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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.