Camacho Candela Cigar Review – The Green Wrapper Returns!

Launched in late Feb 2018, just in time for St. Partick’s Day (March 17th 2018), this distinctive smoke is a limited edition release for Camacho.

The “green wrapper” sticks production run was set to just 3,000 boxes (75,000 cigars), so it may be hard to find… If you don’t act quick!

Just as with the Camacho Diploma, the Candela is a re-release. This one being from an original 2007 initial iteration.

However, is this just a “Hulkish” shamrock laden gimmick, or is this cigar a worthwhile homage to stepping back in time to a past era of American cigar smoking? That’s what we’re here to find out…

Green Wrapper – A Brief Candela History Lesson

The green wrapper is “new” to many younger cigar smokers like myself.  It’s not often one goes into a cigar shop and sees anything aside from an array of light to dark brown sticks.

However, this green hue was America’s most popular wrapper color with an over 50% market share for much of the late 1950’s until the beginning of the 1970’s.

This color wrapper is referred to as a “Candela” or “Double Claro“.

The color of the leaf is achieved via no fermentation. In the case of this Camacho Candela they “flash cure” the Criollo leaf over a charcoal fire. This locks in the chlorophyll, thus giving the cigar its distinctive and in our day and age, bold color.

Camacho Candela Details

As you’d expect from Camacho, this cigar and its presentation “Live Loud“. From the bright lime green box lid, to it’s multiple shamrock emblems and not least the green double claro wrapper itself.

This release is certainly living up to the brands motto!

Cigar Details:

• Size: Robusto 5″ X 50 (only size available)
• Wrapper: Honduran Criollo Candela
• Binder: Honduran Original Corojo
• Filler: Honduran Original Corojo
• Country of Origin: Honduras (Diadema Cigars de Honduras, S.A.)
• Intensity: Medium
• Official Release Date: Feb 2018

As stated in the Camacho marketing materials, this cigar is built on the Original Corojo chassis (aka filler and binder). So if you like that, and maybe something a little sweeter I’m guessing you’ll also like this.

Price:

• $8 per cigar
• $200 per box of 25

As a limited edition release of only 3,000 boxes, this one may be hard to get! Even if you’re not excited about the St Paddy’s green connection or not, it’s sure to be an attention grabber with the candela wrapper.

At only $8 to give it a try, why not see what your forefathers (especially Americans) used to smoke (visually at least). For this alone I think it should be worth the price of entry.

Distinctive Cigar Box & Presentation

It’s LOUD!

Once, you get past that / appreciate it, you’re onto what one usually expects from a Camacho box.

That being a well made box, with a high gloss finish in lime green and black. This will be hard to miss in any cigar shop or in your humidor.

Inside the box, one is presented with the continuity of high contrast green and black. The shamrock is ever present in the box and on the cigar band itself, really driving home the intended St Patrick’s day connection.

The inside of the lid also presents some additional information on the cigars inside (something I wish more brands would do and I’d even encourage Camacho to push this further!). Information such as:

• Country of origin
• Intensity level
• Tasting notes
• Short paragraph on the cigar itself

I would also like to highlight again (as we did in the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged review), the finer attention to details always get a thumbs up, like these custom Camacho hinges on the box.

Camacho Candela Cigar Review

As we only got this box yesterday, the tasting review may be a little lighter than usual, as we typically like to get in 4-6 smokes to give our truest interpretations.

With time ticking and needs must, we wanted to get this review out to you guys ASAP, as March 17th is only a few short days away…

Overarching Tasting Notes:

Overall I’d say the notes are a cigar that’s quite sweet, with hints of green tea. As the cigar is built on the Original Corojo filler and binder I still get a depth of a creamy, nutty almost almond base and a decent hint of pepper & earthy spice.

I’d classify this as an interesting medium smoke with its sweeter notes.

Pre Light

One of the biggest things I noticed immediately was the contrast in color between the wrapper and the filler. Somewhat akin to the contrast on the box…

As for aroma, I got a sweet smell off the wrapper with that oh-so-sweet deep tobacco scent underneath.

First Third

Wow what a green tea opening!

I was quite taken aback to be honest, even having some slight soft / sweet citrus overtones.

It also gave off a beautiful stream of blue smoke.

Second Third

Hitting the second third I got more of the pepper and spice associated with the Original Corojo. Also getting some more nuttiness, in an almond way that leads to a touch of creaminess.

At this point I’ve lost most of, but not all the green tea flavor within the smoke, but still pleasantly on the palette in the after taste.

The band is large and in charge as with most / all of the Camacho cigars. With that being said I’ve never experienced an issues with wrapper damage when removing (seen above).

Final Third

It keeps on getting bolder, and is getting more like the Original Corojo.

The spice and pepper notes are relatively strong at this point, but not overpowering as are smoothed out but the other prominent notes. There is still a hint of the fresh green tea, and the nuttiness is still present. I feel like this cigar has a nice evolution and story to tell.

Construction

With all the Camacho cigars I’ve tried, the construction has been spot on and nothing is different here.

There were no draw issues, and the burn was consistent. Although I was initially worried about this seeing the somewhat prominent veins on the leaf (see below), maybe due to the lack of fermentation and quite frankly the visual impact of a different color cigar wrapper.

But as stated, this veined appearance did not impact the burn, with only the slightest canoeing while in the second third, but that evened out.

I did, however, not achieve an overly long stack initially, maybe as a result of the cigars just arriving the day of this review and possibly being a touch dry as a result of the transit. However, as can be seen above that was not the case the longer I progressed down the length of the robusto size cigar.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I found this cigar to be a winner!

Not because of it’s maybe overly bold colors and St. Patrick’s day connection, but because it’s a legitimately good cigar that allows the modern smoker to try out a candela wrapper. That green tea flavor so something new to me, and most enjoyable!

However, if you bleed green on March 17th or during the football season (Go EAGLES!) and that’s the main draw, then who am I to argue.

At only $8 a stick, and / or $200 for a full box of 25 it’s not a huge leap of faith. I’d say you wont be dissapointed at trying something “new” (although your dad or granddad may ask where you found one of his old candela’s!).