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Cigar Review: A double-header for birthday

31 Mar

Partagas Decadas Limited Reserve 1997 #1

Partagas Decadas Limited Reserve 1997 #1

Cigar Name: Partagas Decadas Limited Reserve 1997 #1 (4.5 x 49)

Cigar Description: Cameroon wrapper around Mexican and Domanican filler

Cigar Strength: Full

Review of the Cigar itself: I decided to enjoy two cigars today for my birthday. The LFD Factory Press III I had already reviewed previously so I’ll leave that one for now. What I thought would be nice was the tubed Decadas Limited Reserve 1997 that I had picked up in Soho a month or so ago. It’s seems a great birthday cigar to start off with. As Janis Joplin crooned about wanting a Benz I inspected and inhaled the aroma of the cigar. Getting it out of the tube was easy enough. I have to say that I do like tubes in that they protect the cigar from nicks and roughhousing that sometimes can happen when we’re not too careful with how we store or carry cigars.

Decadas means decades. And while I still have one more year before I hit my 4th decade this was an appropriate cigar to have. I could see the oils glistening on top and smell the sweet tobacco inside. Cigars do tend to age well and I’m hopeful that this one has. The construction was ok, although I’ve seen better on some of my cheaper cigars. An slight edge hung here, the wrapper wasn’t quite smooth there. There were some minor veins and I could see a bit of the glue where the top band was. I easily toasted the end and got to enjoy the spark of the oils as the flame hit.

Middle age is when you go to bed at night and hope you feel better in the morning. Old age is when you go to bed at night and hope you wake up in the morning. — Groucho Marx

The cigar has a strong earthy taste with a hidden sweetness in the back. I suspect it may be the Mexican tobacco coming through stronger than the sweeter Dominican. The ash

A nice ash

A nice ash

is nearly white with specks of grey and black throughout. As I got to the middle, the flavour evened out a bit and became a bit more mellow. I had found the initial bit a little too harsh on the tongue but now, it was starting to become incredibly enjoyable. I have to say that it’s one of the best burns I’ve ever had on a cigar (save for my all-time favourite of the DCM #1/#2) and the ash is very solid, falling off only when tapped.

I removed the band and lazily watched the blue smoke corkscrew itself out the window. How so many people spend their lives going on about what’s wrong with the world and yet, if they looked at life and enjoy it more they’d probably live longer. I recently read a comment: Life is too short to be small. And it really is. Enjoy life and life will return the favour. Some people live to be in their 100s and lament about the things they regretted

The Birthday Boy

The Birthday Boy

they did or didn’t do. Others live to their late teens and have few regrets and so many experiences. I’m somewhere in between: the first part of my life was about the things I regretted that I did or didn’t do but now, I’m striving forward with no regrets and full enjoyment of what is yet to come. I may not live to be 100 but I will live. George Burns said it best: “I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.”

Enjoyed with: water

Smoke time: approximately 70 minutes

Final Review Rating: 8/10

 
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Posted in Cigar Rating: 8-8.9/10, Cigar Reviews

 

Cigar Review: A “holey” issue

27 Mar

An ok cigar with a good drink

An ok cigar with a good drink

Cigar Name: Romeo y Julieta Cabinet Seleccion Toro (6 x 54)

Cigar Description: Cameroon wrapper around Nicaraguan, Peruvian and Dominican filler

Cigar Strength: Medium

Review of the Cigar itself: Well, it has been a busy few weeks for me. Last week I got to go to Edison, NJ and pay a visit to Smokers’ Haven. As it turned out there was an Altadis event going on. So I decided to splurge and get a few cigars to take back to the city with me. I wasn’t disappointed. This past week has been so packed that I’ve only now gotten a chance to enjoy one. I actually like many of the Altadis brands so I figured this would be a boon for me. Tonight, I decided to pick out one that may have been a little too enjoyable for someone. As I set down my drink for this evening — Forty Creek Barrel Aged Whiskey with a splash of cranberry over the rocks — I went through the bag I had left in my spare humidor (I put my not verified fully cigars in there just in case). Apparently, this was a good idea. Lo’ and behold, my cigar had a hole in it.

I lit it and took a few draws. The taste seemed fine but to be on the safe side all my cigars from that humidor went into the freezer. I’ll have to scour that humidor but it will have to wait until the weekend. I suspect the offender visitor came from the shop or at least from one humidor in the shop. There were a few that I wasn’t too sure about and had avoided them but apparently I should have checked closer. That said, one of the other cigars I got from there glistened in sparkly oils and I had intended on having that next but it will have to wait until next week. As for this one, overall, not bad. It’s not fantastic and a bit over priced, in my opinion, for the flavour.

The construction isn’t too bad albeit a bit veiny. After I had first toasted it and until it passed the hole, the tobacco flaked at the slightest breath. Once past that point, it was fine. The taste is a gentle earthy flavour with a mild leather and slight almond flavour. It remained relatively consistent. I removed the band and was somewhat surprised to see the oils glistening. It made me wonder if perhaps that time in my near perfect humidor temp/humidity (about 71F/70.5%) may have released some oils and stopped the infection or held it bay somewhat. One can hope, eh?

A holey issue

A holey issue

Or perhaps the holes were minor defects or where something poked it. Either way, better safe than sorry. I’ll move the freezer cigars to the fridge on Sunday and then to the humidor on Monday evening or Tuesday morning. This cigar’s taste didn’t increase as I had hoped but rather stayed consistent in it’s earthy flavour. The flakiness also stayed away and thus produced solid grey-black marble ash.

As I savored the last third, I listed to Janis Joplin crooning in the background about life with Bobby and ponder where I was. Next week I hit a milestone: 39. Although the way I look at it, the life I’ve lived in the last 3 years have been more vivid and enjoyable than what had happened for the 36 years prior. Much like cigars, various spirits and wine: I’m definitely getting better as I age. And I suspect that the best is still yet to come. If we learn to love our past experiences — good, bad and just downright U-G-L-Y — life seems far more enjoyable. One thing I have noticed: looking at who some famous cigar smokers are and many lived well into their 70s, 80s and 90s (and beyond!). It is the joy of life and the relaxation that a cigar brings that allows us to live longer, not perfection of life.

While I hum well to the many old hits, they do remind me of a life I didn’t live. The cigar, as I was getting to the end of it, reminded me of the life I am living and enjoying. They may tax it; they may say it’s evil; it doesn’t matter. I toast to life and what is yet to come. That said, I kinda wish it was a better cigar to toast with. I’m hoping that it was a one-offer and more to do with how it was stored than anything else. Lesson learned at least.

Enjoyed with: Forty Creek Barrel Aged Whiskey with splash of cranberry over the rocks and water

Smoke time: approximately 90 minutes

Final Review Rating: 6.5/10

 
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Posted in Cigar Comments, Cigar Rating: 7-7.9/10, Cigar Reviews

 

A Sunday in NYC’s Little Chinatown/Little Italy

16 Mar

So this weekend I’m on my own as my girlfriend is out of town. I started last night by enjoying a sweet Ashton Aged Maduro #10. I got to enjoy a Forty Creek Barrel Select over the rocks with a splash of cranberry and watched some pretty cheesy ’80s action movies, including the RoboCop trilogy. Apparently, they are doing a remark to be released in 2010. It was a definitely an enjoyable, relaxing evening. As I flipped through the movies, I decided that today I would venture out to downtown Manhattan’s Canal area (Chinatown/Little Italy) to find two cigar shops: Three Little Indians and Mulberry Street Cigars. Turned out that Mulberry was closed today, a bit disappointing and discouraging. As I peered into the dark windows I could see a variety of cigar history filling the windows and displays.

Sigh.

Three Little Indians and Florio's

Three Little Indians and Florio's

A visit for another day but definitely one that should be visited. Instead, I ventured a little further towards Three Little Indians. As I walked down Grand Street, I could the various discussions, some in Italian and some in the flavour of New Yorker English. With the milder weather, the street was a mosaic of people perusing various restaurants and their fare. As I walked into the shop/restaurant, I got a sense and flavour of old New York. The long wooden bar showed it ages but has obviously been well looked after. I could hear faint discussions as I walked around, looking around at the various cigars in the displays. I ended up getting a couple of LX2s and a couple of Short Stories. When I went to pay, I noticed a display beside the cash register of cigars that had no bands. They were various barbershop Toro type (6 x 56) and no two were alike. The owner, Larry, informed me that they are made by a gentleman in Florida. I added that to my purchase and went off to find the subway station to take the J train home.

Once I got home, I put the brand-name cigars into my humidor for later enjoyment and smelled this new find. A sweet, earthy scent came off the cigar as I held it. It was heavenly. It took a little bit to get the foot toasted but once I got it going, it was hard to put it down. Although I realized I forgot to ask what tobaccos made up the cigar, it didn’t really matter. The taste was a wonderful blend of sweet, earth and mild creamy leather with an occasional twinge of pepper to spice things up. The ash burned a solid white, speckled with lines of grey and black. If I had to guess, the wrappers were likely a mix of natural (sun-grown?) and maduro (Connecticut broadleaf?) around, what I suspect, is rich Dominican long fillers. When I go back — and I will — I’ll have to ask Larry about more of the history of these cigars and the man who creates them for him; I’ll also have to ask him to pass on my kudos and thanks for making a good cigar. It’s not cheap at nearly $13 per cigar but well worth it. This cigar will easily last 60-90 minutes, depending how deep of conversation your in with friends and family.

Three Little Indians Barberpole Toro

Three Little Indians Barberpole Toro

I sat back this evening watching my four favourite Sunday evening shows — The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad — and quietly enjoyed my smoke while the fat tailless cat, Bobcat, sat beside me. She regarded my cigar for a minute, realized that it wasn’t food and went back to her Olympic training, marathon cat sleeping (she’s up to 20 hours these days). I laughed to the various silly antics and was mesmerized momentarily by the twin white/blue smoke coming from the end of the cigar. I’d give it a quick rating of about a 9.1 out of 10. Definitely worth a go if you do visit.

Anyways, the day ended on a wonderful note and I’m set for this week to start. It’s interesting that this week I go back to Edison, NJ to teach. A year ago, I went there to teach and it was there that I walked into Smoker’s Haven to buy my first cigars, Davidoff’s Winston Churchill. Since this week will have St. Patty’s day, they will be having an event to celebrate. And I’ll get to enjoy it since I won’t have anything specific to do on Friday. I have to say that I do enjoy smaller towns sometimes, especially when they have local cigar shops. There’s a more personal flavour to it. As much as there is great variety of things and places to do in NYC itself, sometimes smaller can be better.

 
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Posted in Cigar Rating: 9+, Cigar Store Reviews, General Cigar Info

 

Cigar Review: Sometimes it’s the little things…

07 Mar

Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos & iTouch 32Gb

Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos & iTouch 32Gb

Cigar Name: Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos (5 x 40)

Cigar Description: Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper around long fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras and Dominican Republic

Cigar Strength: Full

Review of the Cigar itself: March is always a bit of a fun month for me. It’s my birthday month and I tend to treat myself to a new toy of some sort. Last year was the Canon XSi camera. This year: 32GB 2nd Generation iTouch. It arrived yesterday and has already given me many hours of fun with it. One of the things I did find was something called Tasting Notes ($4.99). Basically, as I did a search for some “must have apps” I ran across this one. I thought it’d be worthwhile to describe it as I wrote about the HdM Sabrosos I was enjoying in the background.

A smaller cigar, almost a big cigarillo, it comes with a huge amount of flavour. The wrapper was a deep rich chocolate that was nearly perfectly smooth that gave off a faint sheen of oily wonderfulness. As I took my first draw I got a light creamy with a hint of earthy-ness from the cigar. For a little cigar, it packed quite a lot of flavour. The aroma that danced with the smoke was filled with a gentle hint of pepper and spice. As I smoked the cigar, I played more with the Tasting Notes app.

Entering Cigar info in

Entering Cigar info in

Most of the apps that appeared when I did a search on the word “cigar” were about quitting smoking. This was the only app that was about keeping track of cigars tasted. It is, for someone like me, a perfect app. Given that I’m on the road a lot, this allows me to make notes wherever I am for later reference. This would mean I can upload a cigar review after I’ve done for the evening. I can even add a picture to the note so I remember what the cigar looked like (my iTouch doesn’t have a camera but I can upload photos from my camera to the iTouch through iTunes). I even to a WordPress app (free) so I can upload reviews on the fly if I wanted to (although I have found an odd bug  in it that’s not fully consistent). The Tasting App is nice in that it includes, in addition to cigars, wine, beer, whiskies, tea and coffee lists. This is great since often these drinks are paired with a cigar (or two).

I pause for a moment, watching the twinning of the two smoke colours dance out the window: blue from DR and brown from Honduras/Nicaragua. The unusually warm spring arm grabs the smoke as I check outside to see what birds are happily chirping away in the sun and gentle breeze. I tap my iTouch to see what the temperature (free) is: 66F/19C. It is near perfect cigar weather: not too hot, not too cold. As I get deeper into the cigar, I get richer leather tastes as I search for more apps.

Tasting Note iPhone/iPod Touch app

Tasting Note iPhone/iPod Touch app

I’m amazed as to how many good apps exist out there that are either free or cost next to nothing. I recently got addicted to WordFu ($1.99), have some fun with iBowl (free), Tweetie ($2.99), FileMagnet ($4.99 — allows me to read PDFs and other files), Blocked ($0.99), Topple (free) and recently, the Kindle Reader (free but books cost the Kindle/Kindle2 price). I can see this rapidly becoming a regular gadget affixed to my body as I travel. Of course, it still does the standard music, podcasts, movies and the like. I even got an Apple headphone with a microphone so I can record notes (usually blog thoughts or ideas). As I continue to search, I notice my cigar is nearly done. I check my Movies app (free by Flixster) to see when Watchmen is playing in the area.

I make a few additional notes in the Tasting Note. It occurs to me that the cigar is like the new iTouch: able to take many things and create a single, wonderful experience.  I notice still have a couple of hours before we head off to the theater. Hrmm.. maybe time for one more, eh? Or maybe I should play a few rounds of Blocked. So many wonderful little things in life to do, so little time.

Enjoyed with: water

Smoke time: approximately 45 minutes

Final Review Rating: 8.3/10

 
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Posted in Cigar Rating: 8-8.9/10, Cigar Reviews, General Cigar Info

 

March Poll: End the Embargo?

03 Mar

It was interesting to see the split between buying online versus buying at a B&M. I suspect that for some it may be cheaper to buy online while for others there is a strong sense of belonging and wanting to support local small business with B&M purchasing. I think one thing is evident: regardless of where we’re purchasing from, we’re doing it for enjoyment of the smoke, friends and more. Each does have a place in the purchasing world. If you’re like me, there really is no B&M close by. If there was one within walking distance or a short hop, I’d definitely be there. Heck, I walked for 30 min to get to Cross Street just to enjoy in peace.

And really, that is what it’s about. I have been reading about recent suggestions that the embargo should be removed (I’m sure this comes up as regular as Old Faithful) but should the embargo be removed? As a Canadian, I get the luxury and privilege to enjoy Cuban cigars when I’m at home without potential issue. Quite honestly, I’m not sure it’d do much of a damage on the industry since, IMO, so many great cigars come from elsewhere. But what do you think?

 
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Posted in Cigar Poll

 

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