CAO Brazilia Gol! Revisited

[Herf N Turf]

Hey Ya Bums!

Since I had no sense of forethought, there are sadly no piccies as accompaniments, so sorry. BUT! I had such a wonderful experience with this thing, I just had to share it with my fellow Bums. I guess it's got to be a dozen years since I first dipped my cigar smoking toe in the deep green and blue (see Brazilian flag) waters of the CAO Brazilia line. After several exemplars, I settled on the Gol! as my favorite. It quickly made it into my "Go-To" rotation, where it remained for a very long time. Over the years, I guess I've smoked and delighted over countless boxes of these little jewels, so it's a flavor profile I knew well... or at least so I thought.

The weather in Virginia is simply extraordinary at the moment. The days are slowly creeping into the wonderful 70's, with the evenings hovering in the mid-high 60's. I guess I don't have to tell anyone here that it's the perfect outside smoking weather. Last night was particularly pleasing since the breeze, or lack of it, was cooperating with the temperature. I chose the cigar as I usually do; deliberate for 20 minutes, get frustrated and just grab something. What I grabbed was an eight year old Gol! It had been napping comfortably at 65/60 in one or another humidor all this time, naked as a jaybird.

The nose and hand were just what you'd expect. A slight oily sheen to the wrapper and the sweet scent of finely fermented maduro-esque tobacco. Yup, the saliva started flowin'! I lingered a bit over the pre-light draw. I generally try to toast my foot just prior to cutting, but I made an intentional exception in this case, in order to get a long and in-depth first impression. The draw itself was just what you'd expect from a well-aged stogie, smooth, with just enough resistance to indicate great construction and ample time.

It married with the flame like long-lost pals. Nice and even in virtually no time. From the first full draw, to the final, finger-singing nub, this trip down euphoric recall lane was incredible. Big pillows of smoke emanated from the thing with just the slightest assistance from me. Each tug bathed my tongue and palate in thick, rich, oily smoke that caressed and coated the back-most parts of my mouth. Just a slight tingle of nicotine, most of which hadn't withstood the time, tickled my throat and nostrils on the retro.

The flavors, OH the FLAVORS, were of earth, bakers chocolate and nuts. The nut notes changed from walnut, to hazelnut, with the slightest hint of pecan towards the end. The addition of a raisin-esque note toward the end, even with the previous notes, was a pleasant surprise. It never got bitter and only required a couple of gentle purges near the nub. The overall maturity of the incredibly complex profile also surprised me for a cigar of this age. Like most of you, I fully expected it to have lost much of its definition and complexity, as do most non-Cubans, but pleasantly, not so the Gol! Frankly, I've not found that the Brazilia are particularly well-suited to long-term aging, but clearly I've re-thought this dogma and gained new-found respect for the line. Thankfully, I have several other examples from this era, which I'm now looking even more forward to.

Anyway, I'm not sure where else I'm going with this, other than to suggest that we all keep a more open mind about what is and isn't a good candidate for long-term aging. While much of the "power", or strength of the cigar had been lost to the years, what it lacked in punch was more than made up for by nuance.

In a word, I loved it!

Thanks for watching ;-)

[Usafvet509]

That has me curious about my handful of Amazon Basin. Wonder how it'll be 5yrs from now. Thanks for the post, Don. Absolutely love Brazilia

[Yarddog]

This ceegar has been one of my favorites, although I'm out of stock now...a wonderful blend...reckon it's time to restock.

[Jordan23]

Very nice right up, Don. This is one of my favorite cigars period. When I take my time with one it always feels like a treat. I never considered aging them though. They never make it over 36 months with me usually.

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[Herf N Turf]

Very nice right up, Don. This is one of my favorite cigars period. When I take my time with one it always feels like a treat. I never considered aging them though. They never make it over 36 months with me usually.

Yeah, that's been me a lot, too. Smoke'm up quickly, since they come nice'n ripe already.

I must say, this certainly isn't my first foray into an aged Braz'. I've had and smoked the things in just about every conceivable condition and vintage at this point. This one just did that "thing" for me on this occasion. :smoke:

[AndyCAYP]

Now this is a review that'll get my motor running! Thanks, Don!

There are times when we obsess over aging our Cubans but give less thought to doing the same for cigars coming from other countries. In doing so I think some of us miss opportunities to have moments like this, where the entire blissful experience is only amplified due to the gentle hand of time.

[Chad Vegas]

Well written, love CAO Brazilias!

[allusred]

Very nice right up, Don. This is one of my favorite cigars period. When I take my time with one it always feels like a treat. I never considered aging them though. They never make it over 36 months with me usually.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

Thanks for getting me smiling tonight.
Tho I do really appreciate getting cigars with some age on them, think that five years would be the most age of any I've ever smoked. And only a very few months of that would ever have been after I'd gotten my paws on the cigars.
Resting cigars means a couple of weeks to at the most a few months for me.
Right now I've one cigar with several years on it...and only a few days left before it's put to the flame.
Tho I can't identify, or rather can't name all the flavour changes when smoking, I'm aware of them,
and appreciate those I do get.
Cigasr that really changed a great deal after several years of aging were the Vegas Cubanas.
And really why should aging improve Cubans and only Cubans?

[Herf N Turf]

Thanks for getting me smiling tonight.
Tho I do really appreciate getting cigars with some age on them, think that five years would be the most age of any I've ever smoked. And only a very few months of that would ever have been after I'd gotten my paws on the cigars.
Resting cigars means a couple of weeks to at the most a few months for me.
Right now I've one cigar with several years on it...and only a few days left before it's put to the flame.
Tho I can't identify, or rather can't name all the flavour changes when smoking, I'm aware of them,
and appreciate those I do get.
Cigasr that really changed a great deal after several years of aging were the Vegas Cubanas.
And really why should aging improve Cubans and only Cubans?

Thanks for the great post, Bob. You touch on an extremely common dilemma, so I'll take this (or any) opportunity to talk about it.

For years, every time I'd go off about age v rest and especially ammonia release, new-ish members would bewilderedly ask, "then what am I supposed to smoke while I'm waiting for all this magical time to expire?!?"

The answer is, Fresh. In my humble opinion, virtually all non-Cuban cigars are at their absolute best the instant they walk off the rolling table. After that moment, you have between two weeks, to two months before the nastiness sets in. The obvious reason is, we're dealing with tobaccos which are already so ridiculously aged that the only further maturation they're going to do is minimal, at best. But, that freshly rolled cigar, with those amazing, right-off-the-barn-ceiling tasting flavor bombs are something really special. So, go into your B&M and buy two sticks. Smoke one immediately and rest/age the other. Best of all possible worlds really.

As far as, "why Cubans and only Cubans...?" Well, for that we have to go back a few years, prior to HSA aging stock prior to release. "Back in the day", Cubans were rolled with extremely immature tobaccos, to the point, in many cases, still being green. During the time it took to compile a load and ship (on an actual ship), the cigars would quickly mature during the warm voyage; even warmer in the depths of a cargo hold. In the late 1800's, it was Alfred Dunhill who began aging them in a more organized and precise manner, but that's another story. The simple reason we've always aged Cubans is just that; they were immature by design.

In the case of non-Cubans, virtually all rolling houses and blenders utilize tobaccos that are already extensively aged. It's common to see numbers on cigars ranging from 5 to 25, referring to years the wrappers have been aged. Once this is done, there is still a period of tertiary fermentation, which occurs due to the moisture added during the rolling process. This moisture interacts with the remaining sugars in the tobacco to cause this process, which takes anywhere from a couple months to a couple years to completion. This is where the nasty ammoniac notes from, particularly in maduros. Smoked fresh, you get none of this, since this fermentation has not yet begun. In the case of Cubans, very, very little of the overall fermentation process has occurred, so it's down to us to allow for this process' time.

In most cases, Cubans wouldn't even begin to get good until the 5 year mark, then continue to improve for another couple of years. Beyond the 7 year mark, the effects are far less dramatic, but render tremendous nuance. At 25 years, you have an extremely delicate flavor profile and a very mild cigar, with relatively little nicotine, which has been long-since lost through the extensive cellular breakdown.

Now, to current times. Several years ago, HSA declared their intention to age already rolled cigars for 2 years before shipping them off. This, coupled with utilizing more tobaccos already aged prior to rolling, is finally rendering cigars that are ready to go virtually out of the box. While they still benefit tremendously from more age, it's not as absolutely essential as it once was.

Hope this helps