OLS Smokes Cigars

Warlock Belicoso from OMAR ORTIZ Nicaragua

2012-01-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

I got this from a friend, Hugh, this past August. I am not much of a cigar smoker from countries other than Cuba, but when someone gives you a cigar at a herf, and you have a blog for cigar reviews, you gotta do what you gotta do. I like a belicoso, and I like the taste of Nicaraguan tobacco. Well, to be honest, I like Padron cigars....I am not a huge fan of the Omar Ortiz. After decades of padronery,there is no easy way to duplicate that taste from any Nicaraguan tobacco-packed cigar. But I liked this smoke. It was not as strong as the "Originals" from Omar Ortiz, and I am used to cuban tobacco, I don't like a kick in the teeth cigar.

This smoke cut perfectly, but was obviously rolled in that way I hate, like you'd roll up a newspaper to smack a dog on the nose. And it burned like those do, 30-40 degree angle all the way up, requiring fixing lights the whole way. I cut the smoke very close to the tip, less than a quarter inch gone, and it drew like a dream. This had lulled me into a false sense of security not yet knowing what would happen with the burn. But the draw worked well for smoke production, and that was most important. Burn-patching lights are a pain, but far from the worst thing a cigar can do. The smoke was rich and semi-sweet without much nuance. Maybe some coffee and a little spice. There were no really noticeable hints of the telltale taste of nicaraguan tobacco, but it was certainly not a Dominican. A little nutty perhaps as well. As an experience, however, it was very enjoyable, likely due to the fact that I have not smoked a cigar in what seems like months.

I would try and give a more detailed description of the smoke and how it progressed, but the smoke was really not doing much that would stand out as the cigar burned down. The burn was crooked all the way, the taste was similar all the way, and there were no BAD things going on for the duration of the smoke. So that's not bad, just not good enough to drag the review out to a lengthy read.
I don't really rate non-cuban cigars, but this one had enough good and bad points to stack up as a middle-of-the-road smoke to begin with, and I tend to ask a bit more from cigars from Nicaragua to boot. So while I would not recommend the Warlock brand, I am guessing it is not going to break the bank, as most of the Ortiz cigars are priced right. So if you like his other cigars, or just like a solid, good-tasting cigar at a good price point, you might look to these. In fact I would go further and say if you like his originals, you will LOVE these. it is strong enough to please, but not so strong that those who prefer a mild-medium body can taste what's going on without being blown out. It is much better than the generic offerings from JR, Holt's and others. And it draws well, which to some is good enough.

I should also mention the Old Rasputin Russian Impreial Stout I had with the smoke. What taste, what texture. Just a fantastic beer with a thick, viscous body, chocolatey aroma, the perfect amount of carbonation and a sweet, rich flavor. NOT an expensive six pack, I say BUY EM now.

Holiday Cigars on tap

2011-12-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

In a gigantic break from protocol, I went away for a 5 day vacation in North Carolina without a single cigar. It says something about where I have come from and less about where I am going. I started smoking cigars in 1988 with some old El Productos while I drove a moving van from somewhere to somewhere. It didn't take me long before I realized that I needed to move up a few notches, less than the time it took to smoke half a cigar I think. I smoked a lot of Dominican H. Upmanns and some Arturo Fuente cigars of various sizes and quality. It was not uncommon for me to smoke 5-8 cigars a day on the weekends, it became a part of enjoying the night air after work. But as I have progressed on to havana cigars, I have taken Zino Davidoff's advice to smoke fewer cigars, and of greater quality. I knew that my trip was likely to be spent in large part indoors avoiding rain, mist, cold or other inclement Christmas weather. I was right. But there was also a time when my brother in law would come out onto the porch and smoke with me, something he no longer chooses to do. So there was no reason to bring along smokes, or so it seemed upon departing.

So now I look forward to a year which will begin with a bang, as I fully expect LSU to dominate Alabama in the college football National Championship game that almost no one wants to see. They secretly DO want to see it, but they are upset by the team chosen to play LSU and they are making themselves heard. Exactly ONE fan base wants to watch Bama play the Tigers. But, they are a large fan base. And whiny.

I also have a job, which in and of itself is a real plus in a tough economy, but now I am actually making the kind of money that makes the job worth doing, and that is worth celebrating. I am looking at a menu of cigars for New Year's Eve. I know that I will smoke a Partagas Serie du Connaisseur No.1. I have a box of these and a few people want to sample them, so there is no reason to try to hold them intact.

I will also smoke it's doppelganger in a different band, the Montecristo Especiales No.1. It will be interesting to see how these smokes do. I LOVE them short and thin and long and thin. Not so much in between, nor so much larger in ring gauge.

I will also burn up a metric ton of fireworks, mostly mortars and large scale candles with big pops of burning magnesium in the sky. It should be a great new year. Hope things are better for all in 2012.

2007 El Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme

2011-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first time these cigars have seen the light of day. I have a few cigars. I can afford to buy a box of cigars and wait 5-6 years to smoke them, and I often do. But these have been calling out to me for years. I do not smoke as many cigars in a year as I used to, so they are welcome to call away, it's unlikely their cries will be heard. But today was the day that they would have their day in the sun. I raked up a couple hundred pounds of wet and muddy leaves out of the gutter, and in 40 degree weather, I sat out in the sun in a T-shirt with a Hop Wallop and a freshly lit Choix Supreme.

I must be on a real roll, because right from the first puff, this cigar was impressive. In fact I would say that I BELIEVE them when people OFTEN say that the Choix Supreme can be the equal of the Cohiba Robusto on any given day. I think that this is true, the cigars obviously share some similarities in blend, but what I think shows itself in the end is the INTENSITY of elegant flavor of the Cohiba robusto that is not quite there in the Choix. But certainly the two cigars start out very similarly. VERY CREAMY, sweet and spicy, with a gigantic core of toasted tobacco flavor. The cuban twang was just outstanding. And CREAMY?? Man, what a creamy stick. I was knocked out by the constant stream of great flavor. it was extremely balanced and mouth-watering. The burn was a little more rugged than my recent CORO, but the burn was manageable and the draw was superb. As I smoked into the core of the cigar near the middle of the stick, I was shown what the real difference is between the two cigars. The wonderful flavor was there, but there was a distinct lack of the chcolate and coffee in this cigar. It was still loaded with vanilla, baking spices, butterscotch and toasted tobacco. But creamier than the CORO. I like that....a lot.

The burn was a little crooked, but not out of control and it did not affect the burn or enjoyment. I have a lot of these smokes put away, and I think I might smoke every one. WOW, what a great little cigar. I score this one 91 points!

Cohiba Robusto....unbelievable

2011-12-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

What do you think about a cigar that everyone holds up as the quintessential cuban cigar that you smoke and smoke and never find one that performs up to standards? Not fake, just not the finest cuban cigar everytime. My experience hasn't really been hit and miss, it's been MISS. I have not had more than about ten in my life, but I have yet to have one that just belw me away. Well, until Thanksgiving, anyway. I have not enjoyed Thanksgiving with my family for 4 years. I work a go-kart race that takes place over Thanksgiving, and while I am not a big fan of Thanksgiving, nor am I a fan of driving ten hours to see family for one weekend, then turning around and doing it again in a month's time for Christmas, I do miss having this weekend to myself. And the stress of producing all this TV content doesn't make it much better.. So in a way, I have not missed Thanksgiving. But I have missed my family.

I was sitting on a "balcony" at a Super8 Motel on Thursday night. I had just finished producing a 90 minute live show from the race track and I was beat from a week of doing 3 other shows live, and had two 12 hour broadcasts coming Friday and Saturday night. I needed a REAL cigar. So I poured myself a few fingers of Basil Hayden and rocks, and cut and lit a 2004 Cohiba Robusto. From the first puff I knew things were about to change. And they did. Loads of creamy sweet tobacco flavor with cinnamon and vanilla came bursting out of the smoke. This went on for a full inch, then the cigar began to ramp up in strength and intensity of flavor. As I smoked away into the second inch, I was assaulted by coffee, toffee, chocolate, toasty tobacco and cuban twang like no other cigar I had ever had. I was speechless. Mostly because I was alone, there was no one to talk to anyway...it was a cold rainy night, I was in sock feet and I was drinking cold whiskey. But man, what a cigar. I knew that AHnohld loves this cigar, although as California governator, he had had to sneak around a bit to get them. But here was a cigar that I could enjoy. Not a movie star, not a rich man, just a man with great connections and a love of havana tobacco. As I smoked along, I experienced a tremendous, perfect draw, burn and flavor, all in one perfect smoke. As the cigar drew near the end, it never lost it's fantastic flavor or its ability to put a smile of disbelief on my face. I pushed the band up and continued until it just got too cold to smoke. I slid off the band and threw it in my shaving kit. I wanted to remember this cigar. I have smoked a few of these and never once had this kind of experience. If you listen to the communist propaganda, you would think it's like this every time you light a Cohiba. I am here to tell you that's a lot of hooey. but THIS cigar...wow. An easy 95 points!!!

At last, a new cigar - 1998 Le Hoyo du Depute'

2011-12-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I smoked a cigar that has not been smoked here before. I am not very swift with the updates, and I don't smoke many cigars in a year, so oftentimes you will find that I have reviewed a cigar that I have tried 2, sometimes 3 times before. Tonight I grabbed a old and beautiful cigar out of a fresh cabinet of 25, seemed a shame to break up the set.

It provided a breezy draw from the slightest cut. To me that spelled trouble, but I have had more trouble lately from stingy flows, so I lit it up quickly and drew the first, tasty puff. At first I thought, man, this is a 13 year old cigar and it tastes like it came off the roller's table yesterday. But after the first half inch, I realized that was just the power talking. These are strong and woody cigars without much complexity. Tasty, but not extremely interesting. I had a hard time determining what intricacies I was experiencing in the taste. I tasted crushed weeds and a mentholated cool, vegetal taste with a body of white wood. The cigar burned extremely straight and reasonably fast. Within a half an hour, I was pretty much done with this one.

There was a full inch to go when I put it down, but I couldn't see much sense in continuing. The cigar was good, but not compelling enough to take it to the nub. On this cigars best days, they are really refreshing and mouth-watering. I love em. It's sad to see this one be a little blah. If you can find a box of these you should really pick em up. Don't be put off by this one. 80 points.

Another crack at Diplomaticos No.5

2011-11-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Smoked a few of these over the last few years of this blog, kind of a hit and miss proposition, but I think it might be wrong of me to expect Diplomaticos No.4 performance out of these. nahh.

Fired one up today, a decent looking cigar, decided to pinch a divot out of the end with the fingernails rather than cutting it, it did not make me pay the price, and it drew air well, so off we go.

There was a slight hint of good things to come, a little of the oft-cited, seldom-tasted cuban tobacco twang. A bold package of strong smoke and long finish on the tongue, but not a lot of individual flavors to detect. Hints of leather, char, a little tea. The cigar is perfectly humidified with a nice even and slow burn. It burns through halfway without changing much at all. It is a good cigar without any really outstanding flavors. There are occasional hints of black cherry and woody varieties, I detected a juniper freshness and astringency and an oaky, dank taste.

As you can see, it really burned well, perfectly behaved and never ceased to provide a nice mouthful of smoke. Out of the three that I have smoked for this blog, this one is in the middle. It is not the horrible smoke I had fresh from the new box. But neither is it the redeemer that came a few months ago that made a liar out of me. I really thought they would never be very good, and I said as much. These are just too inconsistent to give any kind of definitive review on.

As this one began to tick away, there came a sudden increase in power and a little bit of piney tang and hints of tarry chocolate and leather. A good but strange cigar.....75 points

Sidetracked by a Por Larranaga Petit Corona

2011-11-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

I had an assignment tonight, and that was to smoke a Cohiba Maduro Secretos from 2007. But I opened up the humidor and saw instead a cigar that I had selected during a recent rampage through my ice chest. A lovely Por Larranaga Petit Corona. It was from the bygone days of nudity in the dark...cabinets of 50 lovely, oily, bandless beauties resting in rough familiarity with their siblings. Moist and decadent. Rich and chocolatey. Calling to me. So what the hell, I sparked it up. This is as close as I am going to get to lovely nudity in the dark these days, anyway.

I was never a fan of these. Or rather, I only had one box I ever loved, and I loved every last one of those down to the nub. A flat box of 25 1998 vintage, contraband from Canada. Never had another good box of these. This cabinet I am smoking the last of these days is from 2003. They were all gorgeous, which made it all the harder to explain their plain, uninteresting flavors. Make no mistake, they were good cigars, but not great. They have all been oily, perfectly constructed, not a bad draw in the bunch. But this cigar has a reputation for exotic and delightful flavors among aficionados, and to hear them describe it makes your mouth water. Toffee, cream, nutmeg, coffee, butterscotch. Sounds like a perfect start to a Christmas morning. Perhaps I just have no palate. Heck, I KNOW I have no palate. I have been handed the best of the best in my time and only thought, ehh, that's OK...smooth.

So tonight I was looking for redemption. And I got it to some degree. These smokes have mellowed some over the years, but still offer a fine, razor sharp burn, a great draw and loads of delicious smoke. Smoke that for once in many months offers up lots of delicious tea and cream flavor. Now we are talking. I drew a steaming hot bath, wadded up a washcloth behind my head, closed my eyes and smoked. What a great cigar. A ton of good creamy flavors with hints of vanilla and spices, kind of wrapped around a base of shortbread cookies. What is tuly astounding about the smoke is the AROMA. Just delightful in it's sweet, bakery deliciousness.

This is one of those smokes that has people craning their necks to get a look at the source of the smoke, remarking to their loved ones that they HATE cigar smoke, but someone somewhere is smoking one that smells GREAT. Aside from the tea flavors though, for the bulk of the first inch it was muted somewhat. Once it got warmed up, it began to exude oils and flavors started to come in bunches. All mild, but all new and exotic. Cinnamon here, toast there, tea and honey, coffee and cream.

And the smoke is of course, the perfect size. A petit corona allows you to sample excellent flavors without becoming bored. Just when it is starting to get a little tired, the cigar is ready to put down. No Churchill stretch, playing out the string on a cigar that used to be great, but now is just something to hold and puff while the sun goes down or you have a conversation with a friend. The cigar gave me lots of sweet flavors, a medium body and a perfect burn start to finish. Near the end it got to be really medium bodied and toasty, not much flavor but a richly refined palette of interesting puffs. None the same as before, but nothing that I had to think and concentrate on. Entertaining to the last.

And now with only 8 to go, I am thinking "Now who can I reward with a few of these?" It's good to have friends.

A superb performance.....91 points

LSU versus Bama and why the Tigers Win

2011-11-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Believe who you want to believe, but do not bet against the Tigers. I know there are a ton of people who will tell you they know BAMA will win this weekend, and I don't blame them, I'm a homer, they're a homer, wouldn't you like to be a homer, too. Even Vegas is not sure, their line on the game is barely over the traditional 3 points for the home team.

And while we're on the subject, sports writers, blog posters, people in general....the word is VERSUS. From the latin, meaning "Turned Against". You have sportscasters on local Radio and TV, commentators on NATIONAL sports netwoks, joe schmos on web forums saying 'verse' as if that means something. vs. is the abbreviation for versus. Rant over.

OK, here is why LSU is going to beat Alabama on Saturday November 5th.

I have what I deem to be an overbearing amount of Alabama folks on my cigar web forum. I like em, hell, I am an Alabama fan second when they are not playing LSU. But I like the idea of being an underdog amongst a ton of Crimson Tide wolves. I can't point to one or the other and say one has more obnoxious fans than the other. But it's Bama. lol.

However, a few weeks ago, Auburn found out how LSU covers kick returns. A freaking trebuchet of man flesh, de-cleating them in front of tens of thousands of fans. Copy and paste that 3 more times in a row. I had to stand up a few times and just exclaim OUCH! It was brutal. And that was when I knew it. LSU wins this game. During that Auburn game, I realized LSU just exists on a higher plane of ferocity. Bama has LSU on size and immovablility of the offesive line, ours goes up and down in their ability, week to week it seems. But they have had no trouble protecting the quarterbacks. Establishing the run has proven a tiny bit more difficult at times, but no one would accuse the Tigers of an inability to run the football. So I am OK with a little variablility in the face of Bama's steadiness. And besides, we are not running the ball against their offensive line, but their defensive line. I think LSU will do fine. It won't be easy, but it will get done. And on the subject, I am not convinced Bama fans should be so quick to extrapolate success with Lacey and Richardson running the football against porous defensive lines thus far as having any bearing on Saturday's contest. LSU's defense is overstocked with manly men. But I still view it as a push. One side or the other will gain a slight edge, this is not where the win will be secured by any means.

A LOT of analysts are saying that playing in Bama's home stadium is an automatic edge for them,

but in the grand scheme, I don't think their stadium is all that feared conference-wide.

Tiger Stadium is MUCH more of a factor, as is West Virginia's renowned venue where LSU has dominated unaffected. Kentucky, Florida, Miss State, ALL are tougher places to play. I do not give that as an edge by ANY means. People just don't fear Bryant Denney Stadium. And LSU SEEMS to flourish under intense partisan crowds, be they hostile or sympathetic. And our defense has a knack for quieting crowds. Been doing it all season.

Alabama's left tackle is a phenomenon, though, and I KNOW the Tigers must deal with him to get a good pass rush on the QB's blind side. Barrett Jones is a LARGE, SMART, STEADY left tackle, and I think the Tigers' best alternative is to rush from the opposite side, where McCarron can see it coming, and employ a robber on the left side. But I have no fear that LSU will not find a way to McCarron. He is going to spend a lot of time picking himself up off the turf.

Coaching is another push for me, I think Nick Saban is the smarter coach, but Les Miles is the gutsier one, and players like to put it all out there for someone who believes in them and their abilities to lead on the field. You are already asking them to risk everything; their health, mobility and future...why not let em take a chance on a fake field goal, a fake punt, an onside kick. Players like that kind of nerve, and they will go to the wall for a coach like that. Nick Saban controls everything and is risk-averse. It works. I just think Les Miles' system works better. YES, you get discipline issues from this philosophy that Saban doesn't get because he doesn't tolerate it. But robots don't beat players head to head. You'll see.

So where does the edge come from that puts LSU on top? Two places, and that's always better than one. Sorry Bama, but LSU is the faster team. The Tigers are every bit as BIG, but faster and deeper. LSU seems to have more quality TAILBACKS than Bama has stars on the whole team. But stars are not the measure of a great team. Our defense is tough and FAST. Our offense is explosive and FAST. LSU is fast, FAST, FAST. That kind of speed covers over things. Speed makes up for things. Things LSU really doesn't need to make up for. Speed....advantage LSU.

LSU has an edge in Quarterbacks. I never thought I would say this in 2011, but it's true. McCarron is a great player. But he is not a lot better than Jarrett Lee. And he is not a lot better than Jordan Jefferson. And there's the rub. On any given set of downs, Alabama's defense is going to come out onto the field and face uncertainty. I would not DOUBT for a minute that LSU might trot Russel Shepard out onto the field for a play or two. Les Miles can change QBs play to play for that matter. I think the things LSU can do with the quarterback trump what Alabama can do, although that is mitigated somewhat by the fact that Bama's backup quarterback is more mobile than McCarron. MOBILE and ready to play against LSU are two different things, however. Make no mistake, Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee are both ready to play at any time in Tuscaloosa. Both have the full confidence of the head coach and the team as a whole. The same cannot be said of Saban's top two QBs. Saban is not the kind of coach who is going to send Phillip Sims into the ball game with A.J. McCarron standing beside him, healthy and ready to play. He will not risk the outcome, even at home, in this particular game. It is too close to call, and Saban is a calculating coach with a strict plan for victory. And that plan does not include Phillip Sims alternating series.

In the end I guess it's all about one thing..............Miley Cyrus LOVES LSU!

So suck on that Bama....

Sorry Bama fans, the game of the 21st century goes to LSU by 10 points. No matter the outcome, wrong or right, I am going to REALLLLlllllllly enjoy this football game. I won't be alone.

An old love visits.......Partagas Robusto Dominican Republic

2011-10-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

When I first started smoking, before I realized that there were other cigars out there that rewarded the bold and reckless, I used to smoke a few Dominican cigars, a lot of H. Upmann and a few Partagas: the stellar Sabroso Tubos, the mild but roasty No.10. But I never had any illusions, these are pedestrian cigars to satisfy a public sleepwalking through an embargo. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they don't seem to rise above the mildness of their ingredients by letting any one flavor be bold. You get the delicious taste of the Cameroon wrapper, the slightly chocolate and sweet mexican binder, and the marrier, the dominican filler. But while they are well made and reasonably worth the money they charge, they are boring to me, I'll just say that out right.

At a herf earlier in the year, I was handed an old Partagas Robusto, likely at least 8 years old, very yello in the cello, and smelling quite aged and mild. I wanted to taste what I had been missing. I had no expectations, and was going to allow it to be good. I poured a glass of Victory Baltic Thunder, which was dark with chocolatey notes and very light licorice, but bursting with a brilliant fruitiness. Great beer. The cigar I made a bit of an error on, I cut it with a wedge and while it drew fine, it never really performed, I got air through it, but not a draw that I thought would add much to the flavor. So why didn't I re-cut it with a guillotine? Well, that's easy...I am an idiot.

The smoke was much as I remember it, good taste from the wrapper, but boring inside. A slight metallic, pencil lead flavor with a grassiness that overall was just not impressive. But I do not really rate non-cuban cigars, and I handicapped the smoke with my lazy cutting. A more open draw would have worked out better. I am confident of that. It's hard to take much away from a cigar that just is what it is. It's not their fault that they can't get tobacco from the fobidden zone.

But in general, this is why I left these cigars years and years ago. It's like the old Wendy's ad that has returned...Where's the BEEF? If I had no access to the better cigars in the world and had only these to smoke forever, I would resign myself to enjoying these, much as I used to 15 years ago. But in 2011........Ehhh.

Smoking more of the fakes

2011-10-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have a friend in the cigar fraternity who sent me a box of cigars in lieu of cash one day, and I was glad to get them. When the cigars are Edicion Limitada 2010 Montecristo Grand Edmundos, why not? But while I trust my friend, apparently I can't trust his vendor.

In the first MGE EL 2010 post in this blog, there was a beetle hole in one of them. Now there are beetle holes in ALL of them....MULTIPLES. So again, because I honestly believe that no modern Habanos cigars should be hatching beetles under proper storage conditions, I have no doubt that these are fakes. On forums I get a lot of guff about this theory, but on my blog I can say what I please.

So tonight I am going to smoke another one. First it should be said that I don't even really like these cigars. They are giant, round sticks with an airy draw. And the beetle holes are not going to help the airy part. So let's take a look at what's left of the box. The flash brightens the wrapper a bit, they are not this light.

So it lights up slowly but evenly, which is pretty important with any large cigar. You need to really light a fat cigar well or you are going to have problems all the way down to the nub. Oftentimes even touching the cigar up periodically will not help. It all starts at the foot. Light em right.

It does not immediately TASTE like a fake, in fact were I handed this cigar out of the blue, outside of a little youth, I would not think anything was out of the ordinary with the flavor. It tastes a lot like a Hoyo Epicure No.2, which people might think, "Hey, there you go.." Not with me. I hate those crappy smokes, haha. But it's not a terrible smoke yet. It should be noted that box, bands, embossing...all look fine, no trouble with my eye wanting to pick this cigar apart. Holding a finger over the beetle holes allows me to draw a very decent amount of smoke through the cigar. If I don't, there is no draw. One thing that does not look right is the sloppy cap. On almost any other type of havana cigar I would have concerns about that, but with this EL wrapper, it's all they can do to just get it to look like a cuban cigar and not a San Andres Valley second. The smoke is slightly sweet, pretty medium-strong, leaning toward strong, and a slight flavor of tea and a little twang. There is a touch of creaminess to be found, but nothing on the whole to get excited about. The stick is very firm along it's length, yet very light, but not spongy at all. This COULD be a major league smoke in a blind test with the holes patched. At the half-inch mark I taste a hint of beetle-ass. Not a bad burn at all, a little shaggy due to the standard H2000-type wrapper, harvested from the corona leaves to boot, so it's really thick and oily.

My argument or complaint with the cigar is there is nothing really special about it. This could be as cuban-esque as it wants to be and still be a fake. It may smile and smile and yet be a villain. It could be rolled on some guy's table with his own tobacco and boxed in the readily available pilfered boxes with pilfered labels and bands. This is my leaning at this point. It is cuban, but how authentic? These guys don't freeze or vacuum crush their tobacco or cigars. No one who knows about these smokes would deny that at best, they are gray market to begin with. The tobacco is not tasting all that great, nor the blend. Tough call on these. I have no questions in my mind that they are not what they are supposed to be. These HAVE to be better than this. Everyone who has had them finds them excellent, most would say better than the Montecristo Sublimes of several years ago. I would love to send these to people, but I wouldn't want to taint their supplies with beetle potential.

What these smokes DO say to me is that I don't think the cubans are getting enough credit for how well they are currently CONTOLLING beetles in their Habanos products. I do not keep my cigars in the best of conditions when it comes to temperature. I TRY, but in the peak of the southern summer, it's difficult and expensive. And yet again, I have never had a single beetle hatching incident in over twelve years of keeping stock. This box must have hatched 4-5 dozen. I mean, look at the DUST they created. I have crushed a few dozen myself at various times upon opening the box.

But now I have gotten to the point where I will not be holding the holes closed anymore, and I am hoping that the cigar improves in flavor as I KNOW it will in it's burn. It gives me a chance to sip the smoke and probe for flavors. Indeed it does improve quite a bit. The power continues unabated but is softer in it's flavor. But still there is just not much there.

So in the end, what has any of this meant? If this was a review of the Grand Edmundo, it might be worth something. As it is, I am not in any way further assured that these are not fakes. Not a negative reflection on my friend at all either. Just not good cigars. I am going to smoke ONE MORE in the distant future, perhaps over New Years. Maybe these are sick. They sure aren't good. Once the cigar butt cooled, I disassembled it and found no glaring evidence of standard fake cigar pedigree. A FEW scraps, but mostly long leaf filler of varied shade and grade. Inconclusive, but with credit, nothing I saw made me think they were illegitimate. What I wanted was a sheer sign to support my theory. I didn't get it.

So on a theme, I will also smoke another under-whelming cigar that others find a darling. Tomorrow for LSU-Tennessee, I will have a Trinidad Robustos T.

My favorite cigar......how many are there, lol.

2011-10-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

I like to think I have 5 top cigars. And then I smoke another one and 5 becomes 10. I think this cigar is in that top 5. ALWAYS tastes SO GOOD. Poured a Sierra Nevada 2011 Bigfoot Ale. Wow, good beer. Looking for a good cigar. This year at the Shack, a generous brother palmed me with a Diplomaticos No.4. CONSISTENTLY the best of Havana, and as is tradition, Habanos cuts the best cigars from production, as they have done with this one.

This one is pretty, a nice mellow box press, beautiful color, perfect weight. And then the trouble started. As I looked around for a cutter, I saw my wedge. Great for golf, not so hot tonight. I am a lazy person at heart, and I need to look harder for a cutter. There are only about 20 in the house. But I settle for the wedge, draw decent air, so I go ahead and light it. The cigar draws fine but produces stingy smoke. Good flavor with light tea and some leather. Not a traditional Diplomaticos, but again, aren't these things all the same with different bands?? This one doesn't help kill the myth. A little mineral flavor, no coffee or cream, no nutmeg or cinnamon. Hmm. Not terrible, but for the first real cigar of fall for me, a little disappointing. One thing I DO know, this cigar is young. I didn't ask, but I am thinking 07+. And now as my memory comes into it's stride, I think I got this from Greg from NC. One of my favorite people in the smoking biz.

So of course, I want this to be great. But it's only good. When I poked through the humidor, I passed a Trinidad Robustos T. A Sancho Panza Belicoso. Twinges of regret course over me. The skeeters ate me up outside, so I am finishing the smoke indoors. It gets better, but is still far short of the one VOLFAN gave me in Memphis. Man that was a fine Diplo 4. So I am thinking this one is just going to be a bad choice on a good night. LSU wups a fit on Florida, and looks good doing it. And as luck would have it, I get the Tigers versus Tennessee again next week on CBS. So that makes FIVE games on national TV that I got to see this year, an absolute miracle. I guess being No. 1 in the nation gets doors open. But I digress.

This was a well-anticipated smoke tonight, but it falls short of it's potential...I give it a 75.

Cuaba Divinos 2007

2011-09-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

This is a box of cigars that I was extremely surprised and obviously pleased to open. It was as dark as any box of regular production habanos I had ever seen. These were darker than some Edicion Limitadas or "Maduro" wrapped Cohibas I have seen lately. The wrapper color was reminiscent of the 1980s habanos I remember vaguely. It was not as beautiful, for the former wrappers were extremely toothy and oily and just as black as anything you see today termed oscuro in the non-cuban ranks. I held onto them as long as I could, but was talked out of the box by a friend in Michigan. He was kind enough to cut one out for me once he took possession of them, and it was this cigar that died tonight.
I poured a pint of Abita ANDYGATOR to go with it, and it was not a terrible pairing, but this beer is not what I would call a premium beer, despite it's being sold alongside today's craft beers. After many sips, I finally pinned down the last time I tasted the same general profile, and that was in Dixie Beer, which is ironic, as the Abita is also brewed in LA. Heck, Dixie is not even brewed in New Orleans anymore, leaving after the brewery was damaged during Katrina.

I put a wedge cut on it and lit it with no trouble, and it drew very well. It burned extremely slowly and gave up smoke that I'd term medium to stingy, leaning towards medium. The flavors I noticed were a very light tea, a predominant Oaky taste with some light coffee. It burned through half it's length before beginning to change somewhat. As this stick begins about as short as a minuto, there was precious little cigar to go when this change for the better occurred. Still, with the slow burn, I was satisfied with the cigar, despite having a weak flavor profile. The second half was much more creamy, also bearing slight hints of what the brand is generally known for, a grassy, more vegetal yet rich flavor. I believe that living in a desktop for over a month may have had something to do with it. I would counsel the new owner of the cigars to let them sit for a year before consuming the majority of the box, and to also store away 5 for a LONG term aging experiment that I KNOW will result in fine little cigars. But as this one smoke went, I'd have to give it a low score, perhaps 80. A good smoke for a Friday evening, but it could have been much better.

Cohiba Maduro Secretos - 2007

2011-09-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

4 years in the dark was certainly good for this little cigar. I went ahead and pinched a photo from the interwebs, because I smoked this at night and away from my camera. I like to have actual photos of me smoking, but that is impossible this time.

Stolen from tabaccheria-cavallini

This cigar had a medium to firm draw, owing to it's time in deep storage in a black lacquered box. The cigar just sitting out was very much a mixture of barnyard aroma and coffee grounds. It was covered with a thin sheen of oil and crystalline plume. The wrapper was colorado-maduro, with generous streaky red tones on a background of milk chocolate. It gave a bit of trouble on the cut, I think because of it's overall moisture. It was a bit like cutting a rolled up piece of tar. Outside of that possibly disastrous beginning, the cigar lit extremely quickly and bashed me in the face with tongue-coating, rich smoke. Initially, I was impressed with the molasses and coffee tastes, with a hint of something like steak-sauce or worcestershire sauce, MAYBE something akin to some pipe tobaccos you can find by certain manufacturers, that 'ketchup' taste. This quickly dissapated and I was left with a generally toasted tobacco core, with coffee notes quite prominent and some sugary sweetness WAY in the back, kind of a pure sugar cane syrup taste. God I love sugar cane. This is the time of year that the first field-burning would take place and the trucks would begin to haul load after load of fresh cut cane to Raceland to the processing plant. We'd ride our bikes down the highway and pick up the pieces that would fall off the trucks. There is almost nothing better for a sweet tooth than the thick, rich, sweet taste of cane juice. Where was I?? In Louisiana, apparently.

The cigar burned extremely slowly and gave up tons of smoke and flavor. Not much on real flavor changes, but bursting with occasional mystery hints of taste here and there, like a good cigar should be. Great core flavor and undescribable flavor hints coming and going throughout. However, I know you guys don't read this to hear me say "I can't describe the hints", that's what every chump who fancies himself a reviewer says. I have a job to do. SO, I did taste, on one or more puffs throughout the smoke, cinnamon, cane sugar, mint tea, butter, bacon, ketchup, steak sauce, hay, coffee, dark chocolate, tar, toasted tobacco, molasses and tea. This is a good compliment to a steady diet of minutos and perlas, a cigar similarly-sized, but totally 'dessert-like'. A reward at the end of the day. These are best pulled out on special occasions. What impressed me most was the quality to be found after 4 years in the box. This is not a cigar that tastes 'aged'. It tastes fresh and new and amazing. After 70 minutes of pleasurable diversion, I have no choice but to score this in the 90s.....92 perhaps. Great, but not ethereal yet. My suggestion is to pick up a box or two of these. I am sure that they can be had from 2007 even today. Hold onto them and treat them as special occasion smokes and you should always have one when you really need it. One more thing...this cigar will never be accused of tasting much like a Cohiba, but that seems to be the style in Habanos today, roll some good cigars, and put whatever band you like on them, call them 'special'. The quality that should be the hallmark of any Cohiba, however, is certainly there. But if you are looking for Lanceros with a dark wrapper, or Esplendidos Junior Maduro, you will ultimately be disappointed. Well, sort of.

Ashamed and Repentant

2011-09-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

ARGH, I have to apologize to all the people who follow this blog for the embarassing lack of updates. I owe you all more than that, and I see I even lost a person, probably out of sheer disgust. I have been on the road constantly since August 1st, but that's not an excuse per se. I have had plenty of chances to smoke and just have not done it. In addition to trips to the Smokies and to Northern Ohio and Michigan, I have been to the Nascar races in Bristol, TN and the NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, NC. I was there promoting a go kart race and was working 14-16 hour days, so even though I had cigars with me, I valued sleep much more than smoking. Also it should not go un-noticed that since the whirlwind began, the temps have gone from the high 90s to the high 60s in my world, and this will have a great impact on the smoking life. Perhaps more than any other aspect, such as slowing down a bit for a few weeks or being far behind on blog posts. So here are a few photos of life on the road, some cuties I saw while doing my job, etc. The first two are of particular interest, because these are NOT the celebrities I list as their names, just kind of "Muppet-Junior" doppelgangers......

Here is Hanna Montana or Miley Cyrus, never sure which......

Here is Isla Fischer I am pretty sure.............

Here is...well who cares, she's there...........

FunnyCars are funny..........

Top Fuel Final..........

TV Tommy Ivo's famous "Showboat" 4 engine dragster........

Sharon Roberts........this was just a cool shot.

Rails ready to run........

Eco boost........................................not.

The Greatest Herf on Planet Earth

2011-08-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the world's greatest Herf. As a southern boy, not much about Ohio gets me very excited, but this certainly never fails to have me giddy as a kid prior to Halloween. Except THIS doesn't give me diarreah (sp). Halloween always did. I would just get so excited I'd make myself to sick to go out. Cruel Irony.

So I drove 12 hours overnight to get to Northern Ohio and was treated to breakfast. Forget that I had just eaten at Denny's to kill an hour and settle my caffienated stomach. Both were good. I am not going to talk a lot about who and what, just state that for two days I was able to leave the keys to my car in my motel room and drink the finest liquor, eat excellent food, share the finest craft beers available and smoke cigars that 98% of the world's smokers would kill to take a crack at. And the people are exceptional as well. From the host clear down to the young man who pulled a Halloween on himself and ended up face down in the dirt overnight. Better than the lake, I guess. No sis...it was NOT me. I told a few people who asked, "This is a place where I bought a bottle of Crown Royal for the liquor table and checked all around to make sure no one saw that it was me that put up this 'inferior' bottle of whiskey, haha. Lot's of people think it's fine enough. But you should see the table.

Well, actually you CAN.........

I am not a huge liquor fan, but for sure I prefer it to beer. But one thing that is good about living alone for 25 years, you have no one to impress, no one to show off for. I keep a few bottles in the house, but don't have much as a rule. I forget my problems the natural way, by forgetting them. I keep about 5 bottles of bourbon to have with cigars, and rarely use it. Twice a year? Maybe. Plus some rum for the Jimmy Machine.

But Picture a lake setting so serene and beautiful and perfect for hosting 90-100 of your closest friends who will try but rarely completely succeed to remember they are your guests. Ashes end up in the grass, as do butts, and in general, the lawn is trampled flat. His 4 jet-skis, two mopeds and large boat are on hand for cruising. There are ice chests full of the other thing people bring in mass quantities, craft beers. The host provides everything else, except cigars. And it is a wonderful, respectful, raucous, bawdy, beautiful time.

You have to know when to take a rest before the action heats up.

You have to know when to take your camera out on a boat ride to Cedar Point Amusement Park to drop off the wife of an attendee and get some gas for the boat.

You have to wait for the dog to enter a sunset shot to make sure it's perfect...

You have to make sure your cigar is completely lit before beginning to enjoy it to ensure a good burn.

And you have to make sure that you take pictures of the important stuff.

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS remember to take your blog glasses to give to your target demographic.

And NEVER EVER let people watch you hit golf balls into a lake, if you suck like me, anyway.

BAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa!

2011-08-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's widely known I have the palate of a Billy Goat. I did not coin that term, I wish I knew the smoker who did. I'd like to meet him, because it's so perfect. I KNOW what I like. I like what I taste. But there is more to be tasted and liked and I just can't do it. As this blog has come through it's 1st year anniversary, a number of things are coming to pass for the second time since I started. One of them is that World's Greatest Cigar Herf up in Ohio. Cigars that are scarce as natural blond japanese guys get smoked up regularly. And so it came to pass that I got to smoke some pretty great cigars this weekend. And they were good smokes, from what 2-3 puffs could tell. But on two occasions, I had to tell my uber-gracious host "it's GOOD, but I honestly don't GET IT." I had a little run at a Havana Davidoff No.1. It's old yellowing band that had once been stark white attested to it's long life as a cigar. And unlike most of it's Davidoff family, this cigar still had some legs left. Maybe it's from a box of re-banded '99 lonsdales that Mitchell Orchant slipped some old Davi bands onto. Or maybe it is a rare Davidoff in a line of mostly spent, or getting there, smokes. But while it was smooth and rich and delicious, it was no better to me than a Diplomaticos No.1. Or rather, had I not seen the band, I would not have known it was a long discontinued gem.

So perhaps puzzled, or enraged even, my host approached me later with a 1492. Thanks again, and from the bottom of my heart, for having me up to Ohio in the first place, but thanks a million for the chance to smoke my first 1492. Sadly though, it happened again. I THINK only about 12-15,000 were ever boxed. I took a few gentle puffs, and then one whisper of a breath puff, and still, great flavor that stood up to any non-cuban cigar, but NOT quite what I would call special. This completes the trifecta, with me having had a similar experience 3 years ago when he handed me a 90's era Cohiba. It was smooth and delicious, but not discernably different from anything else of quality I had had to that point.

So why do I mention it at all? I used to smoke a great deal of cigarettes. And pot....I won't lie. I hate to ever admit it, because I can see my sister imagining me in the home of a dope dealer, and her blood must just curdle. But it's not like some kind of illicit Ralph Bakshi cartoon. More like a Freak Brothers comic. I always thought it rather innocent. But I AM the Black Sheep. AHHhhhh! Maybe THAT'S it. Maybe I do not have the palate of a Billy Goat, but rather a Black Sheep. Years of going to sleep with a tongue that tasted like it had been stepped on repeatedly by a alley-dwelling homeless guy has just taken the best layers of taste buds off. I can taste good stuff, but I can't zoom in and focus so to speak. And I am not upset by it, I dealt my cards early in life and am playing them now. But as I told my host then and am telling you now, I am not sure exactly how this is going to go from here on out. Either he will be challenged and want to constantly let me try the best to see if I can come around some, or he has written me off now, having let me taste his finest cigars and not been pleased with the results. But as another brother still told me at this herf, "You should ALWAYS tell people the truth, even if in your eyes the emperor has no clothes....no one likes a yes man." Which a.) steals my favorite analogy and b.) is hardly true. Most people like a yes-man, provided that they don't realize there IS one standing there. But my man Dave is a pretty outstanding host, and I think it will turn out to be a bit of both A and B.

Thanks Dave, another fantastic weekend.

Photographic Safari in the Smokies

2011-08-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

I just picked up a new camera, well an old, used camera, but entirely new to me. I have been getting by with a bit if a digital dinosaur, the Canon SD200, for quite a number of years, over 8, maybe ten. It's still a good camera, but my nephew Cam, whose photos I have displayed here a few times, has a great eye for photographic composition. I thought it was time to give him a little more experience with knob turning. His Sony is a fine compact that takes great pics in full auto. But it DOES have settings, buried in menus, for shutter speed and aperture. He just never needed to mess with them much. His camera took fantastic photos with just a point and click.
So I was poking around at bhphotovideo.com, which I highly recommend to anyone looking to get the best legit deal on all kinds of imaging gear. This New York company has it all, and while in my WORK, I never had any use for their used equipment selection, in my personal life I decided to give them a shot.

I ordered him a Canon S5 IS, a camera that is at least 8 years old, and has been made obsolete by several generations of Canon Superzooms.....only it HASN'T. People who own these newer and more expensive cameras say they simply returned the newer models and went back to their S5s, since there was no real upgrade to photo quality, or at least low light performance without noise. IF they were smart enough to have KEPT their S5s. Anyway, I picked one up for my nephew to present to him at the Smokies. (I apologize...for our international brethren, that's the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Americas's most visited, and dare I say, most popular, national Park. They are among the oldest, if not he oldest mountains on Earth.. http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm . ) I played with it to ensure it was in good order, and was so impressed with it I picked up one for myself. I think one was 180 and one was 120. They were in various states of battering from their rough lives.

So let's get going...I am sitting on the balcony with my mother having coffee and taking a few pics of misty mountains and there is this cicada on the railing. Now I know they don't like to move if they don't have to, they just like to make noise and sit there. So I get all macro on his butt, and seconds after this pic, it flies right around the camera and at my face, buzzing and rattling all the way,which kinda freaked me out, but not too bad.

Now all this week, my nephew and I are locked in this epic photographic battle, which I should win going away. I have a career centered around a lens, and I have been messing with this camera for weeks. And yet he still kicks my tail. But unlike last year's Audubon Park photos, I will not be featuring his shots here. It's the price he pays for kicking my butt. Actually I just don't have copies. But all week we would hook our cameras up to the flat screen at the cabin and show our daily haul of 200-300 pics each. Mine were often dawn shots in low light and in poor focus. These cameras are not great at low light and struggle to focus. But he still did me in, conditions smonditions. My favorite shots were in Cades Cove, looking for bear, but settling for FLOCKS of deer...herds, I guess, lol.

To some, these shots are rather boring...tame deer who let you drive a car to within a couple yards of them and just keep eating clover are not much of a challenge. But to me it's just beautiful. Amazing even. Certainly not boring. To me it's almost a communication, because I was certainly talking to them while I was shooting, and they were saying something too, by not bounding off into the treeline.

That one certainly seems to be saying SOMETHING to me. Now this cottontail, It was just freezing to stay "unseen" I guess, but it could have run, too, when my car stopped and I got out. But it wanted to appear on the internet. We all want our 15 mins.

And when you are in the "Salamander Capital of the World", you have to take time to shoot the immovable.

And insects are people too, plus they are easy to shoot, at least when they do not fly away while you are focusing. Or sting you.

Naturally I have pictures of girl's butts shot out of moving cars again this year, but that would be in poor taste apparently, displaying them here. What wilder life IS THERE? But my sister thinks it makes me a pervert. I told her that when your eyesight is as poor as mine, you have to snap now, find out of they are old enough to look at later. I am not touching them, stealing their souls, chaining them in a closet. I am just taking a simple photograph. I am fine with her not doing it, or her son not following my example. But I am a bachelor living in a free society. I don't see the harm. It's the same picture I have been taking since high school. Her point I guess, is that that was 35+ years ago. blabla. hehe.

So here is a picture of rhododenrons and balsam fir............

Bolivar Petit Belicoso Edicion Limitada 2009

2011-08-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

My MOST humble apologies to all for being a slovenly butthead for what...two months now? I am guessing most have just stopped checking in. I guess that's the advantage of having a lot of content in place, at least new people can log in and read through all of it. My excuse is a good one, though, because after a year of entries, it's time to repeat one. I just got back from the Smokies again, and I had a wonderful time. I DID NOT, however, smoke many cigars. I always take them along, but this trip was busier than usual. I got up early on a few of my 6 days to take in a more attractive photographic safari in Cades Cove, once alone, and once with my nephew and mother. You can see occasional wildlife at 4 pm in the cove, but it's not too likely. If you want to get hit over the head with it, get up at dawn and enter the loop road at 6:30 am. More about that in a minute.
One night I was aching a bit from a long hike on the Appalachian trail for which I was grossly under-watered, and hopped in the hot tub for a smoke and a Frozen Concoction. I chose a Bolivar Edicion Limitada, the 2009 Petit Piramide. This cigar got clobbered on initial release, and even as time progressed, it's scores stayed pretty low for what should have been a fantastic cigar. People said it tasted thin, cardboard-ey and bland. As luck would have it a friend in Nashville hooked me up...thanks Bill. I think he traded me three for something I had that he wanted. Well this one was a bit cracked up but smokeable. I cut it and lit it with a little difficulty on both accounts, and this cigar REALLY DELIVERED. I have to apologize for the pic, my camera would not cooperate.

Massive amounts of spicy and interesting smoke. There was a strong does of tea with lemon, not purely the flavor of tea and lemon which I do not care for much, but a deep tea flavor laced with a tart acidity. Just a phenomenal combination. The cracked wrapper was held in check by rotating the cigar when I would take it from my mouth, slathering it down each time with a lil spit. Otherwise it wanted to stick to my lip everytime and tear worse. But in general, the burn was good, although you had to hold it just so in your mouth to avoid an airiness. However, I do not like when people rip on cracks and draw in reviews, as if those flaws can be thought of as general detractions from all examples of that cigar. Mine was just an exception. The flavor was spot on. It did not change a great amount over the life of the smoke. I am sad to say I only smoked half of an already short cigar. I got distracted by something OUTSIDE the hot tub, and had to go inside where smoking is not allowed. I am not one who can lay a cigar down and come back to it cold. Just too sharp and bitter. But while it was going, the cigar was a real joy to smoke with a slight creaminess and a few draws of pine, butter, cotton candy and the tea and lemon base underneath it all. A bit leathery to start, and a bit acidic to finish, but the middle time was perfect.

I will not rate this cigars flaws, this was something that could not be helped. As a flavorful cigar, this one has to be right up there in the range of 89-91.

OUCH, the Man of War Puro Authentico

2011-07-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

KICKED MY A55. Ouch. Everything was going along fine, but near the end I began to smoke the cigar a little fast, trying to wrap it up so I could take a picture of the end of the cigar. More on the effects of that idea later.

This was another cigar given to me by Neens. At times people get these non-cuban cigars into my hands either because they feel sorry for me for not wanting to try new NC cigars, or they just want to hear what I think of them and are just being generous. I never try to encourage this behavior, but I try not to fuss too much when it happens. Thanks again, Neens.

The cigar opened up with no-holds-barred flavor, super-rich and potent tobacco flavor, laced with hints of vanilla and maple sugar, spicy tastes of possible Nicaraguan tobacco I am guessing. The smoke was so thick and rich you could swirl your tongue around and feel it. Rich coffee taste and peppery, sweet spice roll in and out of the subsequent puffs I make on the cigar. The corona size makes for a triple threat for me, FREE stick, great taste, perfect size. I loved the cigar outside for an inch or two, and then got just too torn up by mosquitoes to smoke anymore. I brought my Golden Monkey Ale and cigar inside and smoked a rare stick inside. Another reason why I was rushing a little. A lesser cigar like the recent DaVinci, TOSSED. I am not going to smoke a cigar inside in the middle of summer. But I couldn't put this down. Puff after puff of great flavor and NOT super-strong by any means. Until you rush it I guess.

Suddenly I got a rush of cold sweat on my brow, a little bit of a queasy feeling in my gut. I was watching Song of Bernadette for some reason and I didn't want to stop, but I took a quick shower and went to bed early. I had no interest in finishing this one to the nub. Yikes, talk about good and bad all at the same time. I will rank it, a rarity for a NC cigar for me, I just don't know how to rate em. They all kind of taste the same to me, and that's not a fair way to think of them. But this cigar is a real treat, 90 points.

DaVinci something or other (Economico) and a Old Hickory hefeweizen

2011-07-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

These DaVinci tubed cigars were 1/3 priced at JR one month sometime in the recent past, and I picked up a few boxes for the troops. I have forgotten the name of them, but they are a perfect lonsdale size, smell delicious and feel great in the hand. The taste is similar to most low-end Nicaraguan puros, the burn was excellent and the cigar went well with the North Carolina Hefeweizen I drank with it. Picked it up in Boone, it was not expensive and it was pretty good. Not much to hop around about, but neither was the cigar. It had notes of burnt sugar, dark chocolate and tobacco, a medium to full draw and a razor straight burn. But those flavors sound like it was a great cigar, but not so much really. It was good, and I would smoke it again, but there is no time to smoke these cigars when I have havanas to get through. Good but not great, flavors without being flavorful. All in all, it was worth smoking again, but I probably won't, although I have another.

Checking in on 2008 Diplomaticos No.5 and a Flying Pig

2011-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is a tough entry, because on one hand I have to savage a cigar and on the other hand, I have a cigar that really knocked it out of the park. Which is which, it's time to find out. I got some non-cuban cigars from a friend on Cigar Asylum, some cigars that I was REALLY curious about. How has the NC movement progressed since I went over to the darkside? There are people who swear by the Drew Estates Liga Privada line. To me, I am thinking, 'what is it that had been missing for so many years and has catapulted THIS cigar to the top tier?' People seem to put this right up there with havanas, or maybe they don't, I am not sure how people rate these or if it is just NC cigars they compare them to. This cigar CAN'T be riding simply on the strength of the vitola.

As you can tell, it's a fantastic shape for a cigar. The construction was top notch, the burn was great. But the flavor....it was the same as all the most common Nicaraguan power cigars. It's a flavor I still do not get. You get flashes of brilliance among plain old strong tobacco notes, acidic, rough, steamy smoke and boring flavor. I can get the exact same taste out of the Omar Ortez I reviewed a few months ago for 2.50 each and available everywhere. The Flying Pig is rare, pricey and coveted. I am not getting the difference. I have a few more vitolas of the Liga Privada line, and I certainly would not like to denigrate what my friend has done in answering my curiousity. I also think Drew Estate cigars can be great. But this smoke was more hype than flavor. I have no idea what was going on .

I also had a chance to smoke a cigar that had treated me equally as bad on previous occasions, but I thought time might have turned the tide. That is the Diplomaticos No.5 from 2008. Previous testings of these small cigars were just awful. Steamy, harsh, tasteless tobacco. I lit one up the night I arrived in Blowing Rock, and it exploded with coffee and toffee notes plus a hint of light tea and cinnamon. What a great little cigar.

I have handed these cigars out for years with apologies for what I thought might be not worth smoking, much less an example of a havana cigar. It was wrapped in a heavy fireproof wrapper and burned like a fuse. This time around, every single facet of it's flavor, performance, burn, ash...were perfect. I smoked this to the nub and enjoyed it, and wished I had another to back it up with. However, I gave that to the guys at Peabody Wine & Beer in Boone. They hooked me up with some great beers at some great discounts. This was a great trip to the mountains, with some great craft beers enjoyed and a few good cigars smoked. Here are a few pictures of some great views on the Blue Ridge Parkway......

Heading for the Mountains

2011-06-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generousity of my sister, I am taking a second straight trip to the Appalachian Mountains this week. I'll be in Blowing Rock, NC this time, and I have packed up a number of nice cigars. I THINK the eastern half of the country is headed for a bit of a cool down and a wetting up, so it should be extremely nice at the relatively low altitude of 3000 feet. Might be spending the days above that, or even below, but as long as it's not as bad as last summer, I'll be fine. The Smokies last year were miserable. I'd hate to be a bear. I have the frozen concoction machine and a travel humidor with a dozen sticks inside, and to tip my hand a bit, I will be re-smoking the disappointing and now discontinued Diplomaticos No.5, certainly a crusty, plumey Montecristo No. 4, and a few surprises to boot. I also have some nice cigars sent to me by a reader, some Liga Privada, a My Father and a Man o'War. They will not all get smoked, but it will be nice to get at least one in. Going to work all day and drive all night, so who knows when I will get back to you guys, but be on the lookout for some good smokes.

Sancho Panza Belicoso - 2006

2011-06-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

I held this box intact for 5 years, not wanting to devalue it, but it got to the point where I was too curious to let it go any further without figuring out what was going on inside this box. I opened it up for the first time in 3 years to find it oily and very fragrant. The cigars themselves are not that attractive, but if you can find someone who says their SP Belicosos are gorgeous cigars, they might have fakes.

In their 5 years of life, they have tightened up a bit, feeling a bit stretched, but with a distinct feeling of lightness or even perfection that ensures a nice smooth draw. Belicosos and piramides offer a benefit unique in the myriad vitolas; you can cut the tiniest bit from the head and test the draw, and if it's fine, you have a major flavor-funnel focusing flavor into the smallest possible cut. A lot of aliteration from anxious smokers......This cigar took less than 1/4 inch of cut and drew very nicely, so I lit it up, another phase which went very nicely. The first draws offered a lot of smoke, but a bit dry and boring. As it burned down about a half inch, it was full of light spice and light tea, with a glimmer now and then of buttery cinnamon and nutmeg. The cigar burned straight as an arrow until Ralph walked up with his long curved tail and knocked over my Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, eliciting a curse and a jump up from my chair. I chomped the cigar and picked up the bottle, which miraculously did not shatter upon hitting the ground, but released almost half of it's contents which Ralph was a bit reluctant to lap up. I let it go out and hosed the patio down, then decided I might as well clean the pond filter out, too. Once I scraped it out and lit it back up, it seemed to come alive and burst open with power and finesse. Lots of earth and citrus with the same hints of sweet spices. It burned down to about here:

It was a near perfect performer, although not necessarily a super smoke. Still it was a great surprise to finally open up the long-dormant box and light one up. In a microcosm world where I am spoiled for choice as to the evening's cigar, however, it can't rise too high on the list of great smokes I have had lately. But it also performed very well in cigar function, and you can never discount that fact, especially in habanos. I score this cigar as an 86.

I also need to give a tip of the hat to NEENS, who sent me a package of Liga Privada smokes, including a Flying Pig. People who have tried to find these and the other great Drew Estate smokes know this was a very generous thing to do. When things appear and disappear with the randomness these do, it's nice of someone to reach into the box and pull out 5 stellar smokes for another. It is well known that I do not smoke many of the non-Cuban cigars, and can hardly be accused of PREFERRING them, but this does nothing to stem my intense curiousity. So look for reviews on these great cigars. For many, I know this will elicit a 'big whoopy do', since reviews of these smokes are so ubiquitous, and the internet is wide. But I also know people get a kick out of me being forced to acknowledge a superior cigar when I smoke one, so stay tuned, and thank you always for tuning in regularly to see where things are going around here.

2007 Montecristo No.5 comedown

2011-06-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

As I have been on a bit of a roll with good smokes, I guess it was time for a 'dud' of sorts. This was not a failure of the torcedores art, but it left me a bit cold. This is in part due to my activities. The cigar was taken out for a walk, but someone was sitting on my bench. It would have smoked a bit better in a seated and stopped position, but it lit well, and burned adequately. There was a strong dose of nicotine from the start, with intense flavors of spicy chocolate, but not a lot of finish and complexity. I could detect no good tea flavors, which again, sorry, I LOVE. A little ragged on the burn and slightly tough on the draw. It should be noted that I prefer the Montecristo No. 5 aged for five years, and I am set up to smoke at this age, but this stick was taken off the top of my cedar box full of these. In the cellar, so to speak, at the bottom of the cabinet are the oldies. I do not rotate them, because as it is, all my sealed dress boxes are 4 years old already, and so the top layer of my cedar cabinet contains cigars of this age. Had I dug to the bottom, I could have had a 6 year old smoke, but there is no harm in letting them age in the dark.

I walked with this cigar for half it's length, which is never good in my own experience. The smoke was good for a 'walker' but not good enough to really go on about. I pushed up the band and smoked it down to near finger-burning area. I wish I had smoked it on the porch with a beer, it was obviously trying to be great, and the final inch really knocked me for a nicotine loop. Easily one of the strongest Montes I have had in years. I would have liked sweeter, I would have preferred some dusty cocoa, but you gets what you play for. Handicapped as it was by my activities, 84 points.

Cuaba Distinguidos Again

2011-06-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is a nice, fat cigar, about the same dimensions as a Montecristo Edmundo but tapered at the ends. It's a large smoke that smokes very medium, it never feels TOO big and is always a treat for me.
I have smoked a few of these, and never had a bad experience. I have no idea of what the current production is like, hopefully consistent and fine. But I had an occasion to smoke an 04-05 model the other day while putting up a large above ground pool for an acquaintance of mine. I am sorry that for the past two cigars there are no burning pics. I think this really hurts a review, and REALLY hurts my blog. But since I figured you would want to know a bit about the experience I have this to give. I think that these are without doubt the finest of the Cuabas. They were not part of the original lineup of four vitolas, but were quickly added, maybe 3 years after the initial brand launch, along with a Salamones. The Salamones, to me is one of the biggest disappointments in cigar smoking, But these Distinguidos, what an appropriate name! The cigars I have had the pleasure to smoke have all drawn and burned like a dream, were loaded with rich, creamy smoke bursting with tea, leather, cinammon, honey, herbs, tobacco and a few tastes I could never pinpoint. Even as I sweated out years of laggard layabout-ness and puffed the cigar, it stayed respectful and cool, never giving me any trouble no matter how much abuse I heaped on IT. Again, I can't say how your experience will pan out if you were to get a box of say 2008 cigars, but I can recommend this smoke to anyone and everyone. Packaged in plain dress boxes of 10, they tend to roll around a bit loosely in the box, and don't make for the best presentation, but I can easily recommend the purchase of no less than three boxes to smoke and hold. A mere 5-6 years has turned this box into a killer classic that I am scared to hold any longer. It's so hard to smoke a box of cigars that's at it's prime. You think, "OK, I have held these cigars for a long time, and now they are perfect....I should hoard them!" Not. Smoke and enjoy the cigars that taste perfect to you, for no one knows the day or the hour, as I told my sister in jest the other day. No one knows when the cigars will fade or we might die. Enjoy those classic smokes while ye may.
I had to give this cigar 91 points

Punch Churchill 2000 - Working for the man

2011-06-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

My boss was set to attend his 50th year class reunion this past weekend, and because I work for him in the capacity of audio-video guru, it was expected, and did in fact come to pass, that I would document the adventure on behalf of his classmates. My boss does well and was excited to be able offer this service to his class. He had already stepped in and had me design a logo and get it printed on ballons, napkins, cups and some drawstring knapsacks. But this was going to be a HOT weekend, and the idea of following them all around dressed appropriately was not an inviting one. I am a bit of a sweater, even in modest heat. And this was NOT modest heat. 98+ every day.

Anyway as luck would have it, I was put up at the Doubletree Inn and decided I would go out after Friday's festivities and smoke a cigar by the pool. It brought back many old memories of my sisters and I getting absolutely delerious at the thought of stopping for the night at a motel with a pool, and hoping our mother could tolerate the summer heat enough to watch us play in the pool, which we did for absolutely as long as we could get away with.

There were two little girls frolicking in the pool, and they did not mention being put out by my smoke of choice, a ten year old Punch churchill. These are generally known to be mild cigars, and not much to speak of when they are old, in fact kind of wasted out. But this one was very decent in terms of strength, and was loaded with good flavors of leather, toffee and a slight tea aftertaste, though not as stout as I prefer. It burned very well, very straight, and very slowly. The night air was ridiculously funky, and the girls would swim under the wall that partitioned the indoor and outdoor sections of the pool, taking turns playing sharks, doing handstands, jumping from the entry stairs and otherwise being kids. They never once looked at me, and I made a point not to look at them, as they were under ten it seemed, and that would not be good in a world where everyone is a creep. The smoke went on for over an hour, and near the band it became gassy and hot, so I left it on the fencepost near the parking lot for the cleanup crew to pick up the next day. In terms of it's long haul performance, this cigar was as perfect as ten year old sticks come. It was as good as any three year old stick, and was better than many of them I have had. It was refreshing, laced with my favorite tea taste, and had a great body, with hearty smoke and interesting and constant flavor changes. I was able to pick up on vanilla, pine, bread, coconut and a few random flavors I just couldn't place. I couldn't have been more pleased with this cigar. In fact, I do not think these are even made anymore. The details are sketchy, but I think this is actually true. I need to fact check.

Interesting in that when my boss found out (for the 4th time at least, lol) that I smoke cuban cigars, he was saying "All I want is ONE, just so I can say I HAVE a cuban cigar. I gave him this cigar. He said "Where does it say Cuba?", and I pointed out that it only said Habana. He looked a little disappointed, so I went out to my car and got him a Cohiba Siglo II tubo from 2007 that ironically will likely not smoke as well as the Punch Churchill he traded out of. Sad though, that when he wastes the Siglo by never smoking it, it will cost me ten bucks. A LOT MORE than the Punch Churchill would end up being worth. But in the end, as much as I revere the Cohiba, I think I got the better smoke for myself. I rate this magnificent cigar at 92 points

Cohiba Double Corona EL 2003

2011-05-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a LONG time since I last bought cigars from New Zealand. Far too long. But the prices went up, and the shipping charges went up, and the discounters started making themselves irresistible. That relationship died a hard and depressing death. But one thing about dealing with my friend there was that he always threw in several nice cigars for me to try, part thank you and part incentive to get me to help him move slow cargo. Let's face it, the Cohiba Double Corona Edicion Limitada 2003 was an EXPENSIVE cigar. Lots of people bought a box, but they either had a lot of money or went without a lot of things for a lot of months in order to afford such a box. I think that brand new, they were about $650...maybe more. Probably $750. I have forgotten now. But anyway, my good man on the loverly islands sent me a CDCEL03 as a treat with one of my orders. That was at the end of 2003, so this cigar is about seven and a half years old now. But I realized that I had been so lax in smoking lately that I was starting to lose the trust of the people who check in here daily or weekly looking for something new to read about. So I thought, what better way to start up another string of blog entries than with arguably the best EL ever created. I am not a fan of Double Coronas, I am not a fan of maduro wrapped havanas and I am definitely on record as being less than excited about ELs. So this should be interesting. The only drawback about smoking this cigar is THAT'S IT!.....there are no more to be had. I must say, holding on to this smoke over the years has provided me with a real feeling of security. When it was in my mahogany box, I HAD something special. I had a cigar that only about 10% of avid havana smokers likely have. Maybe many times less than that. They had Dunhill Cabinettas and crusty old cigars not made since the 50's....I had a Cohiba Double Corona EL. Once I burn it, I will be just like everybody else...well, much better looking, but mostly JUST like everybody else. I still have a few 12 year old Cohiba Lanceros and a couple of Montecristo Double Corona ELs from 2001. But my flagship will be a pile of ashes and a stinky butt. BUT......in the end, what will I really lose. I already HAVE a pile of ashes and a stinky butt NOW....in my love life and in my pants. Tonight I pour a beer I have never had, and light a cigar I will never see again.

I got home and decided against smoking that grand stick, I couldn' t give it proper attention. But I pulled it out Saturday night, after the world failed to end, I figured it was a decent time to light up.

The cigar is not beautiful, wrapped in that EL wrapper that is a wrapper in name only. I know it is "special", I know it is "flavorful", but it is not that great looking. The wrapper comes from the corona leaves at the top of the plant, and specially aged. The cigar clipped minimally and drew perfectly. It lit without trouble. The smoke was not exciting, as I had real anticipation of angels singing, etc. It was good, but a bit sharp-metallic. It killed a creaminess that was wanting to come to the front. The smoke was laced with a slight, pleasant perfume element, and in the best possible way of thinking about that word. Leathery, delicately floral with hints of vanilla. The body is medium to medium-full and does not taste expensive.

The cigar gets better as it burns down, but I think it is fair at this point to remind the loyal following around here that I have NO kind of palate. I do not taste nuance much, it's sad but true. Really great cigars, to me, are just good. I try to indicate when I think they are really good, but I am not going to be able to illuminate anyone and tell them how fantastic this smoke is. It's really good. There is not as much flavor change as I would like, but honestly, it is an old EL. A lot of people who have had ELs at 5 years old tend to say, man, I wish I had smoked these when they were really delicious, at 3 years old. But when you have an expensive cigar like this, which easily hangs with Behikes at it's current value, you tend to take care to smoke it without wasting it. I would not say this cigar is wasted on me (it is, lol) but this is why I don't smoke a lot of ELs, because frankly I don't BUY a lot of em. I went long on Dukes, and Magnum 48s, even Montecristo Sublimes. But I think that's as far as I go from here on out.

After 7 inches of huge smoke, real stomach-twisting power, and improving flavor all along the length of this super-cigar, I took the bands off, as they were up and down and sliding all around. I gave the smoke a few puffs to make sure there was nothing hiding in there that would warrant a nubbing. Ehh. It was too harsh. And that was my fault. I had to really work this cigar to keep it going throughout the smoke. It plain old went OUT 5 times while I was trying to smoke it. EL wrapper, basically. That much scraping and lighting and over-puffing tends to hurt a smoke. But in terms of flavor experience, lots of coffee and a little cream, musk, a slightly sweet floral character, with a good bit of cinammon hints and real vanilla character from time to time. I needed to dry this smoke out for a few days and I did not. Again, my fault. I stated quite unequivocally that this cigar was gonna burn this weekend and I didn't do what I know was right. But even with all the trouble, the cigar STARTS in the area of the 88-90 mark and wandered around between greatness and a great pain in the ass. As revered as this cigar is, I can't go over 90 points. There was just not enough true Cohiba greatness in there THAT I COULD TASTE. Give me an 8 year old Esplendido, it would have kicked this cigar's butt down the street. It was not past it's prime by any means, in fact I bet it needed to be held another 2-3 years and smoked by a true common sewer. But in the life of this blog, I have to keep smoking, and smoking new and different cigars to entertain you all. If that means I make a mistake now and again in judgement, that comes with the territory.

El Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme 2007

2011-05-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to smoke one of these for some time, but never got around to it. I have had the cigar before, but these were new, and I was curious as to how they were acting. I selected a hideous one and clipped it yesterday, but something, ah yes, the intense heat, kept me from lighting it indoors. I had no intention of venting all my A/C air out the window. But today, somehow, in the middle of May, a cold front blew through, and man was it cool. I put a pork shoulder picnic on the smoker and messed around with that all day, and this evening sat down and had my first Westmalle Triple in a kind of a unique glass.

Ahhh, shameless self promotion at it's tastiest.

So already clipped, I lit up the Choix Supreme and began the odyssey. At first it was delicious, but without all of the richness of the cigars I remember. This smoke was dry, like champagne, and although there was a fantastic aroma and a flavor of light coffee with barely any cream, the smoke was a bit linear in taste through the first inch. It went very well with the ale, as they shared a light 'hoppiness' and a short finish. The ale actually had a long finish, delicious and light while also heavy in flavor. The cigar burned like some kind of Frankenstein, just all over the place, half burned tobacco left in the wake of the burn up to an inch or more, just absolutely confounding even efforts to re-light it. The smoke was good, but the burn and overall experience was just awful. The taste was good but not not as rich and creamy as most of the Choix Supremes you will run across over the course of your life. Not bad, just not what I had hoped for this evening. And on the heels of the highest score ever on my blog a few weeks back, I am about to give the LOWEST. An embarassing 68 points.

Cohiba Siglo IV 2006

2011-05-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Man, I have forgotten where this cigar came from, I think I got it a few years ago from a friend at a herf. This is a corona gorda, literally a fat corona. It is the same dimensions as the H. Upmann Manum 46 and the Punch Punch. Generally speaking, about 5 and a half inches at 46 ring gauge. This is probably the most popular vitola in the habanos smoking world, although that is entirely debatable. Certainly as many or more like the petit coronas best. Count me in the latter group. It lit quite slowly and started out mild-medium in body.

There were aromas of apple pie and the taste was a lot like a cinammon roll, a bit yeasty and notes of spices and nuts. The cigar burned slowly but straight, and the draw was fine. Approaching the middle of the smoke, the cigar became much stronger with deep leathery and spicy flavors with a little dark chocolate and coffee.

Little hints of cheap wine popped in now and then, not that I have had a lot of that. I am guessing a cross between mimeograph solution and grapes? Once it got near the band, I popped the band off and began to smoke this one within an inch of the end. It never went off like a lot of cigars do near the end of the smoke, so I couldn't see any reaason to stop. One negative; it made me quite queasy as I got ready to let it go, indicating I was 2-3 puffs late in putting it to bed.

This was not a great cigar, but it was very good. Had I paid for it myself, I would have been slightly disappointed. It is not a cheap cigar. But it never really distinguished itself, although it had certain flashes of brilliance. If I was forced to rate it, I'd give it an 87.

WOW! 2001 Partagas Churchill Deluxe (and a Sneaky Pete Imp.IPA)

2011-04-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

When I let a dozen of these go, I had no idea I would regret it at all, and certainly not this much. From the first puff this cigar was a true masterpiece. I popped the top of my Sneaky Pete and thought it was a shame to drink a beer and not have a cigar with it. The windows were open, the air was cool, and after 23 inches of rain in 5 days, scrubbed CLEAN. I like this hoppy beer a heck of a lot better than Hop Wallop.

The Churchill Deluxe cut very cleanly , and after a slightly tight draw, it toook a second cut cleanly without nearing the shoulder of the cap. That's Perfect. It lit slowly and from the first puff just ran like a flavor sluicebox driving lemony tea onto my tongue, not from the beer either. It was lightly creamy and a touch vegetal, with a perfect blend of spice and tea. The burn was perfect, the beer was great and I have finally completed all of the art for my upcoming series of Beer Pint Glasses, so I was very satisfied. I also got all the sidewalks weed-eated, sprayed a lil roundup, swept up the mess and chuckled under my breath that the grass is getting long in the yard. It is covered with little sticks, and I am giving up the job of stick-picker-upper to a very reluctant ten year old who seems not to know that he has picked up a new job. But I only rent here, and I am not paying full rent and doing all this yard work. I am required to keep my front area neat, and that's what I intend to do. When it gets a foot long in front of the landlady's house,she'll get the picture.

But I digress. What a fantastic cigar! The beer only intensifies the citrus tang of the tobacco, and lends a nuance to the tea factor. Both are absolutely refreshing. There is a real complexity to the tobacco and the taste varies along the length of the cigar. This is the first cigar in dozens to have shown any complexity at all, or changes in flavor at least. That alone is a remarkable statement, and to think that this cigar is 10 years old and is better than almost any cigar I have had in years, well, that only lends credence to the feeling of many that cuban tobacco seems unique in it's ability to get better and better with time. I NEVER had results like this with non-cuban tobacco. Smoothness is all I ever got out of aging say, a Don Carlos or a Padron. Those are FINE cigars, there is no doubt. But man, this is PERFORMANCE.

I score this cigar higher than any previous cigar reviewed on this blog, 97 points. It is simply a perfect smoke. On it's own it is great, adding cappucino, chocolate, pine straw, herbs, cream, black coffee and more to the base of tea and pepper. With a sip of the beer prior to a sip of smoke, everything is electrified and amplified, rounder and with more citrus. KABAMMO. Great smoke. Shame they are no longer made, but I think they are not all gone.

Welcome D. Generate

2011-04-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have known Deege for as many years as I have been smoking havanas, and he has always been a great guy. He moved over to England many years ago, but I THINK he is still an American in Paris, so to speak. Although now, I KNOW he is so far into the culture as to probably be a bloke now, so I wish him the best of success now that his country is doing something about their spending and laughing at us over here who will live on the banks of De Nial until we burn on the altar of the almighty but elusive dollar. Greed is good, Gordon Gecko said, but what's going on over here ain't good, not even by a long shot. Trouble is, our government was long ago bought and paid for by the corporations and their bastard, demon children on Wall St. So here's to ya, mate, I hope I eventually have enough sense to get there right alongside you down the pub. Best wishes to you and your bride on this Easter, and thanks for becoming a part of the deallie-o here. And thanks and best wishes to all the members of this blog, may your lives all be blessed, charmed or whatever you believe in.

Easter Serendipity Cruzado and Chimay

2011-04-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Looking in the box for a smoke tonight. Thought maybe I would have something from Havana, and something made me change my mind. I didn't think about what had happened until the cigar was cut and lit. Cruz is "Cross" in spanish, (not sure what cruzado is) and here I am drinking a beer made by monks. And it's Easter.

So it could end up being just another beer and another cigar, but this cigar was special. This cigar was sent to me from a guy out in California as a subtle hint about something I said online. I am not the biggest fan, certainly not the biggest BUYER of non-cuban cigars. I just find them to be a little lacking in almost everything. There is strength oftentimes, but no real character. Well this cigar broke out of that stereotype, and broke out with real style. It was filled with light coffee and cream, but outside of that constant core, it was replete with subtle hints of musk, chocolate, vanilla, toffee and more. The body was medium and excellent. The cigar was rolled like a newspaper, and burned sideways to show for it, but for every 4-5 light puffs, I laid in a monster triple-puff and that seemed to keep it in line without relights or lighter checkups.

The Chimay was chosen due to it's low spot on the totem pole out of the three regular brews they produce. I read a few reviews of all of them after picking up a three-pack that happened to have a Chimay chalice in it. I am short of beer-ware, and I decided that I wanted it. I tend to be a sucker for gift packs like this. I drink VERY little beer in a year, but my membership at the ultimate cigar forum gives me unlimited access to the various cultures dabbled in by our other members, and many of them seem to be rather into high alcohol-by-volume beers. And this one was good. It had, also ironically, a communion wine aftertaste that was delicious. Outside of that it was just very good medium-dark beer, rich with tiny bubbles that replenished the tiny head, and a lot of great flavor that gave me quite a little buzz. A little one, anyway. But the tingle was there, and a little glow that made me thank the monks.

I don't really rate non-cuban cigars, because mostly I just don't know what I am talking about. It's impossible to stay on top of two worlds and even remotely know what you are talking about. And when it comes to havanas, I know a lil sumpthin about electricity. But I give this cigar the highest marks possible, right up there with the best products Padron is making these days. Like I know about that either, lol. I haven't smoked one since the late 90s. But this cigar is aces, and I thank the man that sent it to me.

La Gloria Cubana (La Romana) Artesanos de Obelisco

2011-04-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

AHH, there it is again, a non-cuban cigar gets cut, lit and smoked. These things happen, this was a box of cigars "listing" for $300 a box, found at a "discount" for $250, deeper discount for $200. And then one day there it is for $124. That is not supposed to affect me in any way, but it DID. And I have no idea why. I like non-cuban LGC cigars, I always have, especially the regular lines. But I am not going to smoke 25 of these things. So why?? Well, troop support for one thing, gifts to other people for sure, and I would smoke a few. And I sold 5 this morning to another LGC fan.

So I cut it and took a little extra time in lighting the large 54 ring gauge end. I could have let the cigar hang out in the humidor for another week to make sure it would be better, but 2 days in the house would have to do. The cigar drew perfectly on the tiniest cut off the pointed head. The cigar is designed to emulate the Heroes de Restoracion monument in the La Republica Dominicana. The monument is a huge stone obelisk which looks just like the cigar, without the band. The cigar is pointed and somewhat round at the head, and box pressed along the body and square at the end.

The cigar is richly blessed with coffee and hints of chocolate. There is a hint of cinammon that I can't decide if I am imagining. The stick just burns perfectly and the draw is just about as good as it gets. Other than the initial flavors, there is not a lot going on, but to me that's pretty much what's going on in normal Non-Cuban cigars today. I do not dabble in the arguably better products being created by the craftsmen du jour, the Pete Johnsons and Pepin Garcias of the world. But I am content in Havana. As the cigar gets down to the halfway mark, the flavor gets "cool" and minty with a delicious leathery finish that sticks around for awhile after every puff. I am pleased by the cigar, and with no more rest than it got, I think it can get a lot better than this. Reviews available online BEG the reader to keep from smoking it too fast, but this smoke doesn't seem to be capable of over-heating. This is a high quality product from Altadis, and I have to say that the price was definitely right at 5 bucks. There are people who have said they paid ten dollars and felt it was fair. People who have paid Brick and Mortar rates have lamented that extra 3-5 dollars spent over ten bucks. So there is a line, and in fact, I would have trouble mustering the courage to pay more than 8 for it. But I didn't HAVE to, haha. Man, the end of this cigar gets more and more revelatory. Nuance is the name of the game in the end. The body was medium all the way through, but the flavor has ramped up steadily, and that is fantastic. The DRAW wants to tighten up a bit and that is troubling, but I only cut a tiny bit off of it and I can cut more at any time. But this is a test, isn't it. The power is really picking up, now, and it affects the flavor somewhat. That's no problem for the power lovers, but I am much more in the medium body club. It's not unreasonable. But I am not into the nub it for the money scene, so down she goes.

This is hard. I can't rate it too high, because the quality was fantastic but the flavor, while refreshing in it's segment of products, it's well below a really good havana. But it WAS great, so I am going to be fair, as fair as I can, jaded as I am. I give it an 89

Cuaba Piramides Edicion Limitada 2008

2011-04-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

I told a friend today (that should be a member here and isn't) that I was going to smoke something new tonight. I had no idea what it would be, but it was going to be something I had never tried. And the lot fell to the 2008 Cuaba Piramide. I had been harbouring a curious jones for these sticks for a few years now, but til now had just let them sit in the dark. Well I had read a ton of comment either way on this cigar, so I was expecting very little. But at the same time, I was prepared to encounter quite a tasty surprise.

I snipped the minimum from the end and found a draw very much to my liking. So far so good. The cigar lit up with minimum gas and I poured a glass of sweet tea and headed for the porch. A perfect draw and smoke production managed to hide a less than straight burn. I read quite alot lately, ironically by cigar makers, that the burn of a cigar is inconsequential as long as someone has a lighter handy. They even lay on more gravy by saying, "burn seems to be important to 'some people'. I find that humorous, but not altogether incorrect. This smoke burned up one side a bit, though never getting out of control and canoeing.

But what, my good man, of the FLAVOR? Well this is where it gets interesting. I have had plenty of cigars offer up a medium body with strong notes of molasses and tea. But this one just hammered away, puff after puff. I use the word interesting, however, because I waited for the change, I waited for the nuance. But it really never came. And yet this is not altogether bad. The smoke was very smooth, and it was excellent, perhaps only to reveal it's true nature when faced with a dram of Kentucky's Finest. Near the end, it began to toy with me with some creaminess, raisin and cinammon.

I removed the secondary band and pushed the smoke a bit further. It was not for the light-hearted, but did not bend toward harshness or tarriness. However I do not usually investigate the nub of a cigar. To me it serves only as a filter, and to try and smoke too much of it serves only to ruin the experience in total. So as I approached the last two inches, I gave it but tiny puffs as I typed this out.

All in all this smoke was very good. It showed no construction flaws, a beautiful oily maduro wrapper and was loaded with flavor. Again, and I spare no humility when I say this, a better palate than mine could really make something of this cigar. I do enjoy the molasses and tea character whenever I encounter it. The cigar also showed a lot of the power and intensity that I associate with potential for quality aging results. But today I have to score it on it's immediate performance. I give it 88 points.

Altadis' Montecristo Red Corona

2011-04-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am embarassed for the manufacturers of certain cigars. They have the illustrious names to use for all they are worth, and yet they still feel compelled to give away swag in order to ensure that the efforts and time and money and care that went into creating the cigar is not lost to indifference. And with this cigar, it was especially so, as I bought a box of them for two reasons, neither of them having anything to do with my impressions of what the cigar might hold in store. I got a little gift package consisting of a cutter, a lighter, and a humidification device. The cigars themselves were bought simply for the troops. I really couldn't care less how they tasted, at least from a personal standpoint. But they never get ALL of the cigars, I always hold back one or two for me, just curious to see what's going on in the non-cuban ranks. I realize that the story of what is going on in the modern Non-cuban world cannot be estimated by pinching a few cigars out of troop support buys, but without it I would have ZERO idea of it all, so every little bit gives me SOMETHING.

So it is with a little curiousity that I clip the cigar with a wedge cut and light it up. As with most of the NC cigars, it is sharp, and well, nasty. The burn is erratic for the first 1/4 inch, and features a stem that held on after the ashing, and was SO stout, I couldn't knock it off with a rotating grind into the concrete steps. I chuckled a bit under my breath, as if to say "here we go again, lol". But even with the smooth, creamy character that a perfect Connecticut wrapper usually imparts to a cigar, there is some roughness in the opening. I expect that. But what I never anticipated, and what I GOT IN SPADES, is this lush flavor of a cuban cigar after the burn settled down. I liken the taste to a mild PSD4 or a Juan Lopez No.2. I was struck by it in such a way as to have me constantly looking at the cigar in wonder. It was on the medium side of mild-medium, had a sparkly, fruity taste that balanced well with the creaminess of the Connecticut wrapper. It lent a moist condition to the mouth while smoking, which points to a near perfect balance. But with every puff there was this hint of havana. I am not at all going so far as to say what some whisper about in the inner circles of afishingknottos, that perhaps cuban tobacco is being blended into non-cuban cigars, but the creaminess and the slight, pleasant cuban twang have got my mind working a bit. The cigar burned PERFECTLY, and I capitalize that because it is burning better than the Epicure No.2 I had the day before. It is SO slow-burning and so perfect on the draw, that it is a real pleasure to smoke, and the flavor I spoke of has got a smile on my face as I sip my Bass Ale and watch the Sunday afternoon work it's spring magic on my community. I am usually quite a hermit, so I am sure the activity is similar everyday, but it is alive today with a general joy of spring. There is a little rumpus with the birds all trying to find breeding space in my massive Magnolia tree, and there are a few Cardinals that seem to be fighting over space too. The cigar burned with a linear profile, never getting anymore complex, but the basic flavor is surprising, as I said.

One caveat I would put forth, I have had a few cigars like this from Altadis, with hints of twang, and I do not smoke enough of them to say whether this 'condition' would persist through the box, but based on this one cigar, these are a good cigar to carry the Montecristo label. I do not find much to like in their other offerings, even the Afrique which on paper should be right up my alley. I would score this cigar, based on only one smoke, at 89 points.

2004 Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No.2

2011-04-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Never have been a fan of this vitola, whether it be the specific cigar or the size itself. There is a thin line I have for a comfort zone, I like medium-bodied cigars and do not prefer those above or below that in strength. But I DO like smoking good "old" cigars, so I don't let that simple preference hold me back. I pulled the cigar out of a cabinet of 50 that it now shares with PSD4s and RASS. It was not remarkable in any way, although perfectly rolled and seemed the perfect weight in the hand.

Loaded for bear this weekend with a PSD4 on deck. That cigar would turn out to be unremarkable, but as it was 2009 vintage, I did not hold anything against it and buried the rest for a few years. Getting back to the Epicure No.2, it lit fine and drew perfectly. There was not much body to speak of, and the flavor initially was of straw and light tobacco. If you had to rate it strictly as an example of the torcedore's art, this was a ten. It was such a struggle in the head, at once giving the cigar top marks for the mechanical virtues, and panning it for it's weak character. There was some creaminess once the cigar burned into it's strike zone, but all in all it was a boring smoke.

You can see the perfect burn going, the ash held on for another inch before missing my bourbon by a half inch as it fell off. The cigar was cut with a wedge, which I always do with a robusto, because they are nearly always rolled far too airily to be cut in the standard fashion. Smoking an airy cigar does not enhance the burn. Being forced to pull a bit for some smoke usually leads to a razor straight burn in a robusto.

You can see in the last photo that I DID slide the band up to enjoy the cigar a little more than usual, and that does speak to some type of enjoyment. It is not uncommon for me to leave half of a short cigar unsmoked. This one I burned down to an inch long. It was simply a salute to the perfect construction and the beautiful burn. The Epicure was also undemanding, I could smoke it and watch TV or type blog entries with the cigar being there for entertainment without giving me trouble or forcing me to focus too intently on flavor.

All in all, the cigar failed me in flavor as almost all of it's brethren have over the years. But that is the wonder of the Habanos catalogue, there is something for everybody if you have the patience to wait for the odd miracle cigar that comes your way from time to time. Usually you have to find the real enjoyment, it's sad to say, in the allure of the cigar, and for US smokers, in the excitement of forbidden fruit. I am playing out the string on this cabinet, I keep them around strictly for the hope I hold out that I may find a few nuggets in there. Make no mistake, these cigars can be excellent. A better palate than mine can find much more to enjoy in them without finding that unicorn in the box. But it's what I do, I smoke and rate cigars. A disappointing 75, and a lot of that score is performance under "fire".

And now the irony. A much better performance will be seen tomorrow, in a cigar from the Dominican Republic.

Why I only smoked one cigar in New Orleans

2011-04-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

Cohiba007 was shocked that I only smoked one cigar in New Orleans, but there is of course a reason for that. Most of the cigars you see reviewed here are smoked in my house with a window open and a fan blowing out. In New Orleans I was staying in a condo that was not my own, and the first night it was chilly with a 30 mile an hour wind. The second night I got home after dark and was beat, and I don't usually take pics in the dark. I know, the camera comes with a flash, but the pics don't look good to me. The third night I didn't feel like smoking and the fourth night the people next door were using the porch. For a cigar blogger I don't smoke all that much apparently. I also had plans to visit more cigar bars than the none I DID visit. I checked out where they all were, and just never went out at night. We had originally had plans to go out one or two nights, but this was not a partying trip to begin with, and frankly all the old people were tired at night and the one who wasn't tired was underage. You see, it's a consipiracy.

The trip was designed to be a sightseeing and walking trip, and we likely logged about 6-12 miles a day. Considering the youngest adult was 48, it wadn't purty. When I got home I never even thought about going out again to listen to music and drink. THAT'S why I took the Margaritaville Machine. All of the drinks, none of the drive, lol.

Fonseca No.4 Edicion Regional (Benelux)

2011-04-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

I was gifted one of these cigars by a good BOTL a few months ago and it has tried to be smoked several times, and it was in the lineup for my trip to New Orleans and I smoked only one cigar there. So tonight I realized it was time to burn her down.

It lit up fast and even and unlike any Fonseca I ever had, it was kind of medium-full in strength. There was a full blast of Tea flavors and some good creamy body. However, the flavor quickly disappeared after 3/4 of an inch and it was just smoke. The burn and draw were both excellent, it just lost the great flavors. I find that the regionals tend to be great or bland with not much in between.

Of course, I have only had a few, so chalk that up to the usual 'me talking about stuff I know nothing about'. But I wanted this to be better, especially because it was a gift. It's not cool to say bad things about a gift. It didn't taste sick, there was too much presence in the body for that. If I had more to try (not a mooch) I could tell more about it. So under the circumstances I will just say it was bordering on sick and should be held in the dark for a year for the best results. Your mileage may definitely vary, but if they were mine, I'd hold em for a time before wasting any more.

There is definitely a lot of tobacco in there with some power and in time I think that it will marry well and get to the types of floral and perfumed qualities that the marque is known for. But again, no R.E. ever really tries that hard to live up to the traditions of it's supposed marque. But with the tea and creamy character it showed at the outset, I figure it will all work out.

Oak Fatigue and the Locke-Breaux Oak

2011-04-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

As I look back on a fantastic week in New Orleans I was struck by how quickly I found it possible to coin the phrase "Oak Fatigue". I saw so many centuries-old oaks draped in luxuriant Spanish Moss that I could no longer generate a respectful admiration for just what I was seeing. To be fair I will only post my own photos in this entry. I have to thank Cam for contributing unknowingly and so heavily to my New Orleans series. He takes such fine photos it was very difficult not to post his best shots just to show off the skill he has developed. But that is for HIM to do. I personally think he should develop a photoblog, though the internet is littered with the corpses of such endeavors.

Here are a few photos of great trees, plus some photos I am posting for the 100 Oaks Project of the Live Oak Societies FIRST and founding president, the grand Locke-Breaux Oak that once grew at Taft, Louisiana. I had some pictures that my mother gave to me, and they deserve to be appreciated by as many people as possible.

Here are a few photos of the Locke-Breaux Oak that once reigned supreme over all other known Live Oak trees. She was the biggest and the oldest, and over 300 people could eat lunch in the shade of her spreading arms. Air and Water pollution from the newly forming chemical industry nearby killed her deader than dead. I am not sure how many people have photos of her in their family albums, there could be thousands of pictures out there. During her time along the river, people often came upriver from New Orleans to visit the grounds of the dairy on who's property she found herself, and hundreds of people were invited to eat supper at the main house there. Surely they took photos and brought them home to their families. Surely other people living nearby had photos as well. But you can look all over the internet and only find the old postcard photos. That changes today. I have posted these to fulfill a promise I made to a blogger who has a blog (the 100 Oaks Project) promoting the trees of the Live Oak Society. I hope you can use them.

The best food in the City of New Orleans

2011-04-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

On our last day in New Orleans, we headed down magazine Street for the Fete' Francaise, put together by a bilingual school in the Uptown area. We had a little Brunch, I think Cam had Duck and Sausage Gumbo and the ladies had lighter fare. I had nothing, in honor of my fat ass. Cam and I got into another photo contest, this time with his camera, and we worked on our PEOPLE shots. I explained to him that when you see a great photo that has a person in it, you have to steel yourself for rejection and ask if their permission to take a few photos. He had explained to me that he did not like to ask people to take their pictures, and I reminded him that some of the best photos ever taken are pictures of PEOPLE. I am not above stealing a distant shot, like the shot below:

But sometimes you have to ask for permission, just out of respect, and for other reasons.

This lady was watching the show developing across the street from her home and I told Cam to practice asking permission by asking her if he might take her photograph. She cheerfully obliged, making it quite worthwhile as a confidence builder for the future.

She had lived in the house all her life. Once we took the photo and left, she disappeared inside her home, but she talked with us for ten minutes about the neighborhood and her life. New Orleans people like to talk and are recognized worldwide as being quite friendly. We had a chance to take a few more photos up the street, and then pointed the car up the river to the great plantation homes.

We passed many beautiful homes, both plain old family houses and historic plantation homes on the way up the west bank of the Mississippi river on The Great River Road. But we finally pulled over for Oak Alley. I had been at the foot of the famous avenue of oaks more than a dozen times and never pulled around to the back of the house. My sister and her son would pay the price to enter the grounds. My mother and I took in a bit of breeze and shade near the parking lot and enjoyed ourselves almost as much. Here are a few of the stunning photos Cam took.

The house.....

The front yard:

The back yard:

A stunning panorama:

No matter how you look at it, this home is unbelievable. I am glad that I got to see the photos, I knew the home looked good from the River Road, but the grounds are much more spectacular than this view has ever hinted at. The home is so over the top that there was but one way to end the day, and by simple mathematics and the passage of time, end the week. A trip back toward the city up Highway 90 to the edge of the swamp that marks the first civilization of Jefferson Parish at Avondale led us to the doorstep of the most unassuming vinyl-sided house. I pause here to think twice about naming the restaurant, for fear that too many people will find the out-of-the-way hiding place of the finest meal you can find in the "city". Ironic that perhaps the best food available in New Orleans is not even in the city. Barely NEAR it, even. Again, at the risk of starting a stampede, I will post only one shot of the Mosca's experience. This is Cam's plate consisting of portions of two larger plates, Shrimp Mosca and Chicken a la Grande.

I have to qualify my statement "best food in NO". I have eaten in exactly zero restaurants that likely compete for the honor. I am only a person who likes delicious food and furthermore, OLD family recipes. Most of the dishes my mother made for me as a child were SOMEBODY'S ancient family recipes. This meal was the sheer highlight of my trip, at a restaurant that is open but four hours a day for the 5 days she is open. If you intend to try it, you had better have a wad of cash, because if the warnings on the menu do not alert you to the fact, finding yourself with only credit cards or checks after enjoying your meal will have you in a very dangerous position. VERY dangerous indeed.

New Orleans Week of Awesomeness continues.

2011-04-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

My newphew was allowed to pretty much review the city's virtues for a month or two and collate that with the stories he had heard all of his life and plan for this trip well in advance. He decided that this third day of my being with our two mothers would be spent at City Park. This is a very old park built in the part of the city that followed the high ground that extended from the river's natural levees that held the young city of New Orleans, to the bayou that connected Lake Pontchartrain to the river, Bayou St. John.

Eons of over-topping it's banks had built up silted high ground near the Mississippi and it's tributaries and estuaries, and this is where New Orleans was constructed. What they say is true...New Orleans is in a bowl, and way below sea level, but the old city was reasonably safe from catastrophic flooding, although there were flood waters each year. However those floodwaters could simply run through the relatively high ground of the old city and settle in the low-lying areas. Much of what plagues the city today results from pumping oil and water out of the ground, causing OVERALL subsidence, and it's made ever worse by the channeling with levees of all that good silt that flows down the river from the heartland. The only place the river builds land today is at it's mouth where it does almost no one any good. At the downriver end of the Vieux Carre', Esplanade Avenue follows the other high ground in the city, The Esplanade Ridge to Bayou St. John, which lazily flows through the city to Lake Pontchartrain and roughly forms the Eastern Boundary of City Park. City Park is a huge 1300 acre park. A quick tidbit that helps bring it into scale: there are 4 18-hole public golf courses within the park, and they take up only half of it's area. There is a wonderful area for kids that has been there as long as I can remember, Storyland, which features playable and display-only structures which depict nursery rhyme characters and stories. There is a kid's amusement park, and a 13 acre Botanic Garden, both of which we would visit on day three of my time there.

The place is the bomb for kids, and lives on in the memories of all but the hardest ones. There are things about the city you just don't forget. But we didn't go inside. We should have, just for the pictures, anyway. So into the Botanic, or Botanical Garden. To me it's like "Historic Home" Why say Historical Home? But the sign says Botanical Garden, and they should know. Not a lot of people outside the city know this, but basically the entire plant collection at this facility was lost to Hurricane Katrina. And I can say after seeing it, that was some rebirth.

It should be noted that we visited this garden a few days after a series of ridiculous, torrential rainstorms that led to not just the flooding of many streets throughout the city and the surrounding parishes, but to tearing down utility poles, spawning tornadoes and obviously battering the recently emerged blossoms on every bush and tree. What it must have been like to see it the day before the storms.

My mother has always had a love for plants and shrubs, our home upriver from New Orleans was surrounded by plants that she loved or found and transplanted. We had a 12 foot tall Poinsettia "tree" that was once a tiny cutting. We had the most fragrant of gardenia bushes which took some of the pain away from sweltering summer evenings. We had a 4 foot tall or better compost pile tucked away at a hidden corner of the back yard. We almost always kept a garden. Our Satsuma trees were towering and well over-burdened each year. So I knew that this was a highlight of our trip for her. And there was a lot to be in awe of within the walls of this garden.

There were plants I had never seen before, and colors and textures I had to commit to photos or lose them forever.

We spent a few lazy hours there and then headed off to the lakefront for PoBoys from Deannie's and a shady covered shelter near the seawall. He took the only pics we had from the stop, so my apologies to Cam again for biting his shots.

The lakefront was our favorite place to cruise when we were in high school. But as always happens, the owners of large homes there, even despite a 40 foot levee and a hundred yards between them and the cars cruising, put their foot down and stopped the party long ago. It was a great place to fish, to catch blue crabs and to just hang out with a book or have a family picnic. The best part of the entire scene, though, had to be Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park, which closed in the early 80s. This area took a hell of a beating during and after Katrina. But on this trip, it was a great place to have a picnic. Cam had a Crawfish poboy, my sister had Shrimp, and my mother and I split a half a Softshell Crab and half a Oyster poboy. Mama Mia.

Tomorrow, the last installment...We hit City Park for a few more highlights and head upriver to stunningly beautiful Oak Alley Plantation, and return for the LAST and easily BEST treat we would have all week. Can a dumpy looking plain house with vinyl siding really hold the treasure of New Orleans' Best Meal? Find out tomorrow.

A week of pure bliss

2011-04-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

There's a lot about New Orleans to want to leave behind. But for me it's just the intense 6 month summer heat and humidity. The rest is great, but tough to see positively in the context of the heat. I spent 15 straight years there and have been back at least twice a year for the past 30. But outside of a few funerals, I have not spent a single week there with family in that entire 30 years. Last week my sister invited me to spend a week there with her and her son, as well as our mother. Her son has been there before, but only as an infant. Infants could care less where they are, as long as they are satisfied in every way. Over the past dozen or so years, the young man has had to hear about how great it was to grow up there, how horrible it was, how great the food was, all the great things to see and do. Well all that came to a head this past week as we did everything imaginable. We did everything we could fit into the week and vowed to keep it non-touristy. What that means is that we did everything we could think of that was within our time and financial budget, as far from the French Quarter as possible, and age appropriate. What we failed in was the non-touristy part. But we did it without being touristy, I hope.

We did NOT make it to Frenchmen St. for evening entertainment. Although the young man was 17, New Orleans is pretty laissez faire about age in bars, provided the child doesn't drink and is accompanied by a parent. But we were just beat in the evenings anyway. We did NOT make it to Rock and Bowl. Those are the two regrets. The rest was a bucket list of sorts for a Americajun family spread across the southeast and longing for New Orleans. They were there for a day and a half before I arrived, I work for a living, haha. I arrived on Tuesday night after most had gone to bed. The next day we had our breakfast at Camelia Grill after riding uptown on the streetcar.

Then we did what we all said we would not do, we headed all the way back downtown on the streetcar and walked across Canal St. to the French Quarter with the sole purpose of taking in the Musee Conti', better known as the New Orleans Wax Museum. Not your average tourist attraction, but we had all done it as kids on field trips and it was surprisingly interesting, and fun besides. You will not find Marilyn Monroe or Marilyn Manson there, more like Napoleon and the Sieur de Bienville. There is also a chamber of horrors based on works by Poe and Hugo. All I remember clearly was a gorilla stuffing a woman up a chimney. However, I was not to see Napoleon in his bathtub this year, as the MC was closed on Wednesdays. We browsed the French Market, but even more depressing than missing the wax version of the Battle of New Orleans was the fact that the ICONIC smell of every fruit mixed with every vegetable stirred in with the odor of 80 different kinds of people was NOT in evidence. And that's simply because that aroma depends on three important factors, none of which were present that morning. You need to be deeper into the growing season, it needs to be over 90 degrees and the humidity should be over 85%. But missing that smell is a small price to pay for NOT having the 3 factors hitting at once on that day. A walk up the Moonwalk got us back to Canal and the streetcar stop. Never knew why it was called the Moonwalk, maybe the Riverwalk was taken. We made it back to the house and I smoked the Montecristo Sublime I had been threatening to smoke for a month or two.

Thursday we were back to the Camelia Grill; when a cliche' offers waffles like that and the only breakfast sausage I ever found acceptable, you gotta go twice. Then we headed to Audubon Zoo, which never fails to amaze me when I remember back to what it was 30 years ago. You need to rent the movie "Cat People" to really get the full depressing effect in color.

Granted, this is just the Big Cats area, but almost all of the displays were of this style and size.
Here are a few black and whites to give you the idea. In the first frame, you get a shot of the cages for the more active monkeys and Chimpanzees. They had the most room of any animals back then, even the really lucky ones who were 'marooned' on Monkey Island with actual grass (dirt) under their feet. Kind of like the difference between Orleans Parish Prison and Angola Prison Farm. My memory is not great on this layout, but the second frame appears to be what I think of as the front of the zoo, which could have been anywhere actually, but I think of it as the front. I think this was the display for Hippos, camels and something else there, and behind the viewer out of frame left would have been the flamingoes and another pen for the Galapogos Tortoises.

Granted, there were few zoos back then that were forward-thinking, you just crammed as many animals as you could into the space you had. But New Orleans' Audubon Zoo, as great as the WPA labor-built buildings were, was especially bleak. Now it seems as if they are determined to go as far the other way as possible, and the facility is incredible, based as it is on the elegance and beauty of the century old oaks which cover the grounds. I told my mother about Zoo Tycoon, where they tell you that to keep visitors happy, you should make grand entrances. It sure makes em walk a long way to get to the animals, but apparently the Audubon Zoo is built with this in mind.

That's my nephew taking pictures. We had a serious competition going on the entire week, where I playfully jabbed at his 'inferior camera' and skills. Obviously he has great skills, better than me when I am at my best, way better when I am just my regular self. His eye for light and composition is always on, where I remember to think about it about half the time. And his camera is 3 times better than mine if not more. Here is a shot that demonstrates only the fact that he shot what I forgot to, not his great skills. It's to show that the entrance is just over-the-top grand.

And don't get me started on the canvas they have to paint on at the Audobon Institute. The entire grounds including the park across Magazine St. are strewn with 100+ year old Live Oak trees. Everytime they make a new exhibit, they have so much more to work with in terms of ambience and that 'lived-in' look. Thanks to Cam for this nice photo. Doesn't it make you want to go to Audubon Zoo as soon as possible?

We crossed the river for supper since my family was crazy enough to allow ME a shot at calling a meal. I chose a blast from my past, a popular westbank haunt called Perino's Boiling Pot. The exterior is some kind of reclaimed Comfort Inn or some other kind of used motel. Inside there are dozens of long tables for eating the messiest food a cajun can eat, crabs, shrimp and crawfish. Rolls of paper towels are available and necessary. Thank goodness my nephew likes to photograph food on trips. Here is more of his work.

The prices were crazy high, thanks BP! You know, it's hard to 'shout' in caps lock at a company that is so evil and forever damned when just writing their name is all caps. Oh wait. THANKS BRITISH PETROLEUM! Jerks. The oil spill did not necessarily go into the adult crustacea, but it seems to have killed off a lot of the larval stage organisms that keep the circle going. Seafood is available now, but expensive for a time. On the good side, the crabs were FULL!! That's coon-ass for packed with meat and heavy. The crawfish I had were also excellently boiled and tasty. Again, thanks to Cam for the shots. The seafood is most definitely still ON in NO.

Two excellent days out and about in the City that Care Forgot and the best was yet to come over the coming days. That afternoon we took a long walk around Audubon Park proper, and if anything is more impressive than the Zoo across the street, it's that park. Bounded on the other end by Tulane and Loyola University, the park contains a nice public golf course and beautiful walking and biking paths and the most beautiful views in the Deep South. As luck would have it, Cam was the only one with batteries again. His work is again used without permission, lol. And the boy does have chops. He makes calendars with his favorite shots of the long list of places he has been that you would pay cash money to hang in your various vertical spaces. Keep in mind however that these are just pics that show the park as described and are not to be considered his best work.

In the coming days, we'll visit the City's other major park, the sprawling City Park, including the beautiful Botanical Gardens. Then we head up to the Lake for a trip back in time as well as one of my best old cruising memories, the lakefront of Lake Pontchartrain. There were no hot rods and young kids there on our visit, but it was still a treat.

2008 Montecristo Sublime Edicion Limitada in NEW ORLEANS

2011-03-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Let the smoking begin. I have been lucky enough to take advantage of my sister's gracious offering af a place in her condo in New Orleans for nearly the entire week. I worked a few days in Memphis and am sitting in New Orleans on not such a good night, but for New Orleans, any cool night is not bad. It's low overcast and windy with a chill in the air, and I picked a heck of a time to smoke a MONSTER of a cigar in this Monteccristo Sublime. What was perhapes the most popular Limitada ever, the Cohiba Sublime, lent it's size to this giant cigar. Not a cigar you want to smoke on a windy evening. The cigar is wrapped in a dark wrapper reminiscent of the old fireproof wrappers, and wind and fire makes it tough for a leaf lover. It burned a bit unevenly, and the sheer girth makes it tough to make a go of it.

The cigar was steeped in leather notes, all on a medium/strong body. Various chocolatey flavors wove their way in and out of the smoke, but the feature of the cigar that made it a challenge to write about was this one flavor I found nearly impossible to finger. I am taking a stab at it with a "musty, old oak board taste" with a hint of mint. I loved the flavor of the cigar and it made for a good hour on the stoop, but I hate it when I can't place a flavor. I have an amateur's palate to be sure, and this flavor just made it that much more difficult to feel like I have progressed very much. I liked the cigar an awful lot, but when something bothers me like that, it takes all the fun out of it. Add to that the fact that the smoke is easily a two hour smoke, and it made me as uncomfortable as I get watching a movie like Bill Murray's "Quick Change" or Anna Faris' "Smiley Face", just a series of uncomfortable moments strung together leading me to a feeling of rushing through it to get over that FEELING of discomfort. I should have smoked something short, thin and simple. Instead I took the most complex and time-consuming of the cigars I have with me.

Top it off wth the fact that the current price of one of these cigars is about 22-25 dollars and it makes for a colossal mistake. But it's also just another glorious day in the city that care forgot, and who really cares in the end? I can't put a score on this cigar because in smoking terms, I just butchered it, and it will take a two-person smoking con-fab to sort out the flavors at work here. I paired it with a Acai daiquiri cranked out by the Frozen Concoction Maker, and it was a good, tart, sweet mate. Under proper smoking conditions, I could see this as a 95 point smoke.

2005 Partagas Serie P No.2 - Spring BBQ smokes

2011-03-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

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.

The most popular habano - Montecristo No.4 2007

2011-03-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

A year after this blog began, there has as yet been no review on the Montecristo No.4. The most popular habano in the world, yes. On this blog? It would not seem so. Still, I always liked them, and tonight's smoke was no exception. This was clad in the same wrapper that one often finds the Monte No.4, a medium colorado wrapper that is light in color and red tones, very clean and smooth, but not anything exceptional. You can find these cigars wrapped in all kinds of wrappers, but this is the shade that is generally accepted as the "Montecristo-style" wrapper, in my experience. It cut very neatly with the perfect smoke portal. The draw was on the tight side of medium and this would play a major role in the perfect burn this cigar would offer. The photos do not do a good job of conveying the true color of the cigar as I perceived it.

The first puffs were very sharp and tannic. It played out like this for about a quarter-inch. After the initial harsh behavior, it calmed down into a creamy and lightly-spicy taste. The burn was extremely even and well behaved with each puff offering the perfect smoke. This is how every cigar should perform, allowing for the lightest possible draw and offering the maximum flavor. With most cigars, I believe that you should puff as lightly as you possibly can while still properly feeding the burn. This gives you the best chance to detect light flavors and fully understand the "language the cigar is speaking". Gulping anything, food, beverage or smoke, does not allow your taste buds to operate with the proper amount of air. I am not a scientist, and I may be characterizing this improperly, but taste is much more about the sinuses than the taste buds. The olfactory system of the human head operates on several fronts. When you smell something good, you are quite simply "tasting the air". This is the same with eating food. Your taste buds work in concert with your sinuses much more than one would think. This is why you can hardly taste food when you are sick and stopped-up. In order to taste food under those conditions, you must sniff air in or out sharply to capture the tiniest hint of flavor. Try it next time you are sick, but desparate to taste that cheesecake or savory meal. My mother used to say something when her piglets were eating at the table. "SAVOR your food." This was code for, "I just slaved over a hot stove to make this meal, so please at least TASTE it...make it last...enjoy it."

Blablabla. How does this support my statements? The less food or smoke or drink you have in your mouth, the more air you have to interact with the system. So it would stand to reason that the lighter puff you take, the more flavor you get. But again, you must feed the burn. This is easy when the cigar is at the perfect moisture content, but very difficult with a overly-moist cigar, as in my recent Trinidad Fundadore.

And now to return to where I left the roadway. This Montecristo burned absolutely perfectly. I was able to lightly smoke it with almost no hard puffs to encourage the burn. I tasted coffee, cream, cane sugar and whipped cream. There were bold notes of chocolate and vanilla with a wonderful tangy strength that was pleasing, but indicitave of not just youth, but tremendous aging potential. I pushed the band up three times on this smoke, which is my way of saying, this cigar is done, but I am going to give it another few puffs to see if this is the last thing she has to say. In each case, the cigar was not finished with me yet. I still left more than an inch unburned of this five and a half inch cigar. I smoked a good bit more than the last photo shows, however.

It's 42 ring gauge is my favorite size cigar, to me there are no better cigars from havana than the 3 or 4 or more vitolas with near 42 ring gauges. The perlas, the minutos, the cervantes, the marevas...I'll stretch it to the dalias. Maybe there are more, who knows or cares. While this cigar performed as well as any I have had lately, the flavor was not quite up to par with a really great cigar, so the score was lower than I might ordinarily give such a fantastic experience. Still, I give her a 91.

The package - Trinidad Fundadore 2007

2011-03-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Guest Review - Punch Royal Selection No.12

2011-03-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

OLScigars thanks a reader for helping with an idea from a few weeks ago, that regulars around here might want to contribute guest reviews from time to time, and Anthony M. of Washington up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest came through with an interesting review of one of my favorite cigars, the Punch Royal Selection No.12. I have only had the 99-00 versions of this cigar, which are great, but he had recently gotten ahold of some 2009 stock and I was curious. What are these cigars like FRESH? So without further blablabla from me, here is Anthony's double take on this legend.

Punch Royal Selection No.12 - 99 versus 09

After talking with OLS I decided to write a review on this 2009 Punch Royal Selection No.12. It started out for me as just another cigar I would smoke a few times and give my uneducated palate and grammar skills a try with. The first one was fresh out of a new box, it only had about a week in the humidor, but I couldn't wait any longer. ( I should have) It was of good construction and color, light brown with no obvious flaws. It still had the cedar box smell with some faint tobacco. I cut and lit it; it was harsh for the first half-inch or so, just as you might expect from a young cigar. The burn was even but it had trouble staying lit. The rest of the cigar was pretty much one dimensional with notes of cedar and pepper spice. Not bad, just not what I was hoping for.

So I waited a few weeks and made my next trip to the cigar bar with the RS12 ready to smoke. I met up with a good friend and we sat down and ordered ourselves a beer and started to BS. He already knows I'm having this Punch for the second time, but he has a twist to throw into my plans. He hands over the same cigar, but from 1999. I couldn't say no, we swap over, a 1999 for a 2009. The color is the same on both sticks, but the taste could not be farther apart. The pre-light draw brings a flowery, fruity flavor I've never had. The cigar lights perfectly and we are on our way. The taste of fruit doesn't stay long, with a light leather and faint spice in the background. I would say this is a medium to strong cigar with flavor changing about every third puff. I wish I had a better palate so I could explain all the things I am tasting, but I don't, so just take my word for it, it's GOOD. I took this cigar all the way to my fingertips and it burned well the whole time.

So it's Friday, and I am ready to try the 2009 RS12 again. It lights just fine with a strong, earthy leather taste and a strong pepper spice that lingers on the palate for a good amount of time. I'm by nature a faster smoker and tend to get my cigars too hot. With this one, I really need to slow down to get any kind of different flavors and even with that they are hard to pick up on. When I reach the middle of it, the flavor really starts to mellow out and I can almost get hints of the 1999 profile. It only lasts for an inch or so and it's back to strong spice and leather. I like a stronger cigar, so it's fine with me.

I'm not going to rate either cigar with a number, I just don't find it to be fair. If you like the Punch's profile it's definitely worth trying...if you have the patience to wait ten years, DO IT! As for me, I don't have that kind of patience. I'll revisit these in a few months and see how much closer they are to that 1999 flavor. It's kind of like watching a good movie backwards. Oh well, it's definitely worth finding out what a cigar could do with time.

I'd like to thank Ant'ny for his effort here, I have smoked a bunch of old cigars, but never really had a chance to compare two in this way. I think I will check into doing a few like this soon.

Bolivar Coronas Gigantes revisited

2011-03-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

The first swing with this bat was a few months back, wow, maybe 5-6 months back. Time really flies when you are pushing drivel. I am always trying to avoid smoking fresh cigars, I feel like no havana cigar is ready to smoke for two years at least. I like 3-5 even better. But the times they are a changing, and I read daily about someone's fantastic experience with fresh cigars. People's opinions that I trust. So I took a shot at a Boli Coronas Gigantes within a week of it's arrival. Bleh. Not good. Once again my philosophy is upheld. But being right doesn't always make sense. Fresh Bolivars are among the greatest of all havanas. And this one will help explain why.

The BCG is a Julieta 2 vitola, what's better known as a churchill. It's a full 7 inches long with a decent ring gauge of 47. I prefer Bolivars of much smaller size, like Petit Coronas and Coronas Junior. But this cigar offers up everything I expect in a fresh Bolivar. A palette of sweet and tangy delights, a little sour, in a good way. There is leather and a little sweet spice. The smoke, like the draw, is stingy.

The cigar was heavy for it's size, and very firm. The burn was very straight. Well...angled, but straight, if that's possible. What I mean is that it did not have a ragged edge as it burned along. The flavor stayed pretty linear throughout the smoke, but this is pretty common with fresh cigars. If anything, it improved from medium bodied to full and added some coffee and cream notes in the heavy smoke.

The end of the smoke was pretty stout with the return of the nicotine blearies of the Cohiba robusto from last night. But it redeemed the cabinet of Bolivar Coronas Gigantes which were previously not worth smoking more than a few inches of. This smoke ws taken to within 3/4 of an inch from the band and laid down for good. This cigar, 86 points.

Cohiba Robusto 2009

2011-03-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

Most people who know habanos say that it is a waste of a good cigar to smoke a Cohiba before it's passed it's 5th birthday, and I am with them for the most part. But real curiousity wells up now and again, as well as a recognition that reading the impressions of others often compels one to try a cigar a bit early. And so it was with this Cohiba Robusto. That and a ragged foot. When I see a cigar damaged like that, I think about how little is lost in turning it to ash. And how much is to be gained.

It lit up with some effort, because while breaking one rule, I see no harm in breaking another. I could dry this one out overnight and let it come up to a more combustible state. But I often wonder when I smoke a dried cigar, dried on purpose, and it is less than spectacular, if I wasted it by believing so devoutly in my maxim, 'a dry havana is the best-tasting havana.' So I smoked it up right out of the cabinet, moist and generating all manner of funky barnyard aromas. It was a dark, deep, rich brown, perfectly rolled, but slightly split at the foot. It is firm and without any soft spots.

The first impressions are of brute strength and sweet, honeyed nuance. It is a dense and rich smoke with a short finish, with hints of toffee and cream. It burns with a ragged, scalloped edge, and requires a difficult smoking technique. I have to sip the smoke, barely breathing in to harvest all of the beautiful subtlety, but occcasionally giving it a good hard puff to keep it burning. This requires a good bit of purging to keep the smoke delicate and cool, but it is worth it. How such a strong cigar can give up such light and delicious flavor is a wonderful thing to behold. It is a real powerhouse and makes a hot bath a true Friday night treat. And for once, I did not let the stick roll off the edge of the tub and into the water. A flat edge on the tub would be better for the dodgy chances one must take. But a round edge keeps both the lit end and the portion I must put into my mouth away from the porcelain. I think that's best.

As the cigar burns down past halfway, the power really picks up. A daunting prospect considering the strength it displayed from the outset. Yikes. But in a good way. The finish turns a bit to wine and tobacco, with a first appearance of the grassy flavors that the brand is known for. There is little of the honey sweetness and the sweet element is more of molasses.

At this point it begins to go out after every 15 or twenty puffs, and with barely 1/4 inch to go before the band, I let it go to it's end with no hard feelings or sadness. But there is a great deal of cold sweat and a touch of queasiness. This cigar has real power. Delicious, scary power. A fine cigar that I have no trouble awarding a 92. Well done. The rest will have to wait at least a year before I revisit them. It will be worth the wait, it's clear.

Montecristo Edmundo 2005

2011-03-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I love being right, hate being wrong. Today I had a quick chat with a friend I've never met but have long respected. We were talking about some cigars I was considering, chief among them the Montecristo Edmundo. Just a terrible cigar when it first came out, it was not long before I realized a few years down in the dark produced a cigar that was FANTASTIC. So after he said he did not like the cigar, I told him that obviously he'd never had one with some good downtime on it. So tonight, I was thinking that I had never reviewed one here, and was rather looking forward to smoking one.

So off we went. I found one laying in a cedar box, cut it and lit it. I was greeted by the usual dusty cocoa I like in any cigar, but find mostly in the Montecristos. But it was light, as was the body on the smoke throughout. So I mostly began to reflect on how this is just a curse with the Montecristo. I hate to prolong the use of any cliche' but it just became necessary again. Montecristo's fat cigars are great when they are ON, but are FAR too variable in performance to ever expect to regain their place among the finest cigars in the world. SO close, and yet so far. Give me the thin ones, many of which I will review in months to come.

Now I can't say it's a bad cigar, I've had some outrageous Edmundos over time. But a good one is FULL of cocoa and light spice and cream. A little mild for what COULD be coming out of such a formidable cigar. This one is OK. A little heavy on the hay and light on the cream. From time to time there are HINTS of great taste. And I am hoping that the next one will be better. Aren't we always? A bit sweet here and there, but no real body to speak of. I am going to give this one a pass tonight and smoke another tomorrow, a fair review can't be made on this smoke, but the point can be well made that once again, there's a long way to go for Habanos. 2005 was maybe the last full year of hit and miss blends in cuban cigars, and things definitely began to improve rapidly. And there were some fantatsic smokes made in '05, too.

Ah, the sweet, sweet Short Story

2011-03-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

A Ernest Hemingway once said, Give me liberty or give me a ME Short Story. The Arturo Fuente is the last in my brief foray into the world of non-cuban cigars, and of course, I saved the best for last. Most smokers who have been into cigars for more than a few years have run into the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story. A fantastic little fireplug of a smoke that almost single-handedly led the way of cigar makers back into the world of figurados, and even moreso, the short, stout smoke. These are wrapped in a dark, beautiful Cameroon wrapper, covered in tooth and oil. A little plume is on the head.

A quick snip to both ends and it lights right up, pouring dark espresso and white pepper notes with a sweet edge into my mouth, and coating the tongue with a luscious finish. I used to smoke about a box of these a year, along with my favorite H. Upmann Churchills. (a toro actually)Then I got into the H. Upmann 2000 pretty heavy. Then they changed from Cameroon to another wrapper and I just lost the taste for them, the Churchills, I mean. Then I discovered habanos and they all got left behind. I was running far behind on troop support and picked up these various cigars to send out, and as usual, I pinch a few. Well this smoke is just amazing. In a Non-cuban sort of way. Leave it to the Fuentes and the Padrons to consistently make great smokes that draw everytime. The taste of well-aged tobacco is pretty great, and was missing from habanos for a long time. Like the Don Carlos line, these Hemingways are just made to impress. Of course, Habanos SA has been using more aged tobaccos in their smokes in the past 5-6 years, and it shows in my experience so far.

This cigar presents exotic hints of various woods and a sweet cedar with delicate complexity. There is a light creaminess and an even lighter peppery quality. The burn is wickedly straight and the draw continues to be the perfect compromise of medium and med- tight. The pulls and smoke production are utterly remarkable. As I try to photograph the smoke progress, I ash the thing accidentally, so I can't show the ash line as starkly as I want to. There is a bit of chocolate in there that is so confusing, I am not sure if it is coffee or choco. I guess in that case, who cares, right.

So good, so sweet, so aged, so fine, so short. Nubbed this one and enjoyed it to the end. Could have gone a lot further but hate smoke in the eye.

WHAT?? More Non-habanos?

2011-03-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

SHOCKING!! Yes, I smoked some non-habanos cigars last weekend and it went as expected, not so hot. I was marginally satisfied with an Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente robusto. It had a harsh taste overlaying a smooth buttery base. Schizoid to say the least, but in defense of the cigar, I was smoking ribs and beef neckbones in the dark while smoking the cigar. This was also a bundled cigar which is not the usual packaging for this vitola and had something to do with the way the cigar performed. Nevertheless, I smoked it down to a nub.

There were a few high points where the smoke provided good flavor of the kind associated with a Fuente product. But in general it was not anything I would ever buy at a store again. It's wrapper burned with a constant flakiness which is never good in a cigar, although even after 20+ years of smoking cigars, I am still not sure why that happens. It aggravates me though, as the pieces tend to fly down and hit my keyboard and disappear underneath it, or do other annoying things.

I also smoked an Omar Ortez Original. They were bought to send to the troops, so the taste was not important to me per se', but I did want to at least be able to tolerate them before handing 50 or more of them over to guys in the military. I spent some time in the service and never had to fight in a war. In an odd way I am intensely jealous of that experience, and in a more rational way, I am glad that I never had to face that test. I am not scared of being shot at, I am much more worried about how I would perform under the conditions they face daily. Put it this way, when they ask for maxipads and baby wipes and cotton socks, it doesn't take me a second to know I would be miserable there. I get whiney when have the slightest tinge of diaper-rash or as men call it, chafing (and worse) But I sweat like a PIGG! I used to get laughed at as a young worker in New Orleans, stacking french fries and fried mushrooms in the freezer at the restaurant I worked in, and the girls would LAUGH at me, "That boy be up in a freezer, and STILL sweatin his ass off." So as they say, bless you boys, have a cigar.

Where the hell was I??

Oh yeah, Omar Ortiz Originals. This is a cigar that reminds me of why I love havana cigars. I smoke a fair amount of habanos, but am rarely overcome by strong tobacco. The best tobacco in the world is not strong, it is complex and sweet and mild......ish. The OOO cigars are stout! I have heard many smokers tell of weak knees and cold sweats and nausea. While I had none of those in the strictest sense, it left a mark on me to be sure. This is a Nicaraguan puro, which to me should be great. Outside of cuban tobacco, my favorite is Nicaraguan. It's wonderful peppery and sweet smoky quality has hypnotized me for years. I guess i am just spoiled by Padrons, that are masterworks of Nicaraguan blends. Sometimes, it's just strong and crazy. And some people LOVE the strong stuff. The problem with smokes like this though, it seems to me as if there is a symphony tuning up at the top of its's power and I am listening for the music, but it's just too LOUD and disorganized. Granted this was smoked right off the truck as the expression goes. I DID dry-box it for a day or two, but it was really something. I am sure there was nuance there for someone with a tougher palate, or more expert at distinguishing anything above the din of power. I will say it looks great, smells great, smokes great, burns and draws great. Outside of that, I hope I have not offended the troops with these. I am not going to try and rate either one. The Chateau Fuente is a legend in it's own right, and the OOO is rarely if ever panned in online reviews or forums. Thankfully, I love me some habanos.

The Power of Suggestion - Cohiba Siglo II Tubo 2007

2011-02-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

Folks were talking about this cigar online today, and I remembered how long it had been since I had one. I picked out a good one, which is to say I grabbed the first one out of the 3-pack. I opened the tube and found either a bit of plume or dried mold near the cap. I generally think of this as plume, since it gathered around the edge of one of the cap slices. Mold in my experience, is more of a generalized covering of an area of the cigar.

This shows you the difference between old-man vision and a sharp closeup. This looks like mold to me, but I am willing to split the difference. There is no aroma of dankness nor evidence of staining on the cigar or the cedar. Regardless, it's going to be smoked.
I pinched out a piece of the cap and lit it up. The cigar appears dry, but the gentle squeeze I give it tells me that it is well humidified. Normally I would dry this out for a day or even two, but the last time I did that the cigar tunnelled, so I decided to just shake this one out and fire it up. The first draws were strong and dry, and not very appealing. As it burned down about a half an inch, the cigar warmed up and became very aromatic and flavorful, with a lot of sweet, tangy goodness. I do not find the Siglo series to be too full of the exotic bean flavors, but there was coffee and tea in abundance. The Habano 2000 series strain of wrapper leaf bunched up in a sloppy ash, but there was no real problem with ragged burn.

I am not a big fan of the Siglos, and this one is not great, but it is a good cigar to be sure. It's got a good molasses note in the smoke and the smoke itself is plentiful. I have had much better examples of this vitola de salida, but again, I don't think of this as a great Cohiba cigar. It is however, one of those smokes that proves to me that the Cohiba name is not worth paying a premium for in every case. The bigger, thicker vitolas certainly offer more for the money, but these Siglos, the I and II, to me, are not worth the money. I could get two Bolivar Petit Coronas for the price of this cigar, and I guarantee you I'd enjoy them more. And again, this is NOT a bad cigar. It's really all in what you prefer. I would also think this would be a great smoke paired with rum or whiskey. I don't take spirits on the weekdays, lol. So who knows. The burn to the end was decent but became raggedy in the second half. And to it's credit, the cigar's flavor improved during the second half, becoming quite 'sophisticated'. Still above my head, but I can see how Cohiba fans categorize the flavor as being Cohib-esque. A bit more cedar in the end, and some chocolate, but a harsh kind of chocolate bordering on tar. But after a purge and a re-light, it is definitely chocolate. Quite light, but noticable. Given the fact that this cigar is not to my preference, and standing alone as a possible abberation, I would grade this low, perhaps 83. Good but not great.

1998 Bolivar Coronas Extra

2011-02-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Extra is AGE, haha. What a fantastic little cigar. Very smooth but pretty strong. A light but persistent tea flavor is the main impression. And of course, that is fine with me. One thing you will learn from this blog is that I like the tea flavor you get with cuban tobacco. It is a perfect example of a well-rolled cigar, with a straight burn line and perfect draw. I miss the old Bolivar band, too. The loss of the serif effects on the font makes the cigar look much less historic, and this is a historic brand.

About an inch and a half in, the flavor gets creamy with a lush mouth feel. I immediately begin to SLOW DOWN and enjoy this cigar. I tend to rush a smoke and waste no time in ruining it. But when a smoke this old bears the hallmarks of a well-aged cigar, it is a shame to rush it. The sipping action reveals a layer of complexity I had not noted before. Since the start, I was able to exhale it through the sinuses for more flavor, but this is easier and more flavorful. A slight tinge of leather crosses with an exciting burst of orange sherbet. How strange.....and great.

I took these out of a dress box and popped em into some cedar to see if I can squeeze another ten years out of them. These smokes don't have what I like best in a Bolivar. I like tangy and fruity with a blast of fresh tobacco. But these are reasonably good replacements...just not the same thing. Maybe I won't try to take them all another decade. Ten would be better. The other 14 will get smoked. As it gets to about an inch and a half long, it gets much less interesting. So I let it go out while it is still a smashing 92 points.

2000 Punch Double Corona

2011-02-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

I had no expectations for this cigar. It's not just that it's been probably 5+ years since I smoked a double corona. It's not just the age, pushing into it's second decade. And dammit, MAYBE it's because it just self-ashed into my tea........ehh, a little character.

It lit a bit slowly, but thoroughly, and burned straight as an arrow. It's ate up with coffee grounds and sweet molasses flavor, but it's got a bad side...the wrapper is nicked as many large wrappers are. Otherwise, this is a beautiful cigar. Just perfectly rolled, and you couldn't SEE a seam or a vein. And as many havana cigar-boxers do, they wrapped the band around it so the nick would be in back, lol.

Well nicks are where air is sucked in, and it causes this cigar to be not just a DOUBLE-clutcher, but a TRIPLE-clutcher. It takes some serious puffing to get smoke to flow. So for the first half of the smoke, it's a chore. Still, the flavor is great. These old double coronas are either spent or savagely smooth. This one was the latter, thank goodness. Throughout it's length, it gave up fantastic, smooth flavor. As it got shorter, it got stronger, but the same general profile of coffee and dark sugary sweetness pervaded. I am not sure that is actually a word, but it is HERE. It was pervasive, anyway.

A good double corona will have bits of ligero surprises in it, maybe it's seco, who knows, but it's just a little flag of leaf thrown in for flavor accents. This one has several spots where the flavor rounds out and gets creamier, so yeah, maybe it's seco. A real masterpiece of a double corona. And don't get me wrong, I am not really a fan of double coronas, I can barely finish a churchill. I like smoking cigars, but I like to smoke petit coronas or coronas, robustos and minutos.

I like to be done, or on to the next one after an hour. A cigar has to be masterfully blended if it is going to hold my interest. This one almost does it, but it is a little bit monotonous. Great, but not enough flair. It needs to have at least 16 pieces of flair. If it was a little more interesting it could reach into the 90's. Wrong cigar for the wrong person....86 points.

The flat cigar

2011-02-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

In an interesting exchange I saw the other day, a guy was asking if his cigars were fake, because the cigar on the far left of the box was far wider than the others. This points a spotlight on the common anxiety involved with people who should not be purchasing cigars, but have done so anyway, and now are facing a box of cigars with no experience in determining just WHAT they are looking at. Your first box of havana cigars is certainly an adventure, but this was a new one for me. I have heard almost every single quirky item that people point to to tell another person that they have been duped. I have heard every worried question over this facet or that. But the fat cigar on the left is a new one. I have never thought about this cigar negatively.

You can find one in almost every dress box of havana cigars. This is a cigar which undergoes a more intense box press owing to it's position directly above the cardboard spacer lying on the far left side of the bottom layer. Where 12 of the top layer cigars lie atop other cigars, which give a bit and deform slightly themselves, this semi-rigid, square cardboard tube does not give. This forces the cigar on top to flatten significantly. I love this cigar.

Why is there a cardboard spacer in a box of havanas? Well, it's because there are 25 cigars in a box. How does one evenly divide 25 cigars into two layers? Most cigar companies place 13 beauties on top, and only 12 on the bottom. They fill the space with a cedar block or a cardboard tube. The cigar above it is pressed extremely flat. It looks cool, it smokes great, and being a Padron fan for decades, it hits all my 'box press' buttons. So tonight, I pulled out a few from my stash of "top-lefters", a Punch Double Corona and a Bolivar Coronas Extra.

Yes, I have a stash of them. I generally remove this cigar and store it separately out of habit. (I have bizarre fetishes.) So tonight I will smoke one and review it here. The Punch is a 2000 edition, and the Bolivar is a 1998 cigar. Stay tuned....

Quai d'Orsay Imperiales

2011-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ran across a fresh box of these the other day, I say fresh, they are not actually fresh, but these are late 09, so yeah, they are kind of fresh. I just tend to smoke these rather old, so to me they are awfully fresh. A sparkle of plume on a few of them. They smell awfully rich for a mild-bodied cigar. This is liable to be an awfully good box of smokes.

And Quai d'Orsay is not a MILD cigar per se. Certainly less full-FLAVORED than the Rey del Mundo Tainos, but about the same BODY. These are cigars for a good palate. You have to be a nose exhaler to fully appreciate these smokes. I am not. I have a few of these stashed here and there, but i do not get to smoke them much. I am a former cigarette smoker, and I just can't grasp the full palette of flavors these cigars place upon my palate, lol. One thing is for certain, a true connoisseur needs a box of these to balance out a good collection. Sometimes you get up first thing in the morning and want a cigar. Sometimes you are in a contemplative mood with a cup of cafe au lait. Sometimes you want to share a cigar with a friend who is not capable of taking the full power of a strong cigar.

And then there are the people who just know that a cigar does not have to be powerful to make a powerful impression. That's when the Quai d'Orsay Imperiales really shines.

Juan Lopez Corona

2011-02-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

Rushed my sinuses today and tried a Juan Lopez Corona that...sigh...SOMEONE...gave me up in Ohio this past summer. That's IT. I am writing this stuff down from now on. It's just disrespectful.

Well, I had a friend over for some BBQ and beers and laid out some baby back ribs and some beef ribs. Cut this cigar and enjoyed it after the first check of the meat, it was very tasty, but my olfactory setup is not quite there yet after a solid week of snotfest following 3 days of sickness as described earlier. It had a heavy tea flavor, some spice and a medium creamy body.

This is a perfect smoke that was wasted on me today. You can see that the burn line was just perfect, as was the draw. These have not been seen for some time, seems like most coronas are going dodo on us. I'd like a few boxes of these on hand. I should have smoked a fitty-cent sale special and tested the waters. And even with all that going against it, this was a superior smoke. On a good day this cigar would have touched 93 points. In fact that's what I would score it. It could have been a 95, I am not sure. So here are some pics....

This pic is rubbed and smoked but dry. Added some sauce and let em get crisped up a bit, also had some monumental chicken thighs. Sweet baby Ray's is some epic sauce. Thanks to my cousin Jim in Michigan for that tip. Stay tuned, this cold seems to be leaving, in fact I am not sick, I am just clogged up now.

Sick as a dog

2011-02-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry cigar fans, I am down for the count. I recently worked a trade show where 10,000 kids over three days crawled all over my product, and while I washed my hands when I could, they got me. It's been 3 days of horrific chest clog and the aches and sensitivity that comes with a hacking cough. But today is better than yesterday, so it won't be long before I get back to smoking some cigars. I was also going to drive some distance to see my mother with some comp time I got for my trade show bit, but once it became clear I was sick, I thought why blow the time in that condition? So I will save it for an upcoming short trip to New Orleans, effectively turning it into a long trip. And turns out I will see my mother and sister there anyway. So that happened.

Other than that, I sent a coat with three habanos to the dry cleaners, so I am sure he or she is enjoying the cigars. They were nothing special. You say, OLS, why wouldn't your dry cleaner just return your cigars? It is neither my dry cleaner, nor my coat, lol. A few items from a sale that had a value something like $1.50 each. Still....

OK, what's coming up. Having a bit of time to plan, I'd definitely say that some lonsdales would be in order. I gave my second to last Rafael Gonzalez lonsdale to a friend recently, so I will smoke my last one. They do not make these anymore, but you just can't hold onto stuff like that. I think I will also smoke one of my last Partagas Lonsdales from a 2002 cabinet this weekend. So for people who enjoy the classiness of the cervantes vitola, a bit of a treat. Not as good as actually smoking one, but you do get pictures. I need to smoke that Montecristo Sublime as well, but that is for New Orleans.

More sad news to report, my Mardi Gras ramble has been cancelled. I have not missed a MG in 20+ years, though I have not lived in the area for that same time period. I have a great high school friend to stay with, but this year his wife is jumping at the chance to take a friend's place on a cruise. This would not be a problem since Eugene and I can certainly find our way around a Mardi Gras weekend. But he is working security in some pretty wild hours, and who knows if he will be off or feel like hanging out. So MAYBE it's not off, but it certainly is not automatic like it was for 20 years. Shame, I have a new memory card in my camera and a licencious attitude. Not sure I spelled it right, but I know what it means. So let's put that in the possibles category.

Unknown Vegueros Seoane (early 2000's?)

2011-02-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Man am I glad this is a blog and not a podcast. How in the hell do you say Seoane? This is traditionally the best cigar from Vegueros, the little-known brand that is created out in Pinar del Rio in a factory that now produces the Trinidad. I am not sure that Habanos intends to keep producing these. If it was about respect, they would just drop the brand. I know a good number of people who appreciate them, the mareva is big down in Big D. The Especiales No.1 is nowhere to be found these days. If you were lucky, you picked up a few boxes 2 for 1 a couple years ago. If not, and you are looking for a box, good luck. I am not sure people consider these worth paying the "discontinued premium".

This smoke shares a vitola de galera with the also infamous Cohiba Exquisitos. Never had one of those, but frankly, at Cohiba prices I would pass anyway. Any cigar that looks prone to bad draws is not worth paying double for. After the performance of the Cohiba Siglo VI last night, there is no way I am not dry-boxing this cigar. Well, one day anyway.

As I look at the foot, and don't jump on me just yet, but LOOK at the foot on this thing. Me sense trouble. There is not much space in there, but MUST we fold the filler like this? If it burns up one side, I am going to say something. You know I will.

You know after lookng at the foot some more, that's not that messed up after all. Firstly, it burned perfectly. Secondly, it is not that bad of a roll on something with a ring gauge of about 32. I retract my worries WELL after the fact, haha

This cigar has been called the poor man's Cohiba by people I know who are not crazy, when taken as a whole. Some of them read this blog, however, so make what you will of that. But this brand is supposed to be chock full of the Cohiba grassy taste. Well, of course, Cohiba is not just grassy, there are flavors of...wait, this is not a Cohiba review. But for a third the price, a really good one of these should offer flavors over and above it's pedigree. OK, enough rambling on, I know you hate it.

Well,this is NOT a Cohiba, but ironically, it has more going for it than a not too great SigloVI I had just last night. A decent Siglo VI would kick it's ass. Perfect burn so far, with a light vegetal taste and some VERY light tea. A nice oily wrapper with nice tooth covers this smoke, which dabbles in espresso at times and has a desserty quality that I like.

Thanks to the man that handed this to me in Ohio over the summer. Naturally, I have no memory of who it was. That's the price one pays for giving me a smoke. Immortality in a pine box, I guess. This is a medium flavor on a medium bodied smoke, and while it is not going to blow anyone away with complexity, this is not a bad smoke at all. Sweet at times, a little chocolate in there, too. This is the perfect conversational cigar. You could sip slowly on it (you have to) and carry on a great conversation and not be brought down by cigar maintenance worries. The flavor is not distracting and is perfectly blended for just grooving on. I really like this cigar. What's really striking about the smoke is the fact that it holds up so well against the cigars I have reviewed lately. Big names and little performances. Embarassing wastes of money. Then a little 2 dollar smoke shows em how it is done. Did I mention the burn is razor straight? So it is clear that I do not know what I am talking about. But it looked like it was going to.....I mean, I've seen it a million......Ah, who cares, it's good.

Now for the bad news. As a cuban cigar, this is not so fantastic. You could get this exact taste out of a La Riqueza, or Illusione. (but at 3 times the price?) In a blind taste test, I could not pick this out as 'the cuban". The flavor has no real depth, a little nuance, not a lot, and after all, is vegetal a GOOD flavor descriptor? Ehh.

But if you just look at it as this cuban cigar some awesome brother handed you, then it is pretty great. Most people I talked to back in the early days of this brand's worldwide release said 'the Seaone is the best.' But the best I have had is the Mareva. I have a box of the Especiales No.1 that I have not cracked, so who knows. But I have heard that they are pretty linear as well. If I had my druthers, I would take this over a bad Cohiba, but what does that really MEAN? 83 points

2007 Cohiba Siglo VI

2011-02-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

Why oh why can't every torcedore in havana galeras learn to roll a cigar without simply wrapping it up

like Mike Tomlin's game plan? This is some issue of FHM or something, wrapped into a tight spiral. And it burns like it. On the plus side, it's an instantaneous blast of tongue coating finish.

No grassy impression, but a ton of roast coffee and hard-hitting tobacco. If a lesser man had smoked this, it would have made his knees buckle. This is a strong cigar. But it is not much like a Cohiba. There is not much sweet, beany goodness here. There is not much aged cigar flavor here, just an unbalanced blast of power. This is clearly a cigar to put away for more time than I have. But it was the Super Bowl Sunday, and I wanted to smoke it. I wish now that I had let it go. It burned ok for a half an inch, and then just ran up one side with a dead spot on the other, a knot of unburned tobacco that just ruined the smoke.

The flavor improved as it became a Cohiba Robusto, but this cigar is not ready to smoke. I let it go out and scraped all of the unburned tobacco and tried it again. It got much sweeter and calmed down a bit after that, but as it gets to 3 inches long, it's back to being a crazy bastard. Ten minutes later, it has gone out, so we will scrape it again. Better, but hey Habanos, if you are listening...What the hell are you DOING??

If I wanted to pay nearly twenty dollars to get slapped in the face with an insult I would go and buy a quarter tank of gas...........80 depressing points.

Hey Slayer, if you are reading this, do NOT smoke yours. Or at least check the roll job from the end.
This cigar should have been dry-boxed for a few days, it tunneled more than Jules Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Man, am I looking forward to the Vegueros Seaone.

A hole in the weather

2011-02-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well as most people know from living it, it's been a little COLD of late, and next week here is looking like ridiculously cold weather again, but today we will reach 50. And heck, it's super bowl Sunday, so I am going to open a window, vent some warm air I already paid for, to clear some smoke and review some cigars. But as it's been a little boring here lately, we are going for some cigars with pull. I'll smoke and review a 2007 Cohiba Siglo VI, a Vegueros Seaone and maybe something else of note. I had planned to smoke a Montecristo Sublime, but the box was SO perfect and had an aroma SO chocolatey and dank...well, I just couldn't do it. I will save that for a spring day full of promise. In fact as I type this I KNOW where I will smoke it. My sister and I meet in New Orleans for a little peek at our old stomping grounds and a chance to revive old attitudes of superiority over all mankind. When you are a New Orleanian, what else can the US show you?? You have it all. Now we are both in other parts of the country and at least SHE loves her life and surroundings. Neither of us misses the oppressive sponge of heat and funk we used to walk out into on summer, even SPRING days at times. She gets her fall leaves, her snow, her precious seasons, lol. I basically get the same thing I had then, now with shorter summers, cooler winters. But the river is never far, the familiar sounds of ships announcing their presence, trains blasting away in the night, the sandly loam fields and willow trees lining the banks of the Mississippi and popping up everywhere river sand is used as fill. It is less flat here, and the food and nightlife are still advertised as big draws. But I am 6 hours away from New Orleans and it will be a good thing to get back and also have family there with me.

Where was I again??

Oh yeah, I will smoke that Sublime in New Orleans. I will also have a special Mardi Gras section a few weeks prior to that and who knows what that will entail. It might be a rare sidestep from the usual "all cigars" format, I can tell you that. Man do I need my Mardi Gras break. OK, check this space later today for the Cohiba Siglo VI 2007...

Cigar of the Year, lol

2011-01-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

Everywhere you look on the internet, where people pretend to know what they are talking about when it comes to Habanos, people are picking their cigar of the year. And since no one pretends to know what they are talking about more than me, why not pick one myself. Complicating this effort is the fact that this blog is not about going out and buying the latest thing, or whoring myself out to manufacturers or vendors who send me the lastest thing to try. Sorry sis, for using bad language. So how does one go about picking the cigar of the year when you have only tasted three cigars date coded 2010? Well, around here it's as simple as thinking back over the cigars I was most impressed with last year and just laying it out there. The votes are in, it didn't take long as I was the only one voting. It's also important to say that I don't care if the cigar was a 1998, it was eligible here, as this blog is mostly dedicated to aged cigars. The cigar that performed the best, gave up the most smoke and tasted better than all others was the 4 dollar H. Upmann Coronas Major in tubos.

I smoked five in all to come up with an aggregate review on it, and it rose head and shoulders above the Cohiba Robusto, Trinidad Robusto T, and dozens of other great cigars which failed to perform to expectations. Over and over in 2010, I smoked legendary cigars that were not worth my time. This cigar was WORTH MAKING TIME FOR.

It's packaging makes it a great cigar to carry around, the attractive tubo has been re-designed competely to be a much better value aesthetically as well. It offers up loads of creamy, rich smoke brimming with espresso, chocolate, roasted tobacco, tea, twang and more. It's a mareva, which to me has always been the best cigar for a quick smoke that goes JUST that extra inch when you really want it and is totally pitchable when you don't. The price ranges from a low of 2.80 to 6 dollars each depending on where you find them.
I will not go so far as to say that this is a better cigar than the Cohiba Robusto, but over and over it performed better than the one Cohiba Robusto I had in 2010, as well as the ONE Trinidad Robusto T I had, both of which are held up as superior cigars. But I will pull no punches when it comes to "Cigar of the Year" for the OLS Smokes Cigars blog. The Coronas Major was the best cigar I smoked in 2010. For a follower that asked, THANKS for asking about the date codes, I had assumed they were all 2010s. Turns out they are only technically 2010s, they are date coded NOV 2009, lol. Sorry for the mis-representation.

Checking in on The Duke

2011-01-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is such a giant cigar, it's almost comical, but it continues to impress every time I smoke it. This one was loaded to overflowing with cuban twang and coffee notes. There remains this red wine flavor in the background that switches from dark and smoky to recent, sweetened fruit. Still it retains that dry character of a fine red wine. Barely creamy, no tea notes, perhaps about to age into a rounder, creamier profile in years to come. The draw is too airy to suit me, but it has only minimally impacted the burn and it burns reasonably straight all round it's circumference. As it passes into halfway, the strength picks up and it gets less sweet and more into bitter herbs and chocolate. And just like that it gets creamy. Wasting a lot of heat while I air this smoke out of my living room. But it's worth it.

As things have tightened up for smokers, these are pretty much past the discount stage and are now full on havana currency. It's hard to imagine that these will pass quietly into Edicion Limitada history. It'd be nice to have a few boxes of these. For someone who rarely has any money or interest for ELs, these are an exception. While these are still there to be had, might I suggest shopping? I peel off the EL gold band and tuck in for more smoke. It gets tart and green indicating a bit of trouble with balance here at the one year old mark. The ash is salty as I accidentally put that end into my mouth. Nice.

I am not a fan of boxes of ten in ELs. They are more 'afforable' but they lose that feeling of 'having some' too quickly. If I had 25 of these, I would be down to 23, not 7. That's a little sad. Of course, I never would have bought these were they only available in 25s. The draw on this one tightened up a bit making it more smokable. Sipping smoke off a stovepipe draw is no way to enhance combustion. Although flavor concentration is aided somewhat. I'd like this smoke a notch tighter, although that could only be helped by humidity, and I dried this one out for two days+. Taken as a review of three cigars over two months, I'd notch this smoke at 91 points. There is so much power in this smoke it could go on for decades. I think I would put them in cabinets as fast as possible were that my intent.

Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill 2006

2011-01-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

Decided to blog this one out, it was one of the cigars I saved for myself after meeting up with that crowd of snowball-throwing firemen outside Charlotte. Listening to Issac Hayes, "Walk on By" off of the Stax 50th Anniversary discs. One thing about living where I have for a number of years is that I got to meet a few of the all-time greats of soul, one being Issac Hayes, twice. Now he is gone, and I never thought much of his music, I had only heard the theme from "Shaft" which is a sho-nuff classic, but not a singing tour-de-force by any means. But this song is tight. Met Al Green, too, even saw him preach once, which he did about once a month. A surprising number of white folks, as we are called, in the church that day. When I asked him about that, he said, "it's one of the blessings of this church, we get all kinda people in up in here, and even when they find out I ain't here, they still stick around. We do it right in this house."

Where was I?? Oh yeah, the RyJ Short Churchill. I've had a few of these, this one was the best. But it was a puzzler, too. It was bright and rich and much more refined than the last time I had one which was right after they came out. I couldn't see what the big deal was, in fact I didn't even like them. But this cigar has toasted tobacco and coffee in abundance, with a core of leather and the puzzler...what IS that flavor? I don't have a great palate, and I do not know how to read a flavor wheel. The only clue I have is that people always describe 'black cherry' and I don't get that. I have had several cases of Chek Black Cherry Soda in my young life, but never tasted it in a cigar. Well, maybe that's what this taste is. It COULD be black cherry. It also flirts with 'twang', but it's not that. There is no tea component, which I am almost always expecting in an aged habano. It burned up one side to a certain extent, but a few hard puffs every quarter inch managed to keep it in check. All in all the flavors remained consistent, strengthening in the end. The wrapper is very reminiscent of the Habana 2000 wrapper, or a strain of it developed in the years after it's initial success. THAT may actually be the taste I am having trouble with, although I would like to associate an actual taste with it, and I never figured it out. But on the whole, I think the cigar performed extremely well over it's length, and I would grade this example at 92. A pretty good smoke. As a 'habano guru', I still cannot wholely recommend ANY of the fad RyJs, Short Churchill, Wide Churchill, Fat Churchill, Ugly Churchill....but as a single purchase, I would recommend picking up a fiver perhaps, or it's sister cigar, the Exhibition No.4 which I DO recommend in boxes of 25. I also would repeat my earlier recommendation for the tubos in No. 1, 2 and 3, which I find extemely flavorful and a real bargain in general. But as I said, this cigar is really good. If you could get 5 year old ones, heck yeah, get em. But if you are looking at 2010 or 2009 stock, there are better cigars out there. And take that with a grain of salt, because I have not tasted them lately.

H. Upmann No.2 possible 2006-7

2011-01-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Had this for awhile, it was given to me by a great brother, so great in fact that I have completely forgotten who. When I originally cut it 2 years or so ago, it was way too tight to draw air through. So I put it in my humidor and forgot about it. I found it one day with a cracked and spreading foot, so I thought I'd put it away in a cedar box along with some other gifted smokes and really forget about it.

I took it to Charlotte NC with me over Christmas, and found an occasion to drop a little Christmas love on some firemen hammering each other with snowballs on Christmas morning. The snow was absolutely perfect for snowballs, and they were in waders, or whatever they call the bottom halves of their outfit, and T-shirts and caps. They were not shy and pretty much emptied my travelling box, but I warned them that only two smokes were off limits, the HU2 and a Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill. And I travel with some pretty good smokes, lol. So here I was tonight, thinking about a smoke, and it has been so long...a week. But this blog ain't gonna write itself, and I can't make things up. It lit right up, and after all, it was already cut. The No.2 offered up a RUSH of mouth-coating chocolate and leather, with what I guess must be the "olive" flavor. It was just something I couln't place, and I am not much of an olive eater, so there you go. Who knows what it was. The flavor did not change much for the first half, but it sure was a fantastic cigar. It was not much of a smoke-producer, but it was no disappointment.

You can see there is no ash, because the first inch and a quarter self-ashed as they say, right on the floor. Somehow it didn't matter. Scooped it up with a little bill envelope and moved right on. The second half was where the strength came on from medium to nearly full, with no chocolate, but the leather stayed on with just toasted tobacco for accents and body. It did develop some sweetness that made the experience very worthwhile, with some coffee for effect. Not one to nub any cigar, I smoked it down to about a half inch below the band and let it go after that. It was a great cigar, with a stellar first half and a reasonably satisfying second act and a uneventful denoument. Yet another cigar that was a tale of two halves. She was headed for a 94 rating, and fell off a bit, still coming out a respectable 90.

I understand these are a great box purchase, but I am not in the market for anything these days, so I will have to satisfy my Upmann cravings with the spectacular Coronas Major en tubos. For you however, it might be worth tracking some of these down. They are no slouch and can be more consistent than the Legend, the Montecristo No.2. Personally, I will stick to the Monte 2 unless someone just up and gives me a bunch of these. Let's not do that, though, shall we. I am having a hell of a time smoking what I have.

Thanks to the members

2011-01-25T16:15:00.000-08:00

Members, followers, cigar lovers, whatever you are properly called, I appreciate all of you and thank you for your support and encouragement and viewership. It's been awhile since this thing got started, and I have not always been too timely with the updates. But I have tried to keep it all-killer, no-filler, (to over-sell it a bit), with no ads and very little non-cigar talk. And as a more or less casual smoker, it's hard to keep up with what I am sure are your needs as readers. There is very little to me as irritating as surfing around the cigar-web lately and finding hardly ANYTHING changing these days. Forum after forum seems to be caught in a glacial slog, odd considering the current trends in planetary weather. So finding a place where there is something new and interesting to read is tough these days. Again, I appreciate it more than you know, that you are here to read the blog and that you cared enough to subscribe to it. Maybe it doesn't matter much to a blog that has no ads, who cares what the traffic numbers say? Well, I care. And I am pleased that you can join me. And as of today, welcome MAX. :) And I am late in welcoming Robert.

2006 Romeo y Julieta Churchill

2011-01-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most famous cigars of the long and remarkable history of habanos. Nowadays, it's good to have a few on hand of reasonable vintage, because the bands and packaging have changed markedly, and having one or two to take forward into the coming decades, to me, is important. This 2006 model is not too pretty. It's well rolled, and oily enough, but a closer examination reveals a few gips in the wrapper which will come into play negatively once we get underway.

Which we quickly do. It lights right up after a nice clean cut. At first it's a bit of a double-puffer, with some air coming in through the tiny imperfections of the wrapper, and it's flavor is muted. It has a typical Romeo charcter with a leathery, fruity taste, with some light tea on the finish. It burns straight and slow for a few inches. Nothing special happens throughout the first third.

That's some nice tooth on that wrapper......

And as soon as we enter the zone of the 2nd third, the flavor becomes very rich and loaded with complex additions to the general flavor profile. I taste light coffee along with the fruit, and the tea becomes more intense, as does the overall strength. The cigar can now be puffed at a normal rate, and offers up plenty of smoke without heating up the cigar. The burn is dead straight and the cigar is extremely rich. This is where the age of the cigar shows itself to best advantage. This is a really great smoke. I prefer the full, intensely fruity flavor of a fresh Romeo y Julieta, but this cigar can hold it's own with the best, trading subtle, smooth and complex flavors for more stark ones. And there is some coconut flavor just there. Interesting.

I know one other smoker who has had a few from this box, and I hope his experience ends up being as good as mine. These old churchills don't always perform up to expectations, but thank goodness for the occasional superstar. I would rate this particular cigar at 91 points. Had it been excellent from first to last puff, it could have crept up to 93, I think.

2005 Ramon Allones Specially Selected

2011-01-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

This is not my favorite cigar, not by a long shot. In all the time I have been smoking, I think I have burned through 2 boxes. That's a significant number, because I think I have had two that I liked in all that time. Some people really go for the "RASS", and I always hoped that one day I would find my way to an affinity for them. But I am not going to just blindly continue throwing money at the problem. So I have moved on and focused on other cigars. And I can say further that I am no fan of robustos either. But tonight I lit up a RASS hoping to move the needle a bit.

This cigar has been sitting in a dark cedar box for 5 years now, (moved out of a dress box into cedar) and it was high time that somebody stepped up and performed. And that's just what it did. It cut cleanly, and I removed as little of the flat cap as possible, to prevent too airy a draw. It was airy all right, but more on the medium side of loose. It was rich and fruity and chocolatey and gave up way more smoke than I could use. Everything about the cigar was astounding and satisfying. The burn was quite good and the oily, chocolate brown wrapper glistened invitingly. What a flavor bomb.

This smoke hardly makes up for 48 mediocre cigars, but it is oh so good. This is a cigar that experienced smokers always recommend to initiates to havana cigars, but it's hardly appropriate to do so. New smokers are much better served by less robust smokes. But when newbies ask for the best cigars, it's hard not to mention it. The brightest are smart enough to ask about the best smokes for their level of experience. And there are dozens to suggest. But this cigar is strong and rich and saucy and not for the faint of heart. It has a toasty dessert quality I love in a smoke. Hints of espresso and chocolate mousse abound. This is right up there with the best smokes I have had since the inception of this blog.

This is a 91 point smoke. While I can't recommend this as a box purchase because of it's spotty performance by the box, if you buy these in fivers, you can only hope you get a few like this.

08 Montecristo No.2

2011-01-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Kerblammo. UGLY wrapper, Looks like those hideous, hairless dogs you see in Mexico that people always claim is chupacabra,

Oily and brown with few red tones, it draws medium-firm with a 1/4 inch diameter cut/hole. I might cut it again later if the draw tightens any.

The photo cannot apprach the ugliness of the wrapper. It looks like a person's back that has peeled from two straight weeks of separate sunburns. I wasn't in a real photography mood last night.
As I stated, kerblammo, just a rush of lush fruity notes, raisiny and a touch of white wine. The finish is as thick and rich on the tongue as any cigar I've smoked this year. There is a suggestion of chocolate and butter on the tongue, but incomplete. That would be trouble if I had let it dry a bit before smoking. It might be much richer dry. There are fading hints on the finish of wet, juicy citrus fruit that is amazingly refreshing on the tongue. The cigar is very well behaved on the burn, and smokes very little on the lit end, which is great, since I am inside, haha.

After one inch it is still flavorful without too much complexity. It has a serious, lingering trait that is interesting, like a creamy Rose tea if there was such a thing. And I say it has not much complexity, but that is hardly what I described with all of my commas and adjectives above. There is a great range of funny hints and good flavors. 1.25 inches is hardly time to claim a lack of complex changes. But as the cigar burned down, I was never struck by a ramp up in flavor or strength, it just powered along doing it's thing. So it was a good cigar, but not a monumental find. It was very entertaining to be so refreshed by a cigar. This says a lot for the balance and perhaps any potential it might have for enjoyment in 10-20 years. I have tasted citrus in a cigar before, but mostly a zest thing. This citrus tang, coupled with the salivary response it elicited in me and the excellent way it stayed out of the dry zone, mingled to create a juice illusion.

So high marks for this one, but still looking for the white whale I guess, in terms of the perfect Monte No.2. I am not as hell-bent as some, but I'd like to have a 98-100 one day. This one, a happy 87. Continued on it for another 1/2 inch from the last photo.

Vegas Robaina Clasicos 1999

2010-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

This is such a great cigar, such a great size, and a great name, arguably as times have progressed. Don Alejandro Robaina has passed on, and Hirochi Robaina is said to be taking over with a huge enthusiasm and dedication.
But back to the cigar, a thing of beauty. The smoke is a 'cervantes' factory size, and can generally be called a lonsdale. One of my favorite sizes to be sure.

Dark and oily and loaded with character. It has a slight box press, but not much remains after having been cabinet-stored for 4-5 years. A problem arises though, as I clip the cigar and fail to get much air. So I get a "brainy" idea to light the head and smoke through the foot. But this sounded like a much better idea than it actually was. I slid the band to the opposite end and tried it. It lit fine, and I knew that as it burned past the hard spot at the band, it might take off. And it certainly did.

The unravelling of the wrapper I mean. I knew better. And yet I did it anyway. So I got a daub of honey and rolled it back up. It smoked fine despite the handicap I saddled it with. This was a really strong and smooth, well-balanced smoke with stark coffee and nut tones. The finish was generous and thick, coating the palate with a creamy, cool vanilla. This continued from lighting to one inch burned. It forged along a bit bolder and more rooted in toasted tobacco taste for most of it's length. It would offer up hints of molasses, honey and herbs at times.

The burn was perfect, even as the wrapper mistakes and sloppy repairs I made were patched up. This is a highly recommended cigar. This entire brand has good high points, but I find these the best of the best. The Unicos are reputed to be fine, and lovers of double coronas will find excellence it the Don Alejandro. The Famosos are some of the best robusto-sized cigars found in the 15 or so cigars of type Habanos offers. This cigar, matured carefully for a decade, is a 91 point smoke. It could have hit 93 had I smoked it properly.

Punch Royal Selection No. 12 - 2000

2010-12-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Hahah, that's the way to start THIS entry, look at that thing! A dream wrapper enveloping a perfect little bunch, screaming for a light, but patient like all great beauties. Allowing the visual gratification a connoisseur demands; a lush, oily wrapper, translucent and fragrantly alluring. Neatly clipped and draw tested, no major irritations present themselves, and the cigar takes a deep and fast light. The tongue is immediately coated with a dark, herbal and creamy finish. The body is light with a prominent aged tobacco and hay character.

As the cigar burns down, the body becomes light with a more tea-like taste. A citrus and menthol hint comes in about every third puff. The fact that this cigar was not dryboxed becomes apparent near the middle as it gets a bit steamy and harsh. I let it go out then carved out the ash and re-lit it, purging it. It came back darkly chocolatey with some bitter coffee hints. A core of herbs continued as the main body element. The finish got a little shorter as the cigar got shorter, and the strength became about medium moving to high. I put it down immediately, wanting to make sure the cigar ended as soon as the pleasure did.

This smoke got out of hand fast, although to say it was not enjoyable is wrong. It was just a bit too old for my palate. I like a cigar 5 to 7 years old, or as fresh as I can get. These are fantastic cigars for a developing palate. Fresh sinuses, non-smokers, movers-up. My palate was ruined young. Ehh. We'll see how that goes. But these look, smell and taste powerfully funky and sweet. They are right up somebodies alley, perhaps a slower smoker than me. This one, 86. It was a 83 taste and 3 points extra for the gorgeous visage.

Up for a spot of cricket, mate

2010-12-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

There is a famous cigar website where a blogger was talking about being a Yankee fan in Cuba and having people say "Go Yankees" to him in bars or restaurants in Havana. The another blogger commented that being from Asiatica, or pacifica, Oceana, wherever, that he has watched a little baseball in the USA during a visit. He found it murderously slow.

Well as it happens, I was trying to catch a LSU game online, and stumbled onto a site that had it, plus cricket and CFL games, too. So not knowing how the heck Cricket is played, I decided to watch one night. Sometimes I would ALMOST have it figured out and then something would happen to make me think, "NO, that can't be right." I WAS struck by how one side does all it's bowling or batting at one time, then the other team tries to top their score after switching off halfway through. After three hours, I finally figured it out. But I had to check back in the next day to watch the complete on-demand version to make sure the other team DID in fact get to bat. They ended up losing by a few points, it was NZ vs Bangaladesh. The kiwi gents lost. But even as I waited for the intolerable interval between when the bowler, from WAY off, ran up to the line and bowled the ball, at times the action was quick enough. And I THINK the long run-ups to bowl are all show and confusion. I saw a guy bowl just as effectively from 5 feet behind the line.

But if you've never watched cricket, surf over to ESPN3 and watch a match some time.

http://espn.go.com/espn3/player?id=100289&league=Cricket

If you can't figure most of it out after one match, look up some rules videos for idiots. Fascinating, yes. Exciting, not really exciting per se, like the man said about baseball. But still I can't stop watching cricket, at least if by that, one means once a month, hah. It's power as an oddity on the shelf for me is strong. The more I watch, the more I learn to look for this or that in particular and focus just on that facet. How sometimes hits just keep coming and cats are running all over the pitch. Then in this one I watched today, it was dink, dank, dernk. I still watched it, though. It was fascinating. The entirity of it is too much.

I'll PASS, Shorty.

2010-12-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

I agree with many of the things that Habanos S.A. has done to maximize the profit from any given year's tobacco crop. But one of the things I do not like, and now I can fairly say, never WILL like, is the absolute explosion of petit robustos, and to a smaller extent, petit piramides. I understand that more cigars can be rolled with less wrapper leaves, and even that some wrapper leaves that could only be used on a perla or minuto can suddenly be found dressing a much fatter, and therefore more costly cigar. What started with the Petit Robusto of Hoyo de Monterrey has now gone on to play some part in nearly every marque in the entire Habanos portfolio. The place they have done the most damage is the Ediciones Regional and Ediciones Limitada series. Here you have the effect of hypnotizing the customer into thinking, "here is a EL or RE cigar that I can afford 25 of." 25 of these tiny cigars may cost less than a box of Sir Winstons or even some lesser churchills or piramides. But the satisfaction, to ME, is nothing like the same. There are many cigar lovers who will say that they H. Upmann Magnum 48 Edicion Limtada is a fantastic smoke, and it is certainly very good. But how many people have been utterly disappointed with the Bolivar Petit Piramides, the Bolivar Short Bolivar, the Partagas Serie P No.1? When not disappointed with overall flavor, many people seem to come to a place of wanting for more once any burn issues burn themselves out after lighting and things get rolling. Good manufacture or bad, Love it or hate it, the flavor you get is all to quickly over and you are holding a stub thinking, what just happened?
Lots of people like the Hoyo Petit Robusto, but now there are even Short Robustos T. A great cigar in it's full robusto size, but hardly worth the money in this Petit size. Montecristo Petit Edmundos are also very hit and miss. I heard rave reviews for them for a few years running, but every one I have had has shown come construction problems and run up one side like it's a race.

Here is an idea for Habanos...Instead of rolling 25 of these cigars, roll me a cabinet of 50 delicious, fine-burning, well-blended Minutos? Franciscanos, Trabucos. I will even pay a little more for the product. Right now, I know that you feel like this is a good strategy, but to me this format has long over-stayed it's welcome. I don't much care for them, based on the ones I've had.

"Mechanics of Smoke taste"

2010-12-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

Someone asked about my "theory" that the flavor does not come from the smoke in a cigar. This is probably a mis-reading of what I wrote, which is not hard to do. My sentence structure always gave my teachers a headache, too.

What I said was that the buring tobacco at the lit end is not where the flavor comes from, but from the smoke's traveling through the bunch towards your mouth and it's interaction with the leaves. As the unlit leaves in the bunch warm up, they release flavors which load the smoke with taste and nuance. I said molecules, and I tend to believe that this is so although I am not a chemist, lol. This is the same principle I guess as what hot water does to tea. You are not drinking hot water, you are drinking tea. But the hot water releases flavors and tannins that are locked into the structure of the dried tea in much the same way as the smoke leaches flavor from the cold tobacco in the bunch. So while you are smoking the product of the lit end and nothing else, that smoke does not come off the cherry loaded with flavor. That flavor only arrives at your mouth because it is drawn from the leaves, the part of the bunch that is not burning.

Again, this is just what I think, maybe a flavorologist will step forward with the real truth, haha.

1998 Punch Corona -

2010-12-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

Seems like every December around the first third of the month, I pull these out for a delicious smoke. And every one I have had has been fantastic until this one. And I smoked this one without complaint. But it was no great smoke. But at the same time, this being the "Special Period" for US havana smokers, I tend to forgive the little things and focus on the fact that I am lucky to have it. The first thing you notice is the beauty of the toothy wrapper.

This type of wrapper makes me a little excited. For one thing you don't see them anymore, at least not very often. Very little if any colorado in the color. The toothiness means there is good oil in the wrapper to aid in combustion. And it burned straight as an arrow. The cigar is perfectly rolled, at lest in it's initial appearance. A quick look at the foot however, shows that things may get a little tight.

That's an awful lot of tobacco in there. The bunch is very even, though, not rolled up like a Temsco machine might do it. And once she is lit, sure enough, there is little air coming through. This greatly affects the flavor. For those who are unfamiliar with the mechanics of taste in cigars, the taste does not come from the burning end. Rather, the coal simply creates the smoke which travels through the bunch and warms the tobacco which releases oils and molecules that creaste the flavor you taste. The flavor RIDES on the smoke through the cigar and the tobacco in the bunch filters it and loads it up with taste. Class dismissed, lol.

A cigar like this must still be appreciated because they are not making 98 Punch Coronas anymore. In any box of havanas, a smoker must accept that 10% or so are going to be totally disappointing. Or at least as disappointing as this one. It smoked down to my usual lay-down point without going out. It gave up mild and uninteresting smoke, tobacco flavor with a little musty oak and fine aged tobacco. But outside of that, there is not much to reccomend here. It's not like you can go out and buy these, so there is no harm in scoring it so low. It won't affect sales. And tonight, I will smoke the other one sitting in my humidor and balance out the review. I am going to fire up the Jimmy Buffet and make myself a Strawberry Daiquiri with some 7 year old Havana Club Rum and salute the brothers of the leaf WAY down south. I will also salute the "followers" here at the blog. I really do not like that term. They are friends, members, readers...not followers. Disciples, sure, haha. Thanks for showing up and reading this blog. I do not advertise it outside of my little home in the crazy house, and still I end up with someone to read it. I do not use advertising, because I do not LIKE to dig through all that junk in other people's blogs. I thank Guugle for allowing me to present it without any advertising if I choose. And frankly, I do not think there would be that much money involved with making it a going concern. Not to mention, it would be wrong to profit from it, given the subject matter and the sensitivity of it. So Thanks again to all.

Viva Cuba!

2010-12-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

I know I have a few friends down on the beautiful island who view this blog occasionally. I know that I do not always portray them in the best light. And by them I mean the tabaco industry. But the people behind those jobs are strong and interesting people with a wonderful homeland and great pride in their it. Feliz Navidad mi amigos, y gracias por el regalo maravilloso de tabaco cubano! Su trabajo me trae gran alegría.

It is my hope that soon we may sit down and smoke a fine cigar and drink a toast to your homeland. Again, Feliz Navidad y un Año Nuevo bendecido. Gracias.

Unbelievable - 2010 Montecristo Grand Edmundo EL

2010-12-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Fooled you. This Edicion Limitada was NOT unbelievable. What was unbelivable is that in all my time handling havana cigars, I have yet to have a beetle hatch under my roof. Well, until today. I was just poking around and opened the box, and saw some weird, fine brown dust on the cigar on the far right. I had shuffled the cigars around once before. I like to put the problem cigars on the far right side of a box so that I can polish them off first. Light cigars that show underfilling, magazine rolls, super-heavy sticks. Well, three weeks ago there was no sign of trouble. Tonight, the dust. So my eyes immediately went into danger mode. WHERE was it. I know you didn't make dust like that without coming out from.....there it was.

Now I have a firm true-ism where havanas are involved. I have never had a single hatchout in a authentic cigar or box of cigars. And now I was faced with this situation. And I was not happy. But I was definitely cutting it. I would rather smoke a tight cigar than a loose one, and looseness and underfill was the reason for moving this cigar to the right. And now I had to smoke it. And it did not impress. Some light cocoa and a little tea, but not much else. Just too airy to properly develop flavors. I stuck little tobacco cones into the holes, from pieces of clipped head. I don't even feel like this cigar has any pedigree issues. But finding a mature beetle and a twisting larva that was apparently not happy with the lights being turned on had me a little POed. And yes, there were two exit holes. If there is a good thing about the box being "infested", it's the tight-fitting lid on these boxes. I have no fear of migration of the problem. But DAMN, I am upset.

The cigar IS young, I'll say that in it's defense. And as I said, it's the bad apple in the box, now in more ways than one. But I expected to find great flavors that would have made me say, "aha, I sure didn't want to smoke one of these this early, but man, was it worth it". But as you can see by the butt I left in the end, I was not going to get that experience. In 4 years when I smoke another one of these, I hope it's a lot better than this one. An embarassing 80.

Partagas Chicos

2010-12-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

I have been looking around for these, not to smoke, but to keep a handle on whether or not they remain in production. Smoked one last night that was really great. It smoked much more like a small cigar than a machine made mini cigar, or cigarillo I guess. The flavor was deep and musty with a interesting hybrid of vanilla and bleach. I know this is a disgusting thought, but two things bring about this "taste-vor". In my first job ever, I had to clean out coolers that housed racks of plastic bins with hundreds of pounds of raw chicken. We used wooden pallets to raise the floor level and would cover the floor of the cooler with a mixture of vanilla extract and bleach. Nice, huh? Not my rules or my concoction. But at times the flavor has very positive connotations. I guess the bleach whiff could be also called menthol, but the notes of vanilla steer my mind to other origins. This is a cut filler cigar which requires ashing almost as much as a cigarette, but the flavor is quite intense and enjoyable.

These are narrow ring gauge smokes about the size of a "100's" cigarette, and yet even after 8 years in a box (in cello), they retain a massive flavor appeal. Really strong and delicious. Certainly a pleasant surprise on a night when I was not going to smoke anything. With notes of black tobacco and pepper, white pepper and roasted meat, this was a really complex cigar for a machine made product. But that can be the nature of the cut filler beast. At any given puff, there could be a piece of ligero chopped from the end of a Esplendido or a Edicion Limitada of the choicest kind.

I only needed to devote 25 minutes to it, and if I had nubbed it and burned my fingers, it would have lasted 35 minutes easily. Now for the hard part. You would have a nearly impossible time finding these anywhere. I am sure there are brick and mortar stores that have them, but online these are a tough find. Hell, anything online is a tough find these days after the thing that shall not be named. I am not saying go right out and get some now. You either have them or you don't. I also tend to THINK that these are rolled near the end of the handmade run when there is little left to roll but that which a macine can use. This is not a review with a strong BUY BUY BUY at the end. Just a warning that if you DO see em available, snap up a box or a five pack. Bearing in mind that these are machine made cigars, and not to be thought of in terms of normal scoring, I give last nights edition, nearly black and covered in dots of plume, a solid 85.

A tubo question

2010-12-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Now to a question on TUBOS that a member of the blog asked. "Do you take all of your tubed cigars out of the tube prior to smoking, to give them a bit of drying time?" Yes and no. A good tubo should be ready to smoke right out of the tube. The problem is that no human can be perfect, and especially havana torcedores seem to have trouble with consistency. So you can get a tight draw from a tubo now and again. But I think what I have found most true is that in most brands, a fresh and moist tubo tends to be a bit milder in flavor, and for more throttle response, you can dry them on a counter for a day or two and enjoy a totally different taste. It is best to try both methods and discover which condition suits your taste best. The best bit of info imparted to me, however, was that the blog member stocked up on the cigars in question and is in for a real treat. I have smoked hundreds of havanas and NEVER had a TRUE consistent performer until I ran into the H. Upmann Coronas Major Tubos. The flavors in this cigar are truly remarkable. Couple that with the fact that they are among the lowest-priced havanas available and you have a real gem. Now, as I look back on the latest entries, this question could be pointed at statements I made concerning Magnum 46s in Tubos. And really, either way would be a good buy. I just recommend more the Coronas Majores due to the price being lower and the flavors really being a toss-up. They are both FANTASTIC cigars with unique flavor profiles. In fact, here's another tip on cheap flavor stars. Fonseca Cadetes are very consistent and offer a unique havana flavor. Cheaper than the HUCMTs. And for an even better taste in Fonseca, go for the No. 1. And as always, buy two or three boxes. You will not be sorry.

The shape of things to come

2010-12-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

This is hard for purchasers of most non-cuban cigars to accomplish (cello), but I smoked a cigar tonight that helped me come to a stark realization. If you look at the foot of a cigar in a store, as a single, and your eyes can detect a pattern of any kind, you should choose another cigar. If you look too long, you are likely to find SOME pattern. But if you detect one right away, chances are your cigar is going to burn erratically.

Tonight's cigar is a Diplomaticos No.1 that I received at a herf this summer. It should be noted that ANYTIME someone offers to you an open box of cigars to select one from, it is already a very nice gesture, and no guarantees are proffered as to the eventual flavor, draw or satisfaction that it might impart. In other words, be happy with what you get. This was offered to me as a friendly gesture. Once lit, it took all of a quarter of an inch to develop a run up one side.

You can see that there is a crescent moon in the bunch, and the side opposite the crescent is the run. The idiotic blog software has lately been rotating the photos to suit it's idiot brain. I am tired of chasing the rabbit, so I just left it rotated.
HOWEVER, the cigar's draw was so firm, that it never "took off" on me and became a problem. Well, there WAS a problem after all, and that is that there was almost no flavor to be had. This was about as boring a cigar as I have had this year. Now, it is widely known that the Diplomaticos cigars can offer really fantastic flavor. "Any Given Sunday" as it were. There was a hint of bread in the flavor, and for the first half-inch, some light tea. But after that, nothing. It was not sick, there was a taste to it, but so muted as to be just too little ligero in the blend to carry the taste. I left it to go out where you see it here last.

It is a shame to paint all Diplomaticos No.1 with such a broad brush since they can be so good. But this blog is more dedicated to "the moment" and I think that most people understand that your mileage may vary. In fact it is likely to. In the case where I know enough to say for sure that you should avoid ALL of the cigars of a type, I will certainly let you know. But I love the lonsdale size in general, and these are a "dalia" in terms of factory name. I think there is no finer smoke in habanos than the long and thin cigar. They create such a fine draw and intensity of flavor, I can see why the great havana cigar salesmen like them so much. BUT, back to this stick. It would be impossible to score it higher than a 70. And it's lucky to be there. If I were not in a generous mood I would give it below 65. But I do not want to scare people off of the brand or size.

2008 H. Upmann Magnum 46 Tubo

2010-11-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

One of the all-time popular habanos of the modern era, the Magnum 46 is possibly the biggest love/hate cigar in the catalogue. Many people swear by it as one of the best, just as many think it's overrated, has a weird taste and they just don't like them. This cigar was fantastic. It slipped out of the tube a bit moist. When I pinched a divot fromt he head, it was extremely soft and spongy. Not the cigar, just the cap. I thought that might be a problem. I usually try to dry a cigar like this out, but I was ready to smoke, and it just could not be helped. It fired up a bit slow as expected, but I was greeted by a rush of twangy delicious tobacco taste, with a side note of tea. At times during the smoke, it would go completely off of the flavor train and go all creamy. Just spectacular complexity and taste. Even burn, but extremely slow. My inattention led to a few relights, but these did not affect the flavor in a negative way. It gave up a ton of smoke and flavor. This tends to make me believe that I have been a little late to the Upmann party. I just finished one of the best cigars I have had in 2010, a 2010 Upmann Corona Major. Chalk up another one, this Magnum 46 tallies a 90 without even trying.

Me want BBQ!

2010-11-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

I have been sick for a week, guy comes to work hacking and snortiung and slobbering and gets a few people sick and they share of course. So it's been no cigars for a bit. But what I am even more upset about missing is my smoked meat. I used to be humble about it, but apparently I have a skill set here. Ralph misses it....

I taste test the smoked ribs and he just looks at me like I have NO class whatsoever. "When goin be MY time?" Indeed. He eats first EVERY weekend, why he looks at me like that is beyond me. I make sure it is cool first, the whole deal. And THIS look. I will take one this evening with a little more drool. Now, if I can only get some cigars smoked....

Machine-Made to Handmade conversion in Habanos' catalogue

2010-11-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

When Habanos stated it's intent to cease all production of machine-made cigars in which hand-made versions were also available, it came as a surprise. But not an altogether bad idea if you consider their logic in making the decision. First of all I have no idea what HSA does behind closed doors. I can only take what little they say, and couple it with what I have seen them do in the market subsequent to those statments. And it looks like they are comfortable with their position. For a consumer of habanos, it came to a head during some righteous sales where a buyer could get machine-made habanos for 33 to 99 cents a stick it seemed, and then the slow rising of the price of the boxes in the hands of "smo-llectors" who bought to have something to cut the grass with and now had cigars that people wanted but could no longer get. While it never reached the frenzy for discontinued cigars like the Ramon Allones 898 Varnished or Rafael Gonzalez Lonsdales, the machine-mades witnessed an upswing in purchases as nostalgia proved a major factor with buyers. I know a collector with 40 boxes of Partagas Perfectos. I wish it was me. The cigar's demise is not likely to bring too many tears, they were spongy, inconsistent in flavor and wouldn't hold an ash. But they were fun and cheap to smoke and now they are gone. Save some against the push of progress if you've got a box. Smoke em and enjoy em if you have a dozen boxes. If you have a rush of nostalgia, find La Troya and Belinda machine-made tubos availale at better retailers.

But wait a minute, what's the second half of the two good things we got the day the cellophonic music died? All or plenty of these cigars were, at least for now by default, switched to handmade production sticks. This has been ongoing since near the start of the discontinuation of Machine-mades by 2003. And after now having had two standouts among the new HAND-made versions, I am pleased that they are being offered. I spoke about it earlier, but the Super Partagas and Por Larranaga Montecarlos and these H. Upmann Coronas Major tubos are just great little cigars, now totally handmade. In fact, the Por Larranaga Montecarlos have overtaken the shooting star Petit Coronas that seemed to have wasted immortality. Great cigars of near cult legend one day, and then just so-so today. I have personally quit buying or smoking them. But the Montecarlos spill over with creamy, toasted toffee tastes and a little caramel and pepper and spice. Everything the old Petit Coronas used to be. Habanos said that they were going to use the best tobaccos for the hand-made favorites and stop smearing the name of handmade cigars in a marque with the performance and the impression of machine-made cigars using the same name. I think in a lot of cases, the hand-made versions were no longer widely available. Now that the machine-made cigars are mostly out of manufacture, these hand-mades have almost been making market re-introductions. And boy, some of these cigars are emerging stars...Or so it would seem to me, looking on from space. TO ME, some of the best things being done now by HSA. That's why REs and ELs to me are not as satisfying. These now-all handmade versions of old cheap cigars are where the taste is now. How that changes with time is certainly still up in the air.

Aging Small minutos and perlas

2010-11-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

A reader asked about aging Montecristo No.5s. I can only state what I would do. Provided you had access to them, I would buy two or three boxes at a time and put them away and smoke new cigars of one or two years age while other boxes aged. I would take the cigars out of their original packaging and place the cigars in either the varnished cedar plywood box of modern Cuban cabinets, or the solid cedar plank boxes many NC cigars come in today. I'd keep unboxed cigars in amounts of 25-50 cigars on hand for grabbing. Old cedar or mahogany really makes a nice home, especially mahogany as it is less aromatic and likely to become a dominant flavor in stored cigars like cedar does. Just as pipe tobacco in a mason jar ferments and gets sweeter and offers an more intensely fragrant experience to the nose as time goes by, so will your Little Montes. There are nice boxes around at your tobacconist, or you may already have several nice ones. Real age will be happening in the boxes you hopefully fail to remember having buried somewhere. If you want to artificially age them a little faster so you can smoke them quicker, just let the little dress boxes do their work and oxidize your smokes. A cigar in that type of packaging peaks a lot earlier than something packed in cabinets. You should get a variety of interesting tastes as they age, seemingly monthly, if you smoke them fast enough to notice. It's such a consistent performer at any age, but all of the research I have done while in space points to 4 years as a basic spot where your cigars are performing at their peak and the burn and taste are very well balanced. Age after that is beneficial, especially if the cigars are properly stored with as little direct contact to oxygen as possible. I mean theoretically. Chasing cigar performance over time is a rabbit hole...everything is fluid and crop dependent. The way they used to make em is different every year, haha. I find that the cocoa and cedar flavors as well as mouth coating is enhanced as the Montecristo No.5 ages into the limited perpetuity of my limited experience. Tea flavors build in and add to the pleasure. Buying more than you can consume per year by even one box in 12 months can really result in some great cigars in 5 years and super-sweet cigars in 10-20 cigars. It's just the level of one's self-control that allows them to age. You can either do it or you can't. But the reward is certainly there. If you wanted a lot of fantastic Montecristo No.5s or Shorts or Bolivar Coronas Junior, you can unbox and place into cedar as many as you can today, because no matter HOW long you age the smokes before smoking them, you have to START saving them before any of it can happen. But specifically I feel like they peak at 7 years and age very gracefully from there. In the dress box they can offer variable success. The boxes don't seal all that well sometimes. Two year old cigars would begin to develop a creaminess to go with their pepper and spice and leather. This begins the balance process. It comes into stride, I find, at 4 years. And it's definitely worth it.