Camacho Criollo

Camacho Criollo (Yellow)

Strength: 3 / 5
Size:  Toro (6 x 54)
Origin: Honduras
Price (local): $10.45
Wrapper: Criollo
Flavor Text:

​Say hello to Criollo. 

Camacho Criollo lives up to its fabled reputation of getting a whole lotta bang for your buck. Widely regarded as being "as close to Cuba as you can get," Camacho cigars celebrate a long and illustrious tradition of pleasing the most grizzled enthusiasts.

Criollo is a welcomed page in Camacho's book. Thanks to serving up a satisfying medium-bodied array of spicy-sweet undertones, there's a lot to look forward to. Featuring a gorgeous fourth priming Criollo ’98 wrapper and a balanced blend of Honduran and Dominican-grown Piloto Cubano long-fillers, it's got plenty of gusto too, but without all the knee-knocking strength Camacho is known for. That means you can get behind the wheel of this handmade almost any time of day. As my feeble minded co-worker likes to say, "you can savor the flavor all day long."

Camacho Criollo Figurado received a well-deserved 92-point rating noting: "Draped in an eye-catching Colorado wrapper, this well-rolled torpedo smokes perfectly, imparting profound cocoa notes, earthiness and savory leather."

 It looks like a JM's, but it's the farthest thing from it. The Camacho Criollo is one of the brand's highest-rated cigars, and with a really tasty Criollo wrapper encasing a perfect medium blend of tobacco, smoking one makes it easy to see why. This cigar is not potent enough to turn off those who avoid the strong stuff, but not weak enough to be boring; it sits right in the middle of the body spectrum and it plays it's role extremely well.

This smoke is highlighted by leather and earth from top to bottom; the leather in this cigar provides an extremely aromatic smoke that is a pleasure to the nose as you continue to pull off of this one. Of all the cigars in the Camacho line, this one, in my eyes, is miles ahead of all of the other ones. Even if the brand has some stronger blends, this one has the highest quality taste and blend of flavor and strength to it. I'd put it leagues ahead of the heralded Ecuador (Blue) Camacho and slightly ahead of the delicious Barrel-Aged offerings from the brand. There is a bit of brine to this wrapper as well; a very slight saltiness. It adds well to the flavor of the cigar, and I'd say that most won't notice it is there unless you paid very close attention.

This is not a cigar that is going to change a whole lot from first to last pull; it is markedly consistent and full of taste. The draw was extremely good, and this cigar offers lots of smoke for a very easy pull. There is a bit of a spicy note as you progress deeper into the cigar; not one I'd describe as a black pepper, but one I'd place as a very light cinnamon. It tickles a bit, but again, nothing that's going to turn off the sensitive smokers or those that don't like a ton of punch. It's perfectly built, has an expert blend inside, and has a wrapper that is criminally under utilized and highly flavorful. Everything about this cigar is a hit, and if you can only try one Camacho, this is the go-to.