Sunday afternoon I took the two mile trip to the cigar shop since it was bitterly cold and windy. I finally smoked the My Father Connecticut Toro. This is a 6½” x 54 Ecuador wrapped beauty is made from tobacco grown on the Garcia’s farms in Nicaragua (except the wrapper) and cut and lit nicely. I was quite impressed with everything about this cigar. It burned perfectly, had a great draw and gave me a nice hour and a half or so of relaxation. I have been spending more time at this shop, but still haven’t wandered into the Montecristo Lounge, I just sat out in the front in a leather chair watching some golf, perusing some magazines and hanging out. I know the former owner, who still works there, but he wasn’t there. This Connecticut shade wrapped cigar is a winner, great smoking experience.
Monday was another cold night, so I went with a smaller cigar, the “Skinny” corona in Mitchell Orchant’s Oliva Orchant Seleccion. I smoked the 4″ x 60 Chubby a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. This 5″ x 43 corona was excellent, although different from the Chubby. The flavor was more direct, less smooth and mellow than the larger ring. Obviously the wrapper to filler ratio makes a very big difference, and I’m very interested in trying the robusto in this line to see if it falls in the middle. I love all cigars, sometimes I like the sharper, more focussed flavors of a smaller ring gauge, other times I enjoy larger rings, they are generally a little cooler. Mostly I like a longer smoke though, as every cigar is mini vacation. It’s a shame these aren’t available on this side of the pond, I’m finding them to be a bit more refined than the already pretty refined Oliva Serie V.
Tuesday I opted for a really short smoke, the A. Flores Gran Reserva Half Corona, a 2006 Dominican Corojo wrapped little flavor bomb from PDR Cigars. It has Dominican Corojo and Nicaraguan Habano filler, Dominican binder, and packs a lot of flavor into a 3½” x 46 cigar. This is a great half hour smoke, and gives a big cigar experience in a small package. These are available in neat tins that are very handy, and are really delicious little cigars. Perfect for a frigid and busy evening.
We’ve been furnace shopping, as ours is failing, and finally came to a decision. The new furnace and water heater goes in Friday. To celebrate I grabbed a favorite, the Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Year, with the copper colored bands. This tasty 5″ x 50 robusto has a dark Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I really love the flavor of this cigar, it has a unique toasty cocoa flavor that is very appealing. this one has been in the humidor for a while, and I hope that the change in ownership doesn’t change the flavor of this smoke. This is probably my favorite in the Exodus series.
That’s it for now, it’s been a wild week with the furnace and all. Fortunately we are getting it replaced before it fails completely, it’s really the wrong time of year fro that nonsense, and we’ve been unhappy with the hot water since we moved in. I really don’t want the water heater failing, that tends to get messy and we just had new carpet (and walls) in the room adjacent to the room with all the mechanicals. We are REALLY looking forward to spring! That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
not a good time for the furnace to go out! why can’t it happen in October or April?
Good luck Craig…these aren’t the temperatures that you want your furnace failing.
Furnace notwithstanding, water heater issues are also something that are NEVER timely. Nothing like a flood on a new carpet. Your homeowner’s insurance company would probably try to blame it on “rising water” and want your flood insurance to cover it, putting you in the middle of a lengthy argument.
I agree with you about the Oliva not being available on this side of the ocean. What a shame. I don’t suppose that there are any cigars that are available in the US that are not available in Europe, are there? Your comments about the corona-sized are also interesting. I’ve come to notice the same thing – you can smoke a corona and a toro of a particular brand and it’s almost like smoking two different frontmarks. Amazing. Those types of cigars can give you at least three different flavors if you smoke a gordo,, a robusto and a corona. As Mr. Spock would say: “Fascinating” !!!
Always been a Torano fan. That was an excellent selection. 3 more days in Arizona before heading back to Wisconsin. Looking to get in a few more smokes before heading back to below 0 windchills and hopefully a working furnace!
Craig, the 50 Year has always been one of my favorite Toraños, along with the Master (natural). Have you had the Finite? I found that one to be quite enjoyable as well.
A lot of solid smokes in the Toraño lineup, I hope tha t consistency doesn’t change.