This week the Nubbit Brothers talk about The Incredible Bert Wonderstone and Iron Man 3 while evaluating a Camacho Connecticut churchill.
Draw: This is one of the oldest cigars in my collection. I’m not sure, but it may have been a gift from Punch several years ago. My humidor at cigar-geeks.com shows it as 228 days in the humi, but I know it’s at least a year older than that. I remember when I first received it, I kept it “within easy reach” expecting to “smoke it any day now” – translate that to mean, “poorly stored”. As a result, the first thing I notice as I take it from the cellophane is the several half-inch splits along the wrapper.
Punch: When I saw this singleton in Draw’s online humidor, I thought I’d try to match it. After shopping around at several area retailers, I managed to track one down.
D: …only, my wrapper says “Conerico”.
P: But, it says Connecticut in your Cigar-Geeks humidor list. I mean, I went to all this trouble to match your Connecticut!
D: I only selected that option in the humidor because I couldn’t find a “Conerico” made by Camacho!! In fact, if you Google “Camacho Conerico Churchill” – exactly as marked on the Camacho-branded cellophane seal – you’ll pull up nothing but connecticut reviews! Tell Google to drop “connecticut” and all you get are bios about people named Camacho.
This has a bright tan wrapper and the smell of “green” from the barnyard. And maybe a touch of sage when I sniff the foot directly. I’m impressed it has any aroma left, considering its long, poor treatment.
P: Barnyard — alfalfa hay, and that’s it — and I love it.
D: My head blew out.
P: Yeah. The 60s did that to a lot of people.
D: No! As I inserted the punch, I could feel the whole head split and the popping sound of it was sickening.
P: That still sounds like the 60s.
I went into church to do tech, and when I got there – 15 minutes before the service – there were four guys around an ipad, one says, “You see this?” and as soon as he presses the play button, I hear Leonard Nimoy say “Check and mate my young friend”. This is a really funny Audi commercial. You’ve got to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkByAkAdZs
P: Live long and prosper!
On the cold draw I’m getting caramel… maybe some vanilla. I’d say the draw is a firm medium.
D: I was going to say cream.
P: Not much difference after a pre-light toasting. Hmm… upon lighting it up I get a creamy hot chocolate – the flavor I liked in the Villiger Colorado, only with pepper added. But after a few draws the pepper has dissipated completely.
D: My draw hasn’t tightened up after lighting. I’d agree with that creamy hot chocolate and mild jalapeno pepper. There’s some hint of maybe citrus-floral? …it’s not quite distinct yet. But there’s plenty of time. So, did you get out to see the Incredible Burt Wonderstone?
P: Yes. It was a good comedy – and was especially interesting to me, being an industry insider. We see fame has gone to one of the characters’ head and how he has become a jerk as a result. But during the course of the movie he comes to realize he isn’t really such hot stuff and turns his life around. While sophomoric at times, it does manage to strike a sentimental chord at the end and draw out an emotional, satisfying, conclusion.
Interestingly, the day I saw the movie was the day that Criss Angel debuted a “new” illusion on the Las Vegas Strip for his new TV series on Spike TV — one which was directly stolen from Jan Rouven, another Vegas performer, who arguably borrowed inspiration from Andre Kole as well as Clive Barker’s movie, Lord of Illusions. I saw Roven perform this routine in August of 2011. Rouven was in the crowd with a video camera at Criss’ taping, and recorded Angel’s prop failing and requiring several takes to get it right – much to Jan’s satisfaction.
D: Andre Kole is one of the world’s leading illusion-designers and performing illusionists. After investigating the miracles of Jesus from the point of view of an illusionist, Kole concluded that Jesus could not have done the things he did via “magic trick methods”, but could only have done them via “supernatural powers”, verifying Jesus’ claim of being God. As a result Kole became a Christian and used his performances of original magical effects as a forum to tell others about how they can have a personal relationship with God.
Oops. I let my Camacho idle a while and I thought it went out. After about three draws, though, it came back. I’m noticing the flavors more consistently now, with the milk chocolate on the attack, and the jalapeno picking up in the middle, and then building well into the aftertaste, as you’d expect a jalapeno to do.
I had wanted to see Burt Wonderstone myself, particularly because you’re an insider, but alas it was pushed aside at my local theater by four screens of Iron Man 3 in 3D (plus two in 2D).
Not that I’m complaining. Iron Man is what it is, a super-hero action movie. But consistent with Marvel’s marketing of Tony Stark’s alter-ego, it also pokes some fun at the genre by including the absurd or nontraditional “comic hero” responses.
The movie also has a good moral message about how we often make our own demons by choosing to treat people poorly. Stark appears to learn from this, and it repeats in several ways throughout the movie. Good enough that I’ve seen it twice already!
P: I’m down to 5” to go — about where my typical robusto starts. Not so much of the creamy hot chocolate, but now some cedar and pine. No pepper. Overall, very mild.
D: I’ve had a pretty consistent burn up to now, including the self-correction in the very beginning from where I overtoasted the foot. Now, I’ve got a three/quarter inch disparity… which I’ll touch up, just so. I’m also getting just a little headiness from this cigar. If I were about done with it, I wouldn’t mention it, but since as you point out we’re about to start a robusto, I think I’ll have myself a Lindor Truffle: 60% extra dark chocolate!
The flavor has been pretty consistent, too. It smokes prodigiously from both ends around the draw, then idles to nothing. I notice that the draw is too loose, but I think its because I’ve got air slipping in from the split in the head. Anyway, it’s causing me to draw on the cigar in a way that feels unnatural to me.
Have you been playing any more Bioshock Infinite? Have you finished it yet?
P: Well, if you’ll remember, I got to the boss level on Bioshock two or three weeks ago. I was on the “hard” setting, and I tried it two or three times. I’m not sure what I was missing, or maybe it was simply that my health kept running out before the boss’ did. Since then, I came down with some kind of virus, and didn t play it for two weeks. Yesterday I tried again and then decided to change it to “normal”. After a few more tries I was getting closer, but “still no cigar”. Maybe this evening I’ll try a few different tactics and finally finish it.
D: Clever pun, and apropo! I should hope you try different tactics, unless you simply enjoy the thrill of getting your butt kicked. I’ve had a very busy week — no, two weeks at work. Lots of retirement receptions in the evenings, so I’ve not been gaming much at all. Minecraft has been pretty empty lately. Maybe tonight I’ll find some time to put in some Combat Arms time.
Along with chocolates, I’m finishing the last half of a Batch 19 which I opened shortly before we started our review. I find that the somewhat strong hops washes away the jalapeno, leaving me to question which I prefer more (I’m not into hops at all). However, the Camacho reveals it’s faint floral notes when the jalapeno is suppressed. It takes several draws to put the pepper back in prominence.
P: I’m now into the last third, and the flavor has been very consistent. The cedar is creeping a bit higher, and there is a slight after burn on the back of my throat, but otherwise not a lot of change.
D: I agree with that assessment. This is a mild flavor complexity, but rather strong on flavor, and medium in body. It’s a good consistent performer, as I am just burning into the last two inches. I finally need to remove the band, something I’ve been delaying because of the head-split and the other cracks in the wrapper. I could see enjoying this after a mild Mexican dinner.
Mmmm, after smoking another half inch… I find it is hard to keep the head split closed enough for a proper draw. I also notice that the jalapeno is moving into the attack, with a little cedar (or other woodsy) harshness in the middle.
P: Mine went out at 1 ½ “ and I’m gonna let it lie.
D: I’ve developed a pretty good peninsula; with one-inch unburned on the shortest side, I’m tired of fighting the head split (and all the shagginess that entails), so I’m going to relegate it to the butt bin.
Burn it or spurn it?
P: With such a consistent flavor profile, I find myself thinking that this one was rather lackluster and why bother? But then, isn’t smoking any cigar about the event and not about really accomplishing anything? This Camacho Connecticut was a good excuse to be sit back and enjoy a nice spring afternoon in the back yard. The overall flavor is good — not great or particularly complex or interesting. There are probably cigar smokers who prefer a consistent, mild, flavor that is not schizophrenic — and if you are one of those, this stick may be for you.
D: At near two-hours of enjoyment, and recognizing that we pretty well work this thing the whole time, another smoker might get another hour out of this churchill. I found nothing objectionable about the flavor, but for me, there’s not much to bring me back – at least not at this point in my cigar-toking experience. I hesitate to tell others to spurn it, but I think I’ve had enough Camacho Conerico to last me for some time.