as the lady whose birthday falls on that day. March 11th is my best friend's birthday, wellllll, I have seven best friends, because it really isn't fair to think of any one of them as my best friend, because they are that special. But March 11th is one of those people, a very special friend's birthday, and it's always a special day for me.
So, when I got out of work yesterday morning, and figured out that I actually wouldn't be able to travel up to the Bronx to see her, it was kind of disappointing, but then again, that didn't mean it had to be a day without highlights for me. And the highlights of yesterday were thoughts of my friend, hoping this 53rd birthday found her well and safe, and . . .
MY CIGAR!!!
Yes, a breezy, chilly night and early morning was beginning to turn into quite a spring-like day when shortly after 10 a.m. I found myself in my favorite coffee shop, Oren's, specifically the 30th St. and Third Avenue location in Manhattan. This was the first Oren's I had ever been in, sometime back in the early 90's when I discovered a little known, young coffee chain that was soon to rise to a somewhat better known, still small, very well run and dearly beloved powerful name in NYC coffee drinking circles.
After stepping out with my 20 oz. straight black coffee, with one packet of turbinado thrown in as is my custom away from home, with a "sippin' lid" and a straw, I gazed up at the sky, and noted the clarity of the day and the blazing white sunlight. I felt that the wind had abated somewhat and the temperature was rising. I thought that perhaps predictions of 50 degree temperatures for the afternoon might actually prove to fall short, and indeed later on they did.
It was a great looking day, time to spare (SINCE WHEN? :shock: ), nice coffee, peaceful morning scene along Third Avenue, and I've been eyeing a certain cigar in my Havana Pocket Humidor, which I'm almost never without.
HEY, I THINK I'LL SMOKE ONE!!!
DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH . . .
A friend had sent me a Partagas Rosado Churchill a while back, maybe four months or more, and I've been intrigued ever since. I've never liked any of the line, the regular, Black, Vintage Reserve, none of them, but I had a feeling about this one. The rosado wrapper is becoming increasingly popular, as the 'cigar boom' has been over for a few years, and now that the yuppies who made cigar smoking popular and "built" the clubs that thrived for so long have weeded themselves out, only the 'true' cigar smokers are left. By 'true' cigar smokers I mean not those who smoked because it was a fad, or because overvalued stock investments just made it possible for them to buy tons of $300 boxes of cigars and walk around with the cigar pointing at the sky and the band conveniently showing for all to see, like people talking loud on cell phones in the bank, thinking that they're impressing everyone around them with their Oscar quality 'performances' of their own life stories.
True cigar smokers, those who may have taken it up for a variety of reasons, mine being a lifelong curiosity that became more convenient and somewhat affordable for me during the waning stages of the recent boom, those who want a slow, pleasurable, relaxing, meditative experience, not a rushed, habitual, fadlike obsession for the sake of being in a performing troupe, have started to exhibit their tastes and make those tastes known to cigar manufacturers.
What has happened, contrary to the 90's, when manufacturers were concentrating on getting young tobacco to market quickly, and manufacturing quite a few smooth, but blandly flavored and overly mild cigars, is that manufacturers have turned their attentions toward satisfying the true cigars smokers, the purists, those who want to taste more than air, and even those who prefer a kick to their cigars. At first, this resulted in too many cigars with a kick but still muddled flavor profiles, lacking in definition and complexity. Now however, over the past couple of years, they've really started to get it right, and many are doing it with wrapper tobaccos like the rosado, since the wrapper can impart so much in terms of flavor to a cigar.
I lit this Partagas Rosado Churchill at 1037 hours as the breeze outside Oren's picked up slightly and noted an immediately smooth, but bold flavored cigar, definitely a cigar with 'something to say' and one that would not disappoint. Standing out in the bright sunshine, enjoying my cigar and watching the pedestrian and vehicular traffic all around me, watching the commerce of a city's economy trying to get back to speed, I enjoyed a rich tasting flavor profile of mostly leather and golden raisins. After finishing my coffee, with some of the cigar still left, I made my way over to 42nd St., a block from my agency's building, since at noon my check would be ready for pickup.
I finished this wonderful cigar at 1143 hours standing right in front of the place I started my full time career in America's work force at nearly 30 years ago, the old Bowery Savings Bank building, as the winds picked up with the weather struggling to get nice, which it eventually did. The last third or so of this cigar the flavors had changed to a flinty, charred beef flavor with interspersions of heavy cream notes.
Partagas Rosado, definitely a winner. Thanks Mike. I think I finally found a Partagas I like, . . . really like!!!
So, when I got out of work yesterday morning, and figured out that I actually wouldn't be able to travel up to the Bronx to see her, it was kind of disappointing, but then again, that didn't mean it had to be a day without highlights for me. And the highlights of yesterday were thoughts of my friend, hoping this 53rd birthday found her well and safe, and . . .
MY CIGAR!!!
Yes, a breezy, chilly night and early morning was beginning to turn into quite a spring-like day when shortly after 10 a.m. I found myself in my favorite coffee shop, Oren's, specifically the 30th St. and Third Avenue location in Manhattan. This was the first Oren's I had ever been in, sometime back in the early 90's when I discovered a little known, young coffee chain that was soon to rise to a somewhat better known, still small, very well run and dearly beloved powerful name in NYC coffee drinking circles.
After stepping out with my 20 oz. straight black coffee, with one packet of turbinado thrown in as is my custom away from home, with a "sippin' lid" and a straw, I gazed up at the sky, and noted the clarity of the day and the blazing white sunlight. I felt that the wind had abated somewhat and the temperature was rising. I thought that perhaps predictions of 50 degree temperatures for the afternoon might actually prove to fall short, and indeed later on they did.
It was a great looking day, time to spare (SINCE WHEN? :shock: ), nice coffee, peaceful morning scene along Third Avenue, and I've been eyeing a certain cigar in my Havana Pocket Humidor, which I'm almost never without.
HEY, I THINK I'LL SMOKE ONE!!!
DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH . . .
A friend had sent me a Partagas Rosado Churchill a while back, maybe four months or more, and I've been intrigued ever since. I've never liked any of the line, the regular, Black, Vintage Reserve, none of them, but I had a feeling about this one. The rosado wrapper is becoming increasingly popular, as the 'cigar boom' has been over for a few years, and now that the yuppies who made cigar smoking popular and "built" the clubs that thrived for so long have weeded themselves out, only the 'true' cigar smokers are left. By 'true' cigar smokers I mean not those who smoked because it was a fad, or because overvalued stock investments just made it possible for them to buy tons of $300 boxes of cigars and walk around with the cigar pointing at the sky and the band conveniently showing for all to see, like people talking loud on cell phones in the bank, thinking that they're impressing everyone around them with their Oscar quality 'performances' of their own life stories.
True cigar smokers, those who may have taken it up for a variety of reasons, mine being a lifelong curiosity that became more convenient and somewhat affordable for me during the waning stages of the recent boom, those who want a slow, pleasurable, relaxing, meditative experience, not a rushed, habitual, fadlike obsession for the sake of being in a performing troupe, have started to exhibit their tastes and make those tastes known to cigar manufacturers.
What has happened, contrary to the 90's, when manufacturers were concentrating on getting young tobacco to market quickly, and manufacturing quite a few smooth, but blandly flavored and overly mild cigars, is that manufacturers have turned their attentions toward satisfying the true cigars smokers, the purists, those who want to taste more than air, and even those who prefer a kick to their cigars. At first, this resulted in too many cigars with a kick but still muddled flavor profiles, lacking in definition and complexity. Now however, over the past couple of years, they've really started to get it right, and many are doing it with wrapper tobaccos like the rosado, since the wrapper can impart so much in terms of flavor to a cigar.
I lit this Partagas Rosado Churchill at 1037 hours as the breeze outside Oren's picked up slightly and noted an immediately smooth, but bold flavored cigar, definitely a cigar with 'something to say' and one that would not disappoint. Standing out in the bright sunshine, enjoying my cigar and watching the pedestrian and vehicular traffic all around me, watching the commerce of a city's economy trying to get back to speed, I enjoyed a rich tasting flavor profile of mostly leather and golden raisins. After finishing my coffee, with some of the cigar still left, I made my way over to 42nd St., a block from my agency's building, since at noon my check would be ready for pickup.
I finished this wonderful cigar at 1143 hours standing right in front of the place I started my full time career in America's work force at nearly 30 years ago, the old Bowery Savings Bank building, as the winds picked up with the weather struggling to get nice, which it eventually did. The last third or so of this cigar the flavors had changed to a flinty, charred beef flavor with interspersions of heavy cream notes.
Partagas Rosado, definitely a winner. Thanks Mike. I think I finally found a Partagas I like, . . . really like!!!
