- La Gloria Cubana Puritos x2
- Fonseca Cadetes or Hoyo de Monterrey du Maire: well known, i don't think the KDTs will do any better with age so sent the last few out now. Like the rest of 'em you will have to work on the draw...
- Por Larranaga Montecarlo: Another coffee cigar - quite mild - hoping these have lost some of the metallic tones by now. March '09 box.
- Montecristo no.4: Back to the classics... from newish Nov '09 box. Will be interested to hear how these are doing.
- Ramon Allones Specially Selected: Great cigar last time out - how are they smoking now? ('08 box) Impressions follow.
- Bolivar Gold Medal: gold wrapper is one of its kind amongst cubans. Aug 09 box. Impressive appearance but will it be matched by good smoking at such a young age?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Batch de Abril-Mayo - Ageing considerations
Welcome to Hadley who has joined us courtesy of Joel. Another one for the whisky fan club i gather!
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Ramon Allones - Specially Selected:
ReplyDeleteStarts out with capsicum and paprika spice on a leather body. Bit of sawdust in there as well. Plenty of smoke and nice dry spiciness about this, aftertaste reminds me of a peaty malt whisky. Need I say more - time for a trip to the liquor cabinet.
Halfway through gets a bit musty with plenty of capsicum n pepper - a dull patch. Needs a sweet peaty whisky. Develops a bit of satisfying meatiness in the last third but capsicum still the dominant flavour. Time to put it to bed now. Overall relatively complex and does the trick but with age it has lost some of the flavours that i enjoyed when it was young - the sweet peachiness of the Gold Medal is a reminder of the lost bouquet. It must be said that i made the mistake of having some ice cream before smoking so was probably in the mood for more sweetness.
Hopefully this is its "sick" period and it will come back into its own with another year or so...?
The batch has been couriered to me during a biblical theology class. We (Mrs sam Forde) and I thought about a mid break quick draw. However the perfect one to have within 15min does not exist. The 2 puritos? I have some memory that Greg has reserved them, just checking in on that. Looking forward to the Ramon, smells sweet and leathery.
ReplyDeletePuritos will fit the 15 min break nicely. Just don't puff on them too hard or you will end up with a burnt mouth... funny how you only notice a few hours later...
ReplyDeleteJust sat down for a korero with me koro and lit up one of these Nov 09 Montecristo no.4s. Trademark rich leathery and strong cocoa taste, pretty heady blend at this early stage in its life, so can cope with a strong drink if you want. Second half sat me on my arse with nicotine and got a bit tanniny, so i purged it (blew through it) and that helped. This bodes very well for age. Well constructed which is always a plus with these mass-produced cigars. Hints of cinnamon sweetness which i hope will develop along with the creaminess as it tones down with more age.
ReplyDeleteMy latest fad is fatty stuff with or before cigars - lamb mince or other meats coat your mouth nicely, or today i made a cold chocolate milk drink out of the top of my silvertop milk, matched well with cocoa-style monte 4.
Good stuff. Happy Easter!
Zach and I had one of these last weekend and it went down very smoothly. I hear ya on the fatty food tip. I must stop having these big ones before dinner, although I do enjoy the high and the eating and drinking afterwards.
ReplyDeleteLast weekend I smoked the most recent montecristo no.4 we got (the one from this batch). Compared to the previous ones smoked, the band looks different. Dark brown with a kind of embossed design on it. It was slightly squarish rather than round. Pre-light draw was nice. Lit was nice but overall smoking wasn't so nice. It had this slightly metallic chemically taste left in the mouth after each puff. this lasted the whole way through. The smell was great but just this lingering bad after taste wasn't. Oh and perfect burn the whole way down.
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