If you have never tried a CAO Amazon Basin, you are missing a special treat. It contains some of the rarest and most flavorful tobacco in the world. This cigar comes to us from one of the most remote areas of the Amazon jungle and you can tell as soon as you light one, this is something special.
Braganca Tobacco
The filler from the CAO Amazon Basin is made from forty percent Braganca tobacco. Deep within the Amazon, Braganca tobacco grows and thrives. The climate and soil of this region are like nowhere else in the world and this makes the tobacco most unique.
In order to preserve the endangered rain forest, Braganca tobacco is grown organically and in an environmentally friendly way. Most tobacco plants are grown and cultivated as traditional crops, in rows so the weeds can be kept out and to make fertilization easier. However, this is not the case with the Braganca plants.
Braganca tobacco must be planted where the sun can reach them. In this way, the Amazon forest, and not the farmer dictates the location for planting. This tobacco is not only rare, it is a small yield crop. For example, once the plants are large enough for transplanting they are placed into the soil about three feet apart. This is nothing like the way most tobacco plants are grown and cultivated today.
Braganca tobacco plants are grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. These plants are not like most tobacco plants which are planted and harvested frequently. Braganca tobacco is allowed to grow for three years before it is harvested. Once the plants are picked, the fermentation process begins and it is most unique. First, the leaves are rolled into tubes by hand. Afterward, rope is tied around the tubes and they are hung to ferment for half a year, in sheds.
Once the fermentation process is complete, the leaves are then taken to the factory to be turned into CAO Amazon Basin cigars. However, getting through the rain forest is an ordeal and it can take as long as a month to month and a half for the leaves to reach their final destination.
The Braganca leaves must be manually carried through the forest to the river. Next, they are placed into canoes and taken to Nicaragua. Once at the factory, Braganca tobacco leaves become part of a fantastic blend with leaves from several other countries. This creates one of the most unusual and flavorful cigars known as CAO Amazon Basin.
