Cigar Aficionado

Christian Eiroa, president of Camacho Cigars, dropped by the Cigar Aficionado office on Friday. I've known Christian for years, but his visits up this way are few and far between. It had been a while since I had seen him in Manhattan.

He brought something new with him, a triangular box of Camacho cigars with a shiny, black exterior. He asked for a little screwdriver, the type you use on a pair of eyeglasses.

These cigars—called Camacho Super Limitados—aren't meant to be sold on an individual basis, so Christian has made it tough for a person to get at the smokes. You actually have to unscrew the four screws that secure the box in place. Christian took the screwdriver, went to work, and before long we were puffing away.

The Super Limitados are the first in a series of new blends Christian is coming out with. These particular smokes were made in 2007, using wrapper grown on the Eiroa farm in Jamastran, Honduras, using a seed variety named after Christian's grandfather Generoso. The wrapper was delicious, says Christian, but the yield was far too low to allow it to be made into a big brand. And its rarity meant it had to be a pricey smoke, so Christian has sat on it for awhile, waiting for the economy to improve. He thinks this is the time. The cigars, which are made in Camacho's curious 11/18 perfecto shape, will retail for about $350 for the box of 18 (making them about $20 apiece) and Camacho will only sell 6,000 of the cigars. Christian thinks it's the best blend he's ever made.

I shot some video of Christian describing the smokes.

The cigar was very tasty, nice and balanced, and very smooth from all the years it has been aging. The idea is that Christian will travel personally to a store that will sell the cigars so he can present them to cigar smokers and tell some of the story behind the creation. He's first offering the cigars to the 40 original customers of the Camacho Corojo brand.

Camacho Cigars have been doing quite well lately in our tastings. The Camacho Corojo Churchill is our No. 5 cigar of 2010, and Camachos are getting solid rating after solid rating. "We've been able to really take the time with our tobacco," said Christian. It's showing in the product.

Eiroa has other small batches of interesting tobacco in Honduras, and he plans to roll it into limited-edition smokes like this Super Limitado. They should be interesting smokes.