Just a reminder, there’s a giveaway going on that I posted Friday (here). I’m thinking that I might just throw in a Kilo to sweeten things up a little, and there was something else I though about putting in there, but I can’t remember right now. Anyway, hop on back to that post and enter to win some goodies. Â Another topic I was thinking about and wanted to mention before I forget again (sucks getting old) is my podcast habit. Â I’m a big old podcast junkie, I have a bunch in my rotation, of course The Cigar Authority and Kiss my Ash Radio are staples, as well as Half Ashed, The Stogie Geeks, Cigar Chat on Cigar Federation, Doc Stogiefresh, and Blowin’ Smoke, although the later hasn’t been updating as much as they used to. Â As a matter of fact, Blowin’ Smoke was my introduction to the Podcast genre, and I’ve known Rob for fifteen years (I’ve slept on his couch!), he’s another guy I like despite him being a Penguins fan. There are also a couple that blend subject matter like Cigars in Cinema and Cigar Jukebox that I like. Nor that I think about it, I haven’t seen an episode of The Cigar Guys Radio Show out of Atlanta in a few weeks, I’ll have to look into that. In the past couple months I came across a new one to add to my rotation, and I’ve really taken a liking to. Â The Cold Draw is another podcast out of New Hampshire, and is well produced and entertaining. Their cigar reviews are in the form of what they term the “bands off dance off”, where they are blind smoking two cigars on the show and picking their favorite. They have panned Opus X and been smitten with Roly bundles, so it’s fun the hear the panels descriptions. I find Bob, Matt and Nick to be quite entertaining and look forward to the show every week.
Last Sunday I smoked an Indian Tabac 10th Anniversary Salomon that I’ve had in the humidor for over a year. I actually picked this up at my 50th birthday herf at Cigars International’s Super Store, which means I’ve had it in the humidor over two years! Since ITC was launched in 1996 by Phil Zenghi of Debonaire Cigars and Indian Motorcycle Premium Cigars fame, and left it in Rocky Patel‘s hands shortly after that, one would guess that the 10th anniversary was sometime around 2006, so this was pretty close to a ten-year old cigar by my figuring. It was a really nice smoke, it burned well for a large figuarado, it’s 7 1/8″ x 58, and lasted well over two hours. It was on the milder side, with lots of nice, mellow flavors of wood and nuts with a bit of a creamy quality. I don’t know that this cigar would have been any better if I had procrastinated any longer, and I wonder what this would have been like five years ago or so. It’s always fun smoking a well aged cigar, this one was a treat.
Sometime around the middle of the week I grabbed a Montecristo Monte Conde robusto for my evening walk.  I had been putting the finishing touches on my Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut magazine article and wanted to compare. The Monte is totally different from the White line, it’s stronger and has a lot going on with some Nicaraguan, Dominican tobacco in the blend with an Ecuador Habano wrapper. The cigar was 5½ x 48 which is a very nice size in my book. Speaking of sizes, why don’t they list he vitolas on the website?  I think it’s funny that they don’t list the sizes, and it always seems to be the big companies that leave this detail out. Mystifying. Anyway, the Monte is a good smoke, lots of flavor and burned very well. It was a satisfying cigar, and I think in a blind tasting this would certainly compare favorably with a boutique brand.
Finally, I smoked a second La Nox from La Flor Dominicana. This cigar is new this year, and is a beauty. It’s wrapped in a dark, oily Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, with a San Andres binder and Dominican fillers, including Pelo de Oro from their own farms. It seems to only come in a 6½ x 50 Toro size. How do I know all this?  Well, it’s not on their website yet, so I had to hunt around for the info, which included visits to some of my sponsors sites for the details. Do I do anything besides bitch about cigar manufacturers websites?  That’s gotta get old… back to the cigar. I smoked a couple of these, and this cigar is in my personal wheelhouse. It’s dark, both in appearance and flavor, with a palate coating sensation akin to black licorice, of which I’m a fan. It produces a good amount of smoke, and only required a touch up because I’m a picky bastid. Of course, LFD is known for producing strong Dominican cigars, and this one’s no different, it’ got some horsepower to it for sure. I want to say that this is another blend from Tony Gomez, Litto’s son who is very tall, and he did a good job. I liked it. Thanks to Jonathan Carney at LFD for sending these samples.
I made it through another week of not smoking a cigar I didn’t like, which is good. Autumn in this part of the country means the leaves are falling off the trees, generally making a big mess, so I suppose I’ll be on the roof (new as of last week, by the way) blowing the leaves out of the gutters, then I’ll participate in leaf burning the only way I like doing it, tobacco leaves rolled into a tube and savored over the course of an hour or more.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
I know, I know, it’s been way too long between episodes. I finally got my act together and recorded one, and I have Bill Coyne, the area Kristoff Cigars rep, to thank. He reached out to me and suggested we meet up for a smoke at Pairings Cigar Bar in Media PA. I’ve been itching to get to Pairings, but, as someone who doesn’t drink, bars aren’t really my thing, so it hasn’t been at the top of my priority list. I’ve been hearing great things about their cigar selection in the last year or so, and I figured it was high time I check it out. A Sunday afternoon was a good time, and I had met Bill briefly and wanted to get to know him better. I understand Pairings has some great events, and they have a DJ there on Friday nights, so I guess it gets pretty rockin’ there! I’m old, I like quite places to relax with a cigar…and we had a nice quite chat about Kristoff cigars, Pairings and Hockey.
