My last post was on Easter Sunday, and by the time I was ready to get out the door to have a smoke it started raining. I don’t like sitting out in the rain, it takes the fun out of enjoying a fine cigar. So with the garage door open, I pulled up a chair and lit up a Zen by Nish Patel. This one was a pre-release sample from the 2011 IPCPR show when it was released. I’ve has a few of these that I purchased awhile back, so I didn’t see any point in having this funky banded example laying around. True to the hype, this is a Shade wrapped cigar that has some oomph to it. Nice and smooth, with a good bit of spice. It’s a nice smoke and was a great choice for a rainy, post-Easter breakfast carb coma afternoon.
Monday, after a trying day, I needed something satisfying and familiar. I grabbed a Camacho Corojo Maduro Monarca that I had picked up a few months ago. It’s interesting to see how the Camacho brand has evolved over the years. Back in 1996, soon after getting online and finding a community of cigar nuts, I was invited to participate in a blind taste test that one of the newsgroup participants, a young man named Steve Saka, was hosting. In that tasting group was a Camacho, before Christian Eiroa relaunched the brand with the Corojo wrapper. At the time I really liked the Camacho (but I gave a “dog rocket” rating to a Cuban Monte No.2 and wasn’t at all impressed with an expensive Lane Signet. Anyway, I’ve smoked tons of the Corojo, Havana blend, and even the Candela, and I always liked the Havana blend best (of course, discontinued). This maduro is a nice, strong cigar, with a good spice and thick, chewy smoke. I enjoyed it quite a bit until the Flyers game was about to come on, there was only about a half an inch left at that point.
Tuesday evening I picked out a La Aroma del Caribe Mi Amor Belicoso that I received from Tom at Cigar-Club.com, a UK based retailer that specialises in Havana cigars. This is the non-USA version of the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor, which I am going to hunt down to see for myself that it’s the same cigar. Besides my curiosity about the naming, it was a darned fine cigar. I should have known that I’d enjoy this smoke given that it is wrapped in Mexican leaf. It started out with a blast of spice, then settled into a nice, reasonably powerful smoke that was very satisfying and enjoyable. Thank you to Tom of Cigar-Club.com for giving my the oportunity to sample something that I may not have had the chance to smoke. This was a really delicious cigar.
Contest!
I know, it’s only been a few short weeks since the last contest, you have my apologies. I realize I run the risk of spoiling you all with great contests. I’ll try to scale it back a little. This month’s contest is truly something special, so I’m asking for a little bit more than the usual comment. You ‘ll still need to leave a comment, but this time we need you to answer the question: “What do you know about Recluse Cigars?” That leads to the prize, which is an amazing box of Recluse Kanu No. 1. Recluse cigars are one of my favorite new cigars of last year, and the Kanu No.1 shape is unique and a really fun smoke. So answer the question in the comments, and a week from Sunday I’ll pick a winner. Yes, I’m going to let this contest run for a week and a half (and hope I don’t forget to pick a winner!). Thanks to Scott and the gang at Iconic Leaf Cigar Co. for providing this awesome box of cigars!
This weekend I’m headed to New Jersey for the weekend where I plan to meet up with some folks and smoke some cigars. If anyone is around Lyndhurst, NJ Saturday afternoon, stop in to Cigar Emporium, and I’m thinking of going to JR Cigars in Whippany, NJ for Lunch Sunday maybe, unless I decide to head into NYC and go to Nat Sherman or De La Concha or someplace.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
