Quite apologetically, please let me state that sometimes it gets harder and harder for me to do cigar reviews when I get boxed in to the "professional cigar reviewers" format of trying to tell you about "fermented citrus peel, with elegant notes of dried Turkish figs, elements of North African coffee, with distinct flavors reminiscent of top shelf gin, backed by a slight hint of mid-stalk lavender flowers."
Sometimes I can do it, sometimes I can't. It can either add to or detract from one's cigar experience by trying to do it, so for those of you who know about how dramatic, sometimes silly, and rather lengthy reviews I can put up, there will be times when it won't be like that.
Like two cigars I had this past week, but I wouldn't say that the lack of a professionaly formatted review would detract from my opinion of these cigars. My initial opinion of each of these first-time tastes are quite high however, and I look forward to smoking each again sometime.
The first cigar was a Cantero Torpedo. It came in a sampler from http://www.phatash.com.*
When I see a band as beautiful as Cantero's, and a couple are thrown in to a sampler of a famous cigar maker's top shelf offerings, I have a tendency to laugh. But it DOES say Tabacalera Perdomo on the band, in front of the incredibly beautiful picture, digitized photo or nice painting of what I presume is Tabacalera Perdomo.
And Nick Perdomo has indeed founded a well deserved reputation as an independent maker of fine, hand-rolled premium cigars. Although a couple have turned out to receive less than stellar acclaim by the man/woman in the street, he has turned out a goodly number of big winners, and none of his cigars can be said to be bad. Over the past few years he has sprayed base hits and home runs all over the lot with new releases faster than you can say "Bloofington." :mrgreen:
So, after leaving work on Tuesday morning and going outside to what seemed to be a chilly but otherwise fine day, I removed Ye Olde Havana Pocket Hugh Midawhr from my attache and then the swirling winds of New York City suddenly kicked in, as they always do when I step out of work and have time for a nice outdoor cigar.
And I suddenly realized it was colder than I had originally thought as well. But the cigar was cut, and now it was time to light it and get walking. I had a nice two mile or so walk ahead of me to a private client's and wanted a cigar for the walk. :argh:
And throughout a 55 minute smoke, the Cantero Torpedo drew very well, and gave mostly sweet, sometimes floral, earthy flavors backed by a very strong flavor that might have been like smoked fennel, very charred sort of taste, but with a spice to it.
I tossed this cigar with about a smokeable half inch left as I stepped into my client's car to drive me near Grand Central Terminal, and shorten my excursion from his office. Even though he had just told me how much he loved the smell of a cigar and lamenting his own inability to smoke them because of throat problems, I didn't want to leave anything lingering in his car. I'd had enough anyway, and was beginning to feel a little kicked in the head.
Overall, a very nice, smooth, mostly pleasant and sweet cigar from Nick Perdomo, another winner if they all taste anything like this. It's on the light bodied side for you strong cigar smokers, but for a guy like me it's perfect.
The second one was my first taste of the box of cigars that Michaelsean had sent me, a Symphony Churchill.
For a guy who claimed he had something wrong with his palate when we first started communicating over on "another web site" years ago, he has an uncanny knack for picking out cigars for me that he just KNOWS I will like. With the box of 13 Symphony by Ghurka Churchills, he has neither spared the expense or consideration. A truer friend cannot be found who will give you that much thoughtfulness.
And once again, he has picked out an intriguing cigar, which upon first tasting last night blasted a 550 foot grand slam out of the park in the ninth inning.
I lit this large Churchill at 1728 hours and found from the first puff it was going to be a cigar I liked, probably a lot. What I also found was that this cigar was rolled in a perfect cylinder, with a wrapper devoid of veins, giving a truly smooth, round roll. And a fine draw, effortless.
This cigar was of full, rich flavored, incredibly smooth, light to medium bodied smoke. It took until 1937 hours to finish, a testament to an incredibly long burning cigar, since most Churchills, even those that are more like Double Coronas, still never take more than an hour and a half.
But that part of the experience was perhaps what lent itself to being one of the greatest smokes I'd ever had. After about the first hour and a half, I'm usually waiting for Earnie Shavers to materialize out of thin air in my basement, step over and whack me with that sneaky, short but incredibly powerful right cross of his, even when I'm having a mild cigar.
But in two hours and nine minutes of smoking this cigar down to the fingerburn, it never happened. Just a smooth, rich tasting, sweet all the way through cigar that was reminiscent of the Diana Silvius Churchills that quickly became my favorite cigar a few years ago. This incredibly thoughtful gift from Michaelsean will challenge for the top spot if the others taste anything like last night's. And I can't wait to see how they age.
Symphony by Ghurka. Thanks Mike. Go Bengals. :wink:
*For other web site purchasing suggestions, see the "Mouton Cadet" thread. And pay attention to sampler packs.
Sometimes I can do it, sometimes I can't. It can either add to or detract from one's cigar experience by trying to do it, so for those of you who know about how dramatic, sometimes silly, and rather lengthy reviews I can put up, there will be times when it won't be like that.
Like two cigars I had this past week, but I wouldn't say that the lack of a professionaly formatted review would detract from my opinion of these cigars. My initial opinion of each of these first-time tastes are quite high however, and I look forward to smoking each again sometime.
The first cigar was a Cantero Torpedo. It came in a sampler from http://www.phatash.com.*
When I see a band as beautiful as Cantero's, and a couple are thrown in to a sampler of a famous cigar maker's top shelf offerings, I have a tendency to laugh. But it DOES say Tabacalera Perdomo on the band, in front of the incredibly beautiful picture, digitized photo or nice painting of what I presume is Tabacalera Perdomo.
And Nick Perdomo has indeed founded a well deserved reputation as an independent maker of fine, hand-rolled premium cigars. Although a couple have turned out to receive less than stellar acclaim by the man/woman in the street, he has turned out a goodly number of big winners, and none of his cigars can be said to be bad. Over the past few years he has sprayed base hits and home runs all over the lot with new releases faster than you can say "Bloofington." :mrgreen:
So, after leaving work on Tuesday morning and going outside to what seemed to be a chilly but otherwise fine day, I removed Ye Olde Havana Pocket Hugh Midawhr from my attache and then the swirling winds of New York City suddenly kicked in, as they always do when I step out of work and have time for a nice outdoor cigar.
And I suddenly realized it was colder than I had originally thought as well. But the cigar was cut, and now it was time to light it and get walking. I had a nice two mile or so walk ahead of me to a private client's and wanted a cigar for the walk. :argh:
And throughout a 55 minute smoke, the Cantero Torpedo drew very well, and gave mostly sweet, sometimes floral, earthy flavors backed by a very strong flavor that might have been like smoked fennel, very charred sort of taste, but with a spice to it.
I tossed this cigar with about a smokeable half inch left as I stepped into my client's car to drive me near Grand Central Terminal, and shorten my excursion from his office. Even though he had just told me how much he loved the smell of a cigar and lamenting his own inability to smoke them because of throat problems, I didn't want to leave anything lingering in his car. I'd had enough anyway, and was beginning to feel a little kicked in the head.
Overall, a very nice, smooth, mostly pleasant and sweet cigar from Nick Perdomo, another winner if they all taste anything like this. It's on the light bodied side for you strong cigar smokers, but for a guy like me it's perfect.
The second one was my first taste of the box of cigars that Michaelsean had sent me, a Symphony Churchill.
For a guy who claimed he had something wrong with his palate when we first started communicating over on "another web site" years ago, he has an uncanny knack for picking out cigars for me that he just KNOWS I will like. With the box of 13 Symphony by Ghurka Churchills, he has neither spared the expense or consideration. A truer friend cannot be found who will give you that much thoughtfulness.
And once again, he has picked out an intriguing cigar, which upon first tasting last night blasted a 550 foot grand slam out of the park in the ninth inning.
I lit this large Churchill at 1728 hours and found from the first puff it was going to be a cigar I liked, probably a lot. What I also found was that this cigar was rolled in a perfect cylinder, with a wrapper devoid of veins, giving a truly smooth, round roll. And a fine draw, effortless.
This cigar was of full, rich flavored, incredibly smooth, light to medium bodied smoke. It took until 1937 hours to finish, a testament to an incredibly long burning cigar, since most Churchills, even those that are more like Double Coronas, still never take more than an hour and a half.
But that part of the experience was perhaps what lent itself to being one of the greatest smokes I'd ever had. After about the first hour and a half, I'm usually waiting for Earnie Shavers to materialize out of thin air in my basement, step over and whack me with that sneaky, short but incredibly powerful right cross of his, even when I'm having a mild cigar.
But in two hours and nine minutes of smoking this cigar down to the fingerburn, it never happened. Just a smooth, rich tasting, sweet all the way through cigar that was reminiscent of the Diana Silvius Churchills that quickly became my favorite cigar a few years ago. This incredibly thoughtful gift from Michaelsean will challenge for the top spot if the others taste anything like last night's. And I can't wait to see how they age.
Symphony by Ghurka. Thanks Mike. Go Bengals. :wink:*For other web site purchasing suggestions, see the "Mouton Cadet" thread. And pay attention to sampler packs.