Last time I offered a five pack from my humidors for the correct answer to our dog’s name significance. While it’s true that the SPCA named her after Macha, the goddess in Irish mythology, I decided that it had to have a Beatles tie in. We have cats named Max (Maxwell’s Silver Hammer) and Eleanor (Eleanor Rigby), so I knew there must be a connection, and there was, sort of. It’s a stretch, but in 1981 George Harrison financed a film starring Ringo Starr called “Caveman”, one of my favorite movies. One of the first peices of dialog in the movie is Ringo’s character, Atouk, encountering a dinosaur, and yelling “Macha!”. So, it’s obscure, but I was able to come up with a Beatles reference for the name Macha! I’m surprised (not really) that nobody came up with it. Here’s the first part of Caveman for your entertainment. Interesting to note that the movie is set in One Zillion B.C., October 9. October 9 is John Lennon’s birthday, and he was murdered the year before. This was an homage to him. I suppose since nobody got it right I’ll select a winner at Random, the number generator spit out the number 10, so Dan Colley needs to send me his address. Thanks for playing along, I’ll try to throw these little contests in from time to time.
http://youtu.be/pGepwTmhBtA
On to the cigars! Sunday I selected a Blanco Liga Exclusiva de Familia Connecticut Shade Salomon. David Blanco gave me this cigar at The Smokin Goose event a few weeks ago and it looked really special, so I had to smoke it. It’s a 6″ x 54 Salomon shaped cigar with a beautiful wrapper which is US Connecticut seeds grown in the Talanga Valley of Honduras. It lit quickly and easily, and burned perfectly. The cigar was silky smooth and creamy. It was a very enjoyable cigar, refined and delicious. I really like the Blanco 9, but for totally different reasons. This pretty perfecto is something special. Highly recommended.
Monday I went for another new cigar, the La Palina Black Label Robusto. This 5″x52 robusto has a dark Brazilian wrapper, with Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers made in the PDR factory in Dominican Republic. It recent;y came to my attention that the PDR factory is located either in the same complex, or very close to, Jochi Blanco’s factory where the Boutique Blends lines are made. These are both very hot factories in the DR. I expected a very good experience from the La Palina, and I received it. The Brazilian wrapper gives it a nice espresso like flavor, with a hint of sweetness. It hit the spot on my evening walk.
Tuesday I had to do some things at the new house after dinner, so when I got home I took my walk with a L’Atelier Maduro MAD44 which I bought back in August at Havana Manor in Longmont, Colorado. I was pretty sure the small size would come in handy one day, and this was the perfect time. It was perfect for a mile and a half walk listening to the Flyers game. This line has the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with a Sancti Spiritus Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This is yet another refined smoke, with a sweet, strong coffee flavor. It burned perfectly for the entirety of it’s four inch length. It’s a great short smoke.
Tonight I came across a Placeres Reserva Estrellas from Kuuts Cigars in the humidor and decided it’s time had come. This cigar is made in Honduras, with a Nicaraguan wrapper and binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. This is the first of this line I’ve tried, and it’s a winner. It had a savory flavor, like a nice steak. It burned perfectly with a nice flat and even burn. Some say that a cone shaped ember is the sign of a perfect burn, I disagree. I love to tap off the ash and have a nice flat coal, it tells me that all the components are burning at the same rate, and it’s no small feat to make this happen. It’s a testament to the blender who manages to get leaves of varying thickness and oiliness to burn so well. I’ll be anxious to sample other cigars from Kuuts after having such a good experience with this one.
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Incredible, I’ll never forget Caveman. The special effects far surpasses any Spielberg movie I’ve ever seen. The only thing I would have suggested was to add subtitles.
I’ll have to scour the area to find the Blanco Perfecto, I can’t recall a Blanco I haven’t enjoyed.
I’ve always enjoyed La Palina cigars. I really like bold cigars, I’ve smoked several La Palina Black Labels and and they’re really a winner for me.
I’ve smoked a few L’Atelier Maduro’s. A few years back I was smoking nothing but Maduro cigars of various brands, blends And sizes. I have no idea why I stopped smoking a maduro as frequently as I did then. After smoking my first L’Atelier Maddie, I search every humidor in the house for maduros. I found a good handful and also went out to a few B&M’s to find what I could in a maduro wrapper. My maduro assortment is once again stocked up like it use to be. I didn’t hesitate to buy a bunch of L’Atelier’s. What a great cigar to remind me that I like maduro cigars.
You got me on the Placeres reserva Estrella’s, it’s one I never smoke nor have seen anywhere I’ve lately been. The hunt is still on…
Congrats, Dan, even though Craig made the parameters damned near impossible, lol. Who has ever seen Caveman?? And I’m even older than Craig. Should have seen that Beatles slant coming.
BTW. that Blanco Connie is a damned good smoke.
Craig, is it my imagination or are the really hot new cigars are going for Brazilian leaf for wrappers? I note that the ones that most people “really like” have a Brazilian Maduro wrapper on them.
Also a quick comment about the L’Atelier line of cigars. Almost two years ago, I bought a two five packs of a L’Atelier vitola that I remember as being a corona. (I have it written down somewhere but am too lazy to look It up !!!) When I smoked the first one, I wasn’t impressed, It was just too “edgy”, green, sharp. So … I put the remaining cigars in the humidor and promptly forgot about them. Then, about a year after that, I decided to try it again, and lo and behold, it had morphed into a VERY nice cigar, typical of Pete Johnson’s and Don Pepin Garcia’s work. The remaining sticks in the pack are now long gone. This has reminded me a couple of important things that I should never forget. First, humidor time NEVER hurts a cigar and second, this line of cigars is worth the wait. Given time, they get really good.
BTW, thanks to your random number generator, OK? Thanks to you as well !!! I think that maybe I saw “Caveman” but those were the days shortly after the 60s and like they say, if you can remember them, you weren’t there.