General Cigar Setting Stage for C.A.O. Concert

G. Clay Whittaker
Posted: July 26, 2012

General Cigar Co. is preparing for the September release of a new headliner: C.A.O. Concert, a smoke meant to highlight the brand’s musical Tennessee roots.

The cigars will have a Rosado Ecuadoran Habano wrapper, a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and a mixture of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler tobaccos. There are four filler tobaccos in all, and blender Rick Rodriguez says they have never been used in this combination in any General Cigar product.

Concert is being rolled at the C.A.O. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. C.A.O. Concert was inspired by the brand’s founding in Nashville, and senior brand manager Ed McKenna says that the company released a special sneak preview of C.A.O. Concert at the CMA Music Festival earlier this summer. “We’re also going to be at a bunch of cool concerts and music events to bring an otherwise unavailable cigar experience to cigar lovers across the country and to introduce them to C.A.O. Concert and other C.A.O. cigars,” he says.

Artwork so far is impressive for the Concert brand. The box, or cabinet, reproduces the look of a classic Marshall amplifier, substituting the standard markings for the C.A.O. name and Concert frontmark.

The cigar’s gold and black band meanwhile is comprised of a guitar pick-shaped logo reading “Concert handcrafted by C.A.O.” set atop two Fender electric guitar bodies, with the long fret boards coming seamlessly together in the back.

Concert will come in four sizes, all of them measuring 5 1/2 inches long with different ring gauges. The 50 ring Solo will retail for $6.25; the 60 ring Stage will cost $7.50; Amp, at 46 ring, will be $5.75, and the 54 ring Roadie will be priced at $6.75.

See Also: