In the midst of the Holiday hubbub I had the opportunity to sit down for a few cigars with an old high school friend who lives close by, but we never seem to get the time to hang out and smoke some cigars. I caught up with Greg about a year and a half ago after 25 years or so and was delighted to find that we lived a couple miles apart, and that he shared a love of fine cigars. We’ve gotten together a few times over the last 18 months, but this is the fist time we’ve had the chance to just sit an catch up over cigars. We met at our local cigar shop, JM Cigars in Exton, PA. JM’s is one of the best shops in the area in my opinion. Although the selection is fairly “classic”, the pricing is reasonable (for instance, a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur No. 1 is under $6 last I looked). You won’t find Tatuaje’s or Illusione or a lot of Pepin Garcia cigars, but he did have a wide selection of Lito Gomez cigars and Cains, as well as quite a few Fuente lines. I grabbed a couple of the Jesus Fuego 777 maduro coronas that I have enjoyed in the past and met Greg in the lounge and parked my ass in a oversized leather chair for the afternoon. As Greg’s birthday was coming up I provided some of what I thought of as special cigars to mark the occasion.
We started the afternoon with a pair of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros 650s that were sent to me some time ago by General Cigar. These are a “dos capas” cigar that start with a Connecticut Shade wrapper for the first couple inches, then moved to a darker Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper. This is really a nice cigar, very rich in flavor and perfectly constructed. The transition from one wrapper to the other is subtle but noticeable. All in all I cigar I will happily smoke again.
Next cigars up were some Ramon Allones Specially Selected Havanas that had been kicking around the humidor for quite a few years. I honestly don’t remember where these came from or exactly how old they were, but they were at least 5 years old and probably older. These particular cigars were nice, firm cigars that were well packed. They burned dead even and tasted fantastic. Greg commented that there was a flavor that he couldn’t put a finger on, and I suggested that my guess was that it was that trademark Cuban flavor that makes Havana cigars distinctly different. These were fantastic examples of the Cuban cigar rollers art and are a benchmark robusto that is a must try if you ever have the opportunity.
It was a great afternoon that was over too soon. It’s always nice to catch up with an old friend over a cigar or two in a comfortable environment.
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
