CAO Criollo

Appearance: 
Smooth seamless wrapper. Slight Blemish near the foot of the Cigar.

Pre-light draw:
Dry grass and slightly earthy

Opening:
Not much to detect. The slightest hint of caramel

First 3rd: 
Very muted flavours. Slight hint of spice akin to ginger but I couldn't be sure.

Second 3rd: 
Very very muted. Hard to get any flavour out of the cigar. If anything, there was a slight straw taste which would explain the dry grass on the pre-draw. The Cigar went out completely at the end of the second third.

Final 3rd: 
After a re-cut and re-light the Cigar gave off a few nice flavours. There was a mild pepper that was balanced by a nice fruitiness.

Finish:
The finish teases me. There was a return of the caramel, now creamy and strong. It was lovely. Almost immediately the cigar turned. A harsh, bitter, metallic puff of smoke ended this Cigar for me and put me out of my misery.

Draw: 
Very tight. Never opened at all. Had to re-light after second 3rd

Burn: 
All over the place. It needed plenty of touch ups, most likely due to the draw.

Time to smoke: 
1hr 35mins total. Around 45mins of that was treating the cigar, touch ups, re-cuts etc...

Value for Money: 
I didn't pay for this Cigar. If I had I would have been a lot more disappointed than I already was.

Overall:
I was looking so forward to this Cigar. I swear by 100% puros. This one was from Nicaragua, which has a decent stronghold in the cigar market. I left it in my humidor for a while to make sure t was well settled. I shouldn't have bothered.
I would never write a cigar off after smoking just one, but on first impression, I'm not impressed.