Christmas with JFK

H Upmann is one of the oldest cuban marcas going all the way back to its creation in the 1840s by a German banker of the same name. It is also famous for its association with JFK.

A year after the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, which attempted to topple the post-dictatorial cuban revolution of Fidel, Che et al., the U.S. declared the start of the now 50 year-old embargo on Cuba.

But first, JFK put a little order in for something special, as his press aide Pierre Salinger tells us.

JFK, he said, called him into his office and said he needed 'some help' to find 'a lot of cigars'. He wanted '1,000 Petit Upmanns' and needed them by 'tomorrow morning'.

'The next morning, I walked into my White House office at about 8am, and the direct line from the President's office was already ringing. He asked me to come in immediately.

'How did you do Pierre?' he asked, as I walked through the door. 'Very well,' I answered. In fact, I'd gotten 1,200 cigars. Kennedy smiled, and opened up his desk.

'He took out a long paper which he immediately signed. It was the decree banning all Cuban products from the United States. Cuban cigars were now illegal in our country.'

My guess is that he didn't live long enough to smoke all of those cigars. There could be a morale here about storing up riches but i'll stick to cigars - smoke'em while you still can.

Another footnote is that every time you smoke a habano, you are supposedly taking part in the "subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned" - the 1962 justification of this ongoing embargo.

Anyway, for the record these Petit Upmanns were 108mm*31rg - very civilised - similar to the little Arturo Fuentes in this batch... We have the more opulent H Upmann Magnum 46, a corona gorda that has consistently performed for the marca over the past few years. It delivers all of the medium-bodied woody richness that characterises the brand...

Ye batch (minus a variable cigar or 2):

• Arturo Fuente Cubanitos: like the exquisitos but slightly bigger and with a cameroon wrapper not a maduro one. Does the trick for a short coffee break. 
• San Cristobal El Principe: cedary with a touch of fruit ... drink accordingly (port, sherry etc... not Coruba rum - well at least not until you've ashed your cigar into it and it comes into its own - eh Matt!!)
• Cuaba Exclusivos: distinctly tapered figurado shape, mild after lunch habano from a 2008 box. Start it off with a relatively clean palate for full enjoyment.  
• H Upmann Magnum 46: from memory the rich variety of woods will compliment all sorts. This is a young box so might have an added creamy sweet touch.
• Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro: as reviewed on Scott or Matt's iphone in front of Matt's house a few months ago ... huge, smooth, decadent, chocolatey (yes chocolate not just cocoa)... great all-nicaraguan dessert cigar. In fact probably the most enjoyable nicaraguan puro i've had. Or maybe it was just the company ;-)   

Cuba...

... a random atmospheric video that attempts to capture the mood of the place. The early titles are corny but the imagery is great.

Be prepared for any situation this summer

Rafael Gonzalez Perlas - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

You've got to watch out for these Short Stubby fellas

The pearl in the name would suggest delicate finery, and the lovely colorado maduro shade of wrapper with a nice oily sheen on it might fool you into believing that but... the short stout stubby format is perhaps a better indicator of what's to come.

This is another youthful lil' fella with a Napoleon-style short-man syndrome a la Partagas Short. It will sit you down and shut you up, hopefully with a smile on your face. 

Light it up, take a puff, and as my son would say... "wasssupafamanga!"

It powers into its work instantly, with plenty of cedar, a bit of meaty leather, and a noticeable coffee flavour - the aroma of freshly ground beans or strong espresso. The last cigar i remember with this type of coffee was one of Joel's Cohiba Siglo Is on the shore of lake Wakatipu. The back of the cedar develops a touch of drying pepper. This Perla is clearly of the same lineage as its elder brother the Corona Extra - not as much meat and mushrooms, but these are still present in the background. Plenty of tannins that build up at the end.

Some drink matches for this ... one of those cigars that seems to cope well even with black coffee (very well actually!). A thick caramely malt like Dalmore cigar malt (Greg's mate Harry brought that along to our last heretics trip), or a decently sherried one like an Aberlour might do ... at a stretch its meatiness might enhance a Talisker 10. I'd love to try it with a milky kahlua dessert cocktail...

... Another cigar doco

This doco has the added merit of lasting about as long as your average cigar... so light up and enjoy!

Sept-Oct Windproof batch

Always a bit windy at this time of year, so i kept em small and numerous. Zahn, go and see Samwise for your hit. Michael, it's in the post should be there monday.

• CAO MX2: the last of these and my question would be - do you want more or not?

• Rafael Gonzalez Perlas: 'bout to put up a review, suffice to say this small fella packs a meaty punch and goes beautifully with coffee. This cigar was only introduced last year. Love it.

• San Cristobal El Principe: an old friend but from a March 2011 box. It has a fruitiness to it that, to me, screams !port!

• Liga Privada - Unico Serie - Papas Fritas: see review, 40min of sweet, meaty bliss, but make sure it's pulled out of a humi at 70% and not too far below or it will fail you.

• Liga Undercrown Corona !Viva!: San Andres (mexican) wrapper, mix of Brazilian mata fina and Nicaraguan filler. Meaty, cocoa and little bit of pepper?, but only medium-bodied and will work with pretty much anything. 

• Some of you get Cuaba Exclusivos:A more recent marca (est. 1990s) made up of only perfecto (curvy) vitolas and often criticised for its poor construction. This is a carefully selected box from 2008 so ready to smoke now. On the milder side and yet complex and satisfying - you'll see what i mean. Needs a light drink, and definitely not coffee. Excellent after-lunch cigar. I really loved the small rg of the end you stick in your mouth, for some reason, just so comfortable. Won't improve as mild and 5 years old so smoke it now!!!

•  Some of you get Scott's big Bandido Loco Mexican Fiesta Cigar: his parents brought this back from Mexico and it is not a cigar to be taken too seriously. Good if you're doing something incompatible with cigar appreciation like beer drinking round the bbq. Every now and again you get a !!!salsa explosion!!! in your mouth for a fleeting moment, which disappears quickly only to jump out on you again like a chilli-eating bandito, when you least expect it. 

Timbo Unchains the Liga Privada Papas Fritas

This is how Tim summarised his time spent here, free from his work in the Highlands

cigarro comico

Follow the Flame

Nick aka the Great Dane or now the Flame carrying our cigar lighter down the beach

Had a wee gathering to celebrate getting offered a job the other night, went down to a cosy hole in the dunes with the lads with a boom box, some cigars, and a fire pot that only the Dragon-Kissed can carry without getting burnt. Good stuff

Greg and Scott reviewing by citronella twilight

This is from a few months ago, just found it on my camera, turn up your screen brightness and your volume ... a Partagas serie D no.4 and a Juan Lopez no.1 receive passing mention...

Scott's a Dad...

... and he's earned a cigar as well, it's a little boy called Owen.

we got a fire going on the beach and had some of his wedding Bolivars to celebrate, two nights ago.

Introduction of self

Seriously pleased to be a part of this group guys - thanks for the invite S.F. As a brief introduction I'm a photographer, web geek, and musician from Albany, NZ who enjoys poker, shisha, ninjas, downhill, and the better things of life (like cigars).

Looking forward to batch number one!

July-August batch is out

They say they're rolled on the thighs of virgins, but she assures us, it's not true.

Come and get it!

No new cigars in this one... have to get all these non-cubans smoked as most of 'em are good now but don't tend to age well... but never fear my law-enforcing brother in law is coming over in a few weeks with a couple of new cuban boxes.

However... plenty of Good cigars. And one new member for the Tamaki Makaurau branch in Zahn - Welcome Zahn ! (feel free to introduce yourself!).

• CAO Mx2: 2 maduro wrappers, outer from connecticut USA, inner from Brazil, all very tasty and goes magnificently with coffee. Easy to gobble your way through in half an hour - yum. 


• Romeo y Julieta Petit Corona: un habano para todos. Hint of dark cherry, coffee grinds, classic RyJ and more of a port (or very light liquor?) match. 2012 box.


• Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve - Corojo: Nicaraguan and Honduran filler and binder with a Honduran corojo wrapper. Mild-medium, sweet, velvety and buttery smoke, good on its own (maybe after coffee), eminently satisfying cigar.

Rafael Gonzalez Corona Extra: ... otro habano para usted, senor? intriguing mix of cream, leather, meat, mushrooms and pepper etc. with evolving flavours throughout, another good port cigar, as per last year's review. Has it changed since then? You be the judge (and let us know!). 2009 box so could well be peaking now. 

• Liga Undercrown - Corona ¡­­Viva!: San Andres (mexican) wrapper, mix of Brazilian mata fina and Nicaraguan filler. Meaty, cocoa and little bit of pepper?, but only medium-bodied and will work with pretty much anything. 

Enjoy!

Heretic Commune

Sam and Joel moving house

Apparently, the cigar heresy has intensified to such an extent that some of our members are choosing to move in together, and create intentional communities of ascetic devotion to the fermented tobacco leaf.

So if you too fancy the lifestyle, head to West auckland (where else?), and "turn on, tune in, and drop out" in the first ever Heretics commune.

I'm sure Joel and Sam can fill us in on further on their purpose and principles.

The Neighbours

The renaissance of port

[from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10899775]

It can be a struggle to match wine with robust cheeses, strong dark chocolate or heavily infused coffee desserts. The delicate balance of most table wines, white or red, are overwhelmed by strident flavours that leave no room for compromise.

Fortunately, there is a reliable fallback position: port. With powerful primary fruit, reasonably strident alcohol levels and a warm lubricating viscosity, this ancient fortified wine is also a pleasant digestif and can be served, lightly chilled, as an aperitif.

Port is enjoying something of a renaissance and is no longer seen as unfashionable and belonging only in the dark mahogany recesses of old "Men Only" clubs.

Portugal, in particular the northern Douro Valley, is regarded as the spiritual home of this unique wine that is usually layered with warm sweet Christmas cake type flavours and should be gently sipped rather than quaffed.

One of Portugal's great ports is Quinta da Romaneira, which dates back to Roman times when vines were cultivated. Records exist of wines being produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1872, auction house Christie's auctioned ports from Romaneira, the first of its kind to be sold in this way.

Romaniera's managing director, Christian Seely, is committed to making wines that are world-class and get the recognition he feels they deserve - and not just for fortified wines.

"Our challenge has been, and remains, to find ways to vinify unfortified wines from the Douro that can take their rightful place among the great wines of the world, alongside the other great classic regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhone Valley."

In the meantime, he will continue producing the highest quality port wine possible - vintage ports, unfiltered LBVs (late-bottled vintage) and 10-year-old and 40-year-old tawnies.

Nothing beats a glass of port in front of a roaring fire in the middle of winter.

Arturo Fuente Hemingway - Work of Art (maduro)

Finally got round to trying this Arturo Fuente - Hemingway - Work of Art (maduro, connecticut shade grown wrapper instead of the lighter cameroon wrapper on most of the Hemingways).

That is one fat bell end (60 ring gauge at its fattest point, 46 at its thinnest).

Just had a big black coffee so in the mood for a maduro. Starts out with slight cocoa, and a hint of the cinnamon sweetness that you get in the Cameroon-wrappered Short Stories, but adds a note of brooding dark earth. The good thing about these perfecto cigars is that you know that from just after you light up until you get over the hump, you will be tasting almost 100% wrapper so you know what that is contributing. The bad thing is that you will probably have to correct the burn line because humps don't burn straight. Once over the hill, there is quite a bit more cocoa coming into it, and a bit of dark ghana-style chocolate as well - slightly bitter but not fruity. And plenty of coffee grinds. The trademark cinnamon grows a bit and a rich mouthful of cedar and other woodiness in there, finished off with a drying spicy white pepper (is that szechuan pepper Scott?) with hints of paprika. The resulting thick grey smoke actually has a bit of coffee aroma, which is unusual, but is also intensely sweet smelling as with its shorter cousin. Very satisfying package.

Into the last third and pepper grows. The end turns dark'n'broody again but with little sweetness and more meatiness. Now would be the time to fetch a peaty whisky or some such. I have a 16y.o Tomintoul on hand, a bit light for the job (sweet with a touch of stonefruit and apple).

All in all, the 1st half was top drawer, and the 2nd average, dusty and peppery. Pretty typical and a game-of-two-halves profile that it shares with the Hemingway short stories and the Ashton VSGs we once had. All of these have dominican filler... is there a common theme here? (maybe we should start reviewing them like the gimmicky Cigar Aficionado magazine and only smoke the first inch!!!). Anyway with an inch to go it dies out on me and i'm happy to leave it at that...

3 things one might discover on a cold winters evening

1. When a report says there is a "supermoon", it will in fact appear much larger
2. Walking at night with someone you love will make a cigar taste that little bit nicer [wink]
3. You won't actually need to go to Europe to discover Jesus in some glass

The little Fuente is such a great 20-30 minute smoke. Really enjoyed this while strolling up our mt eden last night. The cool outside air along with the sweet smells that came from the tobacco had me wanting just one more after I had finished. I think of these as a tasteful cigarette that does not require inhalation. Cheers for including them in the last few batches Xav  

To scale

Hey Joel! I don't have a ruler so here's the best I can do in terms of giving some kind of scale!

Roland Barthes

Just came across this picture of Barthes in a book. Notice that he nibbled the end of his cigar rather than cut it (What can we infer from this??) Also made me think that a fun dress up theme for poker+cigar evening could be intellectuals of the 60s/70s. 

Peru

A gift from Jim and Helen! They just got back from a one-month cycling tour of South America.

Matariki 2013 Batch (with box pics)

• Arturo Fuente - Exquisito maduro (i think that was the last of that box of 50)


• CAO Mx2: another handily sized cigar that is definitely not a puro and in this case, all the better for it


• Liga Privada - Unico Serie - Papas Fritas: Liga Privada are expensive cigars, unlike their Liga Undercrown counterparts, and here is the cheapest one ever released which is also the most expensive short filler cigar ever released. Confused? It makes sense if you think about it. It has their top Connecticut broadleaf wrapper but the filler is not whole leaves but leftover cuttings from the big boy LPs (if you tap it on the table some little bits might fall out). Very meaty, huge clouds of velvety smoke, not particularly sweet, and comes in fancy tins (one of which Sam won at poker). Probably a good heavy liquor cigar if you don't want a biggun.    





Another marketing-oriented box. Heavy as & made from weird stringy wood a bit like ponga.



Had a wax seal which could've been cool if they'd chosen a wax that looked less like Warewhare plastic

• Rocky Patel - Olde World Reserve (Corojo wrapper): as per last batch, mild-medium, sweet, velvety and buttery smoke, good after coffee, eminently satisfying cigar.





Liga Undercrown box: attractive but heavy which co$ts in postage. Plenty of fancy cedar inside that smells like detergent. Typical bloody american stuff.

• Liga Undercrown - Corona ¡­­Viva!: Got a whole box of these cos they are reasonably priced for a good cigar. San Andres (mexican) wrapper, mix of Brazilian mata fina and Nicaraguan filler. You've had the Undercrown Robusto, this is roughly the same except they have tweaked the blend to give it a (little) bit more kick (hence the ¡­­Viva!) when they released it in 2012. Smoke the two together and you'll see what i mean ;-) Still medium-bodied easy smoking, just a bit meatier. So goes with pretty much anything. Corona gorda is a much better vitola too in my opinion (thinner than robusto so doesn't burn as hot and easier size on your delicate mouth). 


• Cuaba Exclusivos: Ahhh, cuaba... the only cuban in this batch. A more recent marca (est. 1990s) made up of only perfecto (curvy) vitolas and often criticised for its poor construction. This is a carefully selected box from 2008 so ready to smoke now. On the milder side and yet complex and satisfying - you'll see what i mean. Needs a light drink, and definitely not coffee. Excellent after-lunch cigar. I really loved the small rg of the end you stick in your mouth, for some reason, just so comfortable. Won't improve as mild and 5 years old so smoke it now!!!

Blurb from the Cuaba box - note that in essence it's the same word as Cohiba

Bombones! La bomba!

In honour of the French tour

Inspiration through Inhalation

1. An outdoor table
2. A book
3. Pen and paper, or a type-writer
4. Preferably some kind of view
5. Arturo Fuente or other small to medium-sized cigar

Mix these ingredients up and you'll feel the joy of smoking at your desk like you would have back in the 70s. Combining these ingredients will connect you to your pipe smoking, novel writing ancestors and provide great moments of inspiration.

winter's coming

CIGGGAR />

Heeeeerreeee's Johnny!

Jack and I have so much in common. 

All work and no play makes us dull boys 

and we both get a bit ma-ma-mad when we've been sitting for too long trying to write. 

Gah!!!!!!! 

But a nice stroll through the maze can be great to clear our head, especially with a nice cigar. 

Review of the Illusione Bombones - it's a Gruntfest

Hmmm this review was made last year in The Garage... which sadly is no longer... but i finally got round to posting it on the site!

p.s. tried posting it on youtube for larger-sized viewing but won't embed here, so here's the link

Kurt Cobain with Arturo Fuente

Arturo Fuente howling to the moon (just after this photo was taken a possum came to check me out)

I'm staying in an apartment in Newmarket for the weekend. Went for a stroll with one of these cigars this evening. Nek minit, a middle-aged guy yelled some insults at me from his balcony and slammed his ranch-slider shut. Can't even walk down the street smoking without offending people these days. Good to know one little AF short story can cause some bourgeois' fury! #cigarheretics

9 holes at Red Beach

Greg at the Red Beach golf course enjoying a Robusto. Neither of our four balls ended in this water feature, though one of mine sat nicely right on the edge. 

Greg managed to tee-off exactly 165m on this hole.

The Robusto was excellent for the first two-thirds. We never found out what the last third tasted like as we lost the cigar in the thick grass. We later enjoyed one of those cheap vanilla ones over beers at the local pub. Good combo.

Sinking one's teeth into Julieta

Juliet: What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.

So i'm breaking a flu-imposed drought with some red wine and leftover Easter cheese followed by this RyJ Petit Corona and port... very niiice. The cigar itself isn't that impressive visually, a lighter shade of colorado with a few veins, but one can see the oily sheen on it and the detail of the leaf's little pores... always encouraging. Fired it up to encounter some bitter coffee grinds and a touch of cedar - still tasting a bit dry, probably needs a bit more time in the humi after its transtasman voyage. A cm in and the bitterness is superseded by a fair amount of cedar. An inch in and the trademark RyJ fruit has started to leech out of the cedar, joining nicely with the coffee grinds. Trademark as in burnt cherry style flavour, or else oak from a used port or cab sav cask. This is all joined by a satisfying steaky /hay texture halfway in, and a bit more cedar. Stays like this until just below the band, where the strength of youth takes hold and the force of circumstances (ie my son) makes me abandon the whole enterprise. 

A plague on both your houses!

Had I a larger glass of port (and a large mallet with which to lovingly stroke my boy's head) and i would've kept on going. The rough edges of an overenthusiastic youth are clearly present, but with enough drink, this passionate treachery gives one something unique and satisfying to sink one's teeth into. I'm thinking of Julieta's left buttock. As often with the smaller vitolas, you get a concentrated version of the big brother's flavours, so you will easily recognise the genetic profile of the RyJ Churchill (also reminds me of a young Partagas Short). Also pleasantly enhanced by a phone conversation with Sam aka Chupapoya. Enjoy...

Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

How is everyone's Saturday going? I'm getting my sophistication on and lighting up a freshly rolled tobacco leaf. Okay, it's not the same complexities that our batch offers, and it does taste like the stale tea breath of a smoker that has come into one's personal space a little too close, and the pack is a bit loose, and the outer leaf keeps unfurling, and, yes... it was just a silly spontaneous thing to do while gardening but does offer a sense of achievement that people can grow tobacco and dry the leaves themselves. The rest are being "colour cured" in the garage and I will be making a press for pipe tobacco when they are ready. Just wanted to update with some activity on this blog :)

Easter Bunny Batch

• Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Maduro 


• CAO Mx2 or CAO Cameroon: both good for a long coffee break, a mixture of non-cuban tobaccos (the cameroon one has a cameroon wrapper of course)


• Ortega Serie D no.7 (robusto): Mexican wrapper from San Andres (info on a few types of non-cuban maduro wrappers) with Nicaraguan filler and binder. Apparently smooth and medium-bodied, slightly sweet with a touch of spice. 


• Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Corojo (robusto): Nicaraguan and Honduran filler and binder with a Honduran corojo wrapper. Corojo is a type of tobacco that was used in most cubans from the '30s to '90s (until more disease resistant hybrids were developed), and has its own particular flavour as you will see. This is a mellow sweet creamy cigar. 


• Romeo y Julieta Petit Coronas: RyJs are in the top 3 habanos in quantity, that means quality is a lot more variable, fortunately this box was selected for us. Have that touch of cherry/coffee grinds that marks them out from any other cuban. Mar'12 box but these PCs are already ready to smoke - satisfying and unmistakeably RyJ.

Cabinet Investment

Just found out what a saucer is for ... holding your cigar while you sip your coffee and vice versa!

Anyways, I ordered a box of these Por Larranaga Petit Coronas about a month ago for the club. They only come in cabinets of 50, which actually makes them a bit cheaper per cigar and also ideal for aging. Ideal as in every 6 months you have one to check how they are going. Also this particular cigar is well known to be at its peak after 3-5 years so it's a "long term investment" and precisely the type of thing that the club helps us with (thank goodness for all the low interest credit card deals at mo;-). Now once i find out a way of getting them here (any overseas trips let me know!!!) we can taste and see!

p.s. next batch will be out after next (Easter) weekend.

Jan-Feb Batch out

He he sent out yesterday just in time. Scott and Matt, come and get it.

With some variation for everyone, this is roughly the batch, plenty of new ones:

• Arturo Fuente - Exquisitos (maduro): coffee break

• Liga Undercrown - Robusto: the cheaper complementary cousin of the hard-to-find Liga Privada T52 we had a year or so ago, in that it uses the leaves that aren't used in the T52 (kind of). Medium strength, sweetish cocoa, and satisfying. Weekend coffee break or whenever. [Mexican Otapan Negro Último Corte wrapper,  Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan longfillers, T52 Connecticut stalk cut & cured Habano binder. They claim that the wrapper harvest is delayed by over 4 weeks, resulting in a "higher natural sugar content and a richer, creamier flavor"] 

• Arturo Fuente Hemingway - Work of Art (maduro): we have had plenty of smaller Short Story Hemingways but with a Cameroon wrapper. This has a Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper, and it's still a perfecto shape, but 60 ring gauge at its fattest!

• Hoyo de Monterrey - Le Hoyo du Dauphin: we have had Hoyos in demi tasse (du Maire) and corona gorda (Epicure no.1) vitolas, but not in laguito no.2 (152mm x 38rg - long skinnies like the Monte Especiales no.2s we've had). This was a specially selected box. Medium bodied smoke for an occasion where you can be contemplative and puff slowly (the secret to smoking long skinnies lest they overheat). Sep'11 box.

• Partagas Serie P no.2: Partagas' bigfulla piramide and also a box selected for its quality. Generally a milder blend than the Serie D no.4 (robusto) or the Short. Jun'11 box.

Joel can try this with his NZ tobacco plant:

TOBACCO FOR DINNER

Don Pablo

Got home from work this evening to be greeted by a happy wife and a delicious Stoke beer. I thought this was the perfect encourager for trying one of Hadley's Vegas imported cigars.

The story about this one (Hadley, correct if I have said any lies) goes - Hadley went into a building that was infested with clouds of smoke and cigar rolling. As he was browsing with great enthusiasm he accidently tipped one of the rollers $20 instead the $2 he thought he was letting go of. The spanish speaking man's eyes went from the size of Cuba to the size of U.S.A and gestured for him to come and partake in his daily practice. He showed off his rolling skills and invited Hadley to try for himself. Minus the near misses of guillotine strikes millimetres from Hadley's fingers, the end result and experience was a success. 3-4 days later, Hadley returned to be able to buy the pressed cigars that him and his new friend rolled. Note that for the one cigar rolled by Hadley, Mr Pablo rolled about 15-20.

This cigar is fairly rough to touch, smells like dry grass that is on the sweeter side and draws very good. the burn is steady and does not go out. Plumes of greyish to white smoke as most cigars seem to be and an ash that leans more to the whitish flakey/powdery look. My ash fell off just after reaching the first third. The taste was very mild and dry at first then developed some cream only to quickly change into a flavour of... dead leaves, cardamom, something further leafy and other spices I cant figure out. Once reaching the last third it packed a big bite to the taste buds that took me by surprise as the bulk of this cigar was more of a pleasantly savoury and mild puffer. The end

Will send these out for all to try when I next meet up with Greg. It will be a bit of a Willy Wonker story as one of these cigars will in fact have been hand rolled by one of our own! Let see if we can taste the kiwi flavour.




















Here is an update of my one tobacco plant that perhaps is trying to reach another land in the sky

In case you didn't believe the mule story

Hadley returns

There was a mule that trotted the globe. From the deep dykes of Holland to the golden strip of Vegas. There he discovered new pastures of grass in which he decided to bring some samples home. Thus, a humidor that I have been the caretaker of is now very much full. This mule's instructions were to enjoy these with all heretics that trot my way. Come and get'em!  

Twilit Intrigue - Diplomaticos no.4

Twilit as in twilight-ed. To celebrate wellington anniversary, and the remarkably still and clear evening that it has brought, I have sat down with one of the most intriguing cigars in my humidor. The last of its kind, that i have been saving to see how age would treat it. Absent wife, who is out gallivanting somewhere with a friend, I sat down to a rather pleasantly un-vegan meal with a bottle of otherwise prohibited pinot noir. A nice bitey, peppery, fruit and thymey, long lasting Central Otago pinot, which also happened to be a Peter Anderson-reject. It put me in the mood for a zesty tannin-full cigar, and the Dip 4 seemed to fit the bill. So i fired away on the deck after unleashing Paco de Lucia's Sirocco on the sound system.

Paco dentro de mi suenos ahumados

The two go together, Paco and Diplomatico that is, and not just because they rhyme (!). Both are rather stimulating and intriguing - food for the brain as well as the soul. El viejo Diplomatico ha comenzado con un aroma agradable, a biting, peppery, rich and intriguing mixture that really asks questions of your palate. It has all of the tannin and cedar zing that i remember, a quite unique flavourprint... there is no sweetness really, just a beautiful dry zest (white pepper to be precise) and the slightest hint of citrus, followed by a slightly sawdust and mushroom melange. Halfway through, it softens slightly, with more hay filling out the body. This really is one of those cigars that deserves regular retrohaling in order to get the most out of all of these peppers and spices. Onto Zyryab now, the next in the Paco canon... and the very last of the puro. The hay has a bit of a roasted barley (?) quality to it now, which clues me in to a drink match - a bitey young mild scotch (Tomatin 10 y.o. c/o my in-laws). It is almost extinction time now ... the roast is getting smoky and the cup bitter, like the last dregs of an espresso... we are rattling the dags here, but i will keep going for the sake of science. A lot of capsicum and ash in this last inch. E' la hora de la "cancion de amor", amor perdido, pero no olvidado... adios, pequenito corona!