Camp Aladino Corojo Gorbusto | halfwheel

Many cigar companies offer some form of factory tour for retailers, but no company has a more defined post-tour plan of action than JRE Tobacco Co.

When introducing new products, JRE Tobacco Co. routinely offers the cigars first to the retailers who have taken the trip to Danlí, Honduras, to visit the company’s farm and factory. The idea seems to center around the notion that the company would like to have retailers who will evangelize for JRE in their stores. So, if you are willing to spend a few days with the Eiroa family in Honduras, the company will give you access to some cigars that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get.

This year, JRE Tobacco Co. debuted a new line named after Camp Aladino, the place where you stay when visiting the company’s operations. The plan is to introduce new cigars for the line and, for one year, only offer them to retailers who have visited the operations. After the year is up, the existing cigars will be opened up to all accounts, and new cigars will be introduced, again with a one-year exclusivity window.

The debut release is offered in three Honduran-grown wrapper options—Cameroon, Corojo and Maduro—all in a 4 1/2 x 60 vitola called Gorbusto. The company has not disclosed any of the internal tobaccos.

• Cigar Reviewed: Camp Aladino Corojo Gorbusto
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
• Wrapper: Honduras (Corojo)
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Length: 4 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $11 (Box of 20, $220)
• Release Date: April 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Corojo comes in many shades and I’d peg this on the lighter side of the spectrum, though I wonder if the pastel-toned bands are leading my eyes towards this conclusion. The aromas from the wrapper have a smell that reminds me of the taste of celery salt, though there’s also some sesame seed, earth and acidity. The intensity ranges from medium-plus to medium-full and the leading scents make me want a hot dog, albeit not a Chicago dog. When I smell the feet, I can’t smell much beyond the wrapper; there’s a generic tobacco mixture from the foot, but it’s barely medium and overwhelmed by the wrapper. Given the ring gauge, I’m caught off guard by how tight the cold draws are; not plugged but tighter than expected. The flavor is even more surprising, as the first two cigars have a sweet flavor that varies between floral flavors, red grapes and Hi-C, with secondary flavors of white rice, white pepper and sawdust. The first is medium-plus, the second is medium-full. The third cigar has sweetness, but it’s more of a graham cracker taste, and there’s cardboard and earthiness that make that cigar seem a lot less sweet than the other two.

The first two Camp Aladino Corojo Gorbustos start with quite a bit of black coffee flavors, though the accents are different: sharp horseradish and acidity on the first, and more earthy and toasty on the second. The third is different, more earthy and grassy, a softer version of the medium-full profile. That grouping continues for the rest of the first third. The first two cigars have coffee with a wide-ranging list of accents, including earth, straw, nuttiness, creaminess and bread. The third cigar is much softer with sourdough bread flavors leading earth and acidity. Each cigar’s finish differs: saltier and sharper in the first, more burnt pepper in the second, and a balanced mixture of starch and pepper in the third. Retrohales are pretty similar. They initially bring a softer creamy or bread flavor before acidity emerges, which can bring some milder sweet flavors, like floral flavors or cranberry in tow. The finish adds woodiness—oftentimes like sawdust—though the rest of the list of flavors is very familiar. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is medium. Construction is great in the first third, with no complaints about any aspects.

While the third cigar had been a bit different in the first third, the three cigars now taste remarkably similar. Nuttiness—more cashew than anything else—is present at the front of each cigar. There’s bread, creaminess, a mild sugar sweetness, saltiness and varying amounts of pepper, but the profiles have the same vibe: smooth, relatively balanced and just a bit of sting. During the finish, each cigar finds a slightly different path. The first gets a bit sweeter, the second gets somewhat harsh and less detailed, and the third gets more peppery. That said, the flavors are similar: coffee, nuttiness, black pepper, saltiness. Retrohales take the list of flavors and transforms them. It tastes like there’s more separation between the nuttiness and other flavors like brown mustard, pretzels, saltiness and pepper. The finish leans more into a hard pretzel flavor—a logical taste given the other flavors—and always provides a kick of pepper. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. The first and second cigars both need a touch-up for one instance of an uneven burn, but the third cigar continues to burn quite well.

While many of the flavors are the same, some puffs are becoming less detailed. For example, sometimes, the nuttiness adds some bitterness, and a building harshness takes away from some of the detail of the earth and coffee. I think those changes are making it easier for me to identify some sweeter flavors like honey and floral flavors, which have a more defined contrast than before. The second cigar has a lot more potato chips, a flavor that doesn’t appear in my notes for the other two cigars. The third cigar has a lot more red pepper, especially in the final inch. The finish starts sweet, and then the earthiness enters, bringing with it saltiness and acidity. Retrohales continue to be balanced: creaminess, nuttiness, saltiness, earthiness and, in the third cigar, red pepper. The finish varies: the first two cigars get toastier while the third cigar sees a softer nuttiness and creaminess stick around. The problem is, those two flavors are very mild compared to the mouth flavor, so for the third cigar, the retrohale’s finish tastes more like nothing than something that adds to the experience. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus to full, and strength is medium or medium-plus. Construction returns to the JRE Tobacco Co. standard: excellent.

Final Notes

• I have taken the visit to Camp Aladino and would recommend it to any retailer who gets an invite, as it was one of my favorite cigar factory tours. To my knowledge, the company doesn’t offer the tour to consumers.
• For those who have gotten into cigars within the last decade, the Eiroa family used to own Camacho and ran their own cigar factory tour program called Camp Camacho, which was the precursor to the tours that many others have offered. Camp Aladino is the old Camp Camacho facility.
• While smoking the third cigar, I thought that this would be the vitola that The Baller cutter would work best on. I didn’t test it, but I think this is just thick enough that I think the unique cut would make sense.
• During the second cigar, I wrote down a thought about whether a cigar needs a leading flavor. I found the first two cigars to be very balanced, to the point where it was difficult to find much separation between the flavors. I suppose if I wasn’t tasked with reviewing the cigar, it wouldn’t be an issue. If I had to pick a singular flavor to describe them, I suppose it would be nuttiness, but that doesn’t begin to tell most of the story.
• With the exception of a touch-up in the middle parts of two cigars, construction was excellent. JRE Tobacco Co. might be the best in the business when it comes to construction.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• The company lists these cigars at 4 1/2 x 60. Above are the measurements I found for the three cigars smoked for this review.
• Final smoking time was around an hour and 45 minutes for each cigar.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.