What cigar (or pipe) did you smoke today?

[indycop]

I need to send you a culebra so you can understand strong then.

Tryin to kill me?!

 

[jamespowers]

Tryin to kill me?!

No, just make you understand strooooonnnngggg.

 

[Selentino]

Nice night went out on the deck with a montecristo magnum and some of that 18year old chevas iced up (I ice my blended but am not such a heathren that I do the same to my single malts). I'm sorry to say I enjoyed the drink more than the smoke. For some reason it just didn't do it for me. Tonight I'll try a Drew Estates Dirt. Those are fun tasty little suckers.

 

[rbbrock]

Has anyone here had a chance to smoke an Ashton ESG yet? I think it's a new cigar, or at least it was in my Holt's catalog for the first time this month. ESG stands for Estate Sun Grown. They are rather pricey, IMO, but I have smoked a good many Ashton VSG's and they are about my favorite cigar, except for the few Cuban's I can get my hands on.

They aren't new, but they're a very limited release. I have two Churchills that I bought in April '06. I haven't smoked one yet because the consensus seems to be that they are way too harsh to smoke without at least a few years on them, and everyone is hoping they'll smooth out with enough time. Everyone says they're a completely different animal than the VSG.

Oh and before I forget, I see Altadis (the Franco-Spanish cigarette maker )was recently acquired by Imperial tobacco for 11.3 billion pounds! The maker of Lambert & Butler, Davidoff and Gauloises cigarettes and Montecristo and Dutch Masters cigars it might have some interest to the folks here. I wonder if it will make a difference in their products.

Don't forget, Altadis also owns 50% of Habanos, S.A.

I haven't smoked anything for a good week or more, but I'm thinking I may squeeze a robusto or PC in yet tonight. We'll just have to see

 

[jamespowers]

Don't forget, Altadis also owns 50% of Habanos, S.A.

I haven't smoked anything for a good week or more, but I'm thinking I may squeeze a robusto or PC in yet tonight. We'll just have to see

Yes indeed they do. It is interesting to see how the cigar business and tobacco in general is consolidating. Looks like Montecristo is now being made byt the same company in Cuba and in the US. The blend is just different.
Speaking of such, I had a Petite Edmundo last night. I thought I cut a little too little off the cap but the draw was still perfect.
It delivered tons of creamy smoke. Then the poor thing received a devasting blow. I dropped it by accident. :eusa_doh: [huh] It took a while to get it to burn correctly but the draw was still perfect and it still delivered complex flavors down to a nub of less than an inch. This marca spoils me for other cigars really. The draw was so smooth that it made the La Gloria Tainos feel like trying to such an ice cube through a straw.

 

[indycop]

Tonight was a Cuesta Rey vintage Sungrown, and it was good.

 

[MissS]

Ok, no longer a cigar virgin! I even remembered to write down the name of it for you gents. Padron Londres Natural.

 

[rikrdo]

You picked a good one to start with.
Padron is a great cigar company. Very consistant, and reasonable products.


Look at a Casa Torano for your next go.
They are my new favorite stogies.

 

[MissS]

Ah, not me, but the lovely man at the cigar shop. He also gave me a Romeo Y Julieta Cedros Deluxe No.2 to try, but I think I'll give it a few days!

I promised I'd pop back in and let him know what I thought of them, so I'll ask him about the Casa Torano. Thanks for the tip rikrdo!

 

[indycop]

Ok, no longer a cigar virgin! I even remembered to write down the name of it for you gents. Padron Londres Natural.

my favorite Padron!

 

[indycop]

He also gave me a Romeo Y Julieta Cedros Deluxe No.2 to try, but I think I'll give it a few days!

Another good one!

 

[jamespowers]

I had an interesting draw experience last night. My friend gave me an unknown knock off from JR cigar that I have had around for a while and since the humidor was not closing right with it in there......
It started off with a decent taste of coffee and some chocolate notes. However it started to really burn uneven---even though I was rotating it and keeping it put on the area of the wrapper that just wasn't burning. Finally with a lot of hard puffing and blowing, it evened out---and then proceeded to do the same thing over again. I guess the positive side is that it hung a nearly 2 1/2" ash on it every time---supported by the unburned wrapper on one side.
The taste was fine and fairly good but the draw was fairly stiff and whispy until you really dragged on it. I am a cigar smoker and not a cigarette smoker so that really doesn't appeal to me. :eusa_doh: I gave up when a finger burned unevenly up to the band. [huh] Decent taste, poor performance.

 

[jamespowers]

Ok, no longer a cigar virgin! I even remembered to write down the name of it for you gents. Padron Londres Natural.

Not bad.

Now we need a review on how it was.

 

[rmrdaddy]

Last night:
had the opportunity to meet and sit down for smokes and beverages with CharlesB at Mahogany on Walnut in Center City Philadelphia.
The selections:
El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme from 2004
Romeo y Julieta Cazadores 1999
washed down with 2 doubles of Booker's

 

[jamespowers]

Tonight was a Cuesta Rey vintage Sungrown, and it was good.

I first thought you were prognosticating about this evening then I saw what time you posted!
Not a bad Arturo Fuente product.

Wasn't that supposed to be a strong cigar?

 

[jamespowers]

Last night:
had the opportunity to meet and sit down for smokes and beverages with CharlesB at Mahogany on Walnut in Center City Philadelphia.
The selections:
El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme from 2004
Romeo y Julieta Cazadores 1999
washed down with 2 doubles of Booker's

Oh you're killing me! I just finished off my last El Rey Choix last week. I guess I just have to order some more.

 

[MissS]

Not bad.

Now we need a review on how it was.

Um, I'm really not up to speed with your cigar lingo, so does 'nice' cut it?

The cigar man told me not to draw the smoke into my lungs, which I promptly forgot, but swiftly remembered after the first drag! At first I was worried it was too strong for me, but after the smoke cleared from my lungs, I really started to enjoy it.

Though, can I admit that by the last 1/4 I was starting to feel I had enough?

 

[Darhling]

Um, I'm really not up to speed with your cigar lingo, so does 'nice' cut it?

The cigar man told me not to draw the smoke into my lungs, which I promptly forgot, but swiftly remembered after the first drag! At first I was worried it was too strong for me, but after the smoke cleared from my lungs, I really started to enjoy it.

Though, can I admit that by the last 1/4 I was starting to feel I had enough?

Hey that was good! I don't think I have ever finished even half of a cigar. but then Maybe I have been smoking it the wrong way (I don't smoke normally and didn't get any tips on how to smoke the cigars).

 

[rmrdaddy]

Especially for MissS and Darhling, but others may enjoy the tip as well:

In order to really get flavor from cigars, I highly recommend what is commonly know as "retro-haling".
Take a nice puff on the cigar, let the smoke linger in your mouth a second or three, then exhale about 2/3 of the smoke whichever way you like, dribbles, steady plume, smoke rings, etc. Then take the remaining volume of smoke, press it up into the roof of mouth with your tongue, basically pushing the smoke up into your sinus cavity, and then exhale thru the nose.
You will not believe the flavor nuances that you will get this way!!!

Try it!!

 

[jamespowers]

Um, I'm really not up to speed with your cigar lingo, so does 'nice' cut it?

The cigar man told me not to draw the smoke into my lungs, which I promptly forgot, but swiftly remembered after the first drag! At first I was worried it was too strong for me, but after the smoke cleared from my lungs, I really started to enjoy it.

Though, can I admit that by the last 1/4 I was starting to feel I had enough?

Nice works but things we get all interested in are:
Draw: Is it easy to take a puff from the cigar or do you have to really drag on it until your throat constricts?
Construction.: From the picture of the cigar, it looks as if the wrapper has a nice shiny quality to it and it was rolled correctly. You also look at the cap (the end you cut off before smoking it). It should be neatly wrapped with no rough or loose edges.
Taste: cigars have all kinds of tastes you can detect from rmr's method or a few others. They go from good flavors such as coffee, chocolate and creamy to bad tastes such as burnt paper, bitter, grassy or ashy.
Good for the amount of money you spent or overpriced---like I think of the Gurhkas.
As for inhaling, the only person I have ever seen inhale a cigar without passing out or getting sick was my father. It was not a pleasant sight but it can be done I guess.
The point of smoking a cigar is not to insert nicotine into the lungs. It is to taste the flavor produced from the smoke in your mouth as you exhale across the palate. You might get some nicotine from it as well but minute amounts when compared to cigarettes.
So what made you feel you had enough after 1/4 of the way up the stick?

Regards,

J