Sobremesa, Alec Bradley Prensado, and Tatuaje The Jackel Cigars

Last Sunday my wife and I spent the day in  Philly, it was a Pops day. We went to the Art Museum for a Pop Art exhibit, and then to the Philly Pops concert. On the walk from the Art Museum to the Kimmel Center I enjoyed the heck out of a Sobremesa Corona Grande, the smallest in the line at 5¼” x 44.  For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, here is the blend details of Steve Saka’s freshmen release: Capa (wrapper): La Meca Ecuador Habano #1 Rosado, Capote (binder): Matacapan Negro de Temporal, and Tripa (filler): Nicaraguan Gk Condega C-SG Seco, Nicaraguan Pueblo Nuevo Criollo Viso, Nicaraguan La Joya Esteli C-98 Viso, Nicaraguan ASP Esteli Hybrid Ligero, and USA Lancaster County Broadleaf Ligero. I wish every cigar maker provided half the blend information that Steve does. This little guy was a great cigar for wandering the streets of Philly, it burned well, has the same refined, nuanced flavor of its larger siblings, but with a little sharper “Pop”, which was appropriate for the theme of the day. Stopped by Holt’s on the way back to the train after the concert and picked up a couple of cigars for no real reason, it was nice to see Zack again. It was a good Day.

Later in the week I smoked the Alec Bradley Prensado Robusto which was the subject of last week’s The Cigar Authority show, and part of their Care Package. I smoked it while listening to the podcast, as I never seem to catch it live.  This cigar had a couple year’s age on it, and was quite smooth and flavorful, but I didn’t get the “cinnamon roll” flavor Dave Garofalo got.  For the last few weeks Dave has been finding obscure song snippets to play when he finds the flavor, one week it was Poptarts and butter, we can only hope he doesn’t find a peanut butter and jelly flavor, or we’ll have to hear the incessant “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” bit…if this shows up on the show I’ll know he stole the idea from me!  Anyway, it was a good smoke, to bad it gave me a head cold…

This is the first head cold I’ve had in a long time, and it moved through pretty quick, thankfully. It was annoying enough that I didn’t want to smoke anything I wanted to mention here, so I smoked a few favorites that I have a handful of, and the were good. I still have a little congestion, but yesterday I was ready for something a little bit special.  I selected the Tatuaje The Jackel, an exclusive to CDMCigars, and Casa de Montecristo in Chicago. This is a big torpedo, 6¾” x 56, with the wrapper coming up short on the foot by about ¾”. I had a good time with this cigar. It started off pretty bold with some sweetness and spice, then when the wrapper started burning it got a bit creamier. The Sancti Spiritus wrapper leaf really tamed this down from the brash start. It was very enjoyable, burned well enough only requiring an occasional touch up, and was hard to put down. I’ve been trying to broaden my limited Tatuaje experience as of late, I’ve been missing out on some great smokes, so prepare to get bored with my new-found attention to this brand.

That’s all for today, I’ve got a Noon appointment with my TV, the Flyer’s try to avoid elimination once again. I’ll need a great cigar after the game either way, I think. Before I forget, give a listen to The Stogie Geeks lastest show with Glynn Loope of the CRA. they give a lot of great information on the looming FDA regulations. Until the next time,

CigarCraig