The Amazon Basin Dagger

BRAND / CO:  CAO
CIGAR:  Amazon Basin [Dagger]
VITOLA:  Petit Corona - 4" x 38
STRENGTH:  Medium - Full
WRAPPER:  Ecuadorian Sumatra, Natural
BINDER:  Nicaragua
FILLER:  Brazil (Bragança) / Colombia / Dominican Republic
ORIGIN:  Nicaragua, Scandinavian Tobacco Group Estelí

APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION:   Average
Very non-descript, as these come in retail bundles of 5 the only identifying marks are on the outer packaging.  There's no retail label on the cello and no band on the cigar.  The unique leaf that gets tied around the regular Amazon Basin as a band is not here.  So hopefully you don't have a bunch of other similar looking naked petit coronas in your humidor. 

But otherwise it's a mini Amazon Basin.  The wrapper is a dark espresso brown, oily, has some mottling and mild tooth.  The seams have a little edge lift and it's lumpy.  The cap has a lot of wrinkles and edge lift, but it's hard to do these smaller vitolas perfectly.  

DRAW & BURN:   Good / Average 
The draw is great but and the burn line is nice and even, but the ash is messy.  It's a very light gray, with dark striations, but it's splitting and flaking heavily.   You'll need to ash often or risk making a mess.

FLAVOR PROFILE:   Great
Very earthy and musty, with some dark fruit sweetness and a slight sourness to it.  The sweetness from the wrapper picks up quick bringing a citrus zest.  Not long after medium pepper hits, but it leaves a mildly harsh burn at the back of the throat.  That combines with a heavily charred oak flavor.  There are some bitter notes coming a combination of mild coffee, dark chocolate and black licorice at times.  This is an extremely robust blend with a lot of flavor and complexity like the original.  Even in the small size you get the transitions of some notes that are bitter and harsh while others are smooth and creamy.  But this is a total firecracker of flavor.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:   Great
When I looked at my notes from the 2024 Amazon Basin, I found a lot of similar flavors in the blend.  So if you're a fan of the standard, this will definitely scratch that itch while you wait for the 2025 batch.  Don't discount these because of their small size, they pack a lot of flavor.  If it helps, think of it like a half length Lancero.  If there's really any one downside, it's by the time you really start to enjoy it, the smoke is ending.  I actually enjoyed this more than the Toro because the Toro seemed to fall flat at the end, this was just a blast of flavor the entire time. 

Purchase 5 packs of the Amazon Basin Dagger HERE

Review by Sean McCloskey from The Collective