Vitola: Toro- 6” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $10.99
- Samples provided by General Cigar Company
Background
CAO’s Amazon Basin series debuted in 2014. It featured a blend made with an “exotic filler tobacco” called Bragança from deep within the Brazilian rainforest. In the time since, they have re-released the Basin a couple times, and rounded out what was to be a “trilogy” of releases with the Fuma em Corda and Anaconda releases, both featuring other rare Amazonian tobaccos
The trilogy has turned into a “quadrilogy”—don’t complain to me, I wasn’t the first one to use that term—with the 2019 release of the Orellana, named in honor of Francisco de Orellana, “the first European explorer to navigate the entire Amazon river.” This release features sun grown Cubra tobacco for the wrapper, a leaf grown “in a microclimate of Eastern Brazil’s fertile Bahia region.
There, a collective of local farmers worked with CAO’s agronomists to yield lustrous leaves that are inherently sweet, strong, and versatile for blending. Only the highest primings of Cubra were selected for curing in climate-controlled curing barns in Calfriza, where the wrapper’s deep red hue and natural sweetness further developed.
Along with this unique wrapper leaf, Rick Rodriguez and his team used Amazonia Bragança, Colombian and Dominican fillers and a Nicaraguan binder to create a full-bodied, complex smoking experience.
General Cigar sent me a 5-pack for review. I have smoked about 4 sticks before this review sample. These are limited release, but at the time of this writing Leaf Enthusiast sponsor, Small Batch Cigar, has them in stock.
Prelight
The box for this release is very similar to other Amazon Basin series releases: rustic and rough wood in a crate shape and with rough-hewn images popping out in a darker brown color; in this case part of the map of the Amazon river mapped below “CAO” and “Arellano.” Also like the others in this series, there is no proper band, just a decoratively tied piece of tobacco, this time trying to tie all three previous designs together.
The wrapper leaf was a dark milk chocolate brown with a slightly oily, slightly velvety feel to it and an aroma that mixed cocoa powder, wet forest earth, and leather. The foot of the cigar had notes of prune, earth, coffee beans, and cedar.
After clipping the head, I got a good draw with some cocoa powder and coffee bean flavor.
Flavor
Lighting up the Orellana, I got a subtle fruit sweetness, along with notes of wood and anise and earth. The retrohale was full, nutty and a little spicy. As I kept puffing, I got an almost salty and savory note in the mix, as well. As the first third continued along, there were more nutty and fruity flavors backed up by wood and earth and an increased peppery spice on the palate.
The second third had more fruit sweetness along with some floral notes, with cedar and earth and cinnamon hovering slightly underneath. The pepper spice had died off quite a bit on both nose and palate.
In the final third of the Orellana, I got leather up front, while the sweetness and floral notes subsided a bit. Roasted nuts and earth were under all that with just a tinge of pepper spice.
Construction
I had a very good draw, an even burn line, and an ash that held on for up to an inch.
Value
The price tag of the Basin series has stayed fairly steady throughout 5 years of production and they are nice smoking experiences, so very good value.
Conclusions
CAO has done a very good job exploiting some rare tobaccos from the Amazon in this series and Orellana is a great way to tie up the series. Or is this the beginning of a new trilogy? Whatever the case, Orellana was medium-plus in body with plenty of complexity and unusual flavors and combinations that provided an excellent journey of discovery.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
