Eva Kahurangi's Monte2

You might remember Leo's birth was celebrated with a Montecristo A [or number 1?]

Now, here's Eva with a Montecristo number 2! 

Here's tae my new niece

That is SAm's new baby girl born on Friday and currently nameless. 

P.s. The cigar I am smoking is a Romeo y Julieta spelling J-u-l-i-e-t-a 

[the heretics suggested some cigar themed names for SAMs last child so why not this one? now to find out the names of Fidel Castro's mistress ]

CHRISTMAS HAS COME EARLY FOR GOOD BOYS

... For those who asked for it. Sept-oct & nov-Dec batches out now...

From left to right:

September-October

• Montecristo no.2: El magnificent puro que hopefully has come of age (2011 box). This is a beautiful, beautiful cigar to look at, in fact i would like to varnish one and put up on my mantlepiece. The estimate when we first tried it at this infamous Texas Hold'em Up Poker party is that it would need 5 years before it was ready to smoke. Almost there now, you can play it safe and bury it in your humidor for another year or fire it up on new year's eve. Make sure you have a free 1h30 after a heavy red meat and red wine meal on a dry windless day...


• Por Larranaga Petit Corona: from a 2012 cabinet of beauties. As with the other PLs, you generally want 2yrs minimum age. These are ready to rumble: almost full bodied, rich and powerful cedar, coffee grinds and orange peel reminiscent of its smaller brother reviewed here. They stand up easily to black coffee and get so strong in the last third that i've been finishing off with this wonderful NZ coffee liqueur 


• Cohiba Secretos: the last of these Heretic favourites. These 2013s have been stronger than previous boxes and not quite as sweet so I suggest that these be after-dinner port or whisky options.


• Rafael Gonzalez Perlas (x2): more of these extended coffee break beauties. Delightful and surprisingly hefty.   
 

November-December

Juan Lopez no.2: Vitola - Robusto, and robusto it is, plenty of meaty heft to complement the rich cedar that we enjoyed in the J-Lo no.1. It is young (2014 box) and you could lay it down or pull out a heavier accompaniment (bourbon, whisky, etc)  and enjoy it now if you have a good hour free. I'll be interested to hear from you where these are at right now

Ramon Allones Superiores: Vitola - Corona Gorda. The perfect size for a warm still evening or a lazy afternoon. Still young (2014 box) but not as hefty in body as the J Lo no.2 and a really enjoyable richness. Forgot to write down the flavours but i remember the hay and almonds. Really enjoyed this with a light scotch, it will could get richer with age but smoking fantastically now.

Por Larranaga Petit Corona: (see above)

Partagas Short: small but mighty, this is full of tannin and will be at its peak  in perhaps 3+ years. No need to wait if you have balls of steel and a whisky at hand.

El Rey del Mundo - Demi Tasse : welcome back to an old friend, cigarette sized but packed tightly enough that it should last you at least 20min. As with all skinny cigars, do not puff fast to avoid burning your tongue, and best not to smoke in humid conditions as the leaves will expand and block the already tight draw. Despite the dark wrapper adding a bit of cocoa flavour, it has the classic ERDM citrus tinge... so hard to match with a drink - maybe a light roasted, fruity, single origin coffee? you tell me!

Funny bunch trifecta at the Basin

Oops just found this draft post from back in June... We went straight from a port tasting session in a liquor store to the basin reserve for a smoke. Good times

Un Rafael Gonzalez Perlas? Si.

These little perlitas make me think about cigars every time i have coffee... they are the natural partner of the black juice ... their silky leather wrapper blends seamlessly with the colour of your crema... their creamy white smoke envelops the caffeinated tongue with a soothing lusciousness that calls your name, again and again, and again ... couleur... café.... que j'aime ta couleur, café!

 

My contribution to the Freud-meme competition by Verso

Heretics Trip

Sam recently suggested a trip to Taupo - hire a bach or something and pile into cars, meet in the middle, have a long weekend up there. Fishing, golfing you name it. I think people have expressed enthusiasm for such a concept in the past.

How does the first weekend of August sound, as a starting point? (BOOM!)

Cohiba Siglo II has come right

I had one of these a month or two ago in the Coromandel, and they had lost all the harsh intensity of youth in the second half and smoothed out to an intense, rich cafe au lait flavour. We're talking somewhere in between macchiato and piccolo here - it can definitely take on your long black mano-a-mano (the coffee pictured above was my 2nd so technically it won 2-1). 

A first ...

Our first ever boite de Quai d'Orsay just arrived safely...May 2014. We have had singles a few years ago. The only downside is that these are well known to be vastly improved with age. Hopefully these ones will be precociously mature ! 

Legacy Nicaraguan: Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro

Until Greg "Dapper Dan" F arrived at my doorstep on Christmas eve, it had been a pretty lean year for cigar smoking... mainly due to the unholy duality of children and work squeezing it out.

Below is part of the proof that two aficionados on holiday together, if sufficiently dedicated, can bring the order of things back into happy equilibrium.

In any case, the weather is a bit blah today [ed: well a few weeks ago now], warm, cloudy and a bit muggy. Even the cricket is on hold. Eggs, bacon and black pudding washed down with coffee inspired me to dig for a large cigar to spend the afternoon with (my dad has re-trained me well). When it arrived a couple of years ago, this Perdomo was one of the finest examples I'd had of a balanced, medium bodied Nicaraguan (well full bodied relative to Cubans!), pushing out powerful meat and chocolate. Quite similar to that monstrous Liga Privada T52 torp we shared in Gisborne, once upon a time.

A couple of years down the track, I had little to no expectations of it, as poorly as these Nics age. It has definitely lost some of its all-out chocolate appeal, but surprised me with its lighter but still balanced and interesting profile. Cedar, seared steak, and cocoa with a touch of sweetness are now on an even keel. This Perdomo has done well. As my son remarked, it is a pretty big cigar, and it's quite a nice change to get the coolness of smoke that this sort of vitola can provides (well, for the first half at least). Saves having to fetch a drink, for one!