Two years after the conclusion of CAO’s fan-favorite Amazon Trilogy—where the company features unique tobaccos grown throughout the Amazon rainforests of Brazil—they have returned with yet another Amazon-themed blend for 2019: CAO Orellana.
Orellana is named for Francisco de Orellana, a Spanish explorer that completed the first known navigation of the entire length of the Amazon River. As with the Amazon Basin (2014), Fuma Em Corda (2017), and Anaconda (2017), the Orellana features a unique Brazilian tobacco known as Bragança. This centuries-old signature tobacco is said to be grown amongst the wild of the Amazon without any tilling, fertilizing, or clear cutting. Each additional Amazon release has incorporated new Brazilian tobaccos to compliment the raw Bragança; with Orellana, the leaf is now complimented by a sun-grown Cuban-seed tobacco from Eastern Brazil’s fertile Bahia region. This leaf—said to be aged more than five years—is known as Cubra, being incorporated as the cigar’s wrapper ingredient.
Since the original Amazon Basin release, each Amazon blend has featured a new design of the cigar’s signature smokeable band, using tightly twisted tobacco bound around the cigar’s wrapper. This has become such a popular feature that CAO has now extended the band in a barber-pole fashion down to the toro’s foot—allowing influence from the leaf throughout the smoking experience (whereas smokers had to wait until nearly the finale to experience the band on former releases).
CAO Orellana is billed as a full-bodied release, pairing the high-priming Cubra wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and fillers of Colombia, Brazil (Bragança), and the Dominican Republic. The cigars have been rolled at General Cigar’s STG Estelí factory in Nicaragua, being offered in a singular 6” x 52 toro format that will retail for $10.99 SRP per cigar. The limited-edition cigars are packaged in boxes of 20, which began shipping to retailers across the country today.
CAO Orellana Breakdown
- Wrapper: Brazilian Cubra
- Binder: Nicaragua
- Filler: Colombia | Dominican Republic | Brazil (Bragança | Fuma em Corda)
- Factory: STG Estelí (Nicaragua)
- Production: Limited Edition
- Packaging: 20-ct boxes
- Vitola: 6″ × 52 (Toro)
- Price: $10.99 (MSRP)
- Release: Oct. 1, 2019
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