Camacho Liberty 2011

At the 2011 IPCPR, it was a very quiet year for Camacho Cigars.  Outside of the Room 101 releases there was not a lot on display in the Camacho section for the Davidoff booth.  The one cigar bearing the Camacho name that was still proudly on display was the latest in Camacho’s Liberty series – the Camacho Liberty 2011.  For several years, Camacho has made an annual release of the Liberty series.  The blend and the size of the cigar change from year to year and a limited number of cigars are made.  The most distinguishing factor is that the cigar is packaged in coffin box.  Given this is a different cigar from year to year, certain releases are going to be better than others.  For 2010, I was a big fan of the Camacho Liberty 2010 and ranked it as much #9 Cigar for 2010.   As for the Camacho Liberty 2011, this was not the case as I feel this is not one of the stronger entries of the series.

Like in previous years, there will be 2000 boxes of 20 individually coffin box packaged cigars for a total of 40000 cigars.  Each cigar is individually numbered in the coffin box it is packaged in.

Individual Coffin box for the Camacho Liberty

Each coffin box of the Camacho Liberty is individually numbered

Let’s take a closer look at the Camacho Liberty 2011:

Blend Profile

I’ve been saying throughout 2011 that Honduran tobacco has made a comeback as it has been seen in a lot of major releases.  For Camacho, Honduran tobacco has always been somewhat a staple.   I incorrectly stated in the preview for the 2011 Liberty that this was a Honduran puro.  Instead, this is predominantly Honduran.

Wrapper: Honduran
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Three unique countries *

* Word I’ve heard is that Honduran and Dominican make up two of the three fillers, but the official release by Camacho Cigars does not say this.

Vitolas Available

As mentioned above, with each Camacho Liberty release, only a single vitola is made.  For 2011, Camacho goes back to its popular 11/18 format.   The 11/18 is basically a figuardo that measures 6 x 48/54.  The name 11/18 represents the birthday for Christian Eiroa’s mother.  Eiroa is the former President of Camacho Cigars who still works with Davidoff.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

As I typically do when I smoke, I opted to place a straight cut into the Camacho Liberty 2011.  The pre-light draw treated me to notes of earth and grass.   There was almost something Davidoff-esque about this particular Camacho Liberty.  Perhaps the acquisition of Camacho by Davidoff has already had an influence on the brand.   At this point, I fired up my Camacho Liberty 2011 and prepared to see what would come to the table.

Flavor Profile

Ultimately it was the flavor profile that made the Camacho Liberty 2011 a disappointment in my book.  The start to the Camacho Liberty 2011 was not bad.  The initial notes had a mix of earth and cedar.  I did detect some coffee notes in the background.  Shortly afterwords, I picked up some notes of cream.  Early on it was the coffee/earth combination that was the predominant note – and this wasn’t too bad.

Toward the end of the first third, the coffee notes were eclipsed by the earth notes. The cedar notes were secondary and the coffee and cream had fallen to the background.  Eventually this cigar got very earthy toward the midway point – and this is where it just fell out of my flavor profile.  In the last third of this cigar, the cedar notes took on some more spicy tones.  The spice eventually joined the earth in the forefront.   While there was some spice on the finish, I’d stop short of saying this was a “spice bomb”.  The finish while not harsh – was not smooth either.   The resulting nub was slightly soft, and slightly warm.

Burn and Draw

There were no issues with the burn of the Camacho Liberty 2011.  The cigar required very few touch-ups to keep it burning straight.  The cigar also burned at an ideal rate and ideal temperature.   I did feel the draw was a little loose, but I typically do get this on figuardos/perfectos.  The draw was still pretty good.

Strength and Draw

Overall, I did not find the Camacho Liberty 2011 to be a very strong cigar from a nicotine standpoint. I would definitely assess the strength profile of this cigar as a medium.  As for the body, the flavor notes did have some depth to them.  This cigar definitely makes it into the medium to full range of the spectrum for body.  While I didn’t care for the flavors, I have to be fair and say that the flavors balanced very well against the strength.

Final Thoughts

The earth flavors of this cigar definitely were not my cup of tea.  However, there are those who enjoy this type of profile – and in this case the Camacho Liberty 2011 may be for them.  I also have to say this cigar lacked the complexity of its predecessors.  It still was encouraging to see the Camacho Liberty 2011 maintained the quality standards in terms of construction set forward by its predecessors.    I’ve been very happy with previous editions of the Camacho Liberty, but in this case this was not my favorite of them. Still, this won’t prevent me from revisiting the Liberty series when the 2012 edition comes out.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Good
Complexity: Low
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Assessment: See What You Think

Source: The cigar for this assessment was purchased from Outland Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina.