CAO Amazon Basin Trilogy Event at Executive Cigar Lounge

My many family and friends know that when it comes to birthdays, Boston Jimmie celebrates the for the whole month of his birth – November. So this year, the last day of November, the last day I celebrate, Tony Nardone owner of Executive Cigar Shop and Lounge, hosted a CAO Amazon Basin Trilogy event. Tony did not know it was my birthday month and he may not know I like CAO cigars, but the stars aligned and off I went to enjoy some herf time outside the Stogie Press Lounge.

I am not sure how many more of these events, General Cigars (the Parent Company of CAO) is hosting around the country, or if this was the last one, but it was quite the deal. The company has been promoting and celebrating the short return of the Amazon Basin cigar to the market. I say short, because the Amazon Basin is a very limited cigar release, In Fact the last release of the Amazon Basin was 3 years ago and there is a good reason for that as you will learn. Just remember, when these are gone they are gone! It could well be another three years before you find them again.

Why So Limited?

Missy Christensen, the General Cigars rep walked us through the CAO Amazon Basin Trilogy

Missy Christensen

The tobacco, known as Bragança, used in the CAO Amazon Basin is grown, you got it, in the Amazon forest in South America. It is grown in clear cut plots in the forest and the plants produce 60% less leaf than plants grown in open fields. Unlike other crops, the leaf is fermented in “cords” or “corottes” for six months. It is said this gives the leaf a very unique flavor There is also no fertilizers or pesticides used in the growing of the plants.

Some other points of note about Bragança tobacco:

Uses primitive tobacco and techniques cultivated by the indigenous people for hundreds of years
The plants can not grow in the same area for more than three years
Leaves are harvested three times as the plant matures
The “corottes” and “cords”are transported via canoes to open markets

More Than a Single Blend This Time

The original CAO Amazon Basin was a single 6 x 52 vitola and the blend was a mix of Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder with filler tobaccos from the Amazon and Nicaragua. The cigar was quite the rave back in 2014, and it made a short reappearance in 2016. Now the company has upped their game and is introducing a trilogy of the Amazon Basin Cigars. They were rolled out in three phases this year and represent the what the company describes as the Amazon Basin Trilogy progression. Each phase is identified with a tobacco cord wrapped around the head of the cigar in a different pattern. This of course was one of the unique characteristics of the original Amazon Basin where they used the cord instead of a band and of course you can smoke through the cord.

Phase 1

The original Amazon Basin 6 x 52 vitola, with the band cord wrapped in the original style. They retail for $9.25 and come packaged in 18-count boxes.

CAO Amazon Basin

The blend is described as:

Wrapper – Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder – Nicaraguan
Filler – Dominican, Colombian, Braganca Fuma em Corda

Phase 2

Known as the CAO Fuma em Corda, it is a 6 x 58 vitola, with the band cord wrapped in a criss-cross fashion instead of being circled around like the original. They retail for $9.45 and come packaged in 20-count boxes.

CAO Fuma em Cordo

The blend is described as:

Wrapper – Honduran Oscuro
Binder – African
Filler – Nicaraguan, Honduran, Braganca Fuma em Corda

Phase 3

Known as the CAO Amazon Anaconda, its is a 6 x 52 vitola, with the band cord wrapped in a serpentine fashion i.e., Anaconda. They retail for $9.45 and come packaged in 20-count boxes.

CAO Anaconda

The blend is described as:

Wrapper – Brazillian Bahiano Habano
Binder – Nicaraguan
Filler – Colombian, Dominican, Braganca Fuma em Corda

At the event the company was selling sampler boxes that contained 3 of each phase and 2 body guards, the CAO Columbia Tinto and the CAO Brazilia Box Pressed Toro and just to make it even more of a great deal, they through in a very cool CAO blow torch lighter. The sampler was offered for $75.00. That my friends was a great deal and of course being the last day of my birthday month it became a final gift from me to me. You can rest assured that I will have reviews up on these before years end.

Amazon Basin Trilogy

The Event

Now a cigar event would not be an event with out giveaways and box deals and of course food. Tony Nardone from Executive Cigar Lounge knows how to run an event and as usual he aimed to please his customers. The food was spectacular and was catered from one of our local food trucks here in town. The giveaways were done in Tony’s standard game board style where a raffle ticket is drawn and you pick one of a number of cigar boxes on the board. Tony opens the box gently and starts to take out the prizes one by one and usually gets you a cigar or two, a koozie, a mini chocolate booze bottle, and perhaps some thing else special like itch cream. Yes, we have fun at Executive Cigars.

Here are the winners of the raffle prizes and yes there is a virgin or two in this gallery so it just goes to show that anyone can win at Executive Cigar Shop and Lounge

CAO Amazon Basin Trilogy Event

We all had lots of fun as always as you can see in the photos below

CAO Amazon Basin Trilogy Event

In the end, as always, we all had a smokey good time. There are more events coming up at the Executive Cigar Shop and Lounge in downtown Melbourne. Florida. Stay tuned for more coverage as the 2018 closes in on us. One of the biggest cigar events in Brevard County, Florida will be the grand opening of the new Executive Cigar Shop and Lounge when Tony and the crew move next door into what will be described as a 4,000 Square foot mega cigar shop and lounge here in Melbourne, Florida.