"Fiery Character! Rare Intensity! Complex Satisfaction!" Camacho!

So there we were, rummaging around in the cigar lounge's humidor, seeing what we could find.

We've come across some real treasures during our searches. This past week,* we came across this baby and a bunch of its friends. We bought them...

Man oh man, the aging! The AGING!!
Amazeballs! Camacho!

 

We know, we know. This doesn't look like the Camacho you see in your favorite B&M. You're used to the bright bands screaming CAMACHO! What you see here is old school Camacho.

If you were paying attention, you remember the new Camachos appeared waaaay back in June 2013. Sure, you noticed that new, bold packaging. But what lurked below that boldness is even more important.

 

Here's the dealio with the Corojo:

 

Did you know... Camacho blends the Corojo with all Cuban-seed Corojo tobacco grown in the Jamastran Valley of Honduras and a fifth priming wrapper. But the seeds? Oh, the seeds have a little history themselves, having been smuggled out of Cuba in the ‘60s So yeah, these are pretty darned close to actual Cuban tobacco--without actually smoking a Cuban cigar, naturally. [source]

 

The re-branding's subtle product change brought some sweetness to balance out the Criollo wrapper, although the wrapper and binder retain most elements of the old Havana blend. While still Honduran tobacco, the cigar's filler is now Criollo, rather than Corojo. Apparently, Dominican Piloto Cubano was also added for additional sweeter notes. [source]

 
"Both Camacho Corojo Maduros [old and new versions] have a very similar profile. Both are Cuban-seed Honduran Corojo puros. Both feature the same 5th Priming Honduran Corojo wrapper. Both have Honduran Corojo binders. Both have pure Honduran Corojo fillers. Only the newer blend points out that the filler is a blend of three different primings," according to Isaac Miller on his website Cigars!

 

According to CI, the new Camacho Corojo is "in a nutshell, an everyday treasure that was crafted with the true cigar aficionado in mind. Made with a super high-grade, fifth priming Corojo wrapper leaf and available in maduro, this fine specimen aims to please and succeeds with ease. Beneath the covers, an authentic Corojo binder and bevy of three primings of Corojo long-fillers complete the mix. Smooth, classic, well-aged, and well-constructed, Corojo is everything you need it to be....and more."

The Corojo's new, updated outfit.
[source]

Oh yeah. The new look. Why the new look? "Part of the redesign includes adding the image of a scorpion on Camacho’s boxes and bands, which Austin feels is emblematic of the brand’s heritage as well as its modern-day philosophy of aggressive competition. The bands and boxes have all received a complete makeover featuring bolder logos, scaled-up lettering and more colorful designs." [source]

Obviously, Valentino loved it, as we purchased a shenaniganful.**

So about those smuggled seeds from the Jamastran Valley of Honduras... says the Camacho website, "A rugged area of the country with a similar microclimate to that of Cuba’s famed, Vuelta Abajo region. Over the course of four decades, we learned and perfected growing the original Corojo strain outside of Cuba. Making us the last in the world preserving and in possession of this critical element that made Cuban cigars and Cuban tobacco famous."

No less than a hundred years after starting this blog post, I just went into the humidor to retrieve some of these oldies and goodies. D'oh! Instead, this:

Obviously, I took the picture, as it has that fuzzy, unfocused quality. 
Not unlike me day-to-day.

If you decide I have got to smoke one of these mo-fos, be warned: This is one hell of a full-bodied smoke. Another warning: "Tons of spice on the retrohale*** made me need to call the firetrucks to my nasal cavity," according to Stogies on the Rocks.

 

If you can get your hands on the older Corojos, do it! But if you can lay your mitts on the newer ones...do it! So really, you can't go wrong, as long as you keep some chocolates nearby for when your head starts to explode from the strength. Yay! Win!

 

Camacho is using "Fiery Character! Rare Intensity! Complex Satisfaction!" to describe one of their new line extensions. But really, it also applies to the entire company. Give them a smoke and find out! Go ahead! We'll wait...

 

 

 

 

 

*You would not even BELIEVE how long ago "this past week" was! Like...five months maybe?

 

**I just made that word up.

 

***“Retro-haling is the act of moving smoke from the back of the mouth, up through the sinuses, and exhaling through the nasal passages.” [source]



The waiting is the hardest part. Or: Aging cigars is not fun for those of us with limited patience

Right now,* Valentino and I are transporting goods across state lines. (Teehee!)

 

We really are the world's most innocuous mules. I have nothing stashed in my bouffant hairdo** a la Marge Simpson. Valentino has nothing sewn into his jacket. (I was going to go with another image, one more traditional in the smuggling world, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Hi, Mom!)

 

Instead of being supercool and in the midst of a car chase with guns ablazin', we're driving along Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, minding speed limits and listening to 70s on 7.  (I love Sirius/XM radio.)

 

And a backseat full of these:

In boxes, obviously. Not a back seat full of loose cigars.

We spent a couple of afternoons/evenings at Island Jim Robinson's Leaf and Bean this past week, but couldn't actually smoke any of his signature cigars. They were totally sold out. He told us some had been produced and were sitting in Honduras, silently aging.***  He stressed that he wouldn't have them shipped to himself or anyone else until they were practically perfect in every way. (I'm paraphrasing, obvs. I just can't see Jim quoting Mary Poppins.) 

 

Then we saw on Facebook (my major source for news) that the cigars were wide awake and U.S.-bound.

They were on their way here!!

THEN! Our friend Bobby from Broadway Cigars said, Hey, 10 boxes please! And through a series of cryptic messages, we wound up with a backseat full of boxes. 

 

The interesting point here, and there actually is a point, is this: Cigar makers want to make sure every cigar is as perfect as possible. Our friend Paul Joyal, he of J Grotto cigars, told us he was out of the Anniversary Series double perfecto, an amazing cigar in its own right. We saw them at Jim's place, and at Broadway Cigars, but Paul himself didn't have any in his own shop. 

(He's going to kill me for using this picture!)
The J Grotto double perfecto in PA!

 

Were they hand rolled and ready to go? Yep. 

 

Would they be travelling to the US? Nope. 

 

"I'd rather they be perfect," he said. "It's not a financial decision. It's a quality decision."

 

Valentino and I like to say, "You're only as good as your last envelope," meaning people remember the last thing you did for them, the last plate you served them at a restaurant, whatever. The metaphor crosses into a zillion professions--although I'm fond of the saying's mob ties. 

 

If you have a bad cigar, especially if it's your first time with that premium cigar, you might not go back to it, especially with so many other options on the market. Boutique cigar crafters make the right decision when they hold off until the cigar has enough aging under its belt.

Cigars International says in their article, "Properly Aging Cigars," "Aging is often what makes a good cigar a great one."

We actually know this from experience.

For his birthday, I bought Valentino a box of his own blend of cigars, thanks to George Rico, head honcho at Gran Habano Cigars. So cool (both George and the ability to create your own blend). Valentino chose the filler, binder, and wrapper, by using their  super-fun blending kit, which contains "10-20 puritos of each tobacco leaf available at the time...detailed menu of the tobaccos included, and a blending sheet," according to the feature article on cigar.com, from whence the kit comes.

The choices...

So he puffed away on the puritos, mixing and matching, trying to figure out his most favorite.

The choosing...
(Thanks for taking the pictures, Nathalie!)

Then, because Valentino is Valentino, much research ensued, including lots of discussions with our cigar pals in-the-know, including Mr. J Grotto himself. Finally, he settled on a blend.  And a few months later, this arrived:

Yes, those are angels you hear singing.

More angels singing.
This is the sticker that held the paper covering the cigars together.
(Weird sentence. Too lazy to fix it.)
(We do not promise perfection here. Just a few laughs.)

By all that's right and holy, he should have fallen in love with them on first puff.

That does not look like a man in love with his cigar.

Not the cigar's fault. It needs more time to, as we incorrectly say, "marinate."

Here's a general guideline, from Cigar Secrets:

• "3 weeks stabilizes the mechanical tensions and moisture of a cigar, making it smoke better, particularly if it was shipped ‘green’
• 3 months allows the oils to begin their natural dissipation so that the flavors of the blend ‘marry’ [Hahaha. I should have said "marryinate."]
• 3 years (in a temperature/humidity controlled environment) allows some more complex chemical processes of true aging to take place, creating deep, rich and subtle layers of flavor
• Beyond 3 years – Carefully stored, cigars just keep getting better and better"****

At the launch of the J Grotto Anniversary series, Valentino had a nice chat with Philip Zanghi, of Debonaire Cigars, about how fermentation during the aging process reduces the ammonia and other chemicals that make, if smoked too soon, the cigar taste like ass.***** Longer-aged cigars result in mellowed acridity.

So, yes, we know he shouldn't have smoked the Cabellero #1 so soon upon its arrival, but come on. That's like buying an edible gift early on in the shopping season and not eating it.

[source]

At least Island Jim and Paul Joyle keep their cigars in another country to ensure proper aging. Lucky bastards. Although I bet they would leave the edible Christmas gifts alone too. What are you guys? Robots? Sheesh.

Anyway, the moral of the story is this: We will certainly entertain offers to mule cigars for you, if necessary. For a price, of course. Like, maybe, some Christmas gifts you're still holding onto... nom nom nom. Please just don't make us wait too long.

Will's not happy with the Idiot Handler who took the lousy picture.
He says it doesn't show the extent or importance of his work.

 

 

*Hahaha. As if I could finish a blog post in the same year I started it.

 

**I wish I could even keep a bouffant bouffanted for more than 13 seconds. 

 

***Shhhh. The Island Jims are sleeping.

****Naturally, there are exceptions. But that's a post for another time!

*****My interpretation, obvs.

The Two Caballeros*, part the first: The Cuban Trade and '64 Padrons

Last night, I had a double date--yes, two of my favorite men** wined and dined me. Actually, sangria, not wine, and by "dine" I mean "ate until we almost died from deliciousness."

 

Valentino and I dragged our friend Doc to one of our most favorite restaurants on Federal Hill in Providence, RI (and really, one of our favorites in the universe), Opa the Phoenician, owned and run by Joe Karam.  (We learned about the place years ago because his daughter was in one of my classes and she remains one of my all-time favorite students--and not just because she makes a delicious sangria.)

 

Anyway, if you go (and you SHOULD go) you must must must get the tasting menu at this Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant.  Do not order off the menu.  Do. Not. Please, just let Joe decide what you're going to get; you will not be sorry.  If you like unique stuff that you can't get just anywhere, this is your place.  If you ask really nicely, and it's available, get the raw kibbeh. (Follow the link, read about it, and don't you dare turn up your nose until you've tried it.) And if you're super adventurous, you should ask if Joe has raw liver (not for me, but the men loved it) and the lamb testicles, which you should stop your laughing until you try it, because those em-effers were damned good.

 

So when I rolled out of the restaurant, a little more slowly than the men because some nose-powdering was necessary, I found the guys chatting about (what else?) cigars with Joe. Actually, by the time I got out there, trades had already occurred, a couple of unbanded sticks to my guys and a banded but of the same heritage to Joe, if you catch my drift. 

 

Then we headed to Tammany Hall, a cigar bar down the street, where Doc's generosity hit a pinnacle.  He handed Valentino a Padron Family Reserve 1964 45th Anniversary Maduro that had been aging in his humidor for five years. They lit them up. I almost died of happiness. Five years of aging on top of tobacco that had already been aged for ten years, the hallmark of the Padron Family Reserve series.

 

Valentino to the right of me.

 

An article on the Cigars International website beautifully describes the aging process: "You know the taste of a well-aged cigar: the subtle complexity, the certain 'je ne c'est quoi,' that light kiss of tobacco flavor left gently lingering. Aging is often what makes a good cigar a great one."

Doc to the left.

Man, oh, man, when a great cigar becomes an even greater one? There are no appropriate words for this 52 x 6". I wanted everyone else to put their smokes out because the smell was polluting this delicious experience--like when you're trying to listen to your favorite song and people keep talking through it. I was lucky that they were both smoking the same thing on either side of me.  Now that's heaven!

Doc also gave Valentino a Padron Magnum 50 x 9" natural, which had been in his humidor for seven years. Seven effing years, on top of the two and a half years of aging the tobacco. You're going to have to wait to hear about that smoke (and second-hand smoke).
 



*Almost forgot! Caballero is one of my favorite words. It's Spanish for "knight" or "gentleman." I don't know which descriptor is more appropriate!

**Sorry you couldn't join us Cathie! Hope you're enjoying your vacation!!