Often repeated review. The flavors are always good, but this is one of the most inconsistently constructed cigars from Camacho. The flavor brings out leather and sweet pepper with a rugged appearance. The draw was smooth this time, but the burn was absolutely horrible and continued to run fast on one side needing many corrections.
Repeated review. A well blended profile of leather and sweet pepper. The wrapper appearance is rugged but smokes fairly decent. The draw was im smooth, and the burn only needed a couple touch-ups.
Repeated review. A well blended profile of leather and sweet pepper. The wrapper appearance is rugged but smokes fairly decent. The draw was incredible but the burn refused to stay under control, needing multiple corrections, just like before.
Repeated review. A well blended profile of leather and sweet pepper. The wrapper appearance is rugged but smokes fairly decent. The draw was incredible but the burn refused to stay under control, needing multiple corrections.
A well blended profile of leather and sweet pepper. Although this blend has a more veiny wrapper than the others in the "color core" series, it still smokes very well. The draw was incredibly and the burn stayed very even.
TL;DR: Not overly complex dark coffee and creamy stick that’s just “okay”.
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70% RH @ Cap, 67% RH @ foot - Home humidor aged 6 weeks.
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Initial observations - Dark brown wrapper that barely implies broadleaf heritage. Looks like it could stand to be aged longer. It has very prominent, visible veins and seams. The foot is very neat and the stick is well packed. There’s a firmness and spring back that supports the packing. The cap looks to be fancy like a triple, but closer inspection shows it’s a single. Still, it’s deep and should hold up to a cut well. The band is nice. The simple trick works here and the bronze color is a good choice. It’s a little larger than it needs to be, but that’s just a matter of taste. As long as it doesn’t take some of the wrapper off when the time comes. The smell off the wrapper is of a standard hay, coffee, and cinnamon. The foot removes cinnamon, but gives copious amounts of milk chocolate. After cap cutting, the cold draw is good. Here’s to hoping it stays that way.
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Cold draw - Flavor notes included wheat, dark chocolate, a touch of cinnamon, and maybe a slight hint of pepper
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Light up - Start Time - 7:45 - On the palate, the main flavor notes upon light up were dark coffee and walnuts. No sweetness, floral, fruit, or wood. The retrohale was just as linear with black pepper and dark coffee being the only 2 notes I could detect.
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First third - The first new flavor note to appear was a floral hint on the palate once the cigar settled down. Soon after, the cream I was expecting from the broadleaf wrapper made an entrance. In the retro, I got black pepper, cream, and dark coffee. The finish left a nice coffee taste on my palate as well. About a half inch into the first third and a nice graham cracker note surfaced It was here that I noticed the ash was a light gray, stacked, non-flaky sort. No telling how long it would hold. The burn started to canoe, but I gave it time to adjust itself. The room aroma was nice as I could smell a hint of coffee in it among the standard cigar tobacco smell. I know I keep mentioning coffee, but it’s important to note that this is NOT a flavored cigar; the coffee isn’t prominent like a Drew Estate Java, it’s a subtle flavor and scent note that is characteristic of the tobacco used. Not much change in the first third once the flavors settled. The cigar ashed itself at the end of the third (about 2” in), ushering in the second third.
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Second third - Not much change in flavors. Still dark coffee, walnuts, and a little bit of cream on the palate; black pepper, a generous amount of cream, graham cracker, and hay on the retro; and coffee, hay, and little floral note on the finish. Strength of nicotine is a medium, and flavors are medium as well. Smoke output was plentiful. The burn continued to canoe, but not so badly that I felt the need to touch it up. It was about mid way through this third that I realized that getting the best flavor from this stick was to retrohale. Unfortunately, not everyone can, or likes to do this. Band removal was easy once it was heated. After the band was removed, I noticed an oak note. That’s about it.
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Final third - Ash got noticeably more flaky. Also, I finally gave in and touched up the burn. Even though I did, the burn still waved up. About half way through the final third a green vegetal note showed up that gradually became a simple tobacco flavor. I also got a mineral note lingering in the finish that wasn’t bad, but not exactly enjoyable either. Oily anise showed up at the end, as expected.
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Other notes - 1.5 hour smoke to a 1” min. Overall, not a bad stick per se; I just think I was expecting more. Not a lot of transitions. Wasn’t a 1-trick pony, but not overly complex either. I’d smoke it again, but I’d reach for a number of others before this one.
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Personal Final Score - 79
