It's official. June, 2010 is the hottest June on record! I can believe it too! The thermometer on the back porch showed over 105 degrees yesterday! But it was a good weekend overall. We started off Friday night with the Camacho event at the Tobacco Merchant. Zev Kaminetsky, Camacho rep, was on hand for the event.

The old "I'm being held up" routine starring Grier Mangum and Zev.

Featured cigars; Camacho Corojo and Legendario

Zev Kaminetsky, Camacho rep (with trademark hat)

Me with Zev.

Darryl Smalls

Thing one and Thing two

Bill Slicer, shop owner

 

Great time. Always good to see Zev!

On to the reviews.

This weekend I reviewed 2 cigars supplied by Cigars Direct. They are:

• 
  
  5 Vegas Limitada 2008
• 
  
  5 Vegas AAA robusto

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

5 Vegas Limitada 2008 (6x52) 

Cigarsdirect.com has several 5 Vegas Limitada's to choose from.  This is the 2008 version, which is the oldest version. It was the original 5 Vegas Limitada. The cigar was medium brown in color. It was very veiny. Large veins ran the length of the cigar in several places. The first draws were intense cinnamon spice with very nice black pepper. The draw was very good. Citrus was noted shortly after 1/4" After an inch or so the cigar settled into a very nice cinnamon/citrus spice with just the right amount of pepper. The cigar stayed consistent thereafter. I found this to be a very good cigar that I could smoke again.

Score: 90

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

5 Vegas AAA Artisan (5 x 52)

5 Vegas A has long been a good maduro cigar. This version was no different, starting off with sweet grapefruit notes and nice black pepper. Black coffee noted. The finish was long with almond notes. Pretty much a one dimensional cigar that didn't change. That being said it was enjoyable and a good, basic maduro cigar that any maduro lover will enjoy.

Score: 87

 

Finally, with the exterior house painting completed I wanted to show it off a little. Below are some pics of the house and a few interesting notes.

Ours is a Charleston style house that is patterned after the houses in downtown Charleston, SC. Typical of this style of house is the false front door which leads to a porch where the main entrance door is located.

Quote a bit of exterior trim.

The fire marker, seen to the left of the front entrance door, is something houses in Charleston had to denote which fire department the homeowner was insured with. When there was a fire all the different fire departments showed up and only the one you were insured with would put out the fire. If you had no insurance with any of the fire departments your house would burn to the ground. This is a copy of the old fire markers that we picked up in Charleston many years ago. Every few years I have to repaint it as it becomes weathered. I just repainted it, so here it is in living color!

 There you have it. The newly painted Casa de Tiny! Next weekend we'll be at our son's wedding in Michigan where several good celebratory cigars will be smoked! Full report when we get back.

Weekend review; June 19 and 20, 2010

Had a nice Father's Day on Sunday. Thanks to Connie and the kids for the nice gift. Good day to stay inside as it was around 100 degrees!

Glad to have the exterior of the house painted. I'll post pics later.

This weekend I reviewed 2 cigars. They are:

• Don Pepin Garcia Fumadores #2
• Hoya de Tradicion toro

Saturday, June 19th, 2009

Don Pepin Garcia Fumadores #2 (6x50)

New cigar from Don Pepin Garcia made exclusively for Holt's Cigars. This is a sandwich style cigar, meaning it uses short and medium fillers. The Holt's site describes the cigar as Oily clay-colored Ecuadorian wrappers hug a scrumptious blend of Nicaraguan Corojo, Criollo and Habano seed tobaccos. The cigar started off with a tasty spice with citrus, almond and vanilla notes and a nice amount of pepper. The finish is long with vanilla notes. The burn was very even and the draw was very good. These cigars are quite affordable. Holt's has them for $41.95 to $49.95 for bundles of 20. Sweet citrus notes with pepper are very prominent after 1/3. For a sandwich cigar the burn is very even with no splintering of the ash. Some cinnamon notes appeared in the final 1/3. A sandwich cigar will never be highly sought after as a "great cigar" but for taste this was a very good and enjoyable cigar. The fact that it's so affordable is not bad either.

Score: 92

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Hoya de Tradicion toro (6x52)

This cigar is made to honor the history of Hoya de Monterrey. It is a brown cigar with a reddish hue. Light square pressed. The first draws were heavy with raw almonds. This quickly changed after 1/4" to semi-sweet notes of orange citrus and pepper. The finish at this point is long with vanilla notes. The draw was very good. Light almonds noted on the finish at 3/4". The burn was mostly even. After 1 1/2 inches the vanilla finish is sweeter. The cigar stayed very consistent from this point on. A good medium bodied cigar.

Score: 87

Weekend review; June 12 and 13, 2010

I thought it was hot last weekend but that was nothing compared to this weekend. Over 100 degrees both days! Crazy hot!

After the yard work and a well deserved nap I decided to have the new cigar from the son of Don Pepin Garcia. Jaime Garcia has blended his own cigar and I wanted to try it. Along with this cigar I smoked a tribute cigar to my step father, John Lowman, who passed away early Sunday morning. John was extremely good to my mom and he was nothing short of a true gentleman. Rest in peace John.

The cigars reviewed were:

• Jaime Garcia Reserva Especiale
• Partagas Serie D no. 1 Edicion Limitada 2004

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Jaime Garcia Reserva Especiale toro (6x54)

This was a very dark cigar. It started with peppery spice and sweet orange citrus notes. Black coffee noted. There were tons of black pepper. The finish was fairly long with sweet almond notes. The draw was very good. Sweet molasses was noted. The burn was very even. The orange citrus notes dropped off at midpoint but the quickly returned shortly thereafter. The finish remained the same. The pepper tends to linger which is always a good thing. Toward the end of the cigar it had more black coffee notes. Good cigar. Here is a close up of the band:

The orange citrus notes dropped off at midpoint but the quickly returned shortly thereafter. The finish remained the same. The pepper tends to linger which is always a good thing. Toward the end of the cigar it had more black coffee notes. Good cigar.

Score: 91



Now, before the tribute cigar I want to follow-up with a story I discussed a couple weeks ago. Yogi Berra said "it ain't over 'til it's over", and boy he wasn't kidding! Connie and I painted the bedroom, then she bought a new sofa and chair. Now for the completion of her vision. She bought new curtains, bedspread, nick-knacks, etc. to complete the look. Here is the culmination of her project:

It looks great and I'm glad it's over! (or, I think it is). She did a good job. The room has a bed and breakfast feel to it!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Now, the last cigar reviewed this weekend is a special cigar smoked in honor of a special man. John Lowman will be greatly missed. He took very good care of my mom. I thought it fitting that I would smoke one of my treasured cigars in John's honor.

Partagas Serie D no. 1 Edicion Limitada 2004 (6 3/4 x 50) [Cuban]

This is a much darker Partagas than I'm use to. I love the PSD4 so I'm looking forward to smoking this Partagas version. It started with semi-sweet almond spice with a touch of pepper. The draw was extremely firm, as some Cuban cigars are. The finish had slightly sweet raw almond notes. Light molasses noted at midpoint.  Here is a close-up of the bands:

Once the cigar got to the midpoint I was able to clear the draw by using an straightened paperclip and running it through the cigar. This is a trick I use for tight cigars. The draw improved and so did the flavor! The cigar was being held back by the lack of draw. The pepper immediately increased. Light vanilla was noted in the spice. The almond spice and pepper are more intense with the improved draw. The cigar became much more enjoyable. The finish, however, remained basically the same; lightly sweet raw almonds, but the pepper tended to linger longer. There were dark notes, somewhat that of coffee, mixed into the spice after the improved draw. The ash was very tight. I had to break it off several times as I was afraid it would fall off due to it's length. This is a tale of 2 cigars actually. The first half of the cigar I would rate a dismal 87 but the second half was fantastic and I would rate at 92. The final rating will be an average of the two. All in all, the cigar wound up being very good. I have more of these and will be interested to see if the others have a better draw.

 

Score: 90

Weekend review; June 5th and 6th, 2010

Hot weekend. The yard work was tough! Very humid too. But...it got done. Now on to the reviews.

Cigars reviewed this weekend:

• 
  
  Montecristo Media Noche no. 2 Torpedo
• 
  
  G.A.R. robusto
• La Aroma de Cuba Immensa

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Montecristo Media Noche no. 2 torpedo (6.1x54)

Very dark, almost black cigar. The draw was very firm. It started off with lots of coffee notes in the spice with a little pepper. Medium bodied. I waited for more but it never came. Outside of coffee there were sweet notes at the midpoint but not overly so. Sadly, not a very remarkable Montecristo. If you like black coffee, and like your cigars to taste that way, this is the cigar for you. I love my coffee but I like a little more in a cigar.

Score: 85



G.A.R. robusto (5x50)
http://www.cigarsdirect.com/

This was my first experience with this cigar. Cigars Direct supplied it to review but I had no idea of what to expect. It started with a peppery spice and notes of citrus and almonds. Very light vanilla notes. Medium bodied leaning toward full. The finish was long with semi sweet vanilla notes. I found this to be a very good cigar that I would like to smoke more.

Score: 90




La Aroma de Cuba Immensa (5 1/2 x 60)

Fat cigar! I have reviewed this cigar in a smaller ring previously but I wanted to see how the flavor changed, if any, in a large ring version. Dark Brown color. One thing I noticed right off the bat was the cigar had a great draw. It felt firm and dense too. There were leathery sweet citrus notes in the spice and black pepper initially. The finish was long with sweet notes of almonds. The sweetness and pepper linger. The burn was very even. This is not always the case with large ring cigars.

Light cinnamon notes popped up at the midpoint but these were faint. The sweet pepper notes are very nice. Full bodied. Very good cigar. The only difference between this and the smaller ring version seemed to be a little less black pepper.

Score: 91

Memorial Day weekend Xikar event with weekend reviews

The weekend started off with a nice cigar event at the Maduro Room in Lexington. Xikar was in town with Nelson Boronat, Southeast Direct Sales Rep.  This was my first experience with Xikar cigars although I am well aware of Xikar, having 3 of their cutters and a pair of their scissors. Below is a pic of us.

(L-R) Grady, Nelson, me

Speaking of Grady, owner of The Maduro Room, here he is fresh off a couple months of a newborn in his house! He appears to be fairly normal!

Now on to some random shots of the evening.

No, he's not blowing a kiss. His jowls are just full!

I'm just reading for the articles!

Being Memorial Day weekend it was a good time for some good cigars. Here is the list:

• 
  
  Tatuaje Black torpedo tubo
• 
  
  Nica Libre 1990 Diplomatico
• 
  
  2009 Camacho Liberty
• 
  
  Padron 45th Anniversary no. 45 maduro

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Tatuaje Black torpedo tubo (6 1/8x52)

The cigar started off with a very intense cinnamon and leather spice with a ton of black pepper. There were faint notes of vanilla and citrus. Full bodied cigar. The finish was long with raw almond notes. The black pepper really lingers. Cinnamon notes become more prevelent after an inch. The finish took on a slightly sweet nature with faint vanilla notes. Very good cigar.

Score: 91

Nica Libre 1990 Diplomatico (Churchill) (7x52)

This cigar is sold by Cigars International and Cigarbid.com. I have seen them advertise this cigar as a Padron-esque cigar for much less money. After seeing that promise for awhile I decided to try a five pack from cigarbid. The cigar is rectangular square pressed and very dark. The band even reminds you a little of the Padron band. It started off with an almond spice with some pepper and light sweetness. Coffee was noted. While the cigar looks good and is priced right it is not Padron-esque in any way. I am glad I only got a 5 pack.

Score: 82

Sunday, May 31, 2010

2009 Camacho Liberty (6x56)

These cigars come in individual coffins.

Each individually numbered

Tissue wrapped

The cigar is rather football shaped, meaning that the foot and cap are one ring gauge with the center point being much fatter. In this case the foot is about a 48 ring and the cigar balloons up to a 56 at the 2/3 point from the foot then back to a 48 at the cap.

This year's version of the Liberty is a dark cigar; a maduro, which started with a very intense peppery vanilla spice with almond undertones. There was a twangy citrus-like note in the spice. The finish was long with sweet almond notes.

At the 2/3 point of the smoke there are cinnamon notes in the spice with nice black pepper. The finish remains sweet with almond notes. The pepper lingers nicely. Very good cigar. One that Camacho can be very proud of.

Score: 93

Monday, June 1, 2010

Padron 45th Anniversary no. 45 Maduro (6x52)

In my haste to have this cigar I forgot to snap a picture of it before I smoked it! Luckily I found this pic online which shows how it looks.

A rectangular square pressed beauty that is a dark brown. It started with a tremendous amount of spice with heavy notes of citrus and pepper. Notes of vanilla and leather are mixed in. The finish is long with peppery and slightly sweet notes of raw almonds. Fantastic lingering pepper. The black pepper and citrus combine to make a powerful spice. Medium-plus bodied; not really overpowering, but very, very good. A fantastic cigar. I did manage to remember to take a pic of the bands after I smoked the cigar.

Score: 95

Now, a quick note about something I referenced for the past couple weeks. If you remember, Connie and I have been painting our bedroom. We started 4 weekends ago with what was thought to be a 2 weekend (at most) job. Well, we finally finished it this weekend! Man, does that feel good! Below are some pics of our work with pics of a new-antique sofa Connie found at a consignment store with a brand new side chair. The trim paint we used was a high gloss oil base. The sheen in person is just as it appears in the pics; wet gloss!