Most cigar tobacco grows in an open field, gets harvested every season and rides a truck to the factory. The tobacco that makes the CAO Amazon Basin is different. It grows in the Brazilian rainforest, comes out of the jungle in hand-packed logs, and leaves by canoe. Here is what makes the blend unusual, and what is new for 2026.
Bragança: the leaf at the center of it
The key tobacco in Amazon Basin is Bragança, grown in the Amazon. According to CAO, it is only harvested once every three years. Cigar Aficionado reported that the seedlings are planted a full yard apart, which cuts the yield roughly in half compared with a normal field.
After harvest, the leaves are not hung in a barn the usual way. They are packed by hand into tight tobacco logs called carottes and left to ferment inside them for about six months. Then the carottes are loaded into a canoe and paddled out of the jungle on the Amazon River.
Five countries in one cigar
Amazon Basin is made at the STG factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The blend uses an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and filler from the Dominican Republic and Colombia along with the Brazilian Bragança. That is Ecuador, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Brazil in a single cigar.
You can spot an Amazon Basin from across the room. Instead of a paper band, each cigar is tied with a twisted strand of tobacco.
What is new for 2026
Amazon Basin Daggers. CAO brought back the Daggers for 2026: the same Amazon Basin blend in a short 4 x 38 size, sold in paper-wrapped packs of five. It is the quickest way to try the blend if you have never had one. Shop CAO Amazon Basin Daggers at Toro Cigars.
Amazon Basin Extra Añejo. CAO also announced the return of the Extra Añejo, shipping to shops in October 2026. These are the classic Amazon Basin blend rolled in 2024 and then rested for two years in CAO's aging rooms before release. It comes in one size, a 6 x 52 Toro, in boxes of 18. Cigar Dojo describes it as medium to full, with earth and fruit.
Should you try it?
If you like a cigar with a story behind every leaf, yes. Start with a pack of Daggers for a short smoke, and if it clicks, keep an eye out for the full size releases, which come out in small batches.
Shop CAO cigars at Toro Cigars, in our Oakland Park, FL shop or online.
