The package - Trinidad Fundadore 2007

A new friend sent me a generous package of cigars the other day.  They are totally unrelated to the blog, I don't accept cigars for review out of the membership or from stores or vendors.  But a philosophical discussion with me playing the part of the beligerent as usual led to him saying that he might send me some cigars.  I am guessing as some sort of method of showing that he was not a jerk, which I already knew.  But I think also that not everything has to be about something, and many of the people in the asylum where I live in my smoking hours tend to be very generous to one another, almost militantly so in some cases.  So as it will come to pass, there will be an opportunity to review cigars that I didn't have and would never buy.  Tonight's Trinidad is on the right.  In future entries I will smoke two cigars at once, the two "Holy Lance" cigars from Illusione shown here, one in the dark natural wrapper that looks Nicaraguan, and the other in the green "Candela" wrapper, once the most popular wrapper style in the US.  WHAT??  You're kidding me, right?  Well, we are always a fad country.  I am not a fan of candela.  But this is an opportunity I just can't pass up.  I love the Lancero shape.  It will be a long entry that will likely end with me hunched over a bathroom appliance of some kind.   That's an AWFUL lot of slow-smoking cigar there.  Under 15 inches, but BARELY.  It should be fun, don't miss it.

Tonight's cigar is a Trinidad Fundadore.  It was once the only cigar in the Trinidad lineup, and there was a time when this cigar was unavailable to the general public.  If you were a head of state, there was a shot you might smoke one one day.  In early 1998, perhaps even late 1997, a commercialized version of this cigar was released to the public for the first time.  I had a trip to Michigan planned and I went across the bridge into Canada and managed to get one, outrageously expensive Fundadore.  I saved it for years and smoked it I think in 2001.  I was not altogether sure what I thought, it was very delicate and I had no idea of how to smoke a long and thin cigar.  But there were delicious flavors of honey and spice and herbs and it was delicious. 

And now ten years later, I have a chance to smoke another.  This is what is termed the "new blend".  The cigar lineup was expanded with the addition of three new sizes and the Fundadore received both a new band and a new blend.  This smoke lit up extremely slowly and continues to burn awfully.  Not SO bad, but it does not want to burn straight and it's one of those smokes where the burn line hardly moves, and then when it goes out, you see that it has burned inside, tunnelled a bit, and when you re-light it, you are half an inch down the line.  Again, it is a cigar that needs to be sipped three times and puffed hard once to keep the burn going right.  In the hard puff it is nothing special, a bit leathery and strong.  On the three light puffs, there is honey, vanilla, cream, orange, mint, cafe au lait, just myriad wild tastes.  I couldn't smoke these all the time, they are far too expensive.  But they are just strong enough to be up my alley and it's a great smoke.  About two inches are gone now and things are rolling right along unchanged, which in this case is pretty OK. 

A bad thing about the wrapper on this cigar is memories of the 98 I smoked.  It had  a sandy, light brown wrapper with little hairy tooth all over it.  But the wrapper was very much like the Cohiba wrappers of the day.  This wrapper is a variant of the Habana 2000 strains that produced what is known as the Fireproof Wrapper.  That's why the burn is just so terrible.  And yet again, the cigar is good.  The kind of cigar that demands full attentiveness.  And yet I just type more drivel and watch Magnolia.  One of those movies that has to be seen a few times before you can even LIKE it.  I still have no idea why or what I am watching.

I am going to ignore the burn here.  Even though this cigar came all the way across the country to get to me, it is still not dry enough to smoke.  But not only is it giving me a great flavor experience, It is a very transformative TYPE of cigar.  It is a day changer.  A mood enhancer.  A pleasant surprise.  A long, thin, thing of beauty.  This one, at this age, maybe Megan Fox?  She is not really my type, but I am at a loss for the perfect woman to showcase as long, thin, a thing of beauty.  The 98, I have no problem identifying as Wendy Malick.  I love that woman.  Vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, spice, herbs, meat, bread, pastry, milk, cocoa.....how you gonna just let that pass by.  And while I didn't mention it yet, the aroma is and has been spectacular.  As sad as it is, VERY few havana cigars do it all anymore, or rather, the ones I can afford just don't do it anymore.  I hear the Conde 109 does it.  I even had a Bolivar Belicoso Fino that did it once.  It would be a great, great thing if Havana got back into the business of doing it all the time.

94 points, ignoring the erratic, infuriating burn.  That would be the highest score I ever gave a smoke on this blog....I think.  Hell, I don't pay any attention.  If the burn were taken into account, it would likely have a tough time breaking 86.  But sometimes, you just have to blame the operator.