Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 50 ring gauge
- MSRP $8.00
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
I got the email at the end of January from our Davidoff rep…”Camacho Candela Is Back!!!” I had no idea if we were going to get the cigars at Burns…and I never had seen them before, so “It’s Back” had little meaning for me. I’ve honestly had mixed results from candela wrapper. While La Flor Dominicana, Viaje, and Illusione candelas have all been winners for my palate, Fuente’s candela is purely forgettable to me and the infamous Thompson Iguana still holds a place in my mind and heart as the worst cigar I’ve ever smoked.
The Camacho Candela is basically a twist on the Corojo blend that is part of the core offerings from the company. The filler and binder consist of Honduran “Original Corojo” tobacco, while the wrapper is a Criollo leaf “flash-cured over a charcoal fire” to fix the chlorophyll, keeping the leaf green. They only offer the Candela in a Robusto size and in boxes of 25 sticks. A total of 3,000 boxes were made in 2018, for a total production of 75,000 cigars. It shipped in mid-February to allow plenty of time for people to purchase them before St. Patrick’s Day.
I bought a first Camacho Candela because I needed to try it, both for the purpose of selling it in the store and figuring out if I wanted to review it here. Soon after that first one, I bought four more for review and for my own smoking pleasure. This review sample is the third one I’ve smoked.
Prelight
The box follows the regular Camacho packaging standards of the past few years, with a bright green lid and black lower portion. Shamrock imagery plays a part on inside and outside of the lid, as well as the band of the cigar itself. It’s a very bright green that you’ll have trouble ignoring in just about any shop I’ve been in.
The wrapper of the cigar itself is green, as well, though a lighter shade, and probably a bit lighter green than the first batch of LFD Double Claro. I wouldn’t call these “Incredible Hulk” Cigars, but they are notably odd in coloration for most cigar smokers. I know this wrapper type was very popular 50 or 60 years ago, but more people have commented to me about not finding the color appealing than anything else.
The wrapper had a slightly oily feel to it, about the same amount of smooth oiliness that you might get on a Connecticut Shade leaf. The aroma from it was a mixture of rich earth and sweet hay. The foot of the cigar had a slightly toned-down earthiness and some cedar.
The cold draw was excellent on every sample of these I’ve smoked so far, with a range of flavors from tea to cedar to hay to earth.
Flavor
Every time I light up one of these Camacho Candelas I am surprised. I should know what’s coming, but the visibly green wrapper leaf just doesn’t let me think of the amount of pepper spice there will be on my palate from the very first puff. Not that it’s as spicy as the regular Camacho Corojo, but being built on the same “platform” it does have the tendency to be quite peppery. When you sit back and focus on the entire experience, though, you notice the overt creaminess of the smoke and the mild grassiness of the up-front flavor, while flavors of earth and cedar come in closely behind, right before pepper spice leaves a short, searing heat on your tongue and nasal passages. It’s odd because you don’t often find that combination of “mild” and “very spicy.”
Getting into the second third, the pepper spice was a steady burn at the back of my palate, while up front I still had flavors of tea, sweet hay and a little earth. The retrohale continued to be nutty and very spicy.
The final third continued to be slightly sweet and grassy. The spicy aspects had died down a little bit, allowing more of the cedar and earth notes to come through.
Construction
All samples I had of this blend were excellently constructed, featuring a very good draw, solid ash and fairly even burn line.
Value
At 75,000 sticks, this isn’t that limited a production run, but it is still limited. For it to still have a MSRP of $8 is great. It’s definitely worth that much or more.
Conclusions
Someone said to me that I like this cigar so much because I don’t really like candela wrapper and this blend subdues much of the grassiness of it. I’ll admit that it’s true. Candela is supposed to be grassy and light. There is a little of that in this blend, but what it comes off as more than anything else is something like the result of putting a Connecticut Shade wrapper on the Corojo filler and binder. And I like it! It’s smooth, creamy and mild…but also very spicy at times. It’s unusual and a great mix…and certainly among the top tier of candela-wrapped cigars you can pick up to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this weekend.
Camacho Candela is available from Leaf Enthusiast sponsor, Small Batch Cigar.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
