Monday was a rainy Labor Day, which is a little depressing for me. I love summer and the end of the season makes me sad. I don’t look forward to autumn or winter very much. Of course the rain didn’t help matters, as my lovely wife and I had tickets to see some dude named Springsteen at Citizens Bank Park in Philly and concerts are less fun when you’re wet. So while we were hanging around waiting to head out, I decided to chose between a cigar and a nap, and the cigar won. I selected a CLE Corojo corona as I hadn’t yet tried Christian Eiroa’s new cigars. I brought these back from Orlando with me, but it’s not what you think, I purchased them at one of the Corona Cigar Co. locations we visited. I purchased a couple coronas, which are a corona gorda size at 5½ x 46, one of my favorite sizes, and they were reasonably priced at under $6 a stick. If you try the CLE cigars expecting a Camacho, that’s not what you’re in for. This cigar was quite nice, medium bodied with a nice flavor, except for a mineral flavor that didn’t really hit my palate right. Still, perfect construction and burn, and savory flavor. I suspect that flinty mineral flavor could age out after a few months in the humidor. I have another one that I’ll use to test that theory.
The Springsteen show was great, fears of wetness were unfounded as our seats were covered and I had bought 2 ponchos in the parking lot for $5 (cheap insurance!). He put on a heck of a show of well over 3 hours, hitting all the old favorites as well as some new material. Of course, no smoking in the venue, but I did get a waft of a familiar aroma at one point that reminded me of concerts in the 80s. Funny, if I lit up a cigar I’d get tossed out on my ear, but the stoners are free to enjoy their smoke! I’m 49 and I think I fell somewhere in the middle of the demographic at the show, which I though was funny. This isn’t a concert review blog, so I’ll move on. Tuesday I took my traditional evening walk with a CLE Cuarenta corona. This cigar was an IPCPR trade show sample. The Cuarenta was Christian’s 40th birthday cigar (young punk!), and it has a Habano wrapper and is a little bit lighter than it’s Corojo sibling. Oddly, I got the same mineral notes in this cigar that I taste in the Corojo. Obviously they share a component. Flinty taste aside, it was still a flavorful smoke and, like the Corojo, worth seeking out and sampling. As I alluded to earlier, I had a chance to sit down with Christian at the show and recorded this video with him talking about all his new ventures.
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
