First off, don’t forget to go back to my last post and weigh in on the “where do you smoke” poll. After looking at it, I should have specified covered patio or porch, any old patio isn’t drastically different from “outside”. I am fortunate enough to have a screened in porch which worked pretty well all winter long for me. Anyway, let us know where you smoke! I had a pretty good cigar week this week. Of course, I smoked a Leccia Luchador El Hombre Tuesday, since it was Cinco de Mayo. I had smoked the Rocky Patel Prohibition Connecticut Broadleaf on Monday, figuring I’d follow that with 
the Mexican version on Tuesday, but I misplaced it and the Luchador jumped out at me anyway. It doesn’t generally take much to convince me to smoke a Luchador, I love that cigar! The Luchador has it all, San Andres, Pennsylvania ligero, Ometepe, it’s quite the smoke. I really enjoy the Prohibition Broadleaf too, it’s well made with a nice sweet flavor. It’s a very good smoke, and If I can find the Prohibition Mexican later I may revisit it as well. When I smoked these cigars initially I preferred the Broadleaf over the Mexican, let see how a few months in the humidor treated them. I also managed to smoke a La Gloria Cubana Trunk Show from 2012, the Liga YG-
23, which was a trade show sample, before they had the bands for them. When they did have bands, they were of the smokable variety, either made from HTL (Homogenized Tobacco Leaf) or they had the band printed on the wrapper with a vegetable based “ink”, I forget which exactly. Either way, the presentation was cool and the cigar was very good, especially with 3 years age. It had a very rich and smooth flavor, quite enjoyable and a rather large cigar at just under 7 inches (6 7/8″) x 58.
Friday evening I was in a corona kinda mood and went for the Corona Project Vol. 1 from Rodrigo Cigars. This is a visually interesting cigar, a dark Broadleaf wrapper with a pigtail cap and a closed foot, very rustic. Here’s what the website says: “Blended as a collaboration between the father and son team of William and Henderson Ventura and Rodrigo owner George Rodriguez, The Corona Project Vol. 1 delivers an all ligero blend of Dominican Criollo 98, Corojo, HVA (Habano Vuelta Arriba), with a Sumatra Ecuador binder, finished in a maduro Broadleaf US Connecticut wrapper.” All ligero is apparent as soon as the delicious sweetness of the extra Broadleaf at the foot burns off. This is a powerful little cigar! It’s loaded with very direct and concentrated flavor, nothing subtle here. I really enjoyed this cigar, and appreciate Gary Griffith sharing this with me. Many times I prefer smoking a larger cigar, mostly because it makes my daily vacation just a few minutes longer, but when it comes to really tasting the blend, a corona is the way to go.
Yesterday I pulled out a pair of cigars that I got at last years Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. These cigars were two double coronas from Swinger Cigar Co., whose motto is “A Good Smoke For All Your Strokes”. While this name and motto could be interpreted a couple of ways, they have a golf theme, and the two cigars they offer are the Front 9 and the Back 9. If they had named their cigars “Wife Swap” or something I’d be concerned and probably avoid the line. It’s a lifestyle brand, but not that kind of lifestyle! They come in three sizes, the 5½ x 52 Par 3, the 6″ x 60 Par 4 and the cigars I smoked, the 7″ x 54 Par 5. The Front 9 is recommended for “A morning on the links”, it’s has a nice Connecticut Shade wrapper, presumably from Ecuador. I really enjoyed this flavor, complexity and burn of this cigar. It had a really smooth, sweet flavor and was clean and refreshing. This ranks among the better Connecticut shade wrapped cigars I’ve smoked recently and was very relaxing and enjoyable. I would smoke this happily just about any time of day, although it was a perfect accompaniment after lunch and running errands. I was quite impressed.
Once the lawn dried from the morning rain, and I ate dinner and my wife an I double teamed the lawn cutting duties, I lit up the Back 9. I had some expectations based on the Front 9, and my preference for darker wrappers over lighter ones. The difference seems to be the wrapper, as this is listed as having a Brazilian Corojo wrapper. Unfortunately they don’t divulge any other of the components of either cigar on their website, and I was hoping I’d get an e-mail with information. Anyway, the Back 9 was a very different cigar than the Front 9. Where the Front 9 was perfectly balanced, the Back 9 had an acidic tinge to it that I did not find appealing. I expected a more meaty, savory flavor and this wasn’t there. This cigar did not suit my palate like it’s Connecticut shade sibling did. If I smoked these in the reverse order I may not have gotten around to the Front 9, so I’m glad I stuck with the program. There was just something strange about the Back 9 that didn’t please my taste buds.
That’s about it for today. Enjoy your Sunday and I’ll see what I can come up with for next week! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
