Sunday afternoon I sat down with a tasty MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured Swamp Thang Toro and spent some time on Skype talking to Dave Burke of Cigar Jukebox recording a guest DJ spot for a future show. I’ve been listening to Dave for a while, and from my perspective, it was very easy talking to him for the first time. It didn’t feel like the first time since I’ve grown used to hearing his voice in my headphones. I’m sure it was weird for him, but I was 
fairly comfortable. I’m fortunate to know many of the people I listen to on podcasts and radio shows, and I hope to get to meet Dave one day. He’s based in Australia, so the likelihood of our paths crossing is reasonable low, unfortunately. Give his shows a listen if you’re a music fan at all, pairing music and cigars is quite interesting, I found it challenging as there is as much variety in music as there is in cigars! It was a great honor to be invited on this terrific show.
Last night I grabbed a Protocol Probable Cause Lancero from the IPCPR sample humidor. This is Cubariqueño‘s sophomore release, made at La Zona in Esteli, with a San Andrés maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The Lancero is 7½” x 38 and is box pressed. While the draw was a little more snug than I like, it burned wonderfully and had great rich, dark flavors. Bill and Juan of Protocol Cigars have three lines, this one with a red band, the original Protocol with the blue band, and the tasty Connecticut shade wrapped Themis with a gold band. I love that they only produce a couple of sizes in each line, it makes it easy for me to keep track of them. I haven’t settled on a favorite yet, they are all really tasty!
Tonight I lit up a cigar that came to me almost two years ago in a very nice selection of cigars from Drew Estate. I decided to smoke this one because it came in a rather unwieldy cardboard box that was taking up to much room in the humidor! Since I received this cigar, Drew Estate is no longer distributing the line, so this isn’t very timely, 
I guess. The cigar in question, as you might infer from the title of this post, is the Balmoral Añejo XO Rothschild Masivo. This is a 5″ x 55 robusto made in the Dominican Republic with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, that’s listed as “sun grown” and exceptionally aged. The binder is Dominican Olor, and the fillers are Dominican, Nicaraguan and Brazilian, all also described as exceptionally aged. Balmoral is big in Europe, its origins are with the Winterman’s family. The cigar had some plume, and tasted like a well aged cigar. It was very complex, with lots of cocoa and spice and some sweetness. I liked it a lot, I can’t believe it took me so long to smoke this as the box has been getting in my way over the past two years!
That’s all for tonight, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Bill and Juan have a winner with their Protocol cigar line, and while I’ve only smoked 1- that Balmoral is a sure thing as well
it is always sad to find that a company has cut the cord with particular lines of cigars, especially when it is for a stick that you really like. But, i suuppose that is the way of life. Does the Balmoral even exist anymore? It seems that anything with “anejo” in the name turns out to be a decent cigar. It usually does for me, anyhow.