The cigar is box-pressed and packed tight, so tight you'd think the draw would be plugged, but again the draw was free and easy. It does have the "Flathead", while the foot is closed with a nice little pig tail finish. I don't clip the foot, so there is no cold draw flavors, but once the cigar is on fire, the first puffs of full bodied smoke are chocolate and mild black pepper. Also this cigar makes smoke, lots of smoke! As the slightly wavy burn moves up the cigar there are other flavors of leather, toasted nuts, dark chocolate and charcoal, plus the wrapper leaves behind a nice aftertaste on lips. 

The burn self corrected by the second half and after seventy-five minutes the cigar finished with a great tasting  mix of charcoal, cocoa and leather. I should also mention there here hints of mild pepper full length, just enough to give it a nice spicy kick. After the cigar was done and I was making my final notes, I noticed the cigar left behind a nice aftertaste that reminded me of horehound candy. 

Overall I really like this cigar and it's packaging. If you're a Maduro fan, I bet you'll like it too! You can pick these up at Famous Smoke Shop for only $81.99 per box of 20.

Rated 94