Camacho Hard Charger – Cigar Review

Released in late 2018, the Camacho Hard Charger is the brand’s third instalment of the Brotherhood Series.

It is offered in a single 6″ X 50 toro vitola and is also a limited edition cigar of 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars (total production 30,000).

This particular Brotherhood cigar pays tribute to the United States Marine Corps, as they are fearless in “leading the charge” in the fight of preserving the freedoms we enjoy in the USA!

As a result, Camacho has tried to make a flavor forward “bold” cigar in line with their brands reputation (you can read our Camacho brand history here), and the servicemen it honours.

In this review, we’ll cover the cigars flavors, and its overall presentation.

Camacho Hard Charger Review

Some key facts about this cigar:

• Size: 6″ X 50 ring gauge (toro size)
• Wrapper: USA Broad Leaf Connecticut* Maduro
• Binder: Honduran Corojo
• Filler: Honduran Corojo
• Country of Manufacture: Honduras

*There is a very interesting Cigar Aficionado article on the American Connecticut Broadleaf, with its overall characteristics, growing conditions and differences with its more refined shade grown brother. Well worth a read.

Recommended Retail Price:

• $13 per cigar
• $260 per box of 20

Pre Light Draw

There is a nice sweet earth smell, with a touch of mineral.

As for its appearance, the wrapper feels thick to the touch, a bit oily, and has some deep rough veins. These are all common characteristic of the broad leaf Connecticut wrapper leaf.

The filler looks to be nicely “booked” per the Camacho proprietary method, and had a nice medium draw.

First Third

It opens quite peppery, which is personally not my favorite flavor profile. There are also some earthy and mild spice undertones. At this point I’d say its more on the fuller side.

I hope it evolves a little more into the second third.

Note: after smoking several of these the open is not totally off-putting, and think it would mellow slightly with a few months in the humidor.

Second Third

There has been a lovely transformation into the second third. I’m still getting pepper but its mellowed right down, and I am now getting some more earth and mild spice. On the retrohale, I’m even getting some mineral notes too.

Final Third

The cigar did not particularly evolve from the second third, but did stay quite enjoyable. Even as it got right to the end, it stayed enjoyable, and did not develop any bitterness.

No, this is not a hugely complex smoke nor one that is going to bring in floral, fruit or citrus notes to the palate but that’s not its marching orders!

Cigar Construction

Even with the aforementioned large veins on the cigar I smoked for the pictures in this review, it burned incredibly even, requiring no “touch-ups”.

Beyond this first one pictured, I smoked several others and had no burn or construction issues.

Note: I store these at 69% RH with Boveda packs in an airtight humidor bag.

Box & Band Presentation

Box

As with all Camacho boxes I’ve owned, this does not disappoint. They really hit the branding and quality out of the park.

This box has a nice matte finish, and includes a limited edition Camacho dog tag attached to the top with a magnetic fastener.

Band

The cigar features two bands.

One conventional band around the top of the cigar, and in usual Camacho style it’s relatively large. There is also a foot band too, in a nice “aged” silver metallic paper.  Both are nicely embossed, added to the premium feel of the cigars presentation.

Both bands came off easily, with no damage to the bands for those who like to collect them. More importantly, they cause no damage to the cigar wrapper itself. This is no surprise, as the wrapper is a robust piece of kit!

Final Thoughts On The Camacho Hard Charger

As always, I’m impressed with Camacho’s presentation and stories they build around their blends.

After a slightly overpowering start the cigar settles down into a nice smoking experience, of pepper, earth, spice and some mineral notes.

Overall its a medium to full experience, and took around 90 mins from start to nub (I smoke ’em to the end!)

At $13 a stick, I think it’s well-priced taking into consideration the presentation, and the fact it’s using a USA grown wrapper. There may be some better value cigars in the Camacho line-up, but for a limited edition run, and for anyone with a military and in particular Marine Corps connection / interest this is definitely worth a box purchase.

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