Latest Batch ...

... is winging its way to Sam with some young and powerful Montecristo no.4s (March 2018 box), the last of those magnificent short little Romeo y Julieta Petit Royales (Jul 17) - equally powerful and so well matched to a speyside scotch or similar...

and newly arrived H Upmann Epicure no.2 (singles don't have the box but max 1 yr old) in robusto vitola for an hour's pleasure, should be a tad gentler than the other two, probably a good accompaniment after a sunday roast and a few wines. 

And finally, a trio of Cohiba Shorts each for any time of day or night, a 20-30min habano punch made for espresso.

Montecristo A (...verybigcigar)

Greg sizing up his Coffin...

.. Prematurely ... there is still life in the old fella!!

 

And in the Lil' Fella too

It creates some problems for your usual accessories ...

But puts Life back into its proper Perspective...

... even Time slows down ... the planets start revolving around It (not You)

RyJ Mille Fleurs Abr 14

A review from April earlier this year that had a very long upload phase...

Por Larranaga PC au garage

Trinidad Reyes Salvation

The weather was a bit driech (as they say in Scotland), so I thought I'd try out my garage as a smoking venue. Nae bad. I took a risk on a Reyes, which as you may recall were super strong in their youth (2014 box?). They were so firecracker strong that the only thing that gave me hope that they had mellowed out to elevensies acceptability was past experience and a bit of faith. Past boxes have been through two distinct stages - voluminous creamy smoke and meaty full bodied strength for the first 6-18months evolving to fuller-medium biscuity cedar after 3 years. 

The beautiful dark wrappers and intense filler in this particular batch amounted to Islay-level requirements in whisky parlance. (In fact I may have some photos of Matt, Naomi and Bryony demonstrating this a couple of years ago.) But once again Los Reyes have proven their ability to mature and become more of a versatile pleasure of the breakfast, lunch and tea variety. In fact they remind me of those San Cristobal piramides (La Punta) that we have had, with a cumin, nutmeg and cedar sweetness. Very impressive.

Although well constructed, the piggy tail capa was no match for my garage cigar cutter.

Sweating with Sancho on ABs replay

Sancho Panza Belicoso for and Indian Summer's day

Autumn has arrived but thanks to Climate Change in Wellington, this is no obstacle to enjoying a big belligerent (well actually, medium-bodied, smooth, salty and creamy with a cedar kick)  habano with a cup of coffee...

RyJ Petit Royales - Half Corona

 

These are the latest trend out of Habanos - short but thick cigars for the time-pressed aficionado, first released just a few months ago. Cute. Pretty much half coronas although this vitola is officially a Capricho, a little caprice. Less than 10cm long but ring gauge 47, the same as a Churchill, but half the length. So a Half-Churchill? 

Smoke on a whim but ye gods, be careful not to puff too fast. 

At present these have almost the same body as the mighty Cazadores, so pretty damn full, but they are a little damp and packed full of tannins. All the best of the RyJ profile is there, charred cherry, coffee grind and a hint of burnt sugar. Perfectly enjoyable... But these need a little rest and a little dry-boxing (i.e. 50% humidity for a week or so) to relieve them of the excess moisture. They were rolled less than 6 months ago I think. As it is, I had to clip and reclip and reclip again to avoid the tannins building up around the slightest hint of saliva at the tip, which pushes out a pretty strong ligero hit more reminiscent of Syrian Latakia pipe tobacco than anything in the cigar world. They have a wonderful white ash and relatively thick smoke, great for smoke rings, but keep going out.  

I will dry box these, bring them back up to 65% humidity, and try again. And maybe with real port rather than red wine mixed with cheap cooking sherry (which to be honest does the trick if you're short!)

Cunning summer whisky

Found this tiny hip flask the other day, probably a gift from my aunt in law, was very useful on the golf course with Greg.

I put it in the fridge as it is a windless 28deg here. And pulled it out with a bandless and slightly plugged por larranaga. The chill is good but it definitely takes away from the flavour... (Aberlour).

Cohiba and cocaine

Matt introduced me to the high flying, nose powdering world of advertising at a recent partee ... We had to fight for a "smoking table" despite being in an outside courtyard... but managed to find some civilised French people to swap with who understand the need to have a puff. It was a Cohiba day with a powerful, dark roast, coffee grind little Secretos and a mellower hay, leather and earthy cedar big boy Genios, two chips off the same grassy block that defines the marca. Matched with a coffee liqueur and brandy cocktail concoction. It made for a great catch up after a few months in the desert of the soul (ie without seeing each other).  

You're all invited to join us next time ...

Jianlong Strikes Back

 

You may remember this Honorary Heretic from his legendary intervention a few years ago Smoking and Drinking the Great Wall of China. Well I had been waiting for an opportunity to catch up with him since then, which finally came when I cannily booked an 18 hr stopover in Singapore (his home town) on the way to Paris. 

So I looked him up and he took me on a tour of the heritage buildings he restored with the company he recently sold. This is one of them in the background, Chijms, a chapel for a fancy catholic school. Now for hire and surrounded by bars in a very pleasant drinking quarter...

5th bday Por Larranaga Petit Coronas

I pulled one of these out this morning and took a quick squiz at the box code - Agosto 2012. When I bought this cabinet of 50 probably in 2013, it was expressly so that some of the cigars therein could reach the 5 year mark. Why? These are just one of those cigars that had been said to improve after 5 years.

Fortunately in this case they've also been most enjoyable all the way along. The difference? Well, the body is a tad lighter, there's definitely a bit less grunt in the trunk and a slight hint of extra sweetness, bringing them a bit closer to say, those Quai d'Orsay Coronas which we once had. Even easier on the tongue with morning coffee ... whereas before i was sometimes tempted to make it morning whisky or [insert hard liquor here] for that last third. Mission Accomplished I'll say...

why not to buy duty free...

check out the price tag (singapore dollar pretty much the same as NZD) and weep

Bolivar in st Auban snow

... with Mik the cigar model, who recently learned to smoke cigars.

Yukatas and Bolivars

Spent some time in Japan on a conference/ course and introduced my colleagues in the smoking room to the joys of a Bolivar. The Marlboros did not compare. These are taken inside the room of a traditional guest house in the bath robes provided for the hot spring communal baths. John from PNG, Steven from Solomon islands, Jun from the Philippines, Tokpah from Liberia pictured below. Good fullas each and every one of them