I know some of you enjoy cigars - share!

[sunbyrned]

So, had a stroke in December. The neurologist says drink bourbon, smoke cigars, enjoy life before the next one hits. My cardio doc says I need to stop drinking and smoking cigars before the next one hits. Ha! ?‍

 

[drewkaree]

So, had a stroke in December. The neurologist says drink bourbon, smoke cigars, enjoy life before the next one hits. My cardio doc says I need to stop drinking and smoking cigars before the next one hits. Ha! ?‍

"Doc, it hurts when I do this"

"Well, don't do that"

 

[RNYCLV]

What brand is that? Is it available in the states?

We just imported them in, they are unbranded as of this batch, I am currently working with the factory owner, whos become a good customer and friend. He make cigars for 3 major cigar brand here in the states. These new ones are one of his best sellers in Costa Rica.
I am going to bring in a few thousand brand as "Slow Burn", band art will show the transom of a Yamaha with a guy sunburnt smoking one. His company name is awaiting copyright and approval.

 

[sunbyrned]

We just imported them in, they are unbranded as of this batch, I am currently working with the factory owner, whos become a good customer and friend. He make cigars for 3 major cigar brand here in the states. These new ones are one of his best sellers in Costa Rica.
I am going to bring in a few thousand brand as "Slow Burn", band art will show the transom of a Yamaha with a guy sunburnt smoking one. His company name is awaiting copyright and approval.

Let us know when they’re available. I’m in! Looks like a great smoke.

 

[drewkaree]

We just imported them in, they are unbranded as of this batch, I am currently working with the factory owner, whos become a good customer and friend. He make cigars for 3 major cigar brand here in the states. These new ones are one of his best sellers in Costa Rica.
I am going to bring in a few thousand brand as "Slow Burn", band art will show the transom of a Yamaha with a guy sunburnt smoking one. His company name is awaiting copyright and approval.

Make sure the name on the transom is something like "Yumuhaw" and I'm sure it'll be fine ?

 

[RNYCLV]

@drewkaree yours are sitting on the pick up loading docks now waiting for UPS

 

[drewkaree]

@drewkaree yours are sitting on the pick up loading docks now waiting for UPS

My UPS and Amazon drivers have been beyond annoying me lately. I think they're going through hiring changes, as I have a black trash can (empty, never used for trash) and notes within both systems for those shippers for them to put all packages in there.

I'll let my neighbor know to keep a lookout for it this weekend, thanks for the heads up. If it were FedEx, I would hope at least the label made it ?

 

[CigarJeff68]

Happy Father's Day to all the cigar smoking/loving Dad's out there! Hope you have a great day with the kids! If you get out on the water ?, have a spectacular day! I'm starting my day off with a Nub Nuance Double Roast and a coffee. Also figuring out the new Alpha Gear Raptor Pro smartwatch my daughter gave me!

 

[drewkaree]

Well I forgot to post this last week, so we'll throw it in with this post. @CigarJeff68 sent me a few sticks as well, and I've started to dive into them. I need to address a problem with my "home" humidor that I'll detail a bit in my next post.

This is the Rocky Patel Prohibition Mexican version. I've forgotten what I read about it, and it really sucks that it's not in production anymore, but it reminds me of a Te Amo Maduro I've had in the past. Given that the Te Amo was a Mexican Maduro as well, I'd assume that they share similar origins.

Very nice smoke, I had this for "lunch", and the strength for it was perfect (just below a half strength for what I tend to smoke). I like stronger smokes later in the day, or after a nice dinner, so this was perfect with my version of "coffee" (Monster Java Mocha). No splits, but did need a few relights due to the pack I transported it in.

At this point, I hadn't gotten my weights for that Stinky Jr, and the length of the cigar had me keeping an eye on it until I smoked it down a bit. All that concern for stability is now gone, as shown in the next few pics




Some 5-minute epoxy and tungsten weights, and the Stinky Jr is perfect to me. @CigarJeff68 I'd go this route if you have similar concerns after using it for a bit now. If they had made the base about an inch wider, I would bet this would be a supremely stable personal ashtray. The weights have added the stability that can't be added to the current finished product. I've lost the savings, but I gained a much improved product in a perfect size.

 

[drewkaree]

So... The "humidor" that I have at home is an old non-working fridge. In your local grocery store, at the checkout counters, the soda companies have fridges set up for you to grab a cold drink. I have 2 of those, side by side, with one that works, and the other one is my humidor.

As near as I can figure, the working one added, aided, supplemented or whatever, contributing to the humidity of the non-operational one. There are holes for drainage, and when I set it up for use as a humidor, I never had to fiddle with sealing it up, as it maintained humidity quite well. My theory about the other working fridge being a contributing factor is due to the condition of my smokes after the working fridge went tits up on me recently, and everything slowly getting crackly and wrappers starting to split when I cut a cigar, etc etc.

All my smokes in sealed Pelican-style cases are perfectly fine, so I have some work to do sealing up the old fridge and putting my Cigar Oasis back into operation, and things should get back to normal. In the meantime, the sticks from @CigarJeff68 and the others that are in sealed cases are fine, and will get me through. I had always planned to add a cedar lining or something to this fridge, so now I have a reason to open it up and set it up the way I should have from the beginning. I need to track down a new gasket for the door to eliminate future issues, and I need to figure out a way to run a power strip to the inside, finally, but none of these things are difficult.

If I can remember to take pics during the process, I'll post them. At the very least, I'll get before and after shots when I tackle this. I have other things to address around the house, so this may get moved to fall/winter, and I'll move my sticks back to my old mini fridges.

Meantime, while waiting for the epoxy to dry on the weights for the Stinky Jr, I had to bust out the monstrosity from a package deal of Diesel Whisky Row cigars. It came with a lighter and this ashtray, along with a 5 or 10 pack of cigars. I kept this, but you can see how ridiculous the size of the ashtray is. It's perfect for a barrel top, but I don't have a barrel, sooo...

Anyhoo, from today's smoke, courtesy of @CigarJeff68 ,a Mark Twain The Press. Another awesome smoke, very mild and creamy. I enjoyed everything about this stick except the stupid band. It looks like 2 separate bands, but it's one band, with cuts to make it look like 2, and those are always a PITA for me when trying to remove them. I've had other Twains, and they're all a good consistent smoke. Perfect for the golf course, sharing with others, great smokes any time of the day.

Thankfully, after the 24-hour cure, I'll have this dinner plate ashtray back to reserve duty. Until then, stop laughing ?




On deck for tomorrow, the Punch in this shot with the black band and red trim. That Liga Privada was my indicator to my issues, so I'm trying to see how far it got. If it's smokeable this weekend, I caught things in time. I got my fingers crossed!

 

[RNYCLV]

My UPS and Amazon drivers have been beyond annoying me lately. I think they're going through hiring changes, as I have a black trash can (empty, never used for trash) and notes within both systems for those shippers for them to put all packages in there.

I'll let my neighbor know to keep a lookout for it this weekend, thanks for the heads up. If it were FedEx, I would hope at least the label made it ?

Well. My shipping/ receiving guy here at work, sent your package to docks for export, it was caught and politely given back to my dock driver. I have the new label and box set to be resent to you. Ill email you it. I am sorry for the delay

 

[drewkaree]

Brunch cigar to accompany me while I slave over the smoker creating pulled smoked ham ?. Another one from @CigarJeff68 ,a Bolivar Cofradia, I believe. Perfect strength, smooth and creamy with hints of spiciness throughout the smoke. It never complained through many relights, as we're setting up for a party tomorrow. I would definitely consider adding a 5-10 pack of these, although I'm not certain on availability or price. These would make an excellent next step for a new cigar smoker, and something to start trying to pull out flavor notes.

The Stinky Jr is rock solid with the added weights, and I'm glad to retire the Diesel ashtray. The bowl of that is cast iron, and rust is hard to deal with. I may be sending it to a neighbor for his boathouse bar, if I can find the missing cigar rest on it that came out, and is likely lost for the ages.

Well. My shipping/ receiving guy here at work, sent your package to docks for export, it was caught and politely given back to my dock driver. I have the new label and box set to be resent to you. Ill email you it. I am sorry for the delay

No worries, it's probably a good thing, as it would have been sitting in the rain this week, and possibly destroyed, if recent shipments were any indication of the ability to follow directions by our delivery people. Dinging the drivers in review requests seem to be making improvements, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Regardless, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you thinking of me and including me for promoting your customer's products and business venture!

 

[RNYCLV]

Not a problem at all... I did wrap them individually and place them in sealed plastic too as a just in case. The are surrounded by biodegradable packing peanuts and in a brown box. Wanted to make sure they arrived in good condition.

 

[drewkaree]

This week has been a bit hectic, but I got two treats delivered to my doorstep.




The 2 on the left are from someone @RNYCLV knows, and his business endeavor importing cigars. The little insert sheet gives the details of each. The jar on the right is from a Rocky Patel offering for the Prohibition series of cigars that @CigarJeff68 was nice enough to pass along. All of these are now acclimating to the Wisconsin weather, and should be perfect to smoke in a week or so. I get the feeling with all the rain, these may be perfect in less time than that, but we shall see. All arrived in excellent condition, and I'm actually gonna try to fit in one of the Prohibition Connecticut's sometime this weekend as a test, since there are 2 of those.

It's funny that both of these packages had shipping issues, @RNYCLV handed them off to someone, and somehow they never got shipped initially, but luckily he discovered them and got them out soon after. @CigarJeff68 added a note that his plan was for these to be a "virtual smoke" for Father's Day, but as with many things in life, things happen.

I have a brother-in-law that had some heart scare this week, so some things that were planned to be done and allow us to head up to the lake got pushed to the back burner, and I'll be sticking around town, so I won't have the luxury of simply closing the door to the porch and lighting up, but somehow I'll manage to fit in a cigar or three, I suspect.

Hope you guys have a great weekend, smoke 'em if you got 'em!

 

[CigarJeff68]

Well I got my 2nd shipment from CigarPage in the other day. Happy to say it was as good as the first shipment.




I have finally filled all my humidors, so I may be in the market for a larger one!

I've had the good fortune to be a little slower at work lately, just a normal 40 hours, so I was able to enjoy a few of my lastest acquisitions.




This is the first time I've had a Zino, and I really enjoyed it. It was smooth, medium bodied and smoked perfectly. I will be keeping some of these on hand for my friends that aren't huge cigar smokers.

Hope everyone has a GREAT 4th of July weekend!
Hope the weather cooperates so we can all be out on the water!

 

[drewkaree]

So I was slacking last week. We headed up to the lake on Wednesday, and one of the first smokes I had was the Rocky Patel Connecticut Prohibition along with a premade cocktail. Cutwater makes some of the best premades, and they have some actual weight to them as well, with this White Russian being 13%. Around Christmas, they had a Peppermint White Russian, and that was nice for the holidays, but not really necessary. I've also had their Paloma and Espresso Martini, with the Espresso Martini being dynamite. I was at Costco the other day, and picked up a 12-pack of their Margarita's (Mango, Lime & Strawberry). They're not cheap ($28 for the 12-pack, and "good" sale price is usually $9-11 for a 4-pack), but outside of mixing your own, they're one of the better values in premade cocktails that I've had. If I wasn't tasked with making the Margarita's myself, I would definitely make my own more often, as I've got a great recipe for "regular" and Strawberry, and a Margaritaville machine that does the rest of the work for me.

Anyhoo, the RP Connecticut Prohibition definitely needed the time to humidify, as this one cut perfectly, and smoked like a dream. All the rain we've had may have contributed, but no matter the reason, I'm glad I held off with the rest of these, and the smokes that @RNYCLV sent me, as I suspect they'd have been cracking and falling apart otherwise.

I have zero issues with Connecticut wrapper cigars, I just don't find myself smoking them anywhere near as much anymore. I still have some Nub, Brickhouse & Rocky Patel Connecticut's, and I really should consider them for a nice morning smoke. The one @CigarJeff68 sent me was no exception. Smooth, mild to somewhat mid strength, and it complemented the White Russian quite well. I know that it's likely a branding thing, but the Prohibition seemed to be a bit nicer than my other Rocky Patel Connecticut's as far as flavor. I've had the 1999 Connecticut's when they first came out, and the Prohibition reminds me a lot of that one. I don't know how much the Prohibition's were, but the 1999's are ridiculously priced, IMO, and their "standard" Connecticut's are more reasonable (if still a bit overpriced). Still, they're a great smoke, and I think I may work my way through my Connecticut's for morning coffee smoking.

The koozie is a stainless version of the Reduce, fits 12 oz cans like the Cutwater, bottles and bottle cans, and the slim cans, with no extra pieces to lose. I bought that one several years ago, and at quite a premium. Costco or Sam's has had 4-packs, as well as Amazon, for very decent prices. Some have told me that they don't like the feel, as they don't know if they're getting close to the end of a drink. My response has always been that there's no need to worry, it refills the same. These same people will use a Brumate with no issues, so I have no idea what their true complaint is.

The weights I epoxied into the base are working perfectly, now my only issue is that my wife scratched my beautiful ashtray somehow. First world problems, hey? More from last week, coming up.

 

[drewkaree]

On the 4th, we headed down to the neighbors. He also smokes cigars, and they recently remodeled their old boathouse. It's too short to fit anything other than a fishing boat (I think the door is 6', but definitely less than 7'), so last year they started working on turning it into a bar/entertainment spot. Years ago, the folks who owned this had a son that would join the other kids to play. Many moons ago, they used to have a pier that ran out on the right side of that ramp and would run through the pontoon on the lift there. I recall getting a brand new pair of glasses, and two days later, running out on that pier, off they fell, right into the water, never to be found again.

The neighbors who own it now have done a lot of nice work on it, and I really like the fact that there's another "smoking lounge" in the neighborhood! At night, down comes the bug screen door, and when it's a bit chillier, the glass-windowed door is used. This neighbor is more prone to smoke what he finds from his local stores, but I've gotten him to pick up a few online deals, and set him up with a Pelican-style humidor as well.

This was the Rocky Patel Broadleaf Prohibition I was smoking. I know that the smooth and light colored Connecticut wrappers are grown differently (under shade covers, I think), and it's interesting to me that the broadleaf comes out so different. I can't recall if it's a different type of tobacco altogether, and the Connecticut just refers to the typical growing region, or what. Mebbe some light reading may be in order.

Anyway, this is more of a maduro smoke, and definitely requires a beverage with it, as it really smokes dry. Quite tasty, but if I were to smoke this type without a drink, I'd have cotton mouth like crazy. The downside to needing a beverage with it is that you can really throw off the flavor and experience with a stick like this, so I tend to stick with water if I'm not sure or haven't had a particular stick before. This was no exception, but after about halfway through this stick, we started breaking into the Costco Margarita Mix, which didn't affect the smoke at all.

Again, thanks so much to @CigarJeff68 for these, as the Rocky Patel Prohibition line of cigars had something for everyone, no matter your preferences.

 

[drewkaree]

FINALLY, this would have been Saturday, I think. I finally made the decision to pop the top on one of the cigars from @RNYCLV I got the chance to really test it out, as I had to set it down for a bit to tend to some things, and relighting it a bit later was no problem, nor did it suffer from a half-hour or so of resting. I can't say that I recall having a Costa Rican cigar, not certain if it's a puro, or if there are some other fillers in there, and the wrapper is a Connecticut grown in Costa Rica, or what.

I took this pic with the flash, and hit the "enhance" button on this one, as the original pic just didn't do this cigar any justice. It's really a gorgeous looking smoke, and the light bulbs and placement of the light fixture itself on my porch isn't really conducive to pics at times.




When I first lit it up, I was hit with an absolute ton of pepper. Having had the Ramon Bueso I've shown here before, I figured I'd let it rest, die out, and relight it in a minute or so, and that was the perfect solution. The pepper held on for a bit longer, and I was a bit concerned after the first relight, but it mellowed out in short order. I was really hoping that it wasn't going to be a pepper stick for me, as that's not the type of smoke I enjoy at all, but thankfully, this really turned into a nice cigar. It felt a bit spongy, perhaps a bit loose with how it was rolled, or could have used a bit more filler perhaps, but it never suffered from burnouts, and remained lit for me the entire time I was actually smoking it.

The ash on this was beautiful, and looked like it was as solid as a rock, but it would flake here and there, possibly from the rolling or filling. The coloring looks like the filler might be some Nicaraguan tobacco mixed in, or that they've somehow managed to find or fortify the fields to emulate the conditions for much of the Nic smokes I've had. Near the end, probably about 2 1/2" or so, it started to put out a lot of spicy notes. Not pepper, spice...some cinammon, some celery salt, nothing really jumping out, but those would be the things that seemed to stick out in my mind. I don't mind spiciness (other than pepper) unless it's overpowering and never lets up, but this had just enough to be enjoyable.

After I had to set this down for a bit, I had to tell my grandkids (and then told their mom/dad) to stay away from grandpa's chair and his cigar, because I only had one of those cigars, and I couldn't get any more of them, and I promised to do a review! LOL Thankfully, when I later returned, it was a simple matter of removing the ash, blowing out the remnants, and I hit it with a soft flame lighter to relight it. Zero issues with that, and after burning through the little bit of the previous smoke, it went right back to being a good smoke. I don't know the pricing on these, and that would be dependent on where it was being purchased from, but if I were to purchase these online, I would put these at a good $2.50-4 stick. Brick & mortar's need to get a bit more, but $4-6 seems like it would be a solid price point for these. Not sure what would be needed to be profitable for this venture, but this smoke seems like a very good start! Looking forward to smoking the other stick sent from @RNYCLV and reporting back.

 

[drewkaree]

Today's treat was the Ave Maria in a corona size, I think. I tend to look to toro sizes, but I stray here and there. My father-in-law was a fan of churchills, so I've had a few in that size as well. It's interesting to me to see the difference that size makes in how a cigar can taste. It's been a while since I had one of these, but the corona was the better size.

This would make a great afternoon smoke, and probably the perfect size for cutting the grass, if you smoke while doing that. I had some issues with keeping it lit, but all other aspects contributed to a pleasant departure from my "usual", and I would definitely buy a few to keep on hand. The last one I had was a robust, as I found my order of these, so I would like to try the toro to see if it's a similar experience to this one.

I had to track down a single torch for this, as my triple torch was a bit too much and was really burning up the sides of this at first, and that seemed to help with not burning all the flavors out of it! Smooth and creamy with a bit of some earthiness popping its head up here and there.

Another good selection by @CigarJeff68 and here's hoping you're enjoying some of the other things you picked up out of your comfort zone as well.

I'm looking at a Nub Habano, and Nub Cain while on vacation for the next week, as well as some other selections from @CigarJeff68 previously pictured. That Punch Diablo is looking like a good after dinner smoke, sometime soon!

 

[haknslash]

Trying out a Farce Room 101 Connecticut and it’s pretty nice smoke. Very smooth and mild.