Nice. Maybe a bigger gauge would be better. But nice.
Expansion?
Thinking about adding whiskey to what I talk about on this blog. I’ve found it’s hard to separate the two topics. Cigar and whiskey goes together like whiskey and cigars.
Black Pearl
Here’s a great cigar I tried last night. Enjoyed it very much. One of the smokier ones I’ve tried. Strong peppery and woody taste. Earthy. Draw was very light. I read some reviews that mentioned it had too light of a draw. Don’t know if I’m experienced enough with cigars to see that as a problem. Maybe that’s something I’ll learn as I sample more and more. I am definitely buying more of these.
I finished off a bottle of Blanton’s the other night, which means I can now go shopping for a different letter.
In case you aren’t familiar with this stroke of marketing genius, each Blanton’s stopper is stamped with a tiny letter (see the “B” up there in the photo?) near the hoof of a…
This is cool. I tried Blanton’s recently (loved it) and had kept the stopper for the sole reason that I liked it. Didn’t look close enough to see it had a letter. Now I have something new to try and collect!
Torcedores (Cigar Roller)
Torcedores are professional cigar rollers. In a day a good Torcedor can make between 60 and 150 Habanos “totalmente a mano”, depending on the size and complexity of the shape. Depending on experiences and skills they are divided in 7 categories.
Retrohaling
Retrohaling? Retro-haling? Retro Haling?
However you look at it, I had to look it up.
Retrohaling is the act of moving smoke from the back of the mouth, up through the sinuses, and exhaling through the nasal passages.
By now, nothing should surprise us with the way the government views our hobby. The last few years were some of the most important and influential in the long history of the cigar industry. Between taxes, smoking bans, and regulations, the government keeps trying everything in their power to…
So. Just ordered my first pack of cigars online. I opted for a 5-pack of Vallejuelo Robusto Gordo (5x54). I saw ratings between 92 and 94. I was pretty excited to try them. Up until now I had simply walked into the local cigar shop and grabbed whatever caught my eye, without the benefit of a review.
I really enjoyed this. It was a very clean draw and from what I’ve heard, that means it was packed well. The burn was even until I got about 1/2 way done. A little sloppy after that.
I’ve seen cigar flavors rated in by thirds. Is that right? I don’t know. Let’s go with that. The first 1/3 was initially slightly bitter. But I’ve heard that improperly lighting a cigar can cause that, so let’s give it the benefit of the doubt. The rest of the cigar was great. Not real light, but the flavor was smooth and seemed to have several different layers.
The burn was fairly quick. Most of the cigars I”ve smoked until now (and those aren’t many or as far as I know very good ones) burned a lot slower. I was able to finish this one in a little over 1/2 hour. Maybe because I was puffing away like a chimney. It was a good cigar and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Thus the puffing away like a chimney. A tasty, tasty chimney.
Also, full disclosure: I borrowed this picture from Best Cigar Blog at www.bestcigarprices.com. You should probably read what they wrote. They’re obviously smarter than me and know a lot of cigar words that I have never heard of. Like retrohale. Think I’ll look up retrohale next. Or triple-cap.
