It’s Memorial Day Weekend for my US readers, let’s remember that this weekend is about those who serve and paid the ultimate price, it’s not Veterans Day. Memorial Day is for the folks who didn’t come back and I thank them and their families for their sacrifice. I hope every celebrates in a safe and responsible manner! Friday my wife and I went out to the local Movie Tavern and had dinner and a movie, which is a nice way to go. We saw the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie which we really enjoyed. When we got home I grabbed a cigar that my Secret Santa George (thanks George!) sent last December, the Felix Assouline Something Special Sublime. This is a 5″ x 52 box pressed robusto that has a Habano Criollo 98 wrapper, Indonesian binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. It was a nice looking cigar, I’m generally not a Criollo fan, but the cigar looked enticing with its nice box press. It had an earthy, leathery flavor, not a lot of sweetness, and a really nice burn. I know next to nothing about this brand, but it looks like they sell direct on their website, and the Something Special line is reasonable price, this robusto coming in at $5.60. While perusing the website, it appears that they have a line called EGO, which would have been an appropriate cigar to follow the movie we saw (no spoilers).
Saturday was a two cigar day, and I decided to start out with a cigar from the depths of the humidor, one that has been in there for at least five years. Oliva’s Cain line, and their Studio Tabak division was a pretty big deal, putting a pretty traditional company on the map with a cutting edge line. The Cain Daytona Lancero was, at the time I got it, a bit of a unicorn, I believe it was only available at events. I have one more in the humidor that has a secondary band with the Studio Tabak designation, I think the one I smoked was older. The Cain Daytona follows the Cain tradition of using Ligero in the majority of the blend, this one uses all Ligero from Nicaragua’s Jalapa region, which make it a bit more refined than it’s siblings which employ Ligeros from Esteli and Condega in addition to the Jalapa. The Cain line seems to have lost steam over the years, maybe not surprising as the face of the brand, as well as it’s creator, left the company to form Leccia Tobacco, and subsequent attempts at putting a face to the brands didn’t last. I keep a constant eye out for a great deal on this brand, I wouldn’t mind having a box of Cains in my humidor.
Last night I went with a large Salomon cigar, the Man O’War Ruination Special Edition Figurado. A month or so ago I saw a three pack of Man O’ War Salomons for something stupid like $5, with the shipping it came out closer to $14, but still a pretty good deal. Truth is, I’m a sucker for good deals, this one I couldn’t pass up. the Man O’ War line is made by AJ Fernandez and distributed by Meyer & Dutch, and is probably mostly associated with Cigars International, but they can be found in other major retailers as well as it’s not an exclusive brand. I have trouble finding specifics on this particular cigar, I think it was only available in a Salamon sampler of some sort (a bit of alliteration for you there), it looks like Cigar.com has a bundle with four each of the Ruination, Legend and Man O’War for $50. The cigar is a massive 7-1/8″ x 58 and is tapered with a nipple foot. This cigar has an interesting and unique flavor in the savory family, I think, or maybe it’s a spice, I’m not sure. Whatever the flavor is, it’s not one I normally come across, but I think I’ve experienced it in another Man O’ war cigar before, one of their limited edition lines. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, with mostly Ligero from Nicaragua and Honduras. I guess I had a Ligero kinda Saturday going on, its a wonder I didn’t have crazy dreams last night! Bottom line: I enjoyed the Man O’War Ruination Salomon, but by the time it got the about two inches it lost my interest, that unique flavor passed and I put it down, got a little bored with it. Of course, this is a risk with longer cigars, and I’m not disappointed in the least.
That’s enough out of me today. It’s a nice day so far, and would like to get a few things accomplished around the house/yard before it rains and I’m stuck in the enclosed porch smoking cigars! Have a safe weekend! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
