Gregs crowning Glory - a Punch double Corona
Friday, December 26, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
The T Rex approach to cigar cutting
When I told Matt to bite the end off his cigar, I wasn't expecting half of it to get torn off with a grunt. "Nibble on a nipple... Not chomp off a chunk" once said a wise Chinese sage. Greg adds "a breast without a nipple is pointless!"
The Punch Punch batch
The next batch has been out for a while and the novelty is in the Punch.
If you've been a heretic long enough, you have had the now-discontinued Punch Royal Selection no.12 (a small one), a massive Punch Double Corona, and now it is time for the Punch Punch. Why the repetition, you may ask? It was named in Cuba, so who knows... a bored marketing director? the one-two combo of the cigar world?
The good news is that this Corona Gorda (46rg x 14.3cm) is really good straight out of the box (2013), mild and with a lovely and quite distinctive creamy cloves flavour. I had it with a light whisky on a hot day but could happily have smoked it right the way through without a drink. Hopefully it will keep growing and not recede with age... great stuff.
- Some Pot luck cigars to finish off boxes and...
- H Upmann Magnum 48 EL 2009: they are earthy with a bit of cocoa/coffee grinds and the Upmann woods in the back ground and need to be smoked now before they run out of flavour
- H Upmann Magnum 46: aging well with more savouriness (dixit Scott)
- Bolivar Petit Corona: well known but I'd like to hear your thoughts as I've yet to have one from this new box.
- Punch Punch
If you've been a heretic long enough, you have had the now-discontinued Punch Royal Selection no.12 (a small one), a massive Punch Double Corona, and now it is time for the Punch Punch. Why the repetition, you may ask? It was named in Cuba, so who knows... a bored marketing director? the one-two combo of the cigar world?
The good news is that this Corona Gorda (46rg x 14.3cm) is really good straight out of the box (2013), mild and with a lovely and quite distinctive creamy cloves flavour. I had it with a light whisky on a hot day but could happily have smoked it right the way through without a drink. Hopefully it will keep growing and not recede with age... great stuff.
- Some Pot luck cigars to finish off boxes and...
- H Upmann Magnum 48 EL 2009: they are earthy with a bit of cocoa/coffee grinds and the Upmann woods in the back ground and need to be smoked now before they run out of flavour
- H Upmann Magnum 46: aging well with more savouriness (dixit Scott)
- Bolivar Petit Corona: well known but I'd like to hear your thoughts as I've yet to have one from this new box.
- Punch Punch
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Smoking (and drinking) the Great Wall
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| with Jianlong, the Tiger from Singapore |
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| ...and Kosal, da Fonz from Cambodia |
Cohiba club in Dujiangyan, Sichuan
On a bridge near the top of the 3rd century BC irrigation system...
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
a well travelled batch
Ah ha yes you have waited and they have landed and now they are coming your way after approximately 55000kms of travel since Cuba - how's that for food mileage?
I would note that they are probably suffering a bit after all that, a bit dry, I'd give them at least 10 days in your humidor before smoking.
This batch is:
- Trusty Cohiba Club: the last one left
- Bolivar Petit Corona: oh the mighty wee one has returned in a freshly minted 2013 box. We know how good these get with 2-3 years on them, but also how good they are raw and powerful straight out of the box, pull out your finest scotch and enjoy.
- H Upmann Magnum 48 E.L. x2 : special editions from 2009 that are wonderful cigars, all the woody richness of the standard H Upmann (compare with your Mag 46s) with your Edicion Limitada aged maduro wrapper to provide that cocoa goodness. They have reached their peak so I have sent 2 per Heretic.
- Cohiba Siglo II: a carefully selected box of these Cohiba Petit Coronas. We have never actually had any of the standard Cohiba line-up because of value for money issues but there's a first for everything. The Siglo line was actually a 1992 addition to the marca to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus arrival. They are all built around a distinctive hay / grass richness with a touch of honey, and tend to have cafe au lait overtones. Apart from the Trinidads they are the only brand to have triple fermented tobacco. I tried one and they are definitely enjoyable now but the last third is still a bit young and harsh, and will smooth out with age... over to you.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
On work, cigars, and an unhappy conjunction thereof
Friday morning, sitting on top of the ferry as it crosses the shimmering waters of Te Whanganui a Tara, and soaking up a lovely sunny day... life is good.
Perhaps I should've stopped there.
As i walked past a mag shop that also happens to sell cigars, I pushed out my luck boat a bit too far and thought i'd get a little one to accompany some laptop work later in the morning.
I just wanted one of those tiny cohiba clubs - but they only sold them in packets of 20 for $110. Ha ha (you can get them for US$30 or so overseas). So I got a Jose Piedra, very cheap cubans, must've been just smaller than a petit corona, for $14 (goes for about $3 duty free). In my haste I forgot that these ones have notoriously poor construction, and that unlike our carefully selected club boxes on average a third of them are not actually smokeable.
So later that morning, went down the hill to pick up a shlong (halfway between short and long black, that's what the local cafes call it unfortunately, how quaint) and head down road to the church park for a puff... St Mary of the Angels, soaring above our all-too-common humanity, but closed for seismic strengthening. How grounding.
The park too was covered by a pall, the gloomy shadow of the skyscraper towering above them, astronomically aligned so as to deny warmth to every nook and cranny - but only at that precise conjunction of time and season. I grumbled and sat down, resigned to my fate, and slurped on my shlong as I imagined a thousand office workers jeering down at me from the myriad lidless compartments of their monstrous glass panopticon. When faced with a thousand mirrors, the resentment of the mind's eye can be projected both ways, you see... But only a real obstacle can physically cast a shadow: perception is not everything. Fortunately, I was saved from the oppressive serenity of this foucauldian faceoff when the local groundsman fired up his lawn mower. At least here in the roaring 40s the fumes never have time to hang around.
I lit up my little friend JP to compete. Correction: I sucked and I sucked and I sucked ... and just managed to stir the flame into action. !Vamos Jose! No joy... Jose did not put out easily...what a drag. Having massaged my way round to find a rock hard hernia almost half way up from the band, I reluctantly proceeded with emergency surgery of the roughest kind. Using only my teeth. Off with his head! (and half of his torso). His intestines hung ragged and limp from the remainder, which i reluctantly placed between my lips. A true tobacco connaisseur should always chew on the bowels of his cigar, and develop a feel for its terroir... *cough* (it is perhaps worth noting that most chewing tobacco was historically made from cigar clippings). Unfortunately, el pequenito Jose, now drawn, quartered and complemented by 2-stroke oil fumes, was still reluctant to put out. I soldiered on for a few painful powder-puffs and gave up. No work done, no cigar-centred jouissance, nothing gained.
Sometimes it's best to quit while you're behind.
Perhaps I should've stopped there.
As i walked past a mag shop that also happens to sell cigars, I pushed out my luck boat a bit too far and thought i'd get a little one to accompany some laptop work later in the morning.
I just wanted one of those tiny cohiba clubs - but they only sold them in packets of 20 for $110. Ha ha (you can get them for US$30 or so overseas). So I got a Jose Piedra, very cheap cubans, must've been just smaller than a petit corona, for $14 (goes for about $3 duty free). In my haste I forgot that these ones have notoriously poor construction, and that unlike our carefully selected club boxes on average a third of them are not actually smokeable.
So later that morning, went down the hill to pick up a shlong (halfway between short and long black, that's what the local cafes call it unfortunately, how quaint) and head down road to the church park for a puff... St Mary of the Angels, soaring above our all-too-common humanity, but closed for seismic strengthening. How grounding.
The park too was covered by a pall, the gloomy shadow of the skyscraper towering above them, astronomically aligned so as to deny warmth to every nook and cranny - but only at that precise conjunction of time and season. I grumbled and sat down, resigned to my fate, and slurped on my shlong as I imagined a thousand office workers jeering down at me from the myriad lidless compartments of their monstrous glass panopticon. When faced with a thousand mirrors, the resentment of the mind's eye can be projected both ways, you see... But only a real obstacle can physically cast a shadow: perception is not everything. Fortunately, I was saved from the oppressive serenity of this foucauldian faceoff when the local groundsman fired up his lawn mower. At least here in the roaring 40s the fumes never have time to hang around.
I lit up my little friend JP to compete. Correction: I sucked and I sucked and I sucked ... and just managed to stir the flame into action. !Vamos Jose! No joy... Jose did not put out easily...what a drag. Having massaged my way round to find a rock hard hernia almost half way up from the band, I reluctantly proceeded with emergency surgery of the roughest kind. Using only my teeth. Off with his head! (and half of his torso). His intestines hung ragged and limp from the remainder, which i reluctantly placed between my lips. A true tobacco connaisseur should always chew on the bowels of his cigar, and develop a feel for its terroir... *cough* (it is perhaps worth noting that most chewing tobacco was historically made from cigar clippings). Unfortunately, el pequenito Jose, now drawn, quartered and complemented by 2-stroke oil fumes, was still reluctant to put out. I soldiered on for a few painful powder-puffs and gave up. No work done, no cigar-centred jouissance, nothing gained.
Sometimes it's best to quit while you're behind.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
A toke in te Tai Tokerau
In a Marxist-tinged summary, one could say that we enjoyed a grunty cedar, cocoa and coffee grind base with cocoa on the ascendant... enhanced with an incisive orange peel, cinnamon, and harissa (or perhaps cayenne pepper) superstructure. Put all this together and you have a two course moroccan dinner washed down with turkish coffee. So where Henry Clay found peace, we found a taste of the Middle East... in Por Larranaga. For such a small, relatively young (2-3 years old) cigar, it really was rich and intriguing. It really is such a shame that many of them are stricken with tight draws and knots at the top (around the band).
Fortunately, this one was gastronomic poetry in motion... proving once again that sitting down and concentrating on a good cigar is food for the mind, the soul, and the 6 senses. Tihei mauri ora!!!
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
March-April - El Montecristo numero Dos batch
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| This is basically the perfect box of Monte no.2s, but only 2 years old (FEB12) - tried one a year ago and they were not ready then so I put them away until now... are they ready or do they need another couple of years? You tell me! |
Cohiba Clubs: as pictured in the recent "google + hangout", these tiny cigarillos will reward you on a 10min coffee break as long as you puff softly and slowly. Anything else and you will burn your tongue. They definitely have the flavour profile of their big brothers
Por Larranaga Panatelas: also pictured in the hangout. Unusual "Veguerito" vitola standing 12.7cm tall but only at a 37 ring gauge - very handy for a 30-40min time out. From a nice box where all of them have lovely wrappers. The last time i had one of these they had machine-made short filler, but are now fully hand rolled in accordance with Habanos change in policy a few years back.
Cuaba Exclusivos: last of the 2008 box and need to be smoked now. Mild cigar for a lazy weekend afternoon, with a drink of your choosing (preferably alcoholic).
Juan Lopez no.1: 2010 box of Corona Gordas ("fat coronas" ie 14.3cm x 46rg) which started out sweet cream cedar and quickly moved on. I am hoping that by now they have acquired the richness and subtlety that only age can bring.
Montecristo no.2: All hail "the" classic piramide that is perhaps the defining statement of not only the vitola (format) but also the marca (brand). Relatively full in body and rich in character, it has all the trademark Montecristo flavours (if you crossed a no.4, no.5 and Edmundo you'd end up with this). Set aside 1h30 and enjoy... if you can wait, forget it at the bottom of your humidor for a couple more years
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Un Hoyo du Gourmet a Akaroa...
A French-themed cigar in a French-themed settlement ... how quaint. These Gourmets from 2011 weren't really that flash young but now coming into their own... Next batch is now available by the way... and includes one of these.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
RyJ and cricket
Scott got me down for a cigar on beach last night and woke a sleeping dragon - had to have one again tonight after a roast washed down with some good red. Must say that his now well aged Bolivar PC was fantastic, earthy and cedary and rich, didn't want to hand it back after he gave me a puff (we got another box of those waiting for one of our mules by the way).
Anyway so pulled out a Romeo y Julieta PC con porto. Great stuff. My latest thought on it is that it is like inhaling the fumes of a smouldering pepper encrusted wine barrel with burnt cherries on top. Grunty and satisfying, in your face but quite rich for a youngun, especially on the retrohale. Could so easily go with something stronger but i'm on a red grape trip and a nice heavy tawny fits the bill. It's a bit blustery about with our late spring here in Wellyz but this hefty little fella don't seem to mind. Right - thoughts shared, back to the cricket...
Anyway so pulled out a Romeo y Julieta PC con porto. Great stuff. My latest thought on it is that it is like inhaling the fumes of a smouldering pepper encrusted wine barrel with burnt cherries on top. Grunty and satisfying, in your face but quite rich for a youngun, especially on the retrohale. Could so easily go with something stronger but i'm on a red grape trip and a nice heavy tawny fits the bill. It's a bit blustery about with our late spring here in Wellyz but this hefty little fella don't seem to mind. Right - thoughts shared, back to the cricket...
Saturday, January 18, 2014
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