mad mad mad

[craig]

Camacho Triple Maduro

Summary: If all you ever wanted was Maduro, then smoke this cigar.

MADURO
'Maduro' is one of those terms that sounds easy to understand, but has a twist. The first use of 'Maduro' was only to define a darker shade of wrapper, and it is still used in this way. The second, and now common, use is for a wrapper leaf that has been specially grown and/or fermented to be darker. This processing is hard on the leaf, so thick leaves are used. These can be leaves from higher up on the plant, and/or from a variety that naturally has thicker and darker leaves, for example, Connecticut Broadleaf or Mexican San Andreas.

The primary characteristic of Maduro wrappers from those varieties is a simple, slightly rich, sweetness. The task for the blender is to introduce complexity (or not) with complimentary filler tobaccos. In most maduro cigars, a mild-medium blend is used, giving a pleasant and unchallenging smoke that allows the wrapper's sweetness to dominate. However, the trend towards medium-full cigars has affected Maduro's as well: Padron and CAO Brazilia being two popular examples.

At the low end of cigar production, steam (IIRC) machines nicknamed "Madur-o-matics" can create Maduro leaf in hours. Dyed and/or oiled wrappers entice - and stain the fingers of - the unwary budget maduro smoker.

Just as there are cigar smokers who love Cameroon wrappers, there are those that are Maduro fanatics. Myself, I only have some Padron Maduro's. That's not to say that other Maduro's aren't good, just that I am only occasionally in the mood for a Maduro, and I like Padron's.

CAMACHO and MADURO
The Eiroa family started growing tobacco in the Honduras in the early 1960's. They purchased the Camacho brand from Simon Camacho's estate in 1994. The brand has evolved, with an emphasis on fuller-bodied premium cigars. Unlike a competing company that made a fancy DVD covering cigars from seed to soul, the Eiroas' grow their own tobacco and make their own cigars - they even make the boxes. (The Eiroas' also market heavily that they are the only growers of the original Corojo seed (outside Cuba). People like Robaina say the original Corojo seed gives the best taste. However, the Eiroa's are not growing the seed anywhere near the Corojo farm (in Cuba, like Robaina), so any inference is a stretch.)

The Camacho main-line Maduro is the SLR Maduro. To me, it is a good Maduro, similar to the competing CAO Brazilia. However, of the two, I prefer the CAO. Camacho also has a Corojo Maduro.

For a premium-line Maduro, Camacho has the Triple Maduro. The "triple" refers to 1) filler, 2) binder, and 3) wrapper, being all Maduro. Sounds like a recipe for an overwhelmingly sweet cigar to me. Christian Eiroa says the cigar is a "medium to full-bodied cigar, but it's so complex that you really don't know what the strength is."

CAMACHO TRIPLE MADURO
I took this cigar in the box pass earlier this year out of curiousity. It was the ideal cigar to take in a pass - one that I would never have purchased, but wanted to smoke as soon as I saw it put. Thanks Will!

As expected, the cigar was dark and oily everywhere. It was also a very noticeably heavier cigar then normal. What also quickly became noticeable was that the cigar was going to be a royal pain in the a*s to light. A soft-flame lighter was not effective. A triple-jet torch was deployed, and it took a while.

Flavour was, well, Maduro flavour. The flavour was not overwhelmingly sweet. The cigar seemed to only have a bit more sweetness when compared to a 'regular' Maduro cigar like the SLR. It was richer than a 'regular' Maduro, but not too rich. An agreeable medium-bodied cigar - and yes, one doesn't really know what the strength is. Only after smoking does the nicotene hit. I'm not sure if that was due to complexity, or to the sugar in the Maduro tobacco.

In terms of basic tastes: Sweetness was strongest. Then a bit of sour, like sweet'n'sour chicken balls sour. Sometimes a hint of saltiness. No bitterness.

Also: Construction, perfect. Draw, perfect. Burn, perfect, and very, very, slow. Ash, perfect - although with a rose(?) tint. The smoke was never biting on the tongue or too hot. The cigar did not have a strong aroma.

A party trick was purging the cigar while using a lighter (and tapping off the ash beforehand). The cigar momentarily imitated a flamethrower before becoming a blue-flamed blowtorch. Definitely the biggest flames - by far - of any cigar that I've purged. (Sorry, no pics/video.)

The Camacho Triple Maduro was, ah, unique. All Maduro, just as the name means. Take just the "maduro-ness" in, say, an SLR Maduro, and smoke just that. A different, yet familiar, cigar .