One of the most discussed cigars at the IPCPR show last month in Las Vegas was the CAO Amazon Basin, which incorporates some fairly unique tobacco into its blend. While the wrapper is Ecuadorian Sumatra and the binder and some of the internal tobacco is from Nicaragua, 40 percent of the filler is Bragança, a tobacco grown in the Amazon Rain Forest and harvested just once every three years. Our story on the General Cigar Co. booth at the IPCPR show had more info on the unique process it took to get the Amazon Basin to the market: Unlike traditional tobacco plantations where the plants are arranged in neat rows, these seeds are planted wherever there is available sunlight. Once harvested, the leaves are rolled by hand into tubes called carottes and undergo six months of natural fermentation, a technique similar to that of Andullo tobacco. Once fermented, it takes four to six weeks to get them from forest to factory, a process that involves being hand carried to the river, put into canoes and rowed to the mainland, then driven to the port and shipped to Nicaragua where they are made. The CAO Amazon Basin is only being released in one vitola, a 6 ...
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