CAO Sopranos Associate

Excellent draw and burn. Very well constructed. Very good strength and full bodied. Taste was somewhat spicy and leathery.

Typical CAO quality, which is great but this stick is too much money for what you get. The high side of mild to medium with real nice flavor but just not enough depth. I expect a cigar in this price range to deliver more than this did. I hate to beat up a CAO and I didn't hate this cigar by any means, just more time spent with the gimmick than the blend I feel.

I liked the woody, earthy flavor and sweet maduro wrapper. Burn was very good and aroma was near heavenly. This is NOT a strong cigar - more like a mild but definitely no where even close to medium. I'm just not convinced these are worth over $10, but they are good. Worth a try if on sale, especially if they have some nice bloom, like mine did. Many shops have these sitting around for a LONG time so you should be able to get a nice aged cigar at a discount to MSRP.

Heard a lot of good things about this cigar and the local shop had a few of them in. Great looking cigar with a dark wrapper and great looking construction. Draw and burn was great and the cigar had amazing flavor. Nice chocolate and leather flavors with hints of spice throughout. Good full bodied cigar that isn't over powering.

I agree with Darbarian, this is a nice deep cigar. The maduro wrapper was perfect, a very dark chocolate color. The strength and flavor was full, up until the end. The last 3rd of this cigar was very strong, almost to strong. The flavor went south for me, displaying nice dark chocolate before, and going just to pure strength with not me flavor. I would put the first 2/3rds up with alot of other maduros , but the last 3rd at the bottom. To much power with not enough flavor for me.

This is a CAO, so it is well made, but the gimmick of adding a hit TV show to the brand label was bound to wear off. These are a fraction of the price now that they were when released. In fact, I see people pass up the Soprano cigars for regular CAOs, even when the price is about the same.

I find these to be a nutty cigar with lots of aftertaste. Nice deep cigars that can now be tried w/o breaking the bank.

Excellent looking cigar but the thing burned so unevenly it took all the joy out of the smoke. Its taste was medium to full bodied but lacked any defining flavors. For the $11 that I paid for it I could have had a much better smoke.

I was hoping this smoke would be good considering the price tag. And it didn't disappoint me at all. It is an excellent smoke. The construction was excellent and the flavors were very good. The cigar I had had some good age on it, it was very smooth with no youth to be tasted at all.

Had on of thes last year and loved it. Now that my palate is more experienced I had to try it again. Awesome!!! Still has that excellent construction and burn. Strong leather and cocoa flavors throuhgout. Changes back and forth with some other sweet spices. This is expensive but worth every penny. If you haven't tried one yet-get on it now.

All I have to say is that if you think that C.A.O. produced this cigar as just an average stick with fancy bands as a marketing ploy for twice the price you are very wrong. Try one and find out for yourself. Cigar Aficionado rated this smoke a 90 in the upcoming issue. I have seen the price on these bad boys from $10 to $17 for the same stick (Associate, not Boss or Soldier) so shop carefully.

Pretty good. I found the flavors to be crisp and quite "green" - much like clover and alfalfa, for most of the smoke. It was slightly metallic at times and towards the end became slightly tannic. Usually these are flavors that I do not like in a smoke, but they were balanced quite well and never became annoying. In fact, the cigar was mostly enjoyable. The only major problem was the burn. This one canoed quite badly, but I was able to correct it. In short, I would try one of these again, but only if the price was around $5.50. At $12.50, it won’t happen again.

This is the cigar I will now judge all others on. Never have I enjoyed a cigar as much as this. It burned great and never even a hint of bitterness. Just hope these don't go away when the show does.

Outstanding cigar, just what I would expect from CAO. It is a bit pricy but worth every penny.

Solid cigar with excellent burn. Flavor held till the end. A bit expensive at $10 - must be paying for the name.

This was an excellant smoke w/ a cocktail in hand. Highly recommended!! Enjoyed the draw, taste and time it took to smoke (slow and even).

The wrapper on this cigar is an attractive shiny maduro, and the roll is flawless. It fired up without a hitch and burned straight all the way. The first flavor is a delicate sweetness, a smoky maple syrup. The smoke is surprisingly light and smooth, and at no point did it develop any kind of bite. There is a hint of licorice, but that’s it from the spice cabinet. The base flavor is earthy, but even this is fairly muted. Mostly this is just a very relaxing easy-going cigar. Toward the end it turns up the chocolate. After removing the band and nearly burning my fingertips I laid this one to rest. I was expecting something along the same lines as the Brazilia Gol! — something rich and spicy. Instead, the Associate turns out to be a sweetheart. Not a cheap date however.

A dark and oily wrapper covers this solid robusto. Like practically all CAOs, it smokes great with an excellent draw and burn, plenty of smoke, and nicely formed ash. It's spicy and leathery with a slightly sweet anise taste on the finish. A tasty medium-full bodied smoke with strength, balance, and smoothness. The only obvious drawback is the price as CAO appears to be getting carried away with the prices on their latest releases. No. 25 in Cigar Aficionado's top 25 cigars of 2005.

This was a very good 6 or 7 dollar cigar, but was not worth the 14.50 I paid. Good draw, good construcation, uneven burn. If they came down off the price I would give a better review.

A little bumpy on the construction and a fairly tight draw. Nice oily appearance. Aroma and taste were good. Nice ash that held together reasonably well. Burned on the hot side. I really enjoyed this cigar, but the price will keep it to an every now and again smoke.

It definitely lived up to all of it's great reviews. A little expensive (guess they gotta pay off HBO), but worth it. Great construction, easy draw and great taste. I recommend then (if you can find them).

I hesitated buying one...due to the obvious marketing hype. After seeing it make CAs Top 25, I had to give it a test run...and was not disappointed. Very well made...beautiful color...striking appearance. Very deep, chocolate and leather tones with hints of honey, vanilla and a slightly sweet finish. Perfect burn...great billows of smoke from a smooth, efficient draw. Nice overall flavor profile...medium bodied...if you gave one to a mob capo, he would thank you (instead of popping a cap in your backside).

What a smoke with lots of oil and some veins on the wrapper the color was dark and I just wanted to chew it up. The construction was nice with no soft spots to be found. The cap cut even and the foot lit to open up some pepper and sweetness. The taste was medium to full with notes of cedar and pepper on the finish with just the hint of sweetness. A must try cigar.

This is a very good cigar, but very expensive. Luckily I got a 10% discount for my birthday Great Leather overtones-no after taste for a very full flavored cigar.. Great burn-great ash. Good construction nice band/wrapper. Typical CAO Quality.
Try one.

this cigar looked great and was well made, the taste i didn't liek that much i thikn this is due to the brazilian wrapper, i don't know why they didnt choose a italian wrapper similar to the italia line

My wife picked this up for me on the recommendation of a tobacconist. Turns out it's also in CA's Top 25 list, and I can see why. Fabulous cigar. Perfect draw, gobs and gobs of dense smoke (I was sitting in my car waiting for my parents at the airport) that enabled me to blow beautiful smoke rings over and over. Medium to full bodied, strong coffee and earth notes. Yum. Smoked it down to my fingertips.

I figured these were more style (i.e. hype) than substance and passed them up time and again due to the high price, but when this smoke was rated # 25 in CA's Top 25 of 2005, I decided to give one a try. It was what I had expected.. a good solid smoke, decent flavor, but unremarkable. The construction was good, draw was firm, and the stick burned pretty evenly. However, an $11 smoke should taste a whole lot better than this. I'd describe the taste as a woody, earthy, hearty tobacco flavor, with mild spices and a hint of sweetness. Despite the description, none of these flavors really stood out, which means this smoke had little dimension. It was worth a try, but I've had better smokes for half the price.

A nice looking cigar, a good burn and easy draw, with woody earthy flavor. A nice smoke but more hype than substance for the price. I'd smoke a Fuente Hemingway or Don Carlos for this price and enjoy it more.

Good cigar, great packaging, superb marketing. Solid, flavorful smoke that is very fulfilling. I'd buy more of these, but I have kids to put through college.

impressive packaging as well as great construction to back it up - this woody stick was quite smooth, burned & drew great, & grew on me as I smoked. it wasn't the tastiest cigar but the wood flavor was pleasant
to start I give it an 88 and will try a few more