CAO Amazon Basin

Smoked: CAO Amazon Basin

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

CAO Amazon Basin is filled with Nicaraguan and Brazilian tobacco, a Nicaraguan binder and cover in a medium brown slightly oily rustic Ecuador Sumatra wrapper with some veinage showing. The fascinating aspect of the appearance is the twined tobacco band (you can smoke through it to the nub). The tobacco used is reportedly, allegedly (for the few actual remaining journalists in the world) a rarely used leaf from the Amazon rainforest called Braganca. Inquiring minds want to know – to use the National Enquirer copyrighted slogan.

Cedar, earth, pepper, mixed nuts, milk chocolate that transition to dark with hints of leather, licorice and raisins. By the second third, the cedar and leather calm to allow more of the spice, leather and nuts to step forward. The pepper also calmed down by the midway point. There is still spice that I can’t quite identify that’s not pepper. About as good a description I can offer at the moment. The retrohale is woodsy, nutty and peppery.

Tight draw that opened up with the Perfect Draw, a wavy burn line that required several touchups, thick smoke production and solid long ash that held solid.

Despite the burn line issues, this was a very enjoyable smoke. The cigar doesn’t feature a boatload of flavors but what is there balances perfectly with enough complexity to be quite interesting. I had not lit a CAO Amazon Basin in a couple of years and now I remember - this is a distinctively superb cigar. And yes, I smoked it through the cigar band to the nub. It didn’t change the flavor, but it did stoke the smoke output for several puffs.