Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Robusto, 5” x 50 ring gauge / $?, Burns
Back in March, I took a look at one part of the Mike Ditka Kickoff Series from Camacho, hoping that I could get back to the second and third cigars in short order…but that didn’t happen. By the time I got back to Burns, the initial shipment of Ditkas had sold out and I honestly didn’t know if more were coming in or when. Turns out it didn’t take long as a new shipment of all sizes of all three blends showed up a within a couple weeks of the publication of my review of The Player. I opted to skip The Coach and take a look next at The Hall of Famer, mostly because it seemed to be the one that sold out quickest last time. So I picked up the Robusto (probably my favorite size for reviewing purposes) that I’ll be talking about here. According to the Camacho website, the fillers for the Hall of Famer are Dominican and Nicaraguan, the binder is Honduran and the wrapper is a Mexican San Andres Maduro.
The box and band are overall about the same as that of the Player…black coffin here instead of red, as well as a slightly different color scheme for the band, with a dark orange background for Ditka’s Hall of Fame bust. It notes that he was “The first tight end ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame” along with the year ’88, which is the year he was inducted. According to Wikipedia, he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame for his “fearsome blocking and 427 career receptions for 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns.” The Hall of Famer had a nicely oily wrapper with a dark chocolate brown coloration and a slight abrasiveness. Right out of the coffin, the only thing I could smell from the wrapper was the cedar the coffin was made of. The cedar was so pervasive that it took a little time to smell anything else, but finally underneath the wood, I picked up some aged tobacco and tea notes. The foot had a ripe earthiness to it. I sliced off the cap with my favorite Xikar Xi and got a draw that was just slightly tight. The cold flavor had notes of earth, tea, and black coffee, along with a bit of pepper spice.
I lit up slowly, exhibiting a patience that is quite unlike me. Wonder what that’s all about. I found the draw to still be a little tight, but I got sufficient airflow to get smoke and a sense of the flavor. On the palate, the Ditka Hall of Famer was smoky and earthy with hints of espresso, cedar and anise. The retrohale was nutty with a steady pepper spice, not too spicy, but definitely enough to let you know it was there. What was absent was significant to me…there wasn’t much, if any, of the typical Mexican tobacco flavor at the beginning of this smoke. I did get a little of that bitterness creeping in as I smoked through the first third, but it was well balanced with other flavors, a raisin sweetness and an increase in the smooth espresso notes.
As I started the second third, I noted that construction was mostly good on the Ditka Hall of Famer. I had a very even burn line and solid ash, but the draw on this sample just wasn’t that great. It was far from unsmokeable, but it did make me work harder than I wanted to during the experience. During the second third I detected a stronger influence of tea and anise flavors in the mix. The draw did get a bit better toward the end of the third.
The last third saw the anise flavor get even stronger while there were still notes of black coffee, tea, and earth underneath. The pepper spice had diminished by this point to being almost non-existent, but overall the flavor profile was very good, and I say that as someone who many times does not care for either Honduran or Mexican tobacco. Which goes to show that the specific use of that tobacco–the blend–as well as the fermentation and aging process, is far more important to the flavor then the country of origin. If you follow my reviews, you’ll know I’ve been critical of Mexican Maduro in the past, but I do keep on trying it; and I would encourage you to do the same. If you identify a specific kind of tobacco you don’t care for, don’t hesitate to try a new blend using that tobacco…it might just work this time around. The Ditka Hall of Famer was on the low side of full-bodied and had a medium amount of nicotine strength. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Camacho’s fuller-bodied sticks.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 8/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
