Cigar Hero of the Month: Miguel Angel Jimenez

An epic warmup from the Spanish Maestro, who performs stunning feats of elasticity without ever removing the cigar. This man is a Legend.

Oct-Nov Batch - Close... but Yes to a Cigar

The Wellington boys just got these but our post office early closing time kept delaying my sending of the Auckland cigars. But they're finally in the post and hopefully will be with Sam to celebrate a WC victory. Not too keen to have a "Close... but no Cigar" scenario!! [Later Edit: And we did win, in the end, by one little point]. Enjoy.

• El Rey del Mundo - Demi Tasse: one of my first ever boxes of cigars was a box of these from 1990. Here's a repeat purchase not quite as aged ('09!) but you will recognise the flavour profile of the Choix Supremes with a touch of citrus and light hay. Pleasant and mild and the smallest proper hand-rolled cigar format available. Will match your "Half Cup" of whatever.

• San Cristobal del Habano - El Principe: the old timers will recognise this, a better box than last time though, lovely oily wrappers and well constructed. A medley of classic cuban flavours, relatively mild, in a half-corona vitola that will only last 30-45mn.

• Bolivar Petit Corona: your whisky cigar of the batch - 45mn of one of the spiciest cubans there is. Still less than a year old so not yet dark and brooding, but lots of peppers and a bit of hay and earth.

• Hoyo de Monterrey - Le Hoyo des Dieux: Sam's favourite, light medium rich woodiness personified, a very port cigar, set aside just over an hour for this corona grande.

• San Luis Rey - Serie A: you may have tasted one of these Corona Gordas last year. They are from a stellar Nov. 08 box that is ageing gracefully. Nice medium-bodied and rich woody flavour - another port cigar. Lovely to look at as well.

The Non-Cuban Batch

Thanks to Senor Hindrik's trip to the U.S. we have acquired some non-cuban cigars. As you will find out, they have quite different flavour profiles. Different terroirs, shall we say.

I chose these as they are the brands that have been getting Yankee stogie smokers excited for the past few years - pretty damn expensive as a result. As the store i ordered them from didn't have enough singles in stock, you won't quite all have all of the following list but doubles of some and none of others (in rough order of size):

• Arturo Fuente Hemingway - Short Story: the cigar tapered at both ends that many of you have already tasted. Starts out sweet before turning to mint and pepper. Dominican tobacco but with a Cameroon wrapper. 
• Ashton Virgin Sun Grown - Tres Mystique: i tried this with Scott recently, very pleasant smooth caramel allspice sweetness to start, full bodied, but just after half way gets quite peppery. Dominican filler with aged wrapper leaf from Ecuador.
• Ilusione Epernay - Le Elegance: long skinny cigar, nicaraguan "puro" (all tobacco from the one country), meant to be mild, spicy tea-like but i haven't tasted it yet. Also meant to be a good match for champagne but i sincerely doubt it. 
• Nub Cameroon - 464: getting into the serious sizes now, this very short but very fat (464= 4"& 64 ring gauge - enormous!!) doesn't look like much but will take well over an hour to smoke. Cameroon wrapper, nicaraguan tobacco, pleasant smooth spice and medium body from memory. This one can do a handstand on its ash - time for a photo comp!!
• Arturo Fuente Anejo - #48: this one is a big boy dressed up in cedar and red ribbon, dominican but the wrapper has been aged 6 months in cognac barrels.
• Liga Privada T52 - Corona Doble: huge cigar but all i could find of this brand. Tobaccos come from all over the place - wrapper from Connecticut (US), filler from DomRep, Nic, Honduras and binder from Brazil. You'll have to get together and share this one.

Non-cuban cigars are generally aimed at the U.S. market (where you can't buy cubans at least officially) and so the general marketing trends aim for Strength, Size, Sweetness, Dark wrappers, Fancy boxes and gimmicks that change every year. The ones above are all pretty expensive so have really good construction (like the expensive cubans). They like to mix and match tobaccos from all over which makes for some interesting cigars; in general each tobacco is quite recognisable and the filler most often from nicaragua, honduras or dom rep. The one thing that sets cuban tobacco apart, excluding its radically different flavour of course, is its complexity of flavour once well aged. Non-cubans are known for many things but complexity is not one of them. 

One last note: they are so different from cubans that it is best to store separately (eg in a ziplock bag) to avoid cross-contamination of flavour. They are also generally better stored and smoked at higher humidity i.e. 70%.

a Supremely well-Chosen cigar

This one will give your pinkies a rise.

Last Sunday afternoon, i was taken... by The Mood.

I had just gone all out following the cooking muse and satisfying the very specific desires of my stomach, and successfully so, i am pleased to say... when i thought i might follow this up with another perfect conjunction of the mind's eye meeting the taste buds' soul to the heart's content. Cigar time.

Following up a tangy mustard dish ... il n'y a que Maille qui m'aille!... required some kind of zesty puro. A Diplomaticos #4 might do if i still had one... but then again it was a bit small for such a nice day and a bit too dry a smoke... i wanted something soft and creamy as well ... Finally, i settled on a El Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme, with some hope and plenty of fear and trembling. Hope - as the first singles we had almost 2 years ago were delicious; fear - as the last time i had one from this new box of 2009 vintage it had "gone to sleep", tasting dull and sickly.        

This was one of those rare occasions where the stars align. The wrapper had a lovely sheen, and a light shade of colorado. I had long been suspicious of this as my stellar '07 singles had a much lighter, thinner wrapper, and the sickly smoke episode made me question whether the '09s darker wrapper leaf was taking away from the quirky Choix Supreme blend of filler. Oh Me of Little Faith. Straight from the get go i was greeted by the tangy citrus that i had often pined for, but never encountered in any cigar since that first one almost two years ago. To my even greater astonishment, it was preceded on the palate by a buttery mouthfeel that i had wished for that very afternoon, but never experienced in a Choix Supreme. I think that this is the contribution of the nicely oiled up wrapper leaf .This was a midwinter's afternoon dream come true.

The smoke flowed freely, but not loosely, from this perfectly constructed beast, and every mouthful was a layer of buttery silkiness with a hint of sauted mushroom, followed by a powerful cedar kick unleashing the tang of citrus - zest, flesh and aroma of a well-ripened lemon - finished off with an edge of white pepper. Simply divine. It did not change all of the way through, and i was glad of it.

My cigar experience of the year so far. If you haven't smoked yours yet, wait for a time when these sorts of flavours appeal... it is not strong, so perhaps after lunch on a sunny afternoon... and for heaven's sake, don't spoil it by eating a vindaloo beforehand, or by smoking it with a peaty whisky, or a red grape based drink. Get something light and pinky-raising made from white grape like a dessert wine, muscat, or martini bianco. You won't regret it.

Salad Sunday Stretches...

It was a fine winters Sunday noon today with the rays beaming through the woods onto our deck. This was the invitation to cheat any cold feelings by taking the table outside and enjoy a salad. Candice suggested a cigar and I didn't contest. Opening the humidor this Montecristo Especial no.2 jumped out and ran towards the tuna garden salad.A light pleasant smell of fine cedar (no doubt influenced by the humidor) and a perfect pre-lit draw with similar tastes to the smell. Once burning, it had a really soft wood with some kind of lingering nut (the taste of the skin on an almond).

This soft wood complemented the flavours of the salad and not overpowering. Great match with the feta cheese and avocado.

Even the ash resembled a flawless pack with delicate and fine looking burnt tobacco leaf.

The flavour maintained the same the whole way through and maybe only gearing up slightly in the last third with some passive kick to assist with the peppercorn I bit as a finished my meal.

Overall, this is a top cigar shared with the beautiful model pictured. The experience left me with one final impression... The healthy cigar that demanded a send off stretch.

Little pennies and big smokes go along way in Vegas

One night in Vegas was a house on fire with this Diamond Crown Maximus. Unlike my skill on the slot machine, it was a rich, dark, smooth and velvety taste with loads of patience while I tossed $20 away over 2 hours. (purchased from a great smoke house cafe in Caesar's Palace called Casa Fuente).

read me a daytime story...

Here's a recent news story about a reader in a cigar factory. Foxy lady in purple.

Cigar Genesis Doco

There are three parts to this very old 30mn doco, and apart from the elevator music, it's a nice summary of how cigars are made in Cuba.

[Also see the "How Cigar Tobacco is Cultivated" link on the left under Interesting Links.]

Smoking Cuban Cigars in Communist States

PART I: CHINA

ZACH

AC/DC review of Cohiba Secretos & Montecristo Especiales no.2

Found an easy way to shorten otherwise lengthy cigar reviews... not quite 2min in the end (less than 2min per cigar though that's a good hit rate!).

Winter Batch

I just realised I forgot to do this but anyways here are the cigars you have... the theme is small, high quality cigars to keep everyone happy over the cold months

• Saint Luis Rey Puritos: tiny and tasty for the coffee break
• Trinidad Reyes: trusty and true, luxury small and meaty cigars that don't disappoint (see for example a recent review by Matt)
• Cohiba Secretos: Much like the Reyes, but even more expensive, 5 year aged tobacco, maduro, from a box dated Nov'08.
• Partagas Shorts: recent arrival, a half corona Partagas classic, and a top quality box to boot. Dated Nov.2010 these are very young with a lovely wrapper and great potential. Leathery beasts balanced out with aromatic woods. Ports, sherries any kind of fortified wines will do.
• El Rey del Mundo - Choix Supreme: the medium-bodied robusto makes a comeback after those great ones we had a year or so ago. The interesting thing about this blend - the citrus flavours. These Oct.09s weren't ready to smoke 6 months ago but hopefully they are coming around now. 

A temporary farewell to Zach who is off to China but took some cigars with him. Good way to avoid homesickness.

We are running low on cigar stocks so remember to let me know if you're going overseas - particularly Australia, Switzerland, or the U.S. - so that we can get you to pick a box or 2 with your duty free allowance...ta!

the Trinidad

After a hard morning's mountain bike ride I was more than eager to sit down and sample something, anything. Goodness me I have looked forward to this day! I got out my book (Neal Cassady's letters), a glass of el cheapo port and... "the Trinidad". What a way to while away a Sunday afternoon... As the grand heresiarch had pre-supposed, my liking for this one was well founded. A beautiful sweet tobacco smell of the un-burnt leaf... smooth on the initial draw with delicate fruity overtones. Happily got through 2/3rds of it without noticing much of a difference (my poor ability to detect nuances perhaps? Or the burning of my nasal cavity?) but certainly detected something new after that point. What? Goodness me I'm not sure... the idea of a soft mulch came to mind most readily I suppose... still a faint air of sweetness, hunkered down beneath an earthen and mossy front.

It did not get too extreme towards the end either, (the port had kicked in by now) and finished off well. Would I do it again? Oh you bet your ass mister!!

First Top Secret Cigar Mule Mission is a Success

Joel responded to my earlier plea for help by sending Candice on the first cigar mule mission. This time it was to Australia. I got an order posted to the address she was visiting and the fake bottom in her suitcase did the rest - although being an innocent-looking young lady probably helped  (jokes).

Nah seriously, if you are going to the U.S., Switzerland or Australia, or some tax haven (bahamas?) somewhere, let me know, and i might get you to bring back some cigars for the club. That way we can use the duty free allowance of 50 cigars per traveller to keep our costs down... as our national tobacco duty will only keep going up while they try and starve people of their addictive ciggies.

[A mate of mine at the healthy Ministry (yes even the Grand Heresiarch has his moles behind enemy lines) said they looked at separating out cigars from cigarettes in light of the differing health outcomes but it was a bit complicated and they basically couldn't be bothered. As there are no cigar lobbyists in this country there is no political will to sort it out... ]

Chain Smoking in the Castro Clan

Bolivar Gold Medal - TKO

Time to celebrate my baby boy's first blood nose, displaced front tooth, and swollen upper lip. Enough blood to get the ref to stop the fight and declare a TKO. No it wasn't me... he tripped and hit the concrete floor head first at Mitre 10 Mega whilst clutching a rock in his hands. Cunning plan to get dad to shell out for a $6 cuddly tiger.

Fat lip, bloody t-shirt, Van Damme victimised look

Anyways, i light it up in time to watch the first exchanges of a Crusaders - Waratahs game in which many deaths from many disasters are being avenged. My condolences to the 'Tahs. This dark, thick, oily wrappered Gold Medal gets straight into its stride with screeds of honey, cinnamon, and light earth. There is a touch of light peachiness. Smooth, smooth, smooth, with perhaps just a hint of capsicum round the edges. The slight earthiness is the only Bolivar hallmark present. Very much on the light side of medium body. I was expecting much heavier. There is no spice at all, even on the retrohale.

It quickly gets peachier and peachier... almost as peachy as Fruean's 360 pirouette intercept try. The honey sweet stonefruit reminds me of a Ramon Allones but approaches peach schnapps intensity. My only complaint is that there is not much depth, richness, or complexity of flavour. All the hallmarks of a young cigar. You can suck on it with the same greed as an all blacks prop eyeing up Al Baxter before scrumdown, without fear of reprisals.

The draw is almost too loose... smoke is flowing as freely as a Carter SBW Fruean backline. The wrapper leaf is doing a lot of the work flavourwise. I'm not sure if the blend has the required richness to grow with age... maybe. Capsicum and wood come in a bit in the last third, by which point it's almost a welcome relief.

Overall this was a very pleasant, easygoing, enjoyable cigar, that keeps on giving. Did I mention the peach? Remarkably smooth, without any great depth or intrigue. Early days but with uncertain potential I would smoke them now. No drinks required, but if you do indulge, it might pay to make it crisp to offset the sweetness (e.g. champagne or martini).