The Cigar Thread. Smoke em' if you got em'.

[galvweld]

Stopped a local smoke shop for humidor moisture supplies. Young lady working had a Ruger 9mm holstered on her right hip.

 

[Joe13]

Well I got a positive review but it has a slight down side.

I had an order in with CI for a 15 pack of Oliva 2nds VM's (and a 3 sample pack of Tobak's) and called yesterday because it hadn't arrived yet and the tracking number wasn't working.

After a bit of a hold time I got a real nice lady on the phone. She looked into it and said if it hadn't showed up today she would send me another order (I suspect she knew there had been a mix up but it's all good) and not to worry about the cost on the invoice because it would be free.

On the plus side, she did in fact set me up with a replacement order and shipped it 2 day so I won't have to wait another 10 days for them.

On the down side they are out of the VM's and sent me V's (which I believe is the difference of the original vs the Maduro) and I know I like the Maduro's.

I did get upgraded from Toro's to Churchill's but I was looking forward to the Maduro's.

Overall they handled it very well. I will try one of the V's and might call back if I don't really care for them to see if they will replace them or give me a refund on them.

Ive ordered quite a bit from them so either way I think they will hook me up. Or I may like the V's and have another cigar in my look for list.

 

[Joe13]

Oliva Serie V Maduro Robusto today.

Nice to sit for a bit after a Home Depot and Costco run this morning.

Ive has these 3 times now and they just seem to get better each time. Got a 10 pack with free shipping for cheap but Olivas aren't the cheapest to start with.

I stared with their 'Protege' lineawhile ago which is labeled as being rolled by new rollers but they were pretty well made imo and I believe a Serie O but can't confirm that.

Ive tried others of their line and have enjoyed them. They are all very well constructed though some of them are a little to heavy with the pepper.

Anyway these V Maduro's are a for sure if on a cheap enough sale for me

 

[Joe13]

RP vintage 1990


Ive had a few of these and seem to enjoy them every time.

Im definitely narrowing down my must haves to have on hand or at least buy on sale.

 

[Joe13]

Helping a friend move and found out he had a 2 zone wine fridge that he was tossing cuz one of the zone's doesn't work so I snagged it and am just going to yank the wire shelves out and use it for boxes and overflow.

That's solved my overflow issue

I'm going to look into it a bit more before I set it up and see if I can get the top (smaller) zone to work as well.

It's pretty cool with dark wood and a black granite top, my cc-300 will sit on top of it nicely.

I'll post some pics when it's finished.

 

[Joe13]

Well, the Oliva 2nds arrived today.

I didn't even wait to rest them so I could see what I got.

They are definitely the Serie V's which is a habano wrapper and the original order was a Maduro wrapper so it's got more spice and no sweet.

Not a horrible smoke by any means and I don't hate habano's but I'm still a die hard Maduro lover.

It's too late now to call them but I'm thinking I'm gonna call Monday and see if there is something they can do to compensate for their mistake and then running out of what I ordered.

If I had gotten these for less then $2 each it might be one thing but I think my original order was $3ish and the ones I got are going for $4.50.

What can I say I'm not made of money lol.

For 2nds these are still great cigars. One small part of the wrapper cracked near the foot on this first one but it's not killing it (pic below) and I didn't even notice it till I lit it up.

Draw, smoke, ash etc are all excellent despite no resting (maybe that's due to the 2 day ship vs the free 10 day idk).

 

[ilikegunspdx]

2 day ship is nice. Have noticed lots of things delayed lately (not necessarily cigars). Seems like things are more chaotic than even a month ago.

A few days backthe amazon driver parked in middle of narrow street that has a lot of traffic. No need to park in middle of street cuz there is easily 5 places for him to park and walk just a little bit further. He spent 10 minutes in his truck doing who knows what then comes out with two heavy boxes of books. Everyone is pissed and honking at him. So he decides to try to chase down the people who were honking. On foot. While carrying the books. He starts yelling and pointing at them all down the block. Then other people start honking at him to get out of the road and he starts yelling at them too. I don't know where they are getting these drivers but I guarantee they have had minimal training. That could have easily turned out ugly with the current riot atmosphere. I mean some people just don't have any common sense. Training can compensate for that for routine work, but when both are missing it's a mess.

 

[Joe13]

La Gloria Cubana series R tonight

5/5 on my list - smooth but robust

Edit: Dang these are good
Getting a very distinct fruity sweetness on the finish - like straight raisin. It's definitely working for me tonight.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

RP rennaisaince maduro for me today. I previously had this one heavily downgraded due to poor burn. But this one is burning well (a bit wonky but I can live with that) and I like the sweet flavor and musty aged tobacco aroma. A fine cigar and a reasonable price when on sale at Holts. Low on pepper and spice. Medium body with earth being predominant flavor for me. Also fortunately it is low on bitterness. for the $ (2.50-2.75 on sale as I recall) it's a good value.

some cigars I would compare it to that have a similar earthy and not really complex flavor are: Ramon bueso genesis project (has more pepper and a 8.2ish score for me), Partagas heritage (probably 8.9ish score I can't remember).

a very enjoyable medium bodied but not spicy cigar I would rank about 8.5/10. I like it a bit less than similar body and flavor RP short run (9.1ish score) and quite a bit less than RP decade (9.3-9.4 score).

similar body and overall taste (but lacking the complexity) of Kristoff kristania maduro (9.4), Kristoff maduro (9.3), and Macanudo 1968 (8.6ish I think). Also lacking the chocolatey tastes of similar bodied punch icon, man o war ruination (more pepper), and RP 1990 (darker more bitter flavors and more complex).

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Got the 8 cigar Kristoff sampler today. Very impressed with this company's attention to detail. Cigars are bedded in long leaf tobacco inside stout wooden box with sliding plexiglas lid. Seal u have to break to open. That is then sealed by plastic. Outside of that it is sealed by plastic again.

They could have shaved pennies on any part of this such as by using the cheaper "plywood" type board for the box, using the regular thickness plexiglass (this is 2-4 times thicker). one layer of plastic etc. it really shows in everything they do, especially the cigars themselves.

Contrast that with the rocky Patel red carpet sampler I bought. lightweight thin plywood box that was already broken before opening it. No seal. Just a cheap brad to hold the box closed. "Hinges" were basically just some sort of thin staple and did not survive opening once. No protection inside. Not picking on RP cuz that is probably closer to "normal" for many cigars but It's remarkable to see this level of detail in the product for the kristoffs.

Only misstep I see is that it says Britannia on box label and shade grown is in the box. This also happened with my previous 4 cigar natural sampler. I think they either renamed "Britannia" to shade grown or maybe shade grown replaced brittania. I'm not complaining because the shade grown I tried a couple days ago is my #1 favorite cigarof all the cigars I've tried.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Macanudo 1968 for me today. 4th one of these I tried and every time I seem to notice a bit more in it so I took a deep dive and tried to distinguish flavors (thus the longer post -if u don't want to read just see "general notes" in next paragraph and skip the rest). All 4 have had a stronger nicotine kick than I expected. This is first one where firmness has felt just right (maybe 5 mo in humidor?). The first one I smoked my impression was just a general surprise due to it changing so much from start to finish. Since then I appreciate the different flavors more each time.

General notes: 8.9/10 for me. medium body, dry flavors. Not dark or at all bitter flavors. lots of subtle complex flavors. Huge transitions.

1/3: overall reminds me of drinking dry champagne. Starts with meaty hamburger, leather flavors and mild barnyard aroma. Then turning to: dry grass, spearmint, hint of malt. Dry not sweet. Cottonmouth feel in mouth. Has a unique taste have not found in any other cigar which is a kind of "twang" in whole mouth composed of: a) Metallic - steel B) Dry green tea (tannins) c) dry champagne

2/3: reminds me of little fishing village in northern Ireland next to the water. Big translation to Earth, aged tobacco. Dry cocoa. Aroma is now very chocolatey.Sort of a chocolate muffin flavor but lacking the sweetness. Seaweed. Yes seaweed. Pepper coming in at end of 2nd third and it has been non-existent before.

3/3: never drank so much water with a cigar -due to that cottonmouth feel. Aroma really picking up. Nicotine kick very noticeable now. Aroma like a rich buttery bread or maybe one of those Parisian pastries. Very different than other 2 thirds. Smoke completely different color now (almost brown) and blue is completely gone.

If you like medium body and more dry than sweet flavors u will probably like this. For me I prefer sweet thats why it's not higher ranked for me.

Construction excellent. Draw good/normal. Burn was good in 1/1, somewhat wonky in 2/3, and had one re-light in 3/3. A little too strong nicotine-wise for me but I can live with it. Edit: gonna have to stop a bit early in 3/3, don't want to, but a little too much buzz.

 

[galvweld]

When unpacking ran across this great memory! Friend made two trips to Havana earlier this century. I joked he ought to bring some Cuban cigars. He's a non-smoker and had no clue what to consider. He wrapped the Cohiba box in really dirty laundry. He looks like a preacher, which he is. Waltzed through customs. If I recall correctly, he paid around $20.00. He's still a great friend. I shared some of these with my dad and brothers while hunting moose in Alaska. Was my dad's birthday. Great memory, but no moose that trip.

 

[galvweld]

One more from my trip to Saudi Arabia around 2006. Only have the tube. But it was extremely good. So were the others brought home. Declared on Customs form. No attention was paid. Regret not bringing more!

 

[Joe13]

@ilikegunspdx

It never even occurred to me to chop a cigar in half but after you talking about it and having a few Churchill's I'm not super fond of and only having 30-40 min before I have to be out the door I decided to give it a try

I wasn't sure how well it would stay together but with a little saliva on the cut end it seems to be holding and smoking just fine.

Now I have a little more then a Robusto still in the cello for later .

 

[Joe13]

Sitting on hold with CI to see if I can get some Maduro's sent for free or a refund/credit.

It was nice they tried to make up for the missed order but I wouldn't have bought these Liga V's and just saved my money for something more in my wheelhouse.

 

[galvweld]

I inherited my grandfather's briar pipe and passion for cigars. Learned this from him. When cigar is nearly gone, and must be right ring size, he'd insert it in his pipe and finish the good cigar. I can provide a picture one of these days. Most of my current cigars are 55-60 but on those times I don't have time for the big smoke I get to finish my cigar!

 

[Joe13]

I inherited my grandfather's briar pipe and passion for cigars. Learned this from him. When cigar is nearly gone, and must be right ring size, he'd insert it in his pipe and finish the good cigar. I can provide a picture one of these days. Most of my current cigars are 55-60 but on those times I don't have time for the big smoke I get to finish my cigar!

I can't remember the name of it but a YouTube poster reviewed a stainless pipe that had step down ledges (kind of like the reverse of a step down drill bit) that was for finishing cigars - the thing being that it would seal with any size cigar inserted into the pipe.

I just cut them off and relight them.

Most cigars I smoke down to an inch or less so it's never been something I've wanted but it's an interesting idea.

I like pipes but I'm lazy and hate to clean them and constantly tamp the tobacco. I haven't pulled one out in awhile but they are handy for really cold days and a shorter smoke if I do not want to be outside for an hour.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

@ilikegunspdx

It never even occurred to me to chop a cigar in half but after you talking about it and having a few Churchill's I'm not super fond of and only having 30-40 min before I have to be out the door I decided to give it a try

I wasn't sure how well it would stay together but with a little saliva on the cut end it seems to be holding and smoking just fine.

Now I have a little more then a Robusto still in the cello for later .

I have had good luck chopping in half and then literally "putting the foot in my mouth" ha ha (ie lighting the cut end). That way you have finished ends in your mouth for both halves so little to no chance of unraveling on mouth end.

Imo on almost any cigar it makes little difference what end u smoke it from. There are exceptions such as those cigars that have huge transitions (most likely due to different blends in each third). But there aren't that many cigars like that that I've run into anyway -and even then u would still get the transitions, just not in the same order.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Had another RP vintage 1999 conn 2nd today but I was interrupted by the Cuban Santa Claus bearing gifts. These will be in jail for quite while but should be fun to try when they r ready.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

...Most cigars I smoke down to an inch or less so it's never been something I've wanted but it's an interesting idea...

I often have a pair of tweezers avail for a roach clip if needed but smoking that Kristoff shade grown the other day I didn't have it and couldn't bear to give up on that cigar. So out comes the letterman. That's high class right there baby! Who needs a fancy pipe?