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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.