Origin : Honduras
Format : 11/18 roll (~ Toro)
Size : 6 x 54
Wrapper : Habano
Filler : Honduras
Binder : Honduras
Release : 2009
Hand-Made
Price : $100 for 5 cigars
More info about purchasing Camacho Liberty cigars...
Every summer since 2002, Christian Eiroa releases a special summer cigar in the Liberty brand. The Camacho Liberty 2009 was released in July of 2009, and only 40,000 of these were made. The filler and binder are grown in the Eiroa’s farm in Jamastran, Honduras. For those lucky enough to have a cigar from each release, this would be an interesting comparison among all of them. This is my first experience with the Liberty brand.
Appearance : 
The cigar is a nice semi dark chocolate; although the cigar looked dull, it felt like it was very soft to the touch.
The cigar comes in a very nice wooden coffin, and each cigar is numbered; this one was cigar number 27,143 out of 40,000. Each cigar also comes individually wrapped in tissue paper.
The cigar featured two bands: one at the foot and the traditional one closest to the head. The band at the foot had “Liberty 2009” written on it, and it featured a crown and the red “C” trademarked by Camacho cigars.
The band at the head was much larger in size than traditional bands; it was pretty elaborate featuring red, black, gold, and white colors and other designs.
Construction : 
The cigar featured 2.5 veins running the length of the cigar. It also seemed that it was double capped, although a third cap may be present and just very difficult to see.
One soft spot was noticed towards the middle of the cigar; however, the cigar felt very firm to the touch.
The cigar had a pretty easy draw both on pre-light and during the smoke.
During the smoke, the cigar burned pretty even for the first third of the cigar; after that, I experienced a canoeing effect; this was disappointing, especially for such a pedigreed cigar. The ash looked light grey, and it seemed a bit loose as the cigar felt tightly packed to the touch. The cigar was pretty smoky, and the smoke rose and dissipated rather quickly.
Flavor :
This cigar featured quite a complex flavor profile. On pre-light, raisins were tasted on the draw; a slight hint of sweet spices were also detected. A light spice was felt on the tongue.
The cigar was cut with a Boston Cigar Company “Little Guy” V-cutter, and the first draw feature roasted nuts and coffee flavors. On retrohale, some woody notes (oak), were also found.
Towards the second half of the cigar, the oak and coffee notes became more pronounced, and to me, they became more balanced.
I would say that the cigar started out as a full strength cigar, but then, it seemed to mellow out as the smoking experience continued.
Value :
This is, by no means, a cheap smoke. It is what I call a “special occasion” cigar. To determine its true value, one should smoke other cigars in the Liberty brand and compare the smoking experience to the 2009. I typically do not have these high end smokes in my humidor, but I wanted to try these Camacho Liberty series cigars. I tried getting the 2008 release, but the release seems to be sold out.
One thing I can say is that for ~$20.00 per cigar, I would have expected the construction to be a bit better. The flavor profile brings a good value to the cigar.
Overall Rating :
The Camacho Liberty 2009 release is a good smoke considering the price per cigar. The complex, yet balanced flavors, upset the construction issues encountered in the cigar. My expectations for this cigar were very high, and to me, such a hyped-up, expensive cigar should just be perfect.
However, it was a very pleasant and enjoyable smoke. If you can find them, grab a few and compare them to next year’s release. A fun exercise would be to revisit the 2009 release and compare it to the 2010 one. The 2008 would have been fun to get as it features a barber pole wrapper, but I was not so lucky. So, I will sit tight and wait until July for the next release of the brand.
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