We had our first taste of brutal cold here in the North-East, with night-time temps in the teens or lower with no shortage of wind. I guess I’m just a wimp, but I can’t do that kind of cold long enough to enjoy a cigar anymore! However, Friday turned out to be unseasonably warm, getting into the 50s. Perfect excuse to smoke a cigar or two without shivering so much that I get ash everywhere.
I grabbed a Gurkha Seduction Robusto and went for a walk. I received this cigar as an unexpected gift from Gurkha, and I want to thank them for reaching out to me. Looking at this cigar, I had an idea it would be up my alley, nice, dark Habano wrapper, a chunky 5″ x 55 size, and the band is quite attractive, although the second band is a little too much, but you know how I feel about bands (I’m lazy and the fewer the better!). The cigar had a very open draw, I’ll probably use a punch on the next one and see how that works, but it really wasn’t too big a problem. The burn was just about perfect and required no attention after the initial light. The flavors were those nice, dark, rich flavors that I enjoy on a crisp evening, really a nice cigar in my opinion, I enjoyed it quite a bit, so much so that I smoked it to a finger burning nub.
Saturday brought even warmer temps and I took a nice long walk with a Maldonado Dynasty Mogul Toro. I’m a little conflicted on this cigar that I won a five pack of on CasasFumando.com. An aside: I didn’t mean to enter their contest. I made a donation to Daniel’s Movember project, just wanted to give some dough to a bro for his mo. I should have made a note to exclude me from the drawing, but I never thought I’d win. I did, tried to get out of it, but Tony threatened me. Back to the cigar. This is the second one I’ve smoked, and both had some wrapper cracking issues. The flavor is nice enough, although not particularly mind-blowing to my palate, but I expect a cigar at this price point to not split. The wrapper is a really lovely rosado with a velvety appearance, very nice looking when you get past the tears in the leaf. These have been in my humidor for several weeks since receiving them, along with all the rest of the cigars I smoke on a regular basis. Strange. I have three more, which I will leave in the humidor for a few months and see if that makes a difference. I look forward to revisiting these in a few months, because based upon the two samples I smoked so far, if I had smoked them blind I would have put them in the bundle cigar category, and I know these are sold as a super-premium luxury cigar.
I completely forgot to mention my first cigar of the new year, one that I smoked while taking the outdoor lights down on New Years Day. I had a Rodrigo Habano Classico Belicoso that George Rodriguez had sent to me some time ago rolling around the humidor. Out of the four he sent me, one of each vitola, this was my second favorite of the line behind the lancero. This beautifully made belicoso was a treat, and it burned perfectly, and was really tasty. George seems like a really nice guy who makes some terrific smokes, even though he’s from Pittsburgh and is probably a Penguins fan. I know some people from Pittsburgh that are Pens fans that I don’t hold that against, but not too many.
That’s it for today, don’t forget to write to your elected officials about the FDA nonsense, as our cigar smoking future depends upon the FDA NOT regulating premium cigars.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Thanx for the review Craig. I am not a Gurkha fan but I am a huge Rodrigo fan. Like you the Lancero is my favorite! Keep up the good work.
Just finished my first Maldonado Dynasty. Flavors weren’t bad, but the draw was almost unbearably tight which really hurt the experience.
Hmm. I must have lucked out with the Maldonados. The two I’ve had – one of them pre-contest – have been virtually flawless in construction and draw. For me, the balance of flavors was really enjoyable.