Camacho Select Review

5/23/2014

Cigar: Camacho Select
Size: Lonsdale, 6.0"x44
MSRP: $5.60
Strength: Medium
Wrapper: Cameroon
Origin: Honduras

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Prelight: The Select has a very cool looking band with matching foot band, boasting that the blend is done by Don Julio Eiroa. The smooth, nearly veinless wrapper has a faint floral aroma that is a tad pungent. The foot is very woody with a hint of cocoa. After punching, the draw is nice and has a lot of chocolate notes, with a little earthiness to it.

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1/3: A little pepper and spice kick off this cigar, which transitions to a sweet combination of dried fruit and cream rather quickly. There is a toasted taste, but not like bread. I guess this is what “toasted tobacco” tastes like. So far, this is a fairly mild cigar in strength and body.

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2/3: The ash is slightly brownish, making me think there is some age in the leaves, and the smoke output is perfect – not too thick, not too weak. The primary flavors have evolved to wood and baking spices. About half-way, a nuttiness kicks in. The burn line is straight. I am really liking this cigar at this point. Subtle flavors and an absolutely perfect size.

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3/3: Unfortunately, my love affair with this cigar is now over. I am getting an extremely harsh and bitter vegetal taste. I have attributed brown ash as aged tobacco in the past, but now I am rethinking this hypothesis. This cigar tastes too fresh in the final third, even though the first two thirds were excellent.

Overall: A bi-polar cigar. It starts off great, gets better, than drops off like lemming. If I were to find this stick at $2 I might be tempted to give it another try, or if it had 3-4 years on it. Great construction and flavors for the most part, but that last third turned this Lonsdale into a petit corona; the final third is almost unsmokeable.