Over the past couple of weeks I have been telling myself that I need to finally get around to reviewing the Santos De Miami that Brad May was kind enough to send me a while back. Earlier this week I set that cigar aside and made plans to smoke it for todays review.
As it turns out, Brian snaked the review from Jerry, who would of in turn snaked it from me. Over the past five years, I don’t think this type of phenomenon has ever happened here at Stogie Review. Jerry was able to come up with a great post entitled Three Things I Know to be True (Cigars Edition) and I decided to go the Humidor Diving route and dig something old out of my humidor.
Rather than dig around in the cooler until I found something that interested me, I went in to this review looking for a cigar that I just happened to see recently on Facebook. Our friend Steve posted a photo of the old Camacho Negro and I was almost positive I had a couple lying around.
As it turns out, I had four of them buried in a rarely opened coolidor. After rambling to the camera for a couple of minutes, I set my cigar aflame and began my review.
With more than four years of age, the Camacho Negro left a lot to be desired. It seemed as though it had a bit too much rest and lost much of its flavor intensity. Some of the rough edges that I hoped to smooth out with age turned to absolute mush, so to speak.
The cigar burned beautifully and provided plenty of dense smoke. The flavor profile was too one dimensional for my taste and very light in terms of intensity. There was a flicker of hope when the flavor level ramped up but those hopes were dashed away just a few short minutes later when everything turned harsh and overly bitter.
If I had to guess, I would imagine that these cigars probably reached their peak about two years ago. At this point they were too subdued and lacked any wow factor. Even with this cigar as mild flavored as it was, I think they would make a good companion with a cup of coffee, first thing in the morning.
Nice work, Walt. It definitely shows the pitfalls of overaging certain cigars. Of course I’d like to see you revisit those Pirate’s Golds. lol
jjo,
Would it be just as good if I sent a bunch to Mike to review? After all, it would only be fair, he did give me a bunch of those Devil’s Weed…… LOL
Thanks for checking out the video
I think Mike may already be in enough pain. 😉 Are those PGs the Dominican made ones? I thought the ones made by Reyes were decent, and Brian seemed to think so too.
jjo,
I Had to endure Mike’s morning ritual of blow-drying his hair at Cigar Expo…… trust me, he isn’t already in enough pain, LOL
The Pirates Gold weren’t advertised as being made by anyone at the time I bought them. I later found out that they had something to do with Puros Indios (Now Reyes).
The last couple of Cigarfest events Pirates Gold had a booth setup. I believe the Reyes people were working it.
Hey buddy Great review I really like these Humi diving videos. But I do have to say you have way to many cigars and you can’t tackle them all so if you want somebody to help you get through all of those give me a shout. hahah oh and I second the Pirates Gold. Thats Two so far careful what you wish for.
Corey,
I always bring cigars with me to the gun range. Next time I’ll try to bring along some older stuff……. now if you could only make it to the range to get them, LOL
hahah nice Lets Try and get a Saturday Morning together sometime we can go shoot.
Cory,
With the month I’ve just had shooting, about all I can afford to do is get out and shoot some .22. Let me know what Saturday works for you and If I’m free, we can get together over at Oley.
Hey the box that you kept those pirates gold cigars in is Sosa Family cigars. I was just at Disney a day ago and they released 3 new blends- the 60, Super selection, and underground- would love to catch a review on one of those if they make their way to your hands sometime!
Mark,
I didn’t know that Sosa was still an active brand. I haven’t seen them in a few years. I’ll have to keep my eye out for them. If I come across them locally, I try to pick up a few for review.
Thanks
Your welcome for the inspiration, sorry they weren’t as good as they used to be. Yeah, not all smokes improve with age. The ones I have still taste fine, but yeah, lost a lot of the punch that made them so enjoyable. I used to like smoking the Gurkha Fuerte cause they were cheap and had a pretty good pop to them. Found some that sat for a few years and they turned into complete airballs.
Steve,
They are still very smokeable, they just lost that punch and flavor intensity that I’m accustomed to with Camacho. One of these morning I’ll have one with a cup of coffee. I think they might just shine as a morning cigar.
Having a Camacho Corojo from ’07 right now. Wow, this thing is still full of body and spice. A great smoke. I think the current ones have lost some of that edge and strength.
I miss Club Stogie too. Still have the stickers on my track bike and still wear the hat. All the mods moved and created cigarasylum.com to keep that spirit alive.
Hope your next one turns out better. The one I had turned a bit bitter at the end but I clipped some tar off and purged and it was all good.
Hey Walt,, your humidor/ pinic ice cooler won’t cut for the cigars. Tell Jerry gives you some Stogie Review money to get you a upright humidor man….
I’ve actually been using coolers for about five years now and they do a better job than my desktop humidors.
They aren’t for everyone, but I’m happy with them.
Coolers are the absolute best way to store cigars. I have my tower humidor for show, but the good smokes all find their way into the cooler. 😀
Walt,your killin me!Just found one of these a couple a days ago in one of my humi’s & thought I might be in for a treat!(damit)..
Light it up and see how it turns out. I smoked one out of a batch of four that I had tucked away. Maybe I had a bad one, maybe yours aged better than mine, you never know.
Let us know how it turns out.
Go ahead and smoke it. The one I had last week was just fine. A bit monotonous, but the flavor was good.
Where’d you get that sick Nub hat? I’d definitely pick one up if I could find one
James,
I picked up the Nub hat during the last Nub / Cain Tour with Sam Leccia. I’m not sure if they are available anymore. If you see a Studio Tobac event come to town, pop in and see what they have.
Thanks for watching
Love the humidor diving videos! A nice change from the “new release” circuit. From what I could find the Negro is either the predecessor to the black or Coyolar or the cousin because it appears they both came from Coyolar.