For more than 25 years, CAO Cigars has been pushing the standard in the Cigar industry with its great cigar products and packaging.  CAO currently operates under the Scandinavian Tobacco Group, but it has quite an interesting backstory. This backstory starts with a man whose initials the company Is named after; Cano Aret Ozgener.

In 1968, the brand CAO was founded by Cano Area Ozgener in Nashville Tennessee. To understand how Cano’s interest in tobacco began, we need to discuss his early life.

Cano grew up in Istanbul, Turkey with his mother who was a homemaker, and his father who was a jeweler. While living in Turkey, Ozgener smoked pipes. But when he came to the United States in 1961, he smoked his first cigar.

After his studies at Columbia University, he went on to work for his professor, Theodore Baumeister who also enjoyed smoking cigars. Cano’s appreciation for Tobacco grew to the point where he would use his engineering background to change the stems and make modifications to improve the pipes.

Following that, a tobacconist named Chauncey Dean Jr used one of Cano’s modified pipes. After being astonished by the quality of the pipes, he went on to order 2 dozen modified pipes from Cano. Dean Jr then introduced Cano to Bill Fader who owned Fader’s tobacconist in Baltimore and Bill Martin who was the late owner of W. Curtis Draper’s tobacconist in Washington DC. These 2 connections facilitated the start of CAO and allowed Cano to make contacts within the industry to sell his pipes.

It originally started off as a company that sold briar pipes and humidors. In 1980, CAO attempted to enter the cigar industry with the Casa de Manuel line, but it was not successful. They found themselves in better luck when the C.A.O. Black was produced.

After learning more about the practice of cigar manufacturing from books, trade shows, and industry connections, Cano got help from Honduran cigarmaker Nestor Plasencia and Nicaraguan tobacco grower Carlos Torano. They worked for years modifying cigars for the CAO brand.

Although most Cigar manufacturers tried to set up in the Dominican Republic, Cano preferred to have production in Honduras because he believed that Plasencia had a splendid production capability and a good vision for his business.

It wasn’t until 1995 that the company moved to the United States and transitioned into the production of cigars.

In 1996, C.A.O. introduced a new cigar line called the Gold Robusto. This cigar was manufactured at Plasencia’s Esteli factory in Nicaragua. Their first cigars were released in American Stores in 1997.

During the late 90’s CAO put a good amount of effort toward public relations as well as some other promotional ventures. Their humidors were featured in the movies, Silent Fall and The American President. One of Cano’s modified pipes was seen in The Freshman.

Outside of the world of cinema, CAO Cigars and humidors were also featured at major Sports events. Some of these include the 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the 1998 NHL Hockey All-Star Game, and the 1997 National Basketball Association Chicago Bulls Championship.

The Ozgener family shared a special bond. Cano said that he didn’t recommend parents having their children work for them. His case was an exception because he had great chemistry with them, and they worked very well together.

From a very early age, Tim and Aylin attached CAO stickers to Cano’s signature pipes.

As she grew up with CAO, Aylin’s main role consisted of aiding in the sales and shipping of the products.

For the majority of the 2000’s CAO was spearheaded by Cano and his son Tim Özgener. By 2006, Tim Ozgener moved into the role of president of CAO while his father was recovering from illness. During his time as president, C.A.O. expanded its brand with different blends such as the Vision Prana, LX2, and Black VR Totem.

In 2009, Rick Rodriguez stepped into the roles of blender and brand ambassador for CAO right around the same time as The General Cigars Co. Merger. During his time at CAO, some of the Cigar Concepts that he produced include Amazon Basin, The Arcana Series, CAO Bones, and CAO Flathead. His last official Day with CAO was April 29^th of 2022.

By 2010, Tim left the cigar business as General Cigar Co. gained ownership of CAO during the merger between Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG).

Jon Huber, the previous lifestyle marketing director for CAO got together with 3 other employees and formed Crowned Heads LLC in 2011.

After battling with cancer for about 20 years, Cano Ozgener passed away on June 9, 2018, at his home in Nashville Tennessee.  Cano was regarded as a visionary and innovator who left his mark on the cigar industry. His values and work ethic live on through his children.

After his father passed away and took a decade-long hiatus from the cigar industry, Tim Ozgener returned in 2022 with the launch of his new company known as Ozgener Family Cigars. This return was kicked off with a brand-new line called Bosphorus.