5 Camacho Reviews

Disclaimer: These are reviews I did for another site, in another time. The photos no longer exist, but the information will hopefully remain useful to some.

I. Camacho Triple Maduro (original branding):
4.5” x 50rg (the new version robusto is 5” long)
Wrapper, Binder, and Filler: Honduran Maduro

There is no need to get me started about how much I love these cigars. They easily sit on my top-ten favorites list and I especially am enjoying the last few “original” robustos that I still have. While supposedly the blend for this particular cigar wasn’t altered following the Davidoff acquisition, they did lengthen the robusto by ½” to make it 5”x50rg. This one has a few years on it and was just looking to delicious to pass up.

The wrapper is a medium-dark maduro with a fair amount of teeth and some decent oily sheen to it. Veining is minimal and the ones that do exist are pretty fine. The cigar itself is rolled firmly with a nice cap. The wrapper smells like rich, sweet tobacco and the foot exudes notes of hay and cocoa. A quick punch reveals a pretty firm but workable draw, and flavors of dark tobacco with hints of chocolate and just the faintest spice.

First Third:
The beginning of this cigar provides a nice woodiness that is intermingled with an earthy, damp soil taste. It is medium in body and the overall effect reminds me of gathering kindling for a campfire along a riverbank. There is the slgihtest bit of spice in the cedar notes, but the balance of flavors is wonderful.

The Middle:
Towards the middle of this cigar you find the smoke getting creamier and the flavors hanging more on your tongue as a result of the change in mouthfeel. It is at this point that the dark chocolate begins to emerge. The earthiness remains and keeps the new developments from being overly sweet. To this point the burn is perfect without any touch-ups (though the ash column is ugly as hell ).

The Nub:
The spice picks up just a tad in the final third, but it remains a very balanced cigar. The chocolate and cedar marry with faint leather notes to continue garnering interest as it progresses towards it finish. The overall sweetness is kicked up a notch which counteracts the shift towards a full bodied smoke in the final several puffs. Total smoking time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

In my opinion, this is as good as they come for a maduro cigar- 9.7/10

II. Camacho CLE the CRA Edition (2009):
6” x 52rg

It may or may not be that easy to hunt one of these down any longer, but I thought I’d do this review nonetheless. I’m not sure the duration of the offer but back in ’09, at least, the CRA sent these out as a thank you for signing up. It’s a nice enough looking cigar with an additional band to signify its intent of promoting the CRA, and the classic Camacho styling that in my mind was some of the best in the industry prior to Davidoff’s rebranding of the lines last year.
The CLE had a nice mocha colored wrapper with several larger veins. It felt a little soft in the roll, but construction itself was solid and finished off with a nice triple cap. The wrapper was light on tooth but gave of a medium oily sheen. It smelled of hay and rich tobacco. The foot smelled like sweet tobacco and was slightly woody. Once punched, the draw was pretty loose and tasted very mild, with notes of loam and grass.

First third:
This one started off very mild with nuances of leather. There was a faint woodiness and the burn was ugly as hell but it managed to correct itself as it went along. While fairly uninteresting, I found the beginning to be quite pleasant.

The middle:
The flavors didn’t change much though the second third of the cigar; mainly woody notes with the addition of some earthier tones that made it taste fairly rich in spite of remaining quite mild in strength. The burn finally developed enough of a canoe that I was forced to touch it up.

The nub:
A little bit of spice began to emerge from the cedar flavor as I moved into the final third. It was hardly overwhelming but added interest to the cigar. The leather notes also became more prominent and those two flavors finished off the stick.
Overall smoking time 1:35
This was a decent but somewhat monotonous smoke. It certainly wasn’t the best Camacho I’ve had. Most of the fault with the burn issue probably came from being rolled so loosely. Overall I’d give it a 7.8/10- it was good but I don’t know if it was good enough to sport the limited edition CRA band.

III. Camacho Connecticut:
Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5 x 50rg
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Corojo
Filler: Generoso and Aleman Ligero
Price: ~$7

I picked this stick up at a B&M in Columbia, SC while traveling for work a couple weeks ago. This is the first Camacho I’ve purchased since Davidoff took over, and I’m honestly not sure if this blend was altered or not. The wrapper was a typical pale Connecticut wrapper with some small to medium veins. Construction was solid.

The wrapper smelled of dry grass and mild tobacco, the foot smelled more of sweet hay. The cold draw was fairly loose and tasted of green tea and blanched almonds.

The first third of this cigar had a muted wood note, mild nuttiness, and a very faint hint of cinnamon. The profile was mild and the burn was razor sharp.

In the middle of the stick the smoke became creamier, the woodiness became a slightly more potent cedar, and the sweetness backed off a bit. The profile remained mild, but it crept closer to medium.

The nub was the most interesting part of the cigar. I wouldn’t say the stick was one-dimensional, but minimal flavors developed as it went along. It ended with a woodiness that took over, but while it maintained the spice of the cedar, there was a distinct pine sap/shavings flavor in the retrohale. The mild profile continued to gain strength through the last puffs.

Total smoke time: ~90 minutes

Overall, while I rarely smoke Connecticuts (mainly because I don’t smoke in the AM very often), I was pretty impressed with this stick. The quality of construction was there, there were zero touch-ups or relights, and the flavor was pleasant throughout (though somewhat bland).
Overall 8.9/10

IV. Camacho Corojo 10th Anniversary Robusto:
Vitola: Robusto 50 x 4.5
Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder: Corojo
Filler: Corojo

I had been sitting on this stick for a while and actually came across it the other day when organizing one of my desktop humidors. It was at the very bottom and a piece of the wrapper leave had been knocked off just below the cap. I noticed there was some other cracking in the general area. Since it was a single I decided to perform a little cigar surgery with some pectin and after it dried it appeared completely serviceable.

The wrapper was a nice almond shade of medium brown with virtually zero tooth and very small veins. It smelled of exceedingly sweet hay and the slightest bit of cinnamon. The foot of the cigar also had a sweet odor with a bit more spice to it than the wrapper- sweet spice and a bit of pepper. I had punched the cigar prior to applying the pectin to insure I didn’t mess up my patch-job after the fact. The cold draw was very loose and with nuances of wood and moist earth. I lit the cigar with a couple wooden matches.

First Third:
The cigar started out smooth and woody (oak) with faint white pepper that lingered on the back of my tongue. The burn was somewhat even- not straight, but not worthy of a touch-up either. The profile was medium early on. No much changed through the first 1 1/2”, and so it just transitioned into the next stage.

The middle:
Halfway through the cigar there was a leathery taste that transformed into something like chewing on a no. 2 pencil in the retrohale. To this point the sweetness in the wrapper’s scent was nowhere to be found but it began to emerge, bedded in with the woody notes from the first third. The burn cleaned up and as it approached the nub the pepper returned as well, tickling my nostrils when I exhaled. It began to taste more like a strong, medium bodied smoke.

The nub:
I became engrossed in my book and let the cigar go out when I reached the final section. I relit it with two matches and purged it gently before continuing on. The nub showed little difference from the rest of the stick, more of a consistent woody overtone and nuances of pepper that were not to be ignored. The flavor was not necessarily unpleasant, but after 2/3rds of the cigar had past it became quite boring. The smoke itself also seemed to become dry and rather “flat” at the end.

In the end I’m glad I took the time to repair the stick and give it a go, but I don’t see myself buying another. For a cigar that cost ~$11 I just wasn’t very impressed. I should also note that the nicotine kick was a little brutal. I’m typically not very sensitive to that but my stomach was turning a bit for an hour or so after I finished smoking (and I had done so on a full stomach).

Overall: 8.4/10

Continued in next post...