Monday was Memorial Day, a special occasion which called for a special cigar. I went to the “special” humidor and selected a Ramon Allones 8-9-8 that had been in there for 5 years or so. After doing a bit of research on it, I found that this lonsdale size cigar had been discontinued since sometime around 2003. I figured it had been in my possession long enough and was ready to go. I wasn’t disappointed with it as it was a delicious cigar which just delighted my taste buds for a good hour or so. It wasn’t the prettiest cigar in the world, it was a little lumpy in places, but it was just about everything I like about cigars from this particular geographic location. There is a flavor, or a “twang” if you will, that I can’t put a name to that seems to be a characteristic that was present in this cigar. I wish I had the ability to better describe this fairly rare vitola, other than it was a special cigar that I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with.
After a dinner which featured jalepeños stuffed with macaroni and cheese (HOT!), I fired up a Deisel Unholy Cocktail, which I’ve spoken about here before. This was another great cigar, for far different reasons than the Ramon Allones. It had enough flavor to get past the damage done by the peppers and a great burn. This was my last one of these and I will need to grab some more the next time I see them. For a $4 cigar ($3.33 each by the box) these are just dandy! Pennsylvania broad leaf goodness down to the last inch. The only downside to me is the name, I think “Deisel” does this cigar a disservice, but that’s just my opinion and won’t stop me from enjoying them.
This evening (Wednesday) I will have the distinct honor and pleasure of attending a dinner cruise and herf in New York City at the invitation of a dear old friend. I expect to have a lot to report from this event, and will try to tweet (@cigarcraig on Twitter) over the course of the evening. I’ve been really looking forward to this event and am grateful for the invitation. More on this in my next post.
Speaking of herf, as I was listening to the latest Dogwatch Cigar Radio episode, they started out with a question about the word herf and where it originated. One of the more frequently visited posts on my old blog is the explanation of where the term originated. I’ve been contemplating re-posting it here on the new blog, but in the mean time it will always be at http://cigarcraig.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/the-origin-of-the-word-herf/ .
Don’t forget to enter to win some cool Joya de Nicaragua stuff! There will be 2 winners this time so get your comment in to enter. Deadline is Saturday, June 5th. If everyone cooperates I’ll have a video to post with the selections on Sunday the 6th.
I was listening to that Dogwatch, yelling, “Usenet! It’s usenet! Alt.smokers.cigars, you twits!”
Funny…I was doing the same thing, only I was taking a walk in the neighborhood at the time. Good thing the use of hands free cell phones has desensitized people to the sight of someone talking to themselves! Check the show notes and comments on the Dogwatch site…I set them straight!