Camacho Pre-Embargo Toro

For cigar aficionados, the Camacho brand is synonymous with “full”—as in full-bodied, full-flavored, and full of character. Their blends usually promise a powerful well-balanced smoke brimming with aromatic flavor. This is precisely why Camacho makers Christian and Julio Eiroa have developed such a loyal cult-like following. 1962 was the year that Julio Eiroa, exiled to Honduras by Castro, began yet another life of cigar making in a different country. The creation of the Pre-Embargo blend was a labor of love for the Eiroa family. Amazingly, the filler tobaccos are composed of an extensively aged blend of both Honduran and actual, bona fide, pre-embargo (and, thus, legal) Cuban long-leaf tobacco which is older than many of us who will smoke this cigar. This blend is then secured by a Honduran binder which is hugged by a smooth vintage '99 Jamastran Corojo wrapper. While the Pre-Embargo is by no means the most full-bodied Camacho, it is riddled with deep, elegant flavors. For the most part, this is a medium-bodied stick but every now and then it creeps into the full-bodied realm. Like most of Camacho’s fuller-bodied cigars, the Pre-Embargo offers a pleasant spice through the nose that is far from obtrusive. Look for the Pre-Embargo to serve up layers of robust, yet elegant, flavors of wood, leather, nuts, and spices. Our panel recommended pairing the Pre-Embargo with a cream soda, which our panel insisted is a crazy good pairing for Cuban-esque cigars.

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.