General Releasing Its First C.A.O. Brand

Gregory Mottola
Posted: July 7, 2011

When the news broke that General Cigar Co. would be incorporating C.A.O., everyone had the same questions: Would General change existing blends? Cancel certain lines? Make its own, new version of C.A.O.? Today, Cigar Aficionado got to taste the first C.A.O. brand completely conceptualized by General Cigar—the C.A.O. OSA Sol, a project spearheaded by General's Rick Rodriguez (formerly of Team La Gloria) and senior brand manager Ed McKenna.

The OSA stands for Olancho, San Agustin, which is the region in Honduras where the cigar's sun grown wrapper was cultivated.

"We wanted something in the same innovative genre of C.A.O.'s past, but at the same time, we wanted OSA Sol to be able to stand on its own as a brand," said McKenna.

The sleek packaging makes both subtle and direct allusions to the valleys of Olancho, from the whitewashed curing barns (as seen on our homepage) to the meandering Guayape River.

For more on the new C.A.O. OSA Sol and the future of C.A.O.'s brands, see Tuesday's issue of Cigar Insider.

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