CAO medio tiempo

The first thing that catches the eye with these cigars is the extraordinary dark, oily, and very aromatic Medio Tiempo wrapper from the USA. This variety is always found at the very top of the tobacco plant, where it receives the most sunlight, which in turn leads to a particularly intense flavor. Since this type of leaf is only found in about 10 to 15% of all tobacco plants, it is a true rarity. Due to the longer time on the plant, the fermentation process even begins there. Beneath it, a binder from the Dominican Republic is used, along with a blend of Dominican Piloto and Nicaraguan tobaccos in the filler.

CAO Cigars: Tradition and Innovation with Medio Tiempo Wrapper

The three letters CAO originally stood for Cano A. Ozgener, who founded the company in 1968. He was born in Istanbul in 1937 and moved to the USA in 1962. There, he first studied at Columbia University and then worked for around 10 years for the chemical giant Dupont. In the late 1960s, he began selling pipes from his Turkish homeland to friends and tobacco retailers in the USA. Later, he expanded his portfolio to include cigars, humidors, and humidifiers. In the mid-1990s, together with Cuban exiles Carlos Toraño and Nestor Plasencia, he created his label C.A.O. Cigars and produced top-quality longfiller cigars.

The History of CAO: From Handmade Pipes to World-Famous Cigars

In 2007, due to health issues, he sold his company to the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). However, his son Murat, known in the cigar industry as Tim, and his employees remained on board and continued to develop the brand. Since then, the portfolio of CAO cigars has frequently been expanded and just as often streamlined again. It is and remains a “hip” brand that impresses with bold designs and unusual tobacco compositions.