CAO

The themed, big-ring, box-pressed end of General Cigar's portfolio, with better blends than the packaging suggests.

CAO started as a pipe and humidor company in Nashville and became a cigar brand in the nineties. Under General Cigar it has leaned hard into concepts — Flathead's hot rods, Amazon Basin's wild tobacco, the Flavours line — but the core cigars are well made in Nicaragua and Honduras and the Flathead and Brazilia lines in particular have loyal followings. Rick Rodriguez blended the modern portfolio.