The CAO Amazon series began in 2014 with the release of the Amazon Basin, a blend containing a rare filler tobacco called Bragança from the Amazon rainforest. Next came the Fuma em Corda and Anaconda both using other exotic Amazonian tobaccos. Now, CAO is shipping its latest in the series CAO Orellana.
The name is an homage to Francisco de Orellana, the first European explorer to travel the entire Amazon river. This blend uses a very special wrapper called Cubra, which the company says has been aging longer that the original Bragança in the Amazon Basin cigar. Cubra is a sungrown wrapper grown in the micro-climate of Eastern Brazil’s fertile Bahia region. Here, a collective of local farmers worked with CAO’s agronomists to grow this leaf. They selected only the highest primings of Cubra for this blend which then rested in climate-controlled curing barns in Calfriza.
Rick Rodriguez says, “When I found the bales of Cubra, I knew that I wanted to blend it with some of the tobaccos from the previous Amazon releases. Hands down, Cubra wrapper was one of the best tobaccos I’ve ever used in blending. It has that Havano flavor with a little bit sweetness and it pairs really well with other tobaccos. I think Orellana is going to be a big hit with the fans of CAO.”
The blend for CAO Orellana starts with the Cubra wrapper, but also contains some the Amazonian Bragança found in the original Amazon Basin release, as well as a Nicaraguan binder and Colombian and Dominican filler. CAO Orellana is a limited edition and comes in one vitola, a 6” x 52 toro. The suggest retail price for one stick is $10.99 and comes in boxes of 20.
