Pre-light Experience

The wrapper is medium brown and has a couple of slightly raised veins present. The overall cigar looks a little lumpy and bumpy. The seams are smooth but fairly easily visible as they wrap around the robust box press. The head is finished off with a well applied triple cap. The band is the style that runs along the length of the cigar and is primarily black with aqua lettering and borders. The aroma from the wrapper is a barnyard funkiness while the foot provides wood, natural tobacco sweetness and some white pepper. The pre-light draw brings sweet graham cracker with a decent amount of spice to my lips.

First Third

The cigar begins with an abundance of bread along with some wood and baking spice. At a quarter inch in, the bread gains a bit of sweetness as the wood and baking spice pair up well in the background. At three quarters of an inch in, a slight coffee note joins the mix of sweet bread, wood and baking spice. The retrohale carries a fair amount of baking spice along with some wood. At an inch and a half, the bread and coffee have become even while the wood and baking spice remain in the background. There are moments of bitterness that pop in on random draws. As the third comes to a close, a fair amount of cream comes in as the wood moves up front while the bread, coffee and baking spice are in the background. The strength in this third was right at medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the various components take turns moving to the front as the bread, wood and coffee all make their rounds while the cream and baking spice maintain their support. At a half inch in, some bitterness joins the profile as the wood and cream are up front as the bread and coffee have left. There is still some baking spice in the background. At an inch in, the wood remains up front with the bread returning and not far behind. The retrohale carries a musty wood note. As the third comes to a close, the wood and bread remain up front while some cream, mustiness and baking spice are in the background. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly above medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the wood has the lead over the bread while the cream, mustiness and baking spice remain in the background. At three quarters of an inch in, the mustiness has increased to even up with the wood while the cream and baking spice remain in the background. The retrohale is a creamy and musty wood note. This is the profile the cigar finishes with. The strength in this third remained at slightly above medium.

Burn

The burn line became very wavy in the second third and I had to do a fairly major correction. The ash held on in inch and a half increments and the cigar had a very slow burn.

Draw

The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.

Overall

This was a pretty beefy cigar and had a very slow burn rate that took me a little over an hour to get through each third. The long smoking time in of itself creates some value. The flavor profile was fairly complex through the first half as it was centered around wood, bread and baking spice and had notes of cream and mustiness scattered in. The second half became significantly less complex which caused me to lose a little interest in the cigar. For those that like bigger ring gauges, the Camacho Ecuador BXP Gordo might be a good cigar to go to especially if it keeps their attention. If you have a significant amount of time to sit down with this, you’ll probably enjoy your time with it.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$1.61

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: Camacho Ecuador BXP Gordo