It’s been a nutty week. I planned on posting something mid-week, but time got away from me. Then, yesterday we went to our local SPCA to donate some old towels and stuff, and ended up adopting another dog. I’m already doubting the wisdom of this, but apart from having to break up a bit of an incident last night, I’m sure it will work out OK. Cherry is a very sweet brindle pitty, and we have a lot to work on. Most of the time, Macha seems to like having a playmate, but they need some apart time now and then. It’s part of the experience I guess. Our SPCA is not a no kill shelter, so seeing this sweet, beautiful dog had been the longest resident got to me and made me do irrational things. No excuses for not taking evening walks now!
Wednesday evening we went to Goose’s Cigars in Limerick, PA to help them celebrate their 5th anniversary. It had been a while since I visited Goose’s, and I was surprised to see the humidor vastly expanded. It used to be a rather small, U shaped arrangement with a door on either end, with the area outside of that having tables and displays of gift sets, specials and samplers. They’ve walled off the whole area and taken the glass out of the old humidor making a huge walk-in humidor that has all of their stock. It was a great improvement. They also have a 
large Vape and Hookah selection, as well as RYO tobacco at the far end of the store, making it a full service tobacco store. The Montecristo Lounge was the focal point of the anniversary celebration, with the local Altadis rep, Tom there, as well as his boss, Paul. I chose the occasion to purchase some cigars from the Altadis line that I hadn’t smoked yet, and lit up the Montecristo Espada Guard, a 6″ x 50 toro. This is a unique Montecristo as it’s made in Nicaragua by the Placencias from Nicaraguan tobacco, all from 2008, 2009 and 2010, from Jalapa, Ometepe and Condega (it’s a bit confusing, they list a 
“Habano Jalapa Viso Ometepe Vintage 2008” in the filler on the website, perhaps someone from Groupo de Maestros can clarify that!). I don’t smoke a great many Montecristos, for no other reason than I just am busy smoking so many other great cigars that I forget to get back to the traditional brands. This Espada was really nice, and a special smoke. It was sweet with a bit of spice and quite a good cigar, and, you know me, it should be for the price. I splurged because it was a special occasion, and have no regrets. Happy Anniversary to John, Joanne and the gang at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge, nice to see things constantly improving!
One of the cigars I picked up at Goose’s was the H. Upmann The Banker Annuity, a 6″ x 52 Toro with a very annoying, yet visually attractive paper sleeve. I say it’s annoying because as I was removing the cigar from the cello the paper sleeve and bands stayed with the cello and tore the wrapper near the head. Way too many bands and wrappings for my tastes. The cigar had a very loose, open draw, and burned quicker than i’d like. However, the flavor was very nice, a bit of coffee and old baseball glove. I’m glad I got two of them so I can see if I have the same experience. The website says that the blend is a recreation of the Upmann brothers blend from 1844, which seems like some marketing nonsense to me, but, once again, I invite the Groupo de Maestros to weigh in! A quick website complaint, since I’ve referenced two Altadis brand websites already, is that they don’t have the sizes listed anywhere. I had to use retailers websites to confirm sizes and names, mostly because I was too lazy to make note of them at the time I smoked the cigars. I think a brand’s website should be a one stop shop for all the information about the cigar, blend, sizes, whatever. Things like this get under my skin!
John Giese gifted everyone at the anniversary event one of the Montecristo Casa de Montecristo cigars that only are sold at Montecristo lounges. I’ve had the pleasure of smoking this cigar on one occasion before, and really enjoyed it. It’s not a small cigar, it’s a 6″ x 60, which came out in June of 2014. It’s got a nice, Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers and burned really well and was quite tasty. It’s rich and smooth, and not anywhere near as mild as the typical Montecristo. Quite good, and worth a try if you happen to find yourselves in a Montecristo lounge. I’m fortunate to have two within a short drive. Both this cigar, and the following cigar have black and silver bands that are very difficult for an amateur like myself to photograph.
I took both dogs for separate walks yesterday, and on the latter walk I smoked the RoMEo Añejo robusto, which I had purchased a few weeks ago at another local shop. This is billed as an aged version of the RoMEo, with a 2010 Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. This has been sitting on the top shelf of the cabinet for a few weeks, where the humidity is slightly lower, but it still burned like it was a bit damp, needing to be re-lit a couple times. It was very flavorful, and I dig the broadleaf, so I imagine one of these that behaved itself would be pretty darned good. I’ll have to pick a few more up to see, and I don’t think they were priced unreasonably. Good smoke, when it was working right, and lots of potential.
I’m going to wrap this up as we have a day full of dog acclimation. They have taken to rough housing, and we need to break that up quick. I also have some yard work I want to get to, and I’d like to get my annual walk at Valley Forge Park in this Memorial Day weekend, which I find to be inspiring. Of course, I smoked a bunch of other great cigars this week, the Sindicato Maduro Churchill I smoked on one of yesterday’s many walks was quite good, as well as a great Foundry Worm Hole Hell-E-IN and an Alec Bradley Maxx Connecticut. It’s the start of my favorite time of year, and while I’ll miss having a pool this summer, it’s going to be a good year with lots of great cigars!
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
