No (Smoking) Jacket Required: Iggy's Cigar Thread

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a Pueblo Dominicano the other night. As I said, I had very high hopes for this one given the press it got a few years ago as a ltd edition. My expectations, high as they were, were exceeded. Toasty notes of charcoal, overlaid by sweetness, mellow spice & chocolatey notes (all of which were promised, but which I honestly didn't expect they'd deliver on this well), with thick, creamy smoke and a nice slow, even burn. Thank GOD they brought these back. I will definitely be buying more, and I hope they're not a limited edition any more. I haven't seen anything indicating they are, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[IggytheBorg]

I've driven past a store on Stelton Rd in Piscataway called "The Tobacco Barn" for years. Never got around to going in. Until today. And that my friends, is a decision I regret. this nigga is the best stocked brick & mortar I have ever - and I mean EV-ER - been in, aside from CI itself. He even had a couple things CI does not (like Gurkha's Cellar Reserve, one of Cigar Journal's 25 best that I had written off as unobtainable), and Paul Garmirians, a very reputable but extraordinarily scarce brand I've never seen anywhere in the flesh before. I complimented the proprietor on his good taste, and said I'd be back. And I will. I have to drive past this place on the way home from the Midlesex County Courthouse. . .

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked an Augusto Reyes Emperador the other night. I wasn't too enthused by the CI description, so I didn't seek this one out. BUt it was included in the freebies from Cigarfest, and something about the orange band intrigued me. So I lit it up the other night, and I liked it a lot. medium to full in body, it was smooth and burned evenly, and had a nice earthy, leathery core w/ medium strong notes of spiceI was most pleasantly surprised. best blend from this factory since the Nativo.

last night I smoked my second Graycliff Avelino Lara 80th Anniversary. I wasn't very impressed w/ the 1st, as I perceived it as being too full and spicy for my taste. But this one, for some reason, resonated a lot more with me. It started out with notes of leather, which mellowed to a toasty, earthy core with strong but smooth (oh, so smooth) spice notes on the finish. As a cigar meant to commemorate Avelino Lara's 80th birthday (he was a driving force behind the Cuban Cohiba before leaving in the wake of the Revolution, before founding Graycliff), it's nly fitting that it be an outstanding smoke. And my earlier assessment was dead wrong; this is one hell of a good smoke. I have 3 left, and I doubt I'll be sharing any of them w/ anyone, limited edition as they are.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoking a Cu-Avana Connecticut as I type this. I was interested in this brand years ago, when I was primarily a mild cigar smoker. But after trying a Cu-Avana MAduro & being less than impressed, my enthusiasm for the CT waned. However, that was an error in judgment. The CT's are mild, sure, but they are very flavorful. Faint notes of coffee, & a distinct lemony citrus note, particularly nticeable on the opening. outstanding, and dirt cheap at CI. Also burning very sowly thus maximizing the smoking ppleasure. Recommended.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a Torano Loyal last night. Really nice smoke. Opened with a LOT of spice; I like spice as a rule, but if it had stayed at that level I would have found it obnoxious. But it leveled off, and the spice moved into the background, where it played off the core flavors of toast and oak. Maybe a touch of sweetness here and there. Torano products can be really hit or miss, but w/ this one they scored a hit for sure.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a la Flor Dominicana Oscuro the other night. This was on Cigar journal's list of the top 25 cigars of 2011, and I'm on a quest to try as many as possible (some are Cuban so I couldn't try them all regardless). The tasting notes say it had notes of a lot of things: cedar, tea, wild berries, dried fruits & "refreshing menthol". That's a flavor nuance I've never heard of in a cigar before, and I was intrigued. It was there, and it was refreshing. Unfortunately, it tended to mask the other flavors. I detected no berries, for instance. Still a good smoke, but top 25 material? I didnlt think so.

[IggytheBorg]

Went to CI's Bethlehem super store w/ my friend Nick this evening. Bought a nice assortment of 6 cigars I haven't tried yet. Well, 5 and an Ave Maria; I smoked one of these some time ago, and despite all the rave reviews it had gotten, didn't really TASTE it. SOmetimes this happens; you smoke a whole cigar and get nothing from it. I'm not certain what causes this, but I chalked it up that time to the fact that the smoking lounge we were in was really crowded, and others' smokes were overwhelming mine. ANYWAY, I smoked the AM I bought today, and there was only 1 other partron in the lounge this time. That seems to have done the trick, as this was a very good cigar. Nice notes of toasty sweetness, most noticeable for the middle 2" (it was a 5.5" x 54 robusto). These faded over time, & it got considerably stronger toward the end, but along the way there were faint notes of wood and cocoa. I don't think I'd call it a favorite, but it was a relaxing diversion from a very busy week.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoking the Gurkha Seduction that was in this year's Cigarfest freebies. Very nice smoke. Mild to medium body belies its dark brown maduro wrapper. Sweet spice delivered in a smooth & mellow manner is the dominant note, start to finish. If a cigar were trying to seduce me, this is the best way to do it.

[IggytheBorg]

Yesterday afternoon I smoked a Nub Double Maduro. Very full bodied smoke. The blurb promises "roasted" flaors, and that's pretty accurate. I didn't notice sweet spice as much as I would have hoped, but it was there. Kind of a hearty spice, but in the backgound behind the roasted core, to be sure. It also built quite a bit in strength toward the end, getting very ful indeed. One of the more interesting nub blends, but not pleasurable enough for me to call it a favorite.

I also smoked a Paul Garmirian last night. This was a complex cigar, start to finish. So much so, that, much like a movie w/ a complicated plot that takes repeat viewings to fully appreciate, I think I'll have to smoke more of these to fully "get it". It did have sweet spice and a subtle hint of pepper, which made it interesting and well nuanced, but there was a lot more going on that I didn't quite grasp. Not a favorite (at least not yet), but it has the potential to become one. I also picked up a different, ltd edition blend that I'll be smoking some night after I get home. If the standard blend is this complex, I figure I'm really in for it w/ one of those. Looking forward to trying it, as well as more of the standard blend.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoking a 5 Vegas Limitada 2012 as I write this. A full bodied smoke, it boomed out huge clouds of fragrant smoke on the opening. ths tendecy lessened a bit - but only a bit - as the smoke wears on. It is almost as complex as the above reviewed Paul Garmirian. It's got hints of cashews and a lot of spice, and a subtle hint of swetness and a slightly less subtle hint of pepper on the finish. I'm perceiving the draw as a little tight, but I think that's more because it's humid as fuck out here in SC tonight, and just breathing is an effort, let alone puffing on a cigar. I gotta hand it to them on the construction of this smoke, however. I trimmed off a little too much from the end, and the wrapper looked like it was starting to unravel. This is usually a disaster, and can ruin a good smoke (since the wrapper is often responsible for a lot of a cigar's flavor). But that slight bit of unraveling, less than 1/4", has held steady for quite some time now. A lesser cigar would have come apart long ago.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a Gurkha Cellar Reserve tonight. A fine smoke. I kind of cheated & read the blurb in Cigar Journal's Top 25 for 2011 to come up with the description. It had a pleaant taste I would have been hard pressed to describe without doing so; raisins. It also, as the blurb promised, tasted like a well aged cigar. Full bodied but extremely smooth. I don't think I'd call this a favorite Gurkha, and truth to tell I don't think it's top 25 material personally. But I can see how someone who likes full bodied smokes more than me would. It was an interesting smoke and I'm glad I tried it.

ETA: 3000th post. Fitting it's here in the Cigar thread.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a Gurkha Royal Challenge last night. Extraordinary! It was like they took the best parts of a Symphony & a Centurian, which are both stunning in their own right, and crossed them into something a little fuller than a Symphony (which is a mild smoke), and just a little more mellow than the medium bodied Centurian. It had tons of cedary flavor & sweetness, most noticeable during the middle 2". A surprise find at CI, and a surprise delight.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked an Acid Big Bang the other day. This one had a maduro wrapper. The aromatics are about what you'd expect from an Acid cigar (they pretty much all taste the same to me, w/ the underlying tobaccos and how well they marry (or don't) w/ the aromatics providing the main differences between blends. This smoke was kind of hearty & full, w/ a toasted tobacco core. The aromatics also faded a great deal before the cigar was finished. That was kind of a turn off to me. When one is smoking an Acid, one has to kind of expect the aromatics would be a significant presence throughout the life of the smoke. And the underlying flavors weren't interesting enough, IMO, to survive on their own.

Also smoked a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especiale. This was a much more interesting cigar. It was hearty & spicy, definitely full flavored & medium to full in body. But hearty as the spicy & tobacco notes were, they were exceptionally smooth & refined. Kind of reminded me of a smoother, more elegant Padilla Miami. This is the 3d blend I've tried from LGC, & they've all been solid winners

[IggytheBorg]

There's a really good brick & mprtar cigar store in Metuchen called Smokers' Haven. I went in there not too long ago, & the proprietor told me they do these cigar tastings a couple times each summer at a local bar/restaurant. A $25.00 ticket gets you 3 smokes from a featured factory, and free food. There's a cash bar. I figured, what the hell, the wife's away, I got no one to answer to. So I bought a ticket to Hammer & Sickle tasting last Wednesday. This is a brand I was curious about from the packagaing (old school Soviet symbology all over it; I've always had a thing for Russian history), but I had never heard anything about them before seeing them in the Haven. I had a late & hearty lunch that day, so I didn't eat any of the free food (but it looked good). But I smoked up a Berliner Mauer. It looked like a corojo wrapper, & as expected, had a nice spice to it. But it wasn't a powerful, overwhelming spice. On the contrary, it was smooth and mellow, and it faded almost immediately into notes of sweet cream on the finish. Mildest, smoothest corojo I've ever smoked. I highly recommend them. The packaging was interesting as well, if a bit frustrating. The band was metal, encased in paper. It was kind of hard to get off the cigar, as you don't want to just bull rush it off and damage the wrapper. The only real drawback to the evening was that I couldn't get anyone to go with me. I ended up sitting alone, chatting occasionally w/ the proprietor who stopped by occasionally as he made his rounds. There were some fine looking women eating there on the back deck (alas, none were partaking of the smokes), so I had that goin' for me. Which is nice. Looking forward to doing more of these w/ a) an appetite and b) some company.

[IggytheBorg]

Smoked a Paul Garmirian Soiree the other night. This was a very mellow & pleasant smoke. Smooth notes of earth & a cedary sweetnes were the dominant notes. It was much more straightforward & unclutered in its flavor profile than the standard PG blend, which oddly enough, might actually make it less interesting. Have to swing by that store & get another PG regular.