Cigar Review CAO Amazon Basin
When Smoked: February 2024
Obtained from: purchased from cigar shop
Size: Double Toro (6 inches x 52)
Approximate cost: US$15 Suggested Retail, my cost was $17.49
See ratings below
I don’t recall seeing as much hype surrounding a cigar as this, I belong to a bunch of social media cigar groups and it seems people are going crazy over the Amazon Basin.
Personally, I had no plans to join the frenzy and try to get my hands on this cigar. I am working on a series of videos with humidor tours of cigar shops and cigar bars, and stopped by a place I usually don’t frequent to check out their humidor. After making almost a complete 360 trip around the humidor, literally the last few feet I stumbled upon a half-box of CAO Amazon Basin cigars!
I snapped up two sticks, this was the first of those I smoked for this review.
This cigar is a very limited release by CAO because of the rarity of the Braganca (pronounced “Bra-Gan-Za”) tobacco, which is grown in the remote Amazon Basin. The CAO story is that the Braganca tobacco can only be harvested every three years, so the Amazon Basin cigar is only released every 2-3 years in very limited quantities (about 100,000 which is actually pretty small as limited releases go).
This is billed as a medium-full body cigar, and I would agree with that. There was a hint of charred red pepper early on, it fell off about one-third in, but resurfaced to a lesser extent every now and then for the length of the cigar. I’d give this cigar a 6/10 in terms of body and strength.
The flavor profile on this cigar was interesting, and I would say at least mostly lives up to the hype that this cigar is “one of a kind.” There was a slight woody base, but strongly complemented by what I called in the video “naturally sweet cherry juice.” I wouldn’t call it sweet, but there was a distinctive “tang” and cherry juice is the best way to describe it.
Burn was very good up to the “band,” which is not removable as it is braided tobacco and very much affixed to the wrapper. Festivities came to an end about one-sixteenth inch from the band when the cigar went out and did not respond to attempts to re-light. Draw was good, and while burn was not razor-sharp there were no re-lights needed nor any other burn issues.
All said, the overall smoking enjoyment is a 9.0/10 - a very good cigar but honestly, not quite worth the ballyhoo it is receiving. If I had a chance to buy a box (which I don’t), I would probably not do so.
Some cigars don’t make the video cut. I have a growing catalog of written-only reviews that you can find at cigarscigarscigars.com
7 фев 2024
