Yard Work: Camacho Pre-Embargo 1962 (and kittens)

I love the internet.  This is not a surprise to anyone who has ever met me.  You can get anything on the internet! Anything! Heck, that's even where I got Valentino. (Looking at you, match.com!)

 

So we were on vacation in Pittsburgh, both of us sitting on his dad's front porch. I was checking email on my phone because I'm so very, very important.  Hahaha. I was actually trying to outfunny my son (Hi, Sean!), who was texting me about the supercute feral kittens* in the woods behind his house. I lost that round of funnies, just in case you were curious.

 

But ultimately, we all won, because I saw an email from my friend Sean at Cigar.com (Hi, another Sean!) promoting a five-pack of Camacho Pre-Embargo for some outrageously low price. He described that cigar as "buttery" and if you know anything about me, it's that I love butter even more than the internet.  I bought a five pack of the 6" x 48 Toros, knowing they'd be waiting for Valentino when we returned home. (And purchasing them in secret while he sat next to me was sneaky and fun.)

 

Yesterday, he (Valentino, not either of the Seans) was doing some yard work and decided to fire one up. I was outside of the garage, sanding down some furniture we got at a yard sale. (Good idea but refinishing furniture is waaaay harder than expected.) While ingesting fine dust, I smelled something more delicious waft in my direction.  "Is that good?" I asked, looking for an excuse to stop sanding. "Because it smells great."

 

That brown stuff is actually the neighbor's lawn.
He was coming back from talking to their landscaper, who you should never hire.

Cigars International said about The Camacho Pre-Embargo: "Camacho is synonymous with ‘full.’ Full-bodied, full-flavored, and full of character. Indeed, Camacho blends tend to be powerful yet well-balanced smokes that offer superior flavor and aroma characteristics." I was totally going to say that.

And a nice little reminder of his age as he smoked.

According to The Examiner, ”several transitions…keep the smoker interested.”   The article explains that there’s an “initial taste of fresh earth and leather [that] gives way to a hint of spice as the flame reaches the filler and binder for the first time. More flavors of leather combined with hay and cedar take over for the first-third of the cigar, with hints of black coffee occasionally weaving in and out.” In the second-third, “the flavors of black coffee and leather are replaced with a meatier tobacco taste reminiscent of smoked oak.  This increase in body continues to grow with more coffee and chocolate flavors appearing.” The review notes that as the final third approaches, it gets a bit drier tasting, but the hearty flavors “last until the final third where the cigar settles into a nice balance of earth and leather to finish things out.”

OMG! That's exactly what I was going to say!

Back to Cigars International: "The blend begins with a vintage '99 Jamastran Corojo wrapper draped around a complex filler blend including a significant portion of authentic pre-embargo Cuban tobacco - the very same tobaccos used in Camacho's beloved Liberty series. Medium in body with a rich flavor profile, Camacho's 1962 Pre-Embargo size brings copious amounts of flavor, including wood, leather, nuts, and spices."   Heh heh.  I said "nuts."

If you can get some, I'd say go for it. (Valentino agrees.) One of the recommendations is to smoke it slowly so it doesn't burn hot, but frankly, isn't that the whole point of cigar smoking? The slow burn, the calmness...unless you're looking at your neighbor's lawn that needs some serious work--that's a different kind of slow burn. 

 

* You know you wanted to see the kittens.