Before I get into the cigar, I’ve found myself noticing maybe people getting a little antsy on the Facebook groups and either providing bad information or berating people for doing things “wrong” with their cigars. In the spirit of positivity and to be helpful and educational, I’ve offered my advice where I see fit. A few examples: one poster removes the wrappers (cello) in his humidor because having plastic next to his cigars doesn’t seems natural. This was offered in what I took as a condescending way. This was my gentle response: “it’s not plastic, it’s cellophane, which is made from wood fiber and is water permeable. I figure if cigar makers are ok putting cellophane on the cigars then who am I to second guess them? If it’s an aesthetic thing and you like the look of naked cigars in your humidors, that’s another story, but there’s absolutely no functional reason not to store cigars in cellophane long term.” In another group a gentleman posted a photo of a cigar with a severe runner. He was lambasted for not touching it up, told that he was smoking in the wind, ripped up and down for what he did wrong, and he defended himself, said he tried to touch it up. I offered the following “Sometimes the Ligero isn’t placed right in the bunch and the cigar doesn’t burn right, it happens and it isn’t the poor guys fault for not touching up his burn, being in the wind or not rotating his cigars in the humidor or having bad karma or whatever. More positivity folks!” Hopefully these replies were helpful and taken in the spirit in which they were offered. When I see bad information or piling on for the wrong reasons I have trouble keeping my mouth shut.
This afternoon I selected a cigar from the new cigars that came back with me from the TPE show. The supply of these is running low, but I still have a few. The folks at Nova Cigars were quite generous and treated me to a wide range of their offerings. The Platinum Nova Congress is a 7” x 43 cigar, not entirely sure what to call it, it’s to big a ring for a Lancero, and too long to be a Lonsdale, but it has a nice “bun” style cap. It has a H2000 CT Ecuador wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers, made in the DR. This cigar is in their lower priced line, but it’s still $18, well above my typical price threshold. This is a beautiful cigar, and the burn and draw are what I expect from a cigar of this caliber. I smoked this cigar slowly, so as not to overheat it, as is my custom with thinner ring gauge cigars. I was struck with a distinct caramel flavor especially on the retrohale. This was a very elegant cigar, smooth, creamy, and very tasty. I enjoyed it quite a bit on a nice spring day.
It seems like I’ve smoked a bunch of cigars since Sunday, notable, to me at least, have been a RoMaCraft Cromagnon Fomorian, a Macanudo Red, a LFD Reserva Especial, and another Danli Honduras Tabaco The Clown. Tonight’s cigar was an oldie from deep in the humidor, a Rauchvergnügen No 42, a bit of an obscure “German Engineered” cigar, which had aged quite nicely. I wrote about this cigar almost four years ago (here). That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
