V. CAO Vision Catalyst Review
• Shape: Robusto
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Wrapper Color: Natural
• Wrapper Origin: Dominican
• Wrapper Leaf Type: Corojo

I got a couple of these as part of a sampler last month and low and behold another couple popped up in my coolidor from somewhere so I figured it was time to give one a shot. The foot smelled faintly woody and a little like baking bread. After toasting it seemed to smell more like coffee. Prior to lighting I would say it was a pleasant, but underwhelming in the scent department. The draw through my punch was good and it turned out to burn pretty evenly down to the nub.

The first third:
The initial light was bitter but it quickly recovered and developed the coffee flavor from the toasting as well as a little cocoa. The sweetness was very similar to molasses with an inherent richness that is balanced with bitter. The retrohale after the 1st 1” burned through had a taste that reminded me of a freshly mowed lawn (which was pleasant, but surprising because it almost came out of left field flavor-wise). At this point I would call the Vision a very mild cigar, but an interesting one.

The second third:
The cigar stayed mild and consistently presented the flavors from the 1st 1/3rd. Honestly, I am accustomed to a stick’s flavor profile changing as it burns down and while in one way the lack of mutation made this cigar less dynamic, there was a novelty to the integrity of flavor through the first 2/3rds.

The nub:
Unlike every other CAO I’ve smoked there was not a huge turn in the flavor as I approached the nub. A woody flavor became more prevalent but the strength of the stick remained mild-medium. As it came to the very end I could taste a flavor that I would describe simply as well blended tobacco. I couldn’t put my finger on food or smell descriptions so I’ll just go with balanced tobacco. It was somewhat bright and still toasty. One issue I did encounter towards the finish was the way the wrapper began to shed itself in the last 1 1/2”. It didn’t really affect my ability to finish the cigar though.

Pros: Balanced, consistent flavor. Even burn.
Cons: No real surprises. I like depth in a cigar and for the flavors to mutate some over my hour+ of smoking it.
Overall 6.5/10
Even though these are supposed to be of “limited quantity” (min was 580k ) they are perfect for a new smoker to enjoy a steady flavored milder smoke.

Post Note: I wrote this review a few days ago and as I'm finally posting it I am smoking a second of these and have found the burn to be pretty uneven this time around. I'm not sure which of the two experiences is more common, but since I smoke a fair number of CAOs and rarely have this issue I tend to believe the one I'm burning right now is the exception. It has needed touching up 3 different times and started to tunnel at one point.