• Inspired by hot rods and pin-up girls, CAO Flathead is a box pressed collection that hits on all cylinders. Hand-shaped to deliver a striking flat top, the cigar features a brawny Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and a blend that’s heavy on Nicaraguan leaf. Cigar Aficionado's #3 Cigar of the Year of 2015.
• 6 x60
• Box pressed Gordo
• Nicaraguan

CAO makes some cigar lines with interesting names, to be sure. For example, they have that whole series of cigars that are named after different places, and made in part or in total with tobaccos from that land and that land only. But with the Flathead series, they went somewhere different. Somewhere classic, somewhere ‘grease-y’.

The Flathead line are a throwback to the fifties, to cars that were gorgeous and pin up girls who were just as much so. It makes sense, too; the aesthetic is coming back these days, with pin up girls aplenty and the revival of so many lines of old muscle cars, so why not make a cigar that has that same feel to it?

The Flathead cigars are all covered with a red and silver band that has an image straight out of the fifties on it. The V660 Carb is the Gordo size of the line, and that’s a decent place to start for a long and chewy smoke. The whole line has a full body to it, and they are nothing if not flavorful and unashamed of it, much like a classic car or woman. The cigar begins with a Connecticut broadleaf Maduro wrapper, along with Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobacco and a Connecticut habano seed binder, leaving you with a delicious and oily cigar that has deep flavors of earth, leather, and spice. A great cigar that you will find a treat, whether you’re at a lounge or working on your fifties hot rod.