Initial Thoughts
Some of you may have missed the rebranding launch this year that Camacho put out. Honestly, if you’ve missed it, I’m shocked because they have been everywhere. They’ve changed their branding to “Built Bold” and have included scorpions on practically everything. It’s a nice change of pace from their very traditional look and feel that they had before hand. I went to an event last week at Tobacco Road Coffee & Smoke Shop it was a combination Room 101 and Camacho event.
So I went in walked around a bit to see what they had. I had been interested in the new branding from Camacho so I figured I’d give it a try. I picked up a Triple Maduro, Connecticut and the Camacho Corojo which I’m reviewing here. After talking Garret, the local rep he told me that they had tweaked all the blends just a bit, except for this Corojo blend. He said that it was a staple in their line and they didn’t want to tinker with it and affect their follower’s favorite smoke. He also had some very interesting things to say. If you live ever get a chance to go to one of Garret’s events go, because he’s a riot. This might be one of my favorite quotes ever: “There are 3 things that every red-blooded American male should do in their lifetime. Go to a Nascar race, go to a WWE event and go see Weird Al Yankovic live!” I was right there with him until the end. I was like Weird Al? Really? He said he’s been to over 20 shows and he said he’s one of the greatest entertainers in the world… So I don’t know maybe he’s on to something. Either way, he really knows his cigars and I was more than happy to sit and chat with him. So enough about Weird Al, let’s dive into this cigar!
Looks
As I said above, Camacho has gone through a rebranding process. You might be able to find this Camacho Corojo in the old packaging, but chances are you won’t. I honestly haven’t seen any old Camacho packaging in a while. I’m not sure if they bought back all the inventory and they are re-banding or what. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that weird looking C logo.
This new branding is very bold, which is exactly what they’re going for. They wanted to make a statement with the new packaging, look and feel of their cigars. I’m not exactly sure why they went with a scorpion. I couldn’t really find any info about that, but I have to say I like it.
The band on this Camacho Corojo is a bright red band that takes up almost 1/3 of the barrel of this robusto size. On each end it comes to a point, like it’s a hexagon that has been wrapped around the cigar. In fact if it had 8 points I’d say it damn near looks like a stop sign wrapped around, but I can only count 6 points so there goes that comparison.
In the middle of the band you a very bold font face that just says Camacho and in small letters right below it, is the Corojo. Every blend has a different colored band for easy reference which I’m thankful for. Because if you expected people to read that corojo below you’d have a lot of people confused on which cigar they are picking up because it’s pretty small print.
The Honduran Corojo wrapper has a very reddish hue to it. It’s a great looking wrapper though, has a nice velvety look to it. Not overly smooth, but smooth enough to enjoy. Let’s see how well this stick is built!
Function
I’m always a little leery of cigars at events, because most of the time the cigars have been sitting outside of the humidor for a little while and I’m not sure how quickly that would affect the construction of the cigar. Hopefully it wouldn’t affect it that quickly, but you never know. So when I bought this Camacho Corojo I brought it home and left it in my humi for some TLC for a few days to make sure everything was good to go on it before my review.
When I pulled it out of the humidor I gave it a quick pinch test to make sure it was ready to go. No soft spots anywhere and the bounce back was quite nice actually. I was ready to take this stick outside and light it up.
When I took it outside I gave it a thorough look thru, the filler looked good on the foot. Nice and full of tobacco. nothing to note of worry there. It has a slight flaw on the cap placed on it’s head. Nothing that I’m really concerned about though because I’m about to cut that right off!
No big veins running through the wrapper on this Camacho Corojo either which is always a good sign. So I think I’m ready to nip the cap and test the cold draw on this stick. The pre light draw is nice, not too much resistance but just a little. I was able to draw plenty of air through the barrel and get a sense of what’s in store for me. So I think I’m ready to light this guy and check it out.
Smoking
Now I don’t typically smoke in the day time so it’s a little more difficult to toast the foot of the cigar. Partly because the flame on my Xikar Stratosphere isn’t a sharp cone like flame similar to other torch lighters. So I just had to forego toasting the foot on this stick. I just began puffing on and trying to pull the flame in. It took about 5-6 puffs before the filler really took to the flame. I was kind of concerned at first and then finally it took, albeit slowly. It felt like it took 5 minutes to just get in that initial 1/8″. Usually this part burns pretty quickly for me, but this time on this Camacho Corojo it was taking longer than anticipated.
Once I got through the initial lighting issue of this stick it burned great. Very even and the draw was fantastic. It continued this way through the entire first third. The smoke output wasn’t as a great as I thought it would be. There wasn’t much wind so much of the smoke stayed around me and I was surprised there wasn’t more created honestly.
The second and final third were more of the same, very even consistent burn. The draw was consistent as well. I noticed on the final third I was starting to actually hear the wrapper burn when I draw air through the barrel. It was very interesting I had not heard that in a while and I was entertained by it. Alright let’s get into those flavors that everyone talks about with this Camacho Corojo!
Flavor
On the pre light this cigar gave off a nice bit of spice on the lips that kind of crept up at the end. Through the barrel though there was a nice sweetness like molasses that I could pull in. It was very interesting and quite enjoyable. There were some very floral notes on the foot as well which I thought was interesting.
During the first third I picked up on that floral note again especially in the retrohale. There was a good dose of savory / meaty notes throughout this Camacho Corojo. Currently there isn’t a ton of spice to it, but it’s still there lingering. There’s not a ton of complexity, but there is a great depth of each flavor. When it’s there it’s deep in flavor it’s not a light note that you can’t really pick up. It’s actually, a bold sense of flavor.
During the second third the spice began to build in the retrohale. I’m starting to pick up some earthy notes, the floral has subsided at the moment and the earthy notes have picked up. Then the spice really picks up. I got towards the end of the 2nd third and the spice was making my nose run after doing a retrohale. During the last half of this cigar it’s really picked up in body as well. I’m starting to get one of those nicotine rushes to my head and I still have half of the cigar to go!
The final third was more of the same, this is a very full bodied cigar. I didn’t believe it when Garret told me, especially after the first third, but by the end it’s up there in terms of body. I have a full blown nicotine high and I’ve got the wobbly legs. So yeah, be careful. Not only does it build in body, it builds in spice. What’s great though is you don’t really pick up on the spice on the lips or mouthfeel, but you’re blown away by it in the retrohale. So it’s one of those things that’s kind of deceiving if you’re not ready for it.
Overall a very flavorful smoke, as I said the flavors were bold and had a great depth to them. I enjoyed it, minus the nicotine buzz that I got. It was a little harsh on me that afternoon, but I powered through.
Would I Buy It Again?
I think so, I enjoyed it and would smoke it again.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Not for me, too much of a full bodied smoke for an everyday one.
Would I Buy a Box?
Possibly, I love the packaging and that’s always persuasive to me.
Conclusion
Overall I’m going to give this a 8/10. I really enjoyed it, the flavors and construction were great, but it didn’t really do much to blow me away. I would smoke it again, but I’m not sure I’d go running back to smoke it again. Sometimes things just don’t really align with your palate and you have to recognize that. I would encourage you to try it though especially if you’re looking for a full bodied smoke this thing has that in spades!
