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).

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!

• 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?

Bryan and the Partagas Serie D no.4

As usual you'll need to turn up the volume and the brightness to be able to see/hear my poor videos.

45mn - 1hr + smoke.
Vitola/Size: Robusto
Length 12.4cm Ring gauge 50.
Strength: Medium-bodied
Drink match: Port, Sherry, whisky at the end maybe...
Box date: April 2010

The Serie D no.4 is generally one of the fuller bodied cigars of this brand and exhibits all the typical Partagas profile - a balance between leather, cedar and rose woods, fragrance of wine berry, some light pepper, and a touch of honey and vanilla. This very young cigar is unusually approachable - almost too much so - and one would hope that with time it will develop into something bigger and bolder. Unlikely but possible. A very low maintenance example of the SD4 that is closer to the mild flavour of the Serie P no. 2. Enjoy it now.

February - March batch

First, I would like to welcome uncle Bryan (Greg's brother) to the club. Nau mai, haere mai ki te Hikari Hereteki o Aotearoa. As you can see above, Bryan is a warm and trustworthy gentleman who will make a great Heretic (he can also draw smoke with one ear and blow smoke-rings out the other - a talent reserved for audiologists).

As to this batch, apart from Bryan who has a special starters cocktail, these are the cigars you will receive.

• 2 La Gloria Cubana Puritos (cellophaned)
• Vegueros Seoanes: I have heard better things from many of you about these, and have shared a good one meself with Scott. Luck of the draw (ha ha).
• Ramon Allones Small Club Corona: these are fruity and smoking well now (box date May 2010 so very young).
• Trinidad Reyes - no need for introductions anymore, but this is a newer 09? box
• Montecristo Especial no.2: a special cigar and expensive to boot. Very mild, very rich, have it after a light meal, no strong drinks, and you'll see it is a gem. 
• Partagas Serie D no.4: this is pure Partagas flavour, robusto-style. Medium-Full body. This one is very young (Apr.'10) and I haven't tasted any of this box yet so you'll have to let me know!

Enjoy!

Chainsaws and Vegueros - Christmas in the Wild

 

Back before Christmas, Scott and myself Went Bush to go and find some christmas trees. Well ok, maybe that was just an excuse to go ape$hit with his chainsaw and scare some old ladies. The trick is to find the ones (pine trees not old ladies) that the Rangers haven't already cut down. We did get one in the end after getting sweaty traipsing round the hillside in hot humid weather.

Seeing as it was a heretics outing involving oily machinery, I took along a Vegueros Seoanes with a nice wrapper. As has been noted these have a leafy grassy green flavour to them with a hint of Unleaded 95 on the nose and a touch of 2-stroke motor oil on the arse. It was well suited to the occasion and more surprisingly was a smooth, palatable, and well-constructed cigar. You still have to be in the mood for the flavour profile on offer - fortunately for us, the chainsaw was revvin', the grannies a-screamin', and the 2 stroke smoke mingling with our own. Sweet harmony to the senses. Yeeahaarrr!

Byron's Eloge du Cigare

The Island by Lord Byron XIX.

But here the herald of the self-same mouth [60]
Came breathing o’er the aromatic south,
Not like a “bed of violets” on the gale,
But such as wafts its cloud o’er grog or ale,
Borne from a short frail pipe, which yet had blown
Its gentle odours over either zone,
And, puffed where’er winds rise or waters roll,
Had wafted smoke from Portsmouth to the Pole,
Opposed its vapour as the lightning dashed,
And reeked, ‘midst mountain-billows, unabashed,
To AEolus a constant sacrifice,
Through every change of all the varying skies.
And what was he who bore it?–I may err,
But deem him sailor or philosopher.

Sublime Tobacco! which from East to West
Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest;
Which on the Moslem’s ottoman divides
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand;
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe;
Like other charmers, wooing the caress,
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress;
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties–Give me a cigar!

Heresy at the Home of Cricket

Yes my good man Scott kindly took me along to see some test cricket courtesy of free tickets he got from someone. I had forgotten how relaxing it can be to wile away the hours... bodies strewn on the green grass beneath a blue sky... men in white occasionally stirring in the middle... small crowd milling about as if on a mass cannabis prescription. Monday cricket at the Basin.

Perfect for large cigar smoking in fact. A little bit of smuggled port to top it off and 'all is for the best in the best of worlds'.

The toes come in handy for holding those big Punch Double Coronas as you lie on the grass verges at the cricket.

As you can see we shared a Punch DC, and like many of the big cubans it shines by virtue of its mildness and balance. Predominant cedar with a touch of wood. All the way through... no surprises. Perfect in the context. Well matched by a port. Must've taken at least one wicket to get through - on a flat pitch, with sturdy no-nonsense Pakistani test batsmen, and no real strike bowlers, that's a looong time. Long live summer.

Tasting some birthday Punch

Four and a half heretics, some good wine and a punch double corona


You get the cool guy.....


The " wooah I'm seeing double corona rainbows" guy.....


And the "what's he doing" guy.

But after 50something years of it you get the.....


Say no more, it's my Birthday guy.

Christmas-January Batch

Christmas for Communists: Fidel spelling it out in front of the Star of Bethlehem and Marx

Seasons Greetings to you all, my fellow Heretics!

Fidel may have banned Christmas in 1969, but he reinstated it in honour of the pope in '97, so I think we're allowed to have a good smoke to celebrate.
 
My right hand man Sam has returned, but to the Wrong Side of the Bridge, and as Greg is away I've sent him the latest batch, so he's the go-to man for your christmas smokes.

They are:

• La Gloria Cubana - Puritos: little cellophane-wrapped cigarillos
• Oliva Serie G: little nicaraguan nipples.
• Fonseca KDTs: rice-paper wrapped coffee cohort joys (when they draw! you might need to poke'em a bit)
• Ramon Allones Small Club Coronas: not as strong as their big brothers the Specially Selected, in a handy format and with a fruity flavour.
• Cohiba Secretos: very expensive, luxurious small cigars, maduro wrapper aged 5 years and filler 3 before they even roll them, rich chocolatey flavours, beautiful dessert smoke. 

and ... drumroll ...

some Punch Double Coronas, well aged, the largest mainstream format and 2 and a bit hours of smoking pleasure. Now, as they are really quite expensive, and Hugenormous, they are to be shared in the spirit of christmas, one for every two heretics. So i'm hoping you'll get together and share on chugging duties. Would be good for poker, watching the ashes, or a very intricate board game (axis and allies?).

Video - Rolling a cigar

Note: the next batch is ready, i just need to pop it in the post. Greg's going away so sending it to Sam on the North Shore, he should have it next week so you have something to smoke over the christmas hols...