The limited return of CAO's most unusual blend — a 6 x 52 Toro built around Bragança tobacco grown in the Amazon rainforest, hand-rolled into fermented carottes, and canoed down the Amazon River to the factory.
The CAO Amazon Basin line is one of the few premium cigars built around a tobacco most smokers will never see in another blend. Bragança leaf is grown in the deep Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Acre, hand-twisted at harvest into dense fermented ropes called carottes, aged for six months on the forest floor, and then transported by canoe down the Amazon to make the journey north. CAO has released small-batch Amazon Basin blends roughly every two or three years since 2014, and the Añejo Limited Edition is the aged expression of that formula — the same Bragança backbone, this time rested in Spanish cedar-lined aging rooms before release to deepen the fruit and earth character the line is known for.
Blend Information
- Series: CAO Amazon Basin, Añejo Limited Edition
- Vitola: Toro, 6 x 52
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed (high-priming)
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Brazilian Bragança, Colombian, Dominican
- Factory: STG Estelí, Nicaragua
- Country: Nicaragua
- Strength: Medium–Full
- Aging: Extra-aged in Spanish cedar-lined aging rooms
- Band: Signature tobacco-rope band wrapped around the upper portion of the cigar
- Format: 18-count box
- Production: Approximately 5,000 boxes worldwide
About Bragança Tobacco
Bragança is the signature leaf of the Amazon Basin blend and the reason the line smokes unlike anything else in CAO's catalog. The tobacco is grown in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Acre, hand-twisted into dense ropes at harvest, fermented for six months on the forest floor, and shipped out by canoe. The leaf's deep fruit, earth, and spice character comes directly from the rainforest conditions it grows in — this is one of the few commercially available cigars that puts Amazonian tobacco in a lead role rather than a trace supporting role.
Tasting Profile
Potent and flavorful, with the Amazon Basin line's familiar arc of fruit, earth, and spice carried deeper by the extra aging. The Añejo version pushes the mid-palate toward richer earth and cocoa notes while the Spanish cedar aging sits underneath the whole burn. Medium-to-full in body, built to pair with darker whiskies, rum, or black coffee.
Why This One Matters
CAO releases Amazon Basin blends in small batches and does not repeat them often. The Añejo LE adds the extra-aging step on top of a release that is already limited by the amount of Bragança tobacco available in any given cycle. When the roughly 5,000-box run is spent, the Añejo is finished until the next time CAO can source and age enough Bragança to run the blend again — which has historically been years between releases.
Available at Tinder Box as a single or a 20-count box.
