Vacation Smokes

Nicaragua is one of my favorite cigar places but you gotta love that boat ... not hard to see which cigars seem to be at the top of your list ... life is good!

Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
 
Down to the final 3rd. Same flavor profile, just a little more intense. :)

I forgot to mention when deciding on tonight's selection that I did have 2 Partagas Lusitanias that also would have qualified as "ultimate victory" cigars. I had already decided that I would smoke one of those tomorrow evening, which is why they weren't included. I have 2 lusi's. A '05 from sirxlaughs received as part of the MAW PIF and a '99 received from Rockstar as part of a trade. I am thinking of smoking the '99 and saving the '05 for a later date. My sister, who lives in Germany, is in Canada for a visit and is currently in Toronto with my parents. I am going to pick her up tomorrow and she will stay with us for the weekend. I'm thinking the lusi will be nice to smoke tomorrow night while we're shooting the breeze getting caught up.

Down to the last 2 inches on the monte now. Still the same great flavor. Getting a slight metallic taste. I get that a lot with cuban cigars. Its a good flavor, I just don't know how else to describe it. The twang has moved around and I'm getting it stronger on the back of my tongue now with some slight spice on the tip of the tongue.
 
I'm sad to report that Monte is history. Smoked it until my lips were burned. I didn't want it to end.

So where should it go in the rankings? I'm putting it first. Not sure if that's just because it is the last one I smoked. To be fair its hard to pick between the top 3 on the list. All of them were excellent. I think the only reason the Boli PC sits at #3 is because I wish it would last as long as the other 2 did. I don't know though. The Especial was mighty good.

Montecristo Especial
Montecristo 2
Bolivar PC
Mag46
HdM Epi 2
Party Mile Fleur
Sancho Panzo Non Plus
OpusX (sorry Opus)
Famous Nic 3000
 
I'm off to Toronto this AM to pick up sis and have lunch with the parents. I hope to make it home in time to have an afternoon smoke before dinner and then the Mother Of All Smokes, the '99 lusi after dinner tonight. :)
 
Friday

Made it home from TO in one piece. Traffic was a bitch.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1zcoo7m.jpg

After a long day in the hot summer traffic it was time for a smoke.

Boli PC '03 - Student Smoker - I received this smoke in the All ISOM PIF. Had the exact same look and feel as the last one. The draw was excellent and the flavor was intense. The cigar had terrible burn issues. It developed a wicked runner that didn't want to go away despite repeated corrections. It seemed like it wanted to go out if I didn't puff away at it constantly so I think that may have led to the burn issues. The day in traffic may also have increase my puffing somewhat. No matter, the flavor was great and wasn't affected in any way by the burn. Still a great smoke by any measure.
 
Friday (cont)

Partagas Lusitania '99 - Rockstar - Received this from Freddy in a trade. I like to refer to it as the mother of all smokes. Hugely impressive due to its size. I may require the neighbor's assistance in lighting in it because I only have a small yard. I paired it with a nice full bodied red from Aussie. I sat outside with wifey, sis, Nicole and Ashley. Soon we were joined by neighbors - Jeff and Dody and their 2 small kids. They were followed by good friends Jon and Christine and their son Owen. The pool was full of kids, the patio was full of adults. Jon was the only other smoker in the crowd. I offered him a choice between a RASS, a PSD4 and a RASCC. All great choices, no? He chose the RASCC. Small but excellent. That smoke always amazes me by how long it takes to smoke for such a small cigar. The PSD4 is the opposite. I am always surprised by how fast it smokes. So here we were, both on the boat from Cuba. One of the biggest and one of the smallest. Both big flavor profiles though.
 
Friday (cont)

The construction on the cigar was great. It had a definite box press to it and was very square. The other one I have in my humi is round. Don't know why the difference. The cigar was very firm to the touch. Hard I would say. The pre-light draw was OK. A little tight, but not tight enough to worry about. Somewhere in the range that some smokers actually prefer. Personally I like it a little looser, but considering the cigar is 3 feet long I was expecting it to open up as it smoked. I sparked up the lusi @ 7:30 PM. The Cuban twang and tobacco flavor was evident right off the bat. The cigar smoked perfectly with absolutely no burn issues whatsoever. The draw did open up as it smoked down and by the half way mark was perfect. The flavors built steadily the entire length of the smoke, building to a delightfull crescendo in the final inch. Other then the steady build up of flavor, I didn't really detect a large amount of complexity or change throughout the smoke. That may be just due to the circumstances, what with all the goings on around me. It smoked for 2 full hours and was a delight throughout. Great smoke. :)
 
Saturday

Down to the last 2 days before its back to the grind stone. Another beautiful day. Sunny, hot, not too humid. Ran around doing errands for the early afternoon. Came home ready for a Saturday smoke.

RASS '05 - Dandee. Received in a trade. Paired it with a Bitburger Premium Pils that sis brought me straight from Deutschland.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1zd9chk.jpg

The RASS is a beautiful looking robusto. I love the reddish tinge to the Ramone Allones wrappers. The cigar has a decent draw. Not loose, but not too tight. Lights up easily and burns perfect. Has some nice twang combined with a unique spice. I like the spice. It's different from the partagas spice. Both are nice. This spice tastes slightly more floral to me. Sort of more along the lines of the HdM line but more pronounced. I think the spice and twang combo makes this a nice young smoke. The cigar burned perfectly for the entire smoke. The spice came and went throughout the smoke. At times almost nonexistent and at other times quite strong. The beer has a nice bitter flavor that compliments the smoke very well. The cigar and the beer both lasted just under an hour. A great smoke. I like it very much. :)
 
Great post and i second your thoughts on the Monte #2. its one of the best Cubans out there regardless of what the snobs say!
 
"I definitely need to smoke a few more before passing final judgment on them. It was good. I liked it. But I would probably have to choose about 20 Cubans ahead of it (and I’ve only tried 21 varieties!). "

Not to mention quite a few NC's I would prefer especially for the $$$

I lived in Bitburg for six years and drank the freshest beer at the factory. Great beer.

did you know tha since the German beer purity act they use no preservetives to keep the beer fresh for export they filter it an extra time so it takes some of the flavor out...That is why it tastes better in the tin your sis brought you vs. what you can get locally even in a bottlle.

This was a great thread thanks for the entertainment and for allowing me to live vicariously through your experience.

T
 
partagaspete said:
I lived in Bitburg for six years and drank the freshest beer at the factory. Great beer.

did you know tha since the German beer purity act they use no preservetives to keep the beer fresh for export they filter it an extra time so it takes some of the flavor out...That is why it tastes better in the tin your sis brought you vs. what you can get locally even in a bottlle.

T
Click to expand...

That's very cool.
 
Sunday

Last day. Back to work tomorrow so its time to wrap this thing up. It is my sister-in-laws 40th birthday so we went to a near by winery for lunch to celebrate. Great food and good wine. Got back home @ 4 PM in time to watch the extra time in the soccer game and the shoot out. Now that's all done with its time for one last smoke. I want to smoke the Cohiba Siglo VI but for some reason don't feel prepared for it. I think it will kick my ass. Not sure why I feel this way. Very rarely does a cigar go to my head. I have learned over time though not to force things. Often my gut feeling will be to pass on a smoke and I will light it up anyway only to regret it. Since I don't want to regret smoking a Cohiba, I am setting it aside for another day. I have chosen a San Cristobal de La Habana, paired with a Pilsner Urquell.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1zfms0n.jpg
 
Sunday (cont)

San Cristóbal de La Habana La Fuerza '03 - Rockstar - Nice size robusto with a nice reddish/brown wrapper. The cigar has a semi box press. Kind of square with rounded corners. The cigar is firm/hard to the touch. Pre-light draw is firm. The cigar lights OK and burns well. Soon after lighting it softens as it heats up. The draw becomes easier after a few minutes and ends up being just perfect. The cigar has fairly pronounced spice laced with herbal flavors. I don't really taste a lot of twang in the first third. The Pilsner Urquell goes exceptionally well with it. The beer is very bitter. This is one of my favorite beers. I love bitter beer. This beer is much more bitter then the Bitburger. I find a nice bitter beer to be my number 1 choice with a cigar. I find the bitter taste compliments the cigar flavor and have even noticed it improving the cigar flavor on occasion.
 
Sunday (cont)
While I'm smoking this baby I need to update my ranking list.

Partagas Lusitania
Montecristo Especial
Montecristo 2
Bolivar PC
RASS
Mag46
HdM Epi 2
Party Mile Fleur
Sancho Panzo Non Plus
OpusX (sorry Opus)
Famous Nic 3000

The RASS, Mag46 and Epi 2 are so close I could change the order around any which way and would be satisfied. 3 way tie perhaps?

The La Fuerza is just past the half way point and has developed some very nice woody flavors that reveal a beautiful twang. The herbal flavor is coming and going. One puff herbal, one puff woody twang. No burn issues.
 
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Sunday (cont)

The cigar is down to the end and is burning my fingers. Great smoke. The herbal flavor pretty much went away in the last third and the flavor was dominated by the woody twang. Very nice. I don't know where to put it on the list!

Partagas Lusitania
Montecristo Especial
Montecristo 2
Bolivar PC
RASS
Mag46
SCDLH La Fuerza
HdM Epi 2
Party Mile Fleur
Sancho Panzo Non Plus
OpusX (sorry Opus)
Famous Nic 3000

I placed it between the Mag 46 and the Epi 2. Could be a 4 way tie now.
 
Thanks to everyone for providing me ammunition for my thread. I have a variety of cigars from BOTL's who weren't listed because the cigars they sent were not chosen this time around. Please don't be offended. I obviously had far too many smokes to choose from. Their time will come. The generosity of the jungle has been an eye opener to me during my short stay. I hope to be able to live up to the example set by all the gorillas.

The cigars reviewed were generously provided by:

Galaga
Dandee
JoeD
Icehog3
Par
StudentSmoker
RockStar

Thank you Rick, Dan, Joe, Tom, Par, Paul and Freddy. :)
 
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