Initial Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to smoke the Camacho Triple Maduro for a long time. I’ve seen it in the shelfs of my local B&M for quite awhile and I never knew if I was quite ready for it. It had been tempting me trying to convince me to pay $14 for this dark and mysterious cigar. I have had Maduros before, but a Triple Maduro, to be completely honest that part scared me. Is it triple the strength and power of a normal maduro? Would I even like it? All of these were the questions that I had surrounding this cigar.
Finally one day I walked into the humidor with my chest puffed out, head cocked back and I was ready and pumped to try this Camacho Triple Maduro. I might have still been a little scared on the inside but I couldn’t let that show. I grabbed one and a few others on the way out and proudly marched all the way to the cashier counter. Confidently paid for the sticks so the cashier knew I wasn’t scared of this cigar. I didn’t want to look like a chump buying a Triple Maduro for goodness sake. The cashier didn’t speak a word about the selection, which I was glad and a little let down at the same time. I wanted him to say “man, that’s a great stick you’ll really enjoy”, or “be careful that’ll knock you on your ass”. I just wanted some sort of acknowledgement that I had stepped up to the plate for this Triple Maduro. Oh well I’ll take the cigars and be on my way. With the back story behind us, how about we get into the smoke?
Looks
I’d been eying the Camacho Triple Maduro for quite a while, the box was just an eye catcher. Every time I walked by it’s glossy black paint edge with brilliant silver. The box has a base that is a larger square than the lid as if it needs something to help support the weight of the triple maduro sticks. This box looks like the bottom third of a pyramid that hasn’t been completed yet. On the front of the box there is a beautiful silver plate that reads ‘Triple Maduro’. Absolutely stunning, I’ve been trying to come across one of these empty boxes for at least three years just so I can keep it at my house and put random things in it. That’s how magnificent this box looks.
Not to be outdone, the cigar matches the box in beauty and exceeds it in detail. The Camacho Triple Maduro has very detailed and delicate double bands around the barrel. The band at the foot of the cigar has three encircled heads that look very similar to our American currency. Starting on the left there is a image of what appears to be some sort of soldier with a jaw guard similar to what the Romans used to wear. The center figure is a female with long flowing hair and what may be a hat on her head. On the far right circle there appear to be two heads, one looks like another soldier silhouette staring at the back of a female’s head with what appears to be a crown. It’s hard to tell because they are just silhouettes, but they look great nonetheless.
The wrapper on the Camacho Triple Maduro is a dark brown almost black color. Incredibly thick and it feels very rustic. Of course this has to be an incredibly strong leaf to endure a maduro curing process. After understanding the process of maduro curing I can only imagine how thick this leaf started out and how long it’s been on the journey to become a final product. A maduro curing process takes longer than any other leaf, if you can imagine going through that and coming out on the other side ready for production. I guarantee you this leaf has some stories behind those veins.
Function
Staying consistent with the rustic look, the barrel also has a very rustic non smooth feel to it. There are bulges in certain areas and valleys in the filler at other ends. The Camacho Triple Maduro is not your typical parejo cigar in fact it has different ring gauges along the barrel 48x54x48 to be exact. I don’t feel any soft spots in the filler, just areas where the leaf may be thicker or thinner do to the curing process. I’m not too alarmed I know this cigar has been through a lot on it’s way to my hands.
I decided to use my ole V cutter again on this stick. I want to throttle down some of the smoke incase this thing starts out pretty potent. I want to build up to a fuller body instead of starting out with a kick in the teeth you know what I mean? The cold draw on this cigar was fair, there seemed to be a little resistance, but after looking at the barrel I can tell it’s going to open up about half way into the first third.
Another interesting thing about this particular Camacho Triple Maduro is the head of the cigar has a somewhat flat top that curves up to a point. It gives me a nice little place to rest the cigar in my mouth. It makes it incredibly easy to smoke. I know some guys like to roll the cigar around their lips. It’s similar to the LFD Chisel Tip, I don’t know if they are all made this way, but thats how this cigar was laying on my lips currently. Time to light this bad boy up!
Smoking
The Camacho Triple Maduro takes to the flame like it was gasoline, but without the explosion. It’s as if all those years curing this leaf has been waiting to get close to a flame so that it can jump on it and start smoldering away and giving off an incredible aroma. This stick starts with such an even burn it’s almost unbelievable. The ruggedness of the leaf burns in perfect sync. As I suspected the first third of the stick the draw was a little resistant, but boy did it open up.
If you look at the ash in the picture you can see some of the darker lines from the first third and about half way through it, it opened up and began burning perfectly. The burn got a little crooked on me but nothing that I worried too much about. In the middle of the second third of this stick the barrel ballooned out a little and this is when the cigar took off producing a ton of white smoke. I couldn’t be happier with this cigar right now. How does all this smoke translate into the flavor from the Triple Maduro?
Flavor
When I picked up this cigar to give it the pre-game ritual, I picked up a very strong sweet dark aroma. Its hard to destinguish it between a dark coffee or dark chocolate. It was a very heavy aroma that perked up my sniffers. I would say it was almost a combination of chocolate and molasses, can that be done? Man I hope so that sounds pretty spectactular.
After the cut of the Camacho Triple Maduro I was able to really pull in that strong chocolate flavor similar to what I smelled on foot of the stick. I couldn’t pick up much spice on the cold draw, but sometimes that is typical and I don’t get the spice until I light up.
Once I lit up the Camacho Triple Maduro that chocolate really intensified as if I had just walked into the Ghiradelli factory and stuck my head into a vat of dark chocolate. As soon as I lift my head out of the chocolate it was like someone threw red pepper flakes in my mouth and clamped my jaw shut. Ok.. maybe the spice wasn’t THAT intense, but the backend spice of this cigar was very noticeable.
This flavor profile stayed very consistent all the way through until the final third where I began picking up more of spice than the chocolate. Maybe my sweet receptors were just overwhelmed at this point and all I could taste was the spicy tingle left behind. Either way this Camacho Triple Maduro was a full bodied cigar that didn’t didn’t knock me on my ass. For me thats a win! Either I’m learning how to handle full bodied cigars, or I was still too pumped up with confidence that I couldn’t even notice the strength of the cigar.
Would I Buy It Again?
It’s hard to say. I’ve been wanting to smoke this cigar for so long that I think I had hyped it up to myself a lot, I’m not sure if I can justify the $14 price tag on it too often.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
For me no, it’s just too strong of a cigar, and a little too pricey for my wallet right now.
Would I Buy a Box?
I think it’d be a great gift for someone who loves maduro cigars and it’s beautiful packaging. I doubt I’d buy one for myself, but it would be an excellent gift.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this Camacho Triple Maduro cigar. It was full of flavor, rich and creamy with a back end spice. The full body-ness of it didn’t hit me like I thought it would. Overall it was a really enjoyable smoke. I don’t see myself buying it over and over, it’s more of a celebration cigar or one of those you keep in your humidor for just the right occasion.
