2 Cigars A Month: A Cigar Review Blog

Last night was a good night. Barbecued ribeye steaks and asparagus. Garden salad with seseme seed oil dressing. Strawberry pound cake, and champagne. Topped off with a fine Cuban pinar. The only thing that could have made the night better was my Lakers to win and push a game seven! My hat goes off to the Celtics. They were the better team. Danny Ainge pulled off a late in the season miracle with acquiring KG and Allen. That alone brought 32 years of experience to a team that won less than 30 games last season. Plus getting PJ Brown, Cassell, and Posey, that added another 30 years of experience. Don't get me wrong, they won very convincingly. They wanted it more. But with a team stacked like that no wonder they had the best record and beat the "new" Lakers. Kobe, although he is somewhat of a veteran, is only 29. Pao, 27, and everyone else is younger than them. Including a big piece that we went without for the post season, Andrew Bynum. So Laker fans all over the world, rest at ease. We did win! We gain experience and we have youth on our side. Our Laker Dynasty will be revived once again. Plus, aren't we Western Conference Champs!?! Hold your head up, it was a great season. Even better next year!

Ok, sorry. Back to more important things. This cigar of course was cuban so all the cuban characteristics were there. Triple seemed cap, excellent construction, intoxicating smell, and just a hint of cuban spice balanced with a smooth draw and finish. Unfortunately the cigar was a bit wet. My friend is still getting used to properly aging and storing a cigar. Due to the high moisture it was hard to keep the stick lit, and the draw could have been more easier. It was no fault of the cigar though, so I am sure the rest of the beauties are just waiting to be ripened perfectly. The ash was very dark, and there was a bit of tunneling. But the taste was great, and the flavor it left on the pallet was spicy smooth. The after taste the next day, even right after was very minimal too. Had we waited to smoke these beauties it would have been up there on my favorite list. But with steaks, champagne, a game, and beautiful wives, we had to cap it off with a cuban.

A soldier from Iraq just commented on my blog and I wanted to let him and everyone that is fighting for the freedom that we are enjoying know that I appreciate you and the risk you are taking for this great country. From the bottom of my heart, on behalf of my family, my wife, and children, WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR BRAVERY, WE THANK YOU FOR OUR FREEDOM!

I am really not a band wangon smoker. I tried for years to stay away from Cohiba for that reason. Ask any newbie smoker and they will just name the first cigar brand that comes to mind...Cohiba. That and since Cohibas are the most imitated cigar, led to me stay away from this brand. Until...My good friend and fellow cigar aficionado just came back from Jamaica. He recounted his visit to an Indian owned cigar shop. As he walked through and was smellign and pinching the cigars the owner came up to him and said these are for real. Then he did the unbelieveable. He reached into a box, took a cigar, cut it and lit it and said, "Here you go, I stand by my products." Not being a sucker for free99, my friend proceeded to smoke the Cuban Churchill, Romeo and Julietta in 10 minutes. He said it was the smoothest cigar that he ever had in his life. My all time favortie was the same brand, and size from Cuba. See an earlier posting for that. So I had to come over and see for myself.

My friend was kind enough to give me a Cohiba, Limited Edition, Cuban! It was hands down the BEST CIGAR I HAD IN MY LIFE!!! If I could cuss I would, it was so great! The draw was perfect from this double corona size. This pinar was Cuban built so you expected that. I did taste it in my mouth for a bit before lighting and it was a dream. If I could I would have just chewed on it like it was gum. The really incredible thing was that after I lit it, it was just as smooth. I could not tell the difference in taste, heat, or flavor. Usually when you lite a cigar, the flavor changes a bit to when it is not lit. Not this Cuban master piece. The smoke was nice and white and the ash would not fall off. It was so smooth and creamy that I really took my time for the first time. Here is my analogy, you know you are experiencing a great meal when half way through the meal you are already thinking about the next day when you can eat this dish again. I was like this with this cigar!!! From the moment I lit it I was already thinking about the next time. Fortunately that next time is TOMORROW! I will let you know how that goes.I smoked it till my fingers got burned.

I recently came back from Oregon, home of the largest humidor in the western states and 2nd largest in the whole nation...With that introdution let me just say that it was a disappointment. I mean the selection was top notch but the prices were terrible. All very over priced. It was an experience, that I chose not to have because there are great places like cigar.com that also has a great selection and they are cheaper. Plus they deliever to your door. It sounds like a no brainer.

I went over to my buddy’s house this Saturday and we had a great night. De La Hoya fight, NBA playoffs, pasta, jokes, and cigars…did I say it was a great night. He gave me a Gran Habano Connecticut #1. I was a bit weary at first since the only Gran Habano I recall smoking was the 3 Siglos. (See that review.) I was not impressed with 3 Siglos, but I was surprisingly impressed with the #1. Granted, it is not the strong, flavorful ones that I usually smoke, so I could not help feel throughout the smoke though that something was missing. There was an excellent sweet spot towards the very end when the flavor was intensifying, but it was unfortunately short lived. The cigar war wrapped in a beautiful golden Ecuadorian Connecticut shade grown leaf. It has Nicaraguan binders and fillers. The burn was even, and the ash was nice and white. The aftertaste the morning after lingered more than I thought this mild cigar would produce. But still a good overall cigar. I would try another one just to round out my opinion of this brand.

It was also a good to try and convert a Black and Mild smoker to a real cigar. He got a Philippine brand cigar from my friend and was moderately impressed. Then I gave him my Cohiba Extra Vigoroso, red dot. He could not stop talking about how great it was. I will not say I fully made him see the light, or smoke I should say. But I think that my friend and I gave him all the tools and knowledge to make that transition. The Cohiba Extra Vigoroso is an excellent cigar that is a bit more flavor than the original red dot. It features a dark, almost black Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, fillers from Nicaraguan and Dominican ligeros, bound in a three year aged connecticut leaf. It was a great cigar that I did not mind parting with for such a great cause. Hope you enjoyed it.

Just sold my humi on craigslist. I loved that thing, but tough times calls for tough measures. With a 100 capacity, and my shrinking wallet, I could not keep enough sticks in the humidor to keep it at the right humidity. It is the "age old problem" I smoke more than I store. So I need to downgrade. If any readers out there are in need of letting a humidor go, free99 or close to it, I would love to assist you. So for now, goodbye my humi, you have made me proud. Make your new owner just as, if not more happy than me....