Tag Archives: Camacho

February 1, 2026 · 9:33 am

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Camacho and Maestranza Cigars

We are saddened here this week by the passing of our beloved dog, Macha. Many have met Macha over the years, she even made an appearance on the Cigar Authority once, and she was a large part of our household. We suspect she was 14 or 15 years old, so she lived a long life, especially since the last 12 were with three legs. We adored here and she leaves a hole on our hearts. I appreciate everyone’s condolences. I smoked a Padron 1964 Anniversary that I got in 2014, the year we adopted Macha, in her honor.

A few weeks back I walked into a local shop that I haven’t been to in a while, and asked the owner what was new and exciting. He said that they just got the Colonel E.H. Taylor San Andrés and it was selling well. I don’t know anything about this brand, I suspect it’s a Meier and Dutch (CI) creation. It, obviously, has a San Andrés wrapper, Criollo binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is made in the Dominican Republic (La Isla, I generally like their stuff). It isn’t really budget priced, I think it was around $12. I smoked it, and my first thought was that I should have asked Jeff what was good, not what was new. It was OK. I would think it would be better at half the price. I know E.H. Taylor is a bourbon brand, and I didn’t get any boozy flavors, but I really wouldn’t know one if I tripped over one. It was a typical dry cocoa, San Andrés cigar. Nothing special. My notes say that the E.H. is for eh…

For obvious reasons (welcome Davidoff to the CigarCraig family! thanks for the support!), I feel the need to get back into some of their lines, such as Camacho and Avo. This week I revisited the Camacho Triple Maduro in the gordo size. This 6″ x 60 has a Honduran wrapper, Mexican binder, with a filler blend from Brazil, Honduras and the DR. The website is a little out of date, it says it’s the only all maduro cigar, a category which now includes the Drew Estate Blackened. Fun fact: Abe Dababneh, owner of Smoke Inn, coined the term Triple Maduro and licensed it to Christian Eiroa when he owned Camacho. Davidoff bought the brand and I want to say they paid Abe off. (Edit: Abe tells the whole story on the latest Prime Time show with Cigar-Coop, which I listed to a whole 24 hours after writing this post.) I remember smoking this a long time ago. This was a really good cigar. It’s heavy and rich, with a load of cocoa and some sweet earth. I enjoyed this and will pick up some more.

Finally, I was in yet another store nearby and picked up a couple of the RomaCraft Maestranzas Caballería Valencia (6 x 52). These were very reasonably priced, around $10 I think. This is a core line cigar that’s been out for a year or two and this is the first I’ve come across them in the wild (granted, I don’t get out much). This is another San Andrés wrapper cigar, with a Brazilian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. It’s made at the Nica Sueńo factory. I’ve been a fan of the Nica Sueno output going back to 2011 or thereabouts. Fortunately the new ownership of the local CigarCigars stores brought in RomaCraft stuff, so I have a local source now. I enjoyed this 6″ x 52 cigar quite a bit, although it didn’t have the intensity that I find in most of their stuff. Again I got a dry cocoa predominantly. I’ll be grabbing more of these, as well as the Cromagnons, next visit.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigars, Colonel E.H. Taylor, davidoff, Macha, Maestranza, RoMaCraft, Triple Maduro

November 16, 2025 · 9:16 am

Camacho, Powstanie and Mi Querida Cigars

It’s funny, Camacho cigars were a staple for me back in the 90s, the Corojo and Havana were favorites. They used to label the boxes “dark” Corojo if I remember correctly, they were the best. I even smoked though a box of Camacho Candelas. This was all before the company was sold to Davidoff. Since they have owned the company, I’ve continued to enjoy the cigars, oddly not as often as I used to. I recently saw them on a local retailers shelves, and decided to pick some up. I grabbed a Camacho Corojo BXP, which is the box pressed toro, a size I haven’t tried before, and it’s been quite some time since I’ve had a Corojo in any size. This is a well-behaved, spicy cigar. Apparently they added some Pennsylvania ligero to this Honduran puro, giving it some more zip than the round versions. I liked it, and I’m going to grab more, along with the round version to compare the two.

I had to take a road trip for work this week, moving some vehicles around. It was 7+ hours of windshield time, just out and back. I dis go right past Harrisburg Beer and Cigar and it timed out right for a rest stop. Sadly, James wasn’t in the store, I’ll try to plan better next time I get out that way. I picked up some Powstanie San Andrés toros, a cigar I had been looking forward to trying. I like the guys at Powstanie, Mike and Mike (and Greg). If you were to search my archives you’ll find a video I did with them. (here, I made it easy for you!). I lit one up shortly after I got home. This is a Nicaraguan binder and filler with the San Andrés wrapped cigar made at Nica Sueńo in Esteli. It had a nice earthy, spicy sweetness, I liked it a lot. My only complaint was that it burned too fast, I’d like for it to have lasted longer. It was also pricy, but that’s getting harder and harder to complain about, they all are. Another winner from the Powstanie guys.

Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust traditionally sends out media kits around this time of year, strategically to get cigars on people’s year end lists. Over the last bunch of years this has resulted in one of his cigars being at or near the top of the Halfwheel Consensus. I think we can all agree that the timing is strategic, but we can also agree that the cigars are exceptional and deserve whatever accolades they receive. Two of the four cigars included have already graced my pages, as I went out and purchased some, but there were two that I hadn’t yet tried, one of which is the Mi Querida Gorila Gordo, This is a 6″ x 60 with a “109” style bullet head. It’s basically an overweight belicoso. It’s also an excellent cigar. I personally adore the regular old Mi Querida line with the blue bands. It’s rich and chocolatey, with just enough spice to make it interesting, but basically, to me, it’s smoking a dessert. I don’t shy away from 60 ring cigars, there’s a lot I like, it’s cool to have a Mi Querida in this gauge.

Back by popular demand, I’ve launched the 2025 edition of the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa. Go HERE to sign up. We have a really great core group. That’s all for today, until next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as BXP, Camacho, cigar, cigars, Corojo, Gorila Gordo, Mi Querida, Powstanie, San Andrés

June 22, 2025 · 6:00 am

Camacho, Plasencia and Micallef Cigars

I saw Jack Heyer at the Camacho booth at the Smoke-Onos event last month, and, funny enough, I received some samples of the new Camacho Limited Edition 2025 last week. I’ve smoked a lot of Camacho cigars over the years, going back to the ’90s when Christian Eiroa owned the company. I even went through a box of the Camacho Candela Monarcas. This new cigar has a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and Honduran and Dominican fillers. It’s offered in a 6″ x 52 Toro and they come in tins of 20 priced at $17.50 each. I smoked a couple of these, it’s unusual for me to smoke the same cigar over a week’s time, but the first one I smoked was so good, I had to smoke another one. These suit my palate ( but not necessarily my wallet!). It’s a really good cigar, loads of espresso, with some spice. This is an excellent cigar.

My youngest son has taken to getting me a couple cigars for Father’s Day the last couple years. He stops in CIgar Mojo in King Of Prussia, PA and they have done and excellent job of recommending cigars that I haven’t had before. This year one of the cigars was the new Plasencia Alma De Cielo Amancer, the Hexagon pressed 6″ x 60. The press isn’t as the Alma Fuerte Sixto, which has sharper corners. This isn’t a surprise, given that the wrapper appears to be quite thin. It looks like a shade wrapper, but it’s actually a Nicaraguan wrapper from Condega, which they say is grown at 1300 meters above sea level. They say it’s the highest Elevation cigar on the market. The rest of the cigar is Nicaraguan as well, binder and filler, obviously made at the Plasencia factory. This is on the milder side, which starts out a little drying on the palate. There’s a sweet cream sort of thing going on. As it heats, it rounds out, losing the press. I’m always embarrassed when my kids give me cigars, especially when they spend so much, it was a very generous gift. A great gift is something I wouldn’t buy for myself.

A cigar on the opposite end of the spectrum in several ways is the Micallef Black Firecracker. Like the Camacho, it has a San Andrés maduro wrapper, with an Ecuador binder and Nicaraguan fillers. The format is 3½” x 50 with a fuse pigtail cap. I’ve smoked many of the seasonal Firecracker releases, I try to buy them from Two Guys Cigars when they come out, I think I missed a couple here and there. The most memorable was probably the Fratello that I smoked on the Spanish Steps in Rome. I keep a bunch around for those times when I don’t have a lot of time. I also like the Micallef Black blend, I’m a fan. This was a strong little cigar. It started out with a blast of pepper, the mellowed slightly, although never dropping below strong. The burn was perfect, and it was a very enjoyable cigar. The only problem is that it’s priced a touch higher than the toro (and the box pressed toro that’s a Smoke Inn exclusive, also excellent), but it’s a different cigar, and requires a bit more work to make.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alma Del Cielo, Amamcer, Black, Camacho, cigar, cigars, Firecracker, Hexagon, Limited Edition 2025, Micallef, Plasencia

April 24, 2019 · 9:43 am

Camacho American Barrel Aged and Corojo Maduro Cigars

I went into the Camacho stash fir the first couple of cigars this week, and the first one that caught my eye was an American Barrel Aged Perfecto Gorda. This was in a Sampler from the IPCPR a few years ago, so I’m not entirely sure it’s a regular production size, hang on, let me go look. OK, It’s available, and it’s a terrific size. It’s a hair under 6” x 52, and lit easily and opened up to a perfect burn and draw. This is an all US Broadleaf blend, PA Broadleaf wrapper with broadleaf fillers, aged in bourbon barrels and made in Davidoff’s Dominican factory. I found myself mesmerized by the sweet, medium-bodied flavor of this cigar. I’ve smoked this blend before, but I don’t recall enjoying it as much as I did in this shape. Perhaps it was the several years of additional age? As my regular readers know, if there’s any bourbo

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n flavor from the barrel aging, it’s lost on me. If I ever even had bourbon it’s been over 30 years, and it wasn’t good, I’ll tell you that.

Last night was another late start, and I was tempted to go

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with the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged, but a Toro was more cigar than I wanted. I happened across a lonely leftover from a Camacho event I attended back in maybe 2011. It was a Camacho Corojo Maduro in the Monarca (robusto) size. Camacho Monarca is actually one of the first documented cigar reviews I did back in 1997 in Steve Saka’s Monthly Officious Taste Test, which can be found through some searching through CigarNexus.com via archive.org. It wasn’t even close to this cigar, except in name, but interesting to me at least. The Corojo Maduro came out of an amber cellophane sleeve, and was not the powerhouse it once was. It was still quite rich in flavor, with some punch, but had mellowed. Oddly, I always regretted not just sticking with the natural Corojo as opposed to the Maduro in this line, as I think the darker wrapper somehow overshadowed the great flavor of the original Corojo line. I’ll likely never see another one of these old Corojo Maduros anyway, and it was an enjoyable smoke. Maybe the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged will be on the mine today.