Several months ago I read a topic on Club Stogie that pertained to splitting a couple of boxes of cigars. The boxes in question were a box of CAO Brazillia and a box of Camacho Negro. Being a little strapped for cash I contacted this person and asked if he was willing to split the box of Camacho Negro into 5 packs rather than in half. He was kind enough to do so and about a week later, I had my cigars.
After a few months of resting, I finally decided to pull one from the humidor to give it a shot. The wrapper had a light oily sheen with small oily specs scattered throughout the wrapper. When gently pinched I could feel that the cigar was firm to the touch but had a very fragile wrapper. After inspection, I reached for my freshly sharpened plug cutter and began to open up the head of the cigar.
Once opened up I found the draw to be free with a little resistance. I began to toast the foot, and shortly after lit the cigar. The initial puff resulted in a mouthful of smoke. The body was Medium to Full with a dry and harsh finish. The base flavor mildly tasted of cocoa with a mixture of spice that immediately began to irritate the back of my throat.
After a few minutes the cigar began to settle. The dry finish began to fade and become creamy while the body remained Medium to Full. The cocoa base flavor began to pick up slightly as the spice faded and became less of an irritant to my throat. The burn rate was about average and produced an attractive zebra striped firm and even ash.
As I smoked my way to the two thirds point, the zebra striping pattern on the ash began to become more of a solid grey while remaining firm and even. The smoke filling the room, for me, was nice and aromatic. In the flavor department, the cocoa flavors began to fade while coffee flavors with a vegetal undertone beginning to enter into the picture. The spice I mentioned before was just about gone making for a decent smoke.
About an hour later I reached the final third of the cigar. The burn remained even producing a firm grey ash and a light resting smoke that remained aromatic. The base flavor turned to more of a rich earthy flavor as the coffee began to fade .The vegetal undertones disappeared and hints of spice began to pick up in its place. Typically I enjoy the flavor of spice in a cigar but this spice was a bit harsh and nagged at the back of my throat which was dampening the smoking experience for me.
While coming down the home stretch the cigar went through another flavor change. The rich earthy flavors faded and the flavor of strong black coffee became dominant with a nice cocoa background flavor. The body climbed into the Full spectrum and the finish was long and creamy. The spice began to build as well, at this point it became too harsh for me to enjoy any longer and I was forced to lay the cigar to rest.
Overall I think that this was a decent smoke but not my Favorite Camacho by far. I really did not enjoy the start of this smoke but found the middle to be nice. The harshness I experienced I tend to attribute to the Mexican tobacco that makes up the wrapper. I think that if this cigar had any other wrapper I would enjoy it much more than I did.
I would recommend buying this cigar if you had an extra $6.00 or so to spend at a local shop and you wanted to try something new, but would pass it up otherwise
Good review Walt. The Camacho Negro was my first taste of a Camacho cigar and my experience was similar to your’s with the spice taste being more harsh than enjoyable. Luckily I didn’t let my first experience spoil everything since smoking the Camacho El-Legend Ario with you and the the DWSC guys I’ve liked every other Camacho stogie.
I think the Camacho Negro must be the “dog rocket” of the Camacho line up.
Walt, nice review. With all the flavor changes, the Negro sounds like a very complex cigar.
While I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mexican wrapper was responsible for the harshness, I have to wonder how quickly you smoked the stick.
As I’m sure you already know, taking only one puff every minute or so on a spicy stogie like this can help cool down the smoke and alleviate some of the harshness.
I have 2 boxes of these, the size is the 5×50. What I found out is they come in a humidor of their own. The cigars are wrapped, but the box is not. So they the gars can be a little on the dry side, depending on where they were stored. But put them in a good humi with 70-74% RH and they settle down and are great smokes. They are so powerful that at first you think your throat is burning, but it is the spice in them. After a few puffs they settle down to a nice smoke. I bought mine for about 2 bucks per stick, better than the 14 bucks a stick for the triple maduro which to me is a medium smoke.
I have had two of these cigars, and, in my opinion, they are a bit on the strong side to start off. I agree with this review, but I would like to stress the fact that these babies are spicey! (Well, atleast to start off). After the first quarter I think that the spice mellows out and makes i nice smoke, but for god sakes watch out for all that initial spice!
Great review, but for me, this cigar is top notch. Probably one of my favorite cigars. My grandad gave me a few which have had a year+ in the humidor. This one wasn’t quite as harsh on me as they have been in the other reviews but I assume it’s because of the time in the humidor. And I do love spice which also helps!