Davidoff and its brands have been known for limited edition cigars. In addition, the company is the home to two of the longest-running annual limited edition series – namely the AVO Limited Edition series and the Camacho Liberty Series. The AVO Limited Edition Series made its debut in 2001 and has run for 20 years, while the Camacho Liberty Series made its debut in 2002 and this year completes two decades with that series. For the most part, the Liberty Series has been one size, one vitola. While the lion’s share of the Liberty releases have used Camacho’s signature 11/18 figurado format, for the Camacho Liberty 2021 the cigar is in a 7 x 48 Churchill format. Today, we turn our attention to the Camacho Liberty 2021 and dive deeper into the overall experience of that cigar.

There are also a couple of common denominators about Camacho Liberty releases. First up, these cigars are usually released to coincide with Independence Day celebrations in the U.S. Second, the Camacho Liberty series releases are packaged in individual coffins. The Camacho Liberty 2021 shared these common denominators as has most of the previous Camacho Liberty releases.

Without further ado, let’s break down the Camacho Liberty 2021 and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The Camacho Liberty 2021 uses a four-country multinational blend highlighted by an Ecuadorian wrapper. The remainder of the tobaccos come from Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. Production is handled in Danlí, Honduras at Diadema Cigars de Honduras – sometimes called the “Camacho Factory.”

Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican, Honduran
Country of Origin: Honduras
Factory: Diadema Cigars de Honduras

Vitolas Offered

The Camacho Liberty 2021 comes in one size – a 7 x 48 Churchill. As mentioned, each cigar is packaged in an individual coffin. The coffins are packaged into 20-count boxes.

Appearance

The Ecuadorian wrapper on the Camacho Liberty 2021 had a medium to dark brown color with a Colorado tint. The complexion of the wrapper was on the silky side and there wasn’t much in the way of oil on it. There were some visible veins on the surface of the wrapper. The darker complexion of the wrapper did a decent job in hiding the wrapper seams.

The band of the Camacho Liberty 2021 is white in color with the text arranged in a similar horizontal style to many recent Camacho releases. The band has the text “BOLDNESS BURNS ANYTIME” in silver font. Just below that is the “CAMACHO” in the style of the company logo. Just below that is the “LIBERTY SERIES ’21” with “LIBERTY SERIES” in red font and “’21” in silver font. Below that is the text “EST 1962” insult font. There are also red and silver accents on the band.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

Prior to lighting up the Camacho Liberty 2021, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. Once the cap was removed it was on to the pre-light draw. The pre-light draw delivered notes of earth and light cedar. This wasn’t the most exciting pre-light draw, but since the pre-light draw is not factored into the score or value rating, there was no loss of points here. At this point it was time to light up the Camacho Liberty 2021 and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Camacho Liberty 2021 opened up with notes of red pepper, natural tobacco, cedar, earth, and some musty notes. Early on the cedar and natural tobacco notes went primary with the red pepper, earth, and musty notes moving into the background. As the cigar progressed through the first third, the natural tobacco took over as the sole primary note and exhibited plenty of sweetness. The cedar would also settle in the background with the other notes. The retro-hale delivered notes of red pepper.

During the second third of the Camacho Liberty 2021, the cedar notes increased in intensity along with the earth notes. By the midway point the cedar notes notes returned to the forefront as well as the earth notes. The natural tobacco notes diminished in terms of sweetness and exhibited some bitter qualities. The pepper and musty notes remained in the background. By this point, the pepper was now a combination of black and red pepper on both the tongue and retro-hale.

There wasn’t much change in the final third. The natural tobacco, cedar, and earth notes remained in the forefront. The notes were somewhat muddled by this point and didn’t go well together. The pepper notes were more prominent at this point of the cigar than at any point, but still remained in the background. There also were still some musty notes in the more distant background. This is the way the Camacho Liberty 2021 came to a close. The resulting nub was slight soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The burn of the Camacho Liberty performed very well. The cigar maintained a straight burn path and a straight burn line. The resulting ash was on the firm side. The ash had a silvery gray color to it. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both performed at ideal levels.

Draw

The draw to the Camacho Liberty 2021 was on the open side. It wasn’t a loose draw, but normally I prefer a little more resistance on the draw. This was also a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

In terms of strength, the Camacho Liberty 2021 was not a powerhouse smoke. It pretty much remained dead-center medium in strength from start to finish. The flavors of the Camacho Liberty 2021 started out medium-bodied, but quickly progressed into medium to full territory in the first third where they remained. By the second third, the body pretty much held steady in the medium to full range. Throughout the smoking experience, the body had an edge in terms of the strength.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

Flavor-wise, the Camacho Liberty 2021 started out quite promising, but as the cigar experience progressed, things started to turn. There was some bitterness in the second half and the flavors did become muddled. While construction-wise this cigar performed well – especially with the burn, that isn’t enough when assessing the overall cigar experience. Even though the Liberty releases have not impressed me the past few years, it’s a cigar I still look forward to it. At $20.00, this is certainly not an inexpensive cigar. In the end, I would recommend trying a sample to see if this fits your profile.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Cedar, Earth, Must, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: High
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (Start), Medium to Full (Remainder)
Finish: Very Good