Iceland Wrap-up and a La Sirena LT

While we never did see the Aurora Borealis in Iceland, we still got to see some cool stuff and had a good time. I made it back to Björk Tobacco shop and picked up a couple Macanudo Inspirados in a short torpedo size, their best selling cigar. They were reasonably priced at 9000 Icelandic Krona, or a bit over $8.00. I couldn’t bring myself to spend $50 or so on three pack of Romeo y Julieta petite coronas in tubes. As most things in Reykjavik, Cuban cigars were very expensive. I spoke again with Thulin, the owner of Björk. He shared with me a bit of the Icelandic humor behind the sign on the shop, which says “caution tobacco” as a sarcastic kind of warning. I’m told that the Icelandic people use sarcasm quite a bit, but it doesn’t really translate in English. So I figure eventually I’ll see if there’s any difference between the  Macanudo Inspirado from Iceland and the US release. The Inspirado has been popular in Europe for a while.

 
On the way out of Iceland we paid another visit to the airport duty free and perused the cigar selection again. This one had larger humidors but a similar selection. I found a fiver of Guantanamera Cristals for under $20 so I figured what the hell. 

I thought the Star Trek inspired automatic doors on the tobacco section was a nice touch, we wouldn’t want people seeing tobacco products and getting addicted. Anyway, upon entry back into the US I declared that I purchased twelve cigars and there was no inquiry about the country of origin at all. I haven’t actually ever smoked either the Jose L Piedra or Guantanamera, so after they’ve rested a bit from their travels I’ll see how they are. The later were in the Duty Free outside of the humidors, with the dry cured cigars, which I thought was a poor merchandising decision.

 
I smoked only one cigar in Iceland, appropriately a Freyja Corona Grande, while walking back from a misssed ferry ride. It was good, and I think I tasted hints of the salty licorice the Nordic people like so much. Obviously, Freyja is a goddess in Norse mythology and comes up frequently in Iceland. As a matter of fact our plane was named Freyja It wasn’t the greatest environment to enjoy a cigar, it was windy and rainy and I only had matches which made lighting a challenge. It was the only cigar I smoked on the trip, so it was certainly memorable.

Tonight I thoroughly enjoyed a new offering  from La Sirena, their Connecticut wrapped LT. This was released at the IPCPR show along with the Merlion Maduro. This cigar was a 5 1/2″ x 50, which is interesting because the information I found listed a Robusto and a Toro, neither being 5 1/2″. I really like the size and this was a terrific cigar. I enjoyed the bright flavor of the Connecticut wrapper and it certainly was full of flavor. These are made at the Placencia factory in Nicaragua and was perfectly constructed although the draw was a bit open, and it burned a bit faster than I would have liked. This is a cigar I’d be thrilled to have a box of in my humidor.

I was lazy tonight and wrote this again on my phone instead of dragging the laptop out. Hopefully the readability isn’t terrible. Until the next time,
CigarCraig