Camacho Liberty 2009

The Camacho Liberty series was started in 2002 with the idea of releasing a very limited blend. This idea was the brain child of Christian Eiroa and each of the coffin’s has his signature engraved onto the lid. Each cigar comes wrapped in tissue paper and encased in a very nicely constructed Spanish Cedar Coffin. The coffin itself smells fantastic, as if the cedar was just cut yesterday. On the coffin you will also find a sticker that shows you what number of this limited production cigar you have obtained. There was a total of 40,000 produced and the box I have was numbered as 9,438.

The cigar itself is made entirely from Honduran tobacco. The leaves are actually from Christian Eiroa’s farm in the Jamastran region of Honduras. The wrapper is made up of Camacho’s single production of Habano leaf. This of course is at this time and could very well change in the near future.

I was gifted one of these cigars and purchased a couple more for myself. I decided to light this one up with a similarly limited production beer which you can read more about at the bottom of the review in the Pairing section.

Cigar: Camacho Cigars Liberty 2009
Drink: Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Beer – Canadian Cask 2010
Vitola: 11/18 – Toro (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras
Price: $16-$20
Burn Time: 2 Hours

Construction:
• A very smooth milky chocolate wrapper surrounds this cigar
• Triple cap is very cleanly applied
• The foot doesn’t appear to be too packed, there is some room in there
• The cigar has a slight bulge in the center
• There are some soft spots on the bulge but the foot and head of the cigar are slightly firm with a good spring
• The cigar has two beautifully designed bands, one in it’s normal last 3rd of the cigar and one near the foot
• The cut made a bit of an explosion of tobacco leaves but was clean on the cigar
• Before even lighting it’s evident that the draw is very open
• Despite seeming very open before lighting, the draw feels very comfortable with more resistance than expected
• Both bands slid off effortlessly preserving the wrapper almost untouched

Burn:
• Very easy toasting, was even and quick
• Through the first inch the cigar has been razor sharp with just a small wave
• The wave developed into a small canoe that I needed to fix with my lighter
• A few small canoes developed as the cigar went on and some fixes were required but nothing major and flavors were ever affected
• Stayed lit effortlessly without the need to babysit the cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• TONS of smoke right from the start
• Lots of resting smoke also giving off a delightful cedar aroma
• Ash a appears a bit weak but is not flaking and holding strong
• Very light colored ash, almost white but has a tinge of gray and some dark highlights
• Even though the ash looked weak, it held on for almost 2 inches before falling off
• This cigar is a smoke machine! lol

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a massive cedar aroma presence to it, smells fantastic
• The foot has more of the cedar and a bit of sweetness
• The pre-light draw is very cedar flavored with a smooth creamy sweetness added to the mix along with a light spice
• Initial draws are like a sweet cedar with a hint of spice. If you could prepare and eat cedar I imagine this is what you would want it to taste like, haha
• The Retrohale has more of that great cedar flavor, a small bite and a great sweet finish
• Cigar has been fairly mild through the first 2 inches but a nice creamy cinnamon spice has taken over with the cedar in the background, very tasty
• At about the halfway point, the spice has picked up a bit more but I’m also getting a nice sweetness
• Passing the halfway point, the sweetness is letting off a bit and the cedar has once again become the prominant flavor with a toasted wood type of background
• The retrohale has also developed a bit more of a bite and the finish has turned to a smooth cedar
• The cigar started mild but has developed into a good medium and seems to be slowly picking up body
• Getting some subtle coffee and leather notes as I approach the final stretch
• Cedar flavors stuck through to the end and a bit of bitterness just before the last inch

Final Thoughts:
There’s no denying this was a great cigar. I, for one, am a big fan of cedar flavors in a cigar and this one had tons of it! Add to it the sweet and spicy notes and you’ve got the makings of agreat cigar in my mind. Now I did have some minor burn issues with these but none were major and they never required a full re-light so flavors never got harsh. The biggest hurdle with this cigar for most people will be the price. Between the cost of the coffin and the extremely rare wrapper used on this cigar I can see why they are priced this way. At this point they are becoming harder to find although they are still available if you look. Even with the price these are definitely worth at least trying. I would definitely recommend tracking one down before they disappear completely

Pairings:
Today’s pairing comes from the Scottish Brewery of Innis & Gunn. Their Oak Aged beer is one of my favorite blondes and makes a great pairing for almost any cigar because of it’s woodsy flavors. This particular batch was a limited production run called “Canadian Cask” which was produced especially for Canada Day 2010 to commemorate Canada’s birthday.

This beer is aged for 54 days in Whiskey barrels and mixed with a malted rye crystal to give it an incredibly unique and flavorful experience on the palate. This is only the second year Innis and Gunn has produced this brew and I definitely hope they continue the tradition.
This cigar paired well with this brew and I would definitely recommend it, they just worked so well together. Other pairings could be a nice scotch, oaky red wine, dark soda or a coffee.

Here’s a picture of the box from this brew, it has a whole story about how it came to be and how it was made.