Last Cigar of ‘18 and First Cigars of ‘19

I wrapped up 2018 with a quiet evening on the porch. I worked all day, my wife was working, and there was a hockey game on the iPad. I selected a cigar that had been in the humidor since September of 2009, when I received it in a trade with an only friend who warned me that it might be tight or plugged (it was a trade heavily in my favor, I wasn’t worried). I knew this gentleman from the old Usenet days, he’s generous to a fault. One time he flew me to North Carolina for a cigar event in his plane for nothing, and wanted to trade me something when I tried to give him a gift for doing it! I think he even bought me lunch upon arrival. Your money was never any good around this guy. Anyway, the cigar in question was a Partagas Churchill de Luxe Havana. This is a classic 7″ x 47 Churchill, and was a beautiful looking cigar with a milk chocolate-brown wrapper. As advertised, even after the better part of a decade in the humidor, and one of my drier humidors at that, this cigar’s draw was on the snugger side. The upside of this was that it allowed for a slower smoking time, and more time to savor the delicate, floral flavor that this interesting Havana cigar brought to the table. This was a unique smoke, and it brought to mind a similar experience I had with a Cuban Punch Churchill a few years ago. It turned out to be a nice smoke to end a weird year.

To get 2019 started right, I went with a classic favorite, the Arturo Fuente Añejo No. 50. I’m fortunate to have a box of these 5.25 x 50 Robustos in the humidor and dip into it on occasion. The story is that the Añejo was born the year Fuente had a disaster and lost an Opus X wrapper crop and put Broadleaf wrappers on all the Opus bunches. Whether that’s the case or not, it’s a spectacular cigar to my palate and I’ll smoke an Añejo over an Opus X any day of the week. It presents cocoa and espresso with refinement and panache all day long. Just writing about it makes me want to smoke another one. I need to get my hands on some other sizes, I hear that Shark size is pretty good!

Last night I was invited to be a guest on A Facebook live show, and I smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon on the show. Of course, La Sirena is. woman owned cigar company, owned by Arielle Ditkowich, represented by her sister, Mariah, and run by her and her family. I’ve met all of them and they are a great bunch of folks. They are one of my favorite cigar brands, and I’m proud to have them as long time supporters of CigarCraig.com. The King Poseidon is the 6″ x 60 made at La Zona in Esteli and is just a darned good cigar. Flavor descriptors fail me at the moment, but I know when I want a delicious, satisfying cigar, I reach for a La Sirena, and that goes for just about anything in their portfolio, whether it’s the La Sirena, the Oceano made by Quesada, or the Merlin made at La Aurora.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig