Tonight, at 2326 hours, I lit . . .

[Bloofington]

A V Centennial, 8x50, a highly touted, heavily advertised Non-Cuban cigar sent by a friend awhile ago. If I'm not mistaken, I've had one of these before. I didn't much care whether or not this was as good as last night's cigar, I just wanted a long smoke, as I would be sitting out on my front step again tonight, with the crowbar, and tonight's choice of drink was the delicious Sazerac 18 year old rye.

Well, the cigar didn't disappoint, as through the first two thirds, it was completely flavorless. I had aged this for quite awhile, in the bottom of Desk Top III, currently reading at 73% humidity, rather high, as I prefer to keep my cigars in the 63-68 range.

Towards the last third, it finally began picking up flavor as an unusually quiet night materialized in the Dutchess Park section of Brinckerhoff, NY. I would have figured that with a National Holiday coming up tomorrow, that some of our neighborhood's resident noisemakers and low lives would be a bit more in swing.

Who knows, maybe a few ended up dead or in jail this weekend.

Well, one can only hope. :wink:

The cigar ended with the last third showing bold flavors of pungent tobacco, black pepper, mint, earth and rich creme brulee, which dominated the last inch or so, before hitting me over the head with some sweet, but very pungent tobacco notes as I finished it at 2345 hours.

 

[michaelsean]

i won several five packs of those over the years, and for the price I paid for them(about $1.00 I believe), they were well worth it. Of course with the way cbid is now, they probably go for $3.00 a pop now.

Mike

 

[KAZ]

Well Bloofington, I've read with interest your tales of sitting on your stoop with your two favorite blades and your ti crowbar savoring the delights of a fine cigar while waiting to repel boarders at any moment. Certainly adds a Hemingway air to what should be a pleasant interlude in the neighborhood, except that it sounds like the neighbor part is absent and you are left in the hood. I'm glad you are allowed the blades and the bar. Take care!

 

[Cigar Man]

I smoked the first one of these (for me) last weekend, gift from a friend. I noticed the same blandness, but mine only got better 'cuz I was getting more inebrieted..... or so I thought......

 

[Bloofington]

Actually KAZ, the front steps of my house, not a building, and thankfully, it's not boarders, but neighborhood kids from about a block away, four or five houses down from me. And I do live in an absolutely beautiful, secluded little neighborhood up in the hills of Lower Dutchess County. Unfortunately, as is the case all over America, whether you're "out in the boonies" like me or deep in the heart of certain neighborhoods like I grew up in down in NYC, many of today's youth have accepted the notion that it's "cool" to misbehave and even cooler to be a full fledged criminal.

Despite the idyllic, "countrified" nature of our surroundings, being what I refer to as "semi-rural suburbia", there are a few young people in this one house, and a few others scattered around the area who are of the age and evidently of the mind that have accepted the above-stated notions, at least in part.

We recently had an incident which wound up near the head of my driveway, as they almost all do, after starting at that house down the block, in which four units were called to the scene. I don't know if anyone got pinched or not, but a pot that we all agree has been simmering for at least a year finally boiled over. However, since that time, it has been unusually quiet. This is also NOT due to the fact that school has started, because the unusual quiet and peacefulness that marked the area when I first moved in over four years ago, and was a part of it until about two years ago, has returned.

We'll see what the future holds, but thankfully, my personal red alert has dropped to yellow, a level it never goes below, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. And one thing about my area, it's much colder than the city at night, especially during the colder months of the year, which makes for more bourbon and rye drinking.