Amazon Basin Cigar, Paddled To You by CAO

We smoke cigars because we like the taste, the experience, the comradery and the calming effect of a good smoke. Manufacturers work hard on the blend to perfect this experience but they also use the “story” behind the cigar to capture our attention, to help us decide to buy it. Enter the Amazon Basin. This cigar is unique in appearance and story. First, the appearance. Note the highly unusual band – tobacco rolled into twine and then wrapped around the cigar 4 times, with no apparent beginning or end. Who can do this? The dark chocolate looking wrapper even appears “raw”. The Amazon exhibits the character of a jungle cigar made by a skilled yet pre-civilized tribe.

Next, the story. Braganca, the Amazon’s main taste engine, is reportedly a rare tobacco growing in a remote Amazon clime that can be harvested only once every 3 years and brought to the industrialized world by a combination of canoe (paddled) and then hand carried through the jungle. Sounds as though Indiana Jones discovered the original tobacco field! Does the “story” have your attention yet? CAO mixes the appearance, story and Braganca blend into the low production volume Amazon Basin. I was given a 6 X 52 Amazon toro for review at the 2014 IPCPR.

The Amazon has a dark Ecuadorian Sumatra ligero wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and finally the Braganca plus 5 other tobacco fillers. The result is a mix of strong flavors such as coca, anise, pepper and cedar. The Sumatran wrapper promises sweetness but delivered surprisingly little. As I got closer to the tobacco band, pepper increased in intensity along with cocoa and nuts. I was unable to smoke through the band, even with a couple of relights, and the taste turned slightly bitter at that point. The draw was average but the creamy smoke was excellent and the ash very good. It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to smoke this medium bodied cigar and the continually complex flavors and special appearance made it an interesting and enjoyable smoke. The SRP is about $9 but I found it for less than $8 on the internet.

I rate the Amazon Basin a 4.5 out of 5. Everything about it is above average and the appearance rating of 5 is the only one I have given so far. The Amazon is raw but also enjoyable, unique, and paddled and then peddled to you by CAO.