2005 Partagas Serie P No.2 - Spring BBQ smokes

Pulled out a few cigars for a weekend of smoking delicious back ribs and perfecting my smoked-grilled chicken wing.  Started the day with a 1998 Punch Corona.  Delicious first third, then I quickly ruined it with an over-smoke job.  I was so busy messing with my fire that I just puffed and puffed and puffed, over-heated it and had a harsh second half.  But of course, I am not compelled to smoke a harsh cigar, so I threw it at a squirrel, hitting it right in the head, which I would call a satisfying smoke.  Before PETA calls me, I have a mob of squirrels that knocks all the pecans out of my tree while they are still green.  If they drop one they simply pull off another one until there are half-eaten pecans all over the patio, floating in the pond and a tree that never has any pecans on it.  You want to protect them from flying cigar butts, then you come over here and protect the pecans on my tree 16 hours a day for two months straight.

After the ribs were smoked and slathered in Sweet Baby Ray's, it was time to clip a 2005 Partagas Serie P No. 2.  This has become my favortie Partagas, which is really saying something.  There are nearly a dozen great Partagas cigars.  A paragon of smooth, lightly spicy perfection, this cigar drew quite tightly at first, showing a very dense pack at the clipped head.  But it burned slowly and steadily, delivering less smoke than I like, but making it very tasty and easy to discern the flavors that did come through.  I turned up the Margaritaville machine and cranked out a pitcher of Raspberry daiquiris which was a very good pairing considering the unseasonably warm first day of spring. 

This smoke does not offer a lot of changes across it's length, but is mildly-spicy, slightly creamy and features a hint of pepper and leather all the way through.  This is one of the few habanos that I can recommend to any level of smoker and know that they will be pleased.  The strength is not overpowering, the spice is accented well with the taste of rich havana tobacco, and the blend is what is often termed 'magical' by aficionados. Year after year the blend seems to remain very much the same, which is something I find rarely well-accomplished by Habanos.  It surges past the Montecristo No.2 over and over again in box to box, cigar to cigar quality comparisons.  There were problems for sure, the tighter than optimum draw, a slightly over-aged flavor profile....but I would score it reasonably high;  I give it an 87. 

Up next, perhaps tonight, the return of the Montecristo Grand Edmundo EL 2010.  I am drying it on a countertop as I type this.