Quote this…

“A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry to a woman.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton

My best cigar ever

I’ve been smoking cigars at one time or another for 16 years. It’s only been since 2009 that I began to dive into the hobby with gusto. In the early days, having no clue what to smoke, I would walk into a random cigar shop and then fumble around in the humidor for 20 minutes in complete terror because of the sheer amount of choices. Most of the time I was too embarrassed to ask for help in making a selection and when I did ask, it was if the tobacconist was speaking greek. I would tell him I was new to the hobby and could he point me in the direction of something good. Most of the time back then I felt as if they were suggesting what was on sale. The rest of the time I picked up cigars based merely on the band, of course further cementing the case that branding works. Honestly, I couldn’t have told you the the difference between a Connecticut shade wrapper or a maduro wrapper. Light brown or dark, I just grabbed it. At the time I did not have a humidor at home so I was buying and then smoking right away. Often I would smoke them too fast, thus the cigar would get hot and my experience with it would be ruined. A practice that I now know better than to do.

I had always been one to hop from cigar to cigar, not settling on any one as my favorite. I have since found a few that I like that I would say are my “go to” sticks. Recently, I tried to think back to my first cigar and couldn’t. I have no idea what it was.  It was so long ago and I never thought to take note of it. So I then turned to my favorite memory with a cigar. I thought about my best cigar ever. It was easy. A Bolivar 2009 Edicion Limitada petit belicoso. Ah yes, the forbidden fruit, a Cuban! (a gift from a trusted friend) It was, in a word, “outstanding”. The reputation that cigars from Cuba have is well earned and that Bolivar was no exception. Right off the bat I was hit with a creamy sweet flavor. It was if the cigar was made of vanilla! It was smooth and the smoke was plentiful. I decided right then to smoke as slow as possible. The ash held on for a good inch and half, the burn was straight and never needed a re-light. I sat there in a wonderland of enjoyment. That cigar tasted like no other cigar before it, or since. It was that good. Since then I’ve smoked countless cigars, a cuban or two, most non-cubans. While I’ve had great stogies from then until now, none of them have compared to my first stick from the island south of Miami. How could they live up to it? My memory of that great moment is so etched in my mind, at times I feel as if I can still taste it.

I could wax nostalgic about it again and again, over and over. But I digress…

 As my knowledge of cigars grows so does my love for it. The mistique of it all still gets to me. I have never come across another one of those Bolivars and I suppose that I won’t ever again. After all, they say it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. I’ll take that deal.

Review: La Flor Dominicana Oro

Litto Gomez has made quite the name for himself and La Flor Dominicana. His best effort, among the cigar lovers I hang with, has got to be the Double Ligero. Lovers of full bodied cigars sing it’s praises. As I inspected my local B&M’s humidor today I came across this treat, the Oro. It has been quite some time since I had a La Flor and as I had not smoked this yet, I quickly grabbed one. It comes in an attractive gold tubo and band. I was excited to see it was a chisel as I had not seen one before. The boys at the shop told me that Litto had copyrighted this shape and would only see it on a La Flor Dominicana. Great, even more reason to light this sucker up!

The Oro has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper with Dominican fillers and binders and is 6 x 54. Upon 1st look it was veiny, rough and somewhat toothy. It’s pre-lit aroma had a pleasent tobacco earthy smell. The draw seemed just a hair on the tight side. It lit well and I was immediately hit with a strong peppery taste and minor notes of nuts. The smoke was plentiful but thin and wispy. The draw seemed average at best during the first 1/3.

As I entered the 2nd 1/3 the burn got curvy and the draw loosened up enough that the smoke being produced was noticeably increased, but still thin. The ash was a charcoal grey and held on for a solid inch. The pepper mellowed out and to me, it was more medium to full bodied at this point. Maybe I’m more accustomed to stronger smokes but the Oro was losing some of it’s punch. I was also picking up more of a earthly-woodsy taste.

At the onset of the final 1/3 the burn got out of control and had to be corrected. In fact I had to re-light it several times, which is something I find annoying. At this point because of my continued re-lights the cigar got hot and I became disinterested in finishing it fully.

Considering this is a La Flor Dominicana I was a bit underwhelmed by it’s performance. While I’m confident that this wasn’t the sum of problems found in a Litto Gomez product, I can only go off my impressions and experience with it.

Early on I tweeted that this was a “great smoke”,  a bit pre-mature on my part. The most I can give is 3 ashes out of 5. (average) I would probably try it again, but because of the extra large selection of stogies to choose from at my B&M, it won’t be anytime soon. If you see it however, it may well be worth a go at it.

Quote this…

“Maybe it’s like becoming one with the cigar. You lose yourself in it; everything fades away: your worries, your problems, your thoughts. They fade into the smoke, and the cigar and you are at peace.” ~Raul Julia

Fast Ash: Ditka’s “The Coach” by Comacho

I had previously seen in an industry mag that Mike Ditka was lending his name to a line of cigars called the “Kickoff Series”. Today at the cigar shop I was pointed in their direction. I was excited to see what Comacho and coach Ditka had come up with. There are three versions, “The Player”, “The Coach” and “The Hall of Famer”. Each one comes in a decorative box denoting the line and size. All three lines come in Toro (6 x 50) Robusto ( 5 x 50) Torpedo ( 6 1/4 x 54) and the big gun of the line, a 6 x 60. The Player and The Coach are both medium bodied smokes but with different wrappers and binders. Should you want to step up your game there’s The Hall of Famer, this one is a full bodied smoke. I purchased The Coach and The Hall of Famer.

It’s a rare warm day in January so I knew I’d be smoking a stogie on the Big Ash porch this afternoon. I chose to go with The Coach robusto and save The Hall of Famer for a later time.

As I usually do, I took a pre-lit sniff. It smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. It draws wonderfully and immediately produced big, thick amounts of smoke which continued the entire time. At a couple points I detected the distinct flavor of chocolate. The ash was dark grey and held on for an inch 1/4 before falling off. The Coach lasted me about 75 minutes and was very enjoyable. Comacho did a solid job on this, as I figured they would, I mean C’mon, would you want to disapoint coach Ditka? In the end I would say it’s worth trying a stick yourself. I give The Coach 4 ashes out of 5. Not bad, Mike, not bad.