Before Christmas (2011) my friend Tom and I picked up a few of these cigars from a box from ’07.  A few days went by and then we lit them up in his back yard in rainy cold weather.  It wasn’t an environment where you’d get a fair assessment of what this coronas had to offer so I thought I’d let the second one I had sit in the humidor until I could smoke it in a warmer room and see what it really had to offer.  This morning seemed to be the right time after breakfast so I poured a coffee, got my camera out, snapped a few pics and reached for the torch.  The construction of this 5 1/2 inch, 42 ring gauge cigar was perfect, slightly spongy, no lumps and perfect draw.  Initially it was a strong cigar but I thought that it was only the regular Cuban first half inch so I gave it a bit of time to settle down.  It DID settle down but the strength of this cigar told me that maybe this isn’t an early in the day cigar.  Even after almost 5 years of age this is a cigar that has more power than a lot of cigars from this brand.  The SLR Double Coronas is a Prominente that is complex, mild to start and a wonderful rollercoaster ride of flavors.  Not so with the coronas.  Strong espresso with hints of dark dark chocolate and cedar are the notes you’ll get throughout from this coronas and I found that the flavors pretty much stayed the same throughout the hour and change of smoking time of the cigar.  I tend to gravitate towards sweeter tasting Cubans and probably won’t smoke more of these that have this much age.  I’m thinking that another 5 to 10 more years in the humidor would be what I’d like to see before I try another.  Am I glad I smoked this cigar this morning?  Of course !  Next time I reach for this Coronas will probably be after a big meal later on in the day.

It wasn’t a Montecristo, Cohiba or any other Cuban cigar that I just put out and I won’t say exactly what I was smoking here because this is the ugliest cigar but I’ve ever seen but it tasted great and even though the wrapper was cracked and the cigar was coming apart as I neared the end, I couldn’t put it down…OK, I have to come clean and since I’m only going to say good things about this cigar I might as well let you know that it was a Perdomo 10th Anniversary Champagne Churchill cigar…

I was given this cigar in mid September and didn’t quite realize how dry this cigar was until I placed it into one of my humidors, forgot about it for a few weeks and then saw that it had absorbed a bunch of moisture and pretty much expanded it’s way out of it’s wrapper… Well not quite, but the wrapper was cracked all over and became a rather unattractive prospect… But…. I remember smoking one of these before and remembered how great it tasted and last night decided to light it up, regardless of the condition it was in…. This occurred quite late at night and I smoked the rest of this fine Churchill with coffee this morning…I really got a charge out of how the cigar butt looked and need to take a quick pic… I guess the best way to describe this mild to medium cigar would be to say that it is quite woody with notes of cedar evolving as the cigar burns… Quite a nicely balanced cigar that tends to evolve from first, to second third with ever changing flavors that slightly strengthen … The Perdomo is a very interesting Churchill and I’ll be looking for them whenever I travel to the U.S.A.

One place where I enjoyed many a Montecristo in the sun was in Tiberias, a beautiful city on the sea of Galilee… The picture above reveals small sea shells that I picked up on the shore of the sea, I couldn’t believe how small and perfect they were… I believe it was about 6 or 7 years ago when I went there, the Canadian military still had many troops stationed in the Golan and that was the reason why I went… We participated in a Christmas show for the troops, which is the best time to go out into the world and find troops that are far from home… Anyone who doesn’t know anyone in the armed forces should get to know these men and women who defend our countries and put their lives on the line on a daily basis… These are people just like you and me, they have families, parents and loved ones but for the regular civilian, they are only a uniform and I really believe that most people do NOT know the face of the military… I could go on for hours describing the Golan, it’s beauty and history but I believe you almost have to go there yourself to see how magnificent it really is…

One of my all time favorite cigars is the Romeo y Julieta Churchill…I’ve smoked many and other than the rare occasion where there may be a slightly tough draw, these stately cigars never fail to please in the taste department…Last night I lit a Wide Churchill that I had been holding on to for about a year and I enjoyed almost an hour and a half of very enjoyable smoking…This cigar has a ring gauge of 55 and 5 1/4 inches in length with the factory name “Montesco”…Originally I wanted to taste the same Romeo profile in the Wide Churchill, which was introduced by Habanos in 2010 but was met with a different approach in it’s blend which was woody and revealed notes of dark coffee…One year later, after some time to mellow out in the humidor and we are now enjoying a smoother, somewhat more elegant cigar that still has all of the coffee notes but also with more of a balance between the coffees, cedar and white pepper…More of the recognizable Romeo y Julieta profile now appears… I must also add that the cigar’s construction was marvelous in that the draw was perfect but also the appearance showed only subtle binder veins and a wonderful flawless wrapper… I’m, once again, reminded as to how a young cigar can evolve and improve with patience and a proper humidor…

Something that I’ve been reading about that has me a bit concerned is the decision by our governing parties to remove the opulent bands and traditionally artistic packaging from Cuban cigars… This isn’t going to be happening overnight but even the thought that the removal of the picture of Romeo and Juliet or the gold medal awards that are proudly displayed on Cuban H. Upmann cigar boxes, has me concerned… From what I understand, the bands will be a simple green and the boxes will be very plain, which takes away all of the tradition and great imagery that we’ve associated with Cuban cigars since we were born… I believe this will start in Australia, possibly even as soon as next year and then I believe that Canada will follow suit… Our governments believe that by glorifying the packaging on cigar boxes, newer smokers will probably be enticed to start smoking cigars… Hmmmmmm, really?? I’m a firm believer that its the aroma and flavor of fine Cubans that will attract a new smoker, hardly the sight of a cigar box that will attract someone to begin the passion of cigar smoking.

I know that I always try to get a good cigar in any of the pictures that I upload on this site but yesterday’s day fishing in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia was a wonderful day out with many fish on the line and I couldn’t resist showing this off… This is a Coho Salmon, maybe 8 or 9 pounds and fought like a champion… Americans call this a Silver but whatever the name, they taste great…The limit is four hatchery Cohos per person, there were three of us and we took home eleven… A fabulous day …I actually smoked a small flavored cigar as we cleaned these fish on the side of the river… It wasn’t a Cuban but I thought that we were going to be hit with a lot of rain and decided to leave all of my Cubans at home… Not interested in wasting a cigar in the wind and the rain but as luck would have it, we had a nice stretch of good weather and I would have made out fine… Speaking of smoking, I’ll be smoking one of the Cohos I brought home, I have friends who love smoked salmon… Tight lines!

Yes, those of us who are totally consumed with Cuban cigars tend to hold them in high esteem and we dream about smoking the perfect Cuban, the most rare Cuban or the most expensive Cuban… So much so that there are worshipers of Cuban tobacco who have a dislike for cigar smokers who may be smoking a cigar that is out of the observer’s reach…Now now, settle down !!… I was reading a cigar forum the other day and noticed that a certain smoker was quite jealous of the fact that fellow smokers would show up in an American smoking parlor, light up a Cuban cigar and then proudly display the band as the cigar was being smoked… I guess the thing to do would have been to remove the band and hide the fact that contraband was being set ablaze in a country where Cuban cigars are as illegal to possess as weapons of mass destruction… I’m not exactly sure what to feel about this, I live in a country where Cuban cigars are as available as bottled water and seeing someone smoke a cigar that ISN’T Cuban is a bit of a rarity… I was also, not long ago,  at a gathering of cigar smokers where some pretty nice limited Edition Cuban cigars were being smoked… Yeah sure, I sort of wished that I had a few of those harder to get babies but I felt that these guys had probably worked quite hard to earn the $$$ required to buy them in the first place… After I thought about it for an insignificant amount of time, I silently applauded their efforts in life and went on my merry way… Any other way of looking at it only threatens your peace of mind… Remember, bitterness is you taking poison and hoping the other guy gets hurt!

Two days ago I was driving and before I left home I decided to go to the humidor and pick an un-banded cigar the size of a Robusto Extra for the trip, one that I bought a few months back from a fellow cigar smoker I met on Craigslist…That is a website that can actually prove to be very exciting if you meet up with the right person who is selling off a collection of cigars or just a handful, but this time I did very well and bought around 50 cigars for a few hundred bucks… The one cigar in question was one that the seller told me was a custom rolled cigar he picked up in Vancouver when a guest roller was in town… I’ve smoked some of the cigars that guest rollers produce in our city and to be honest I wasn’t all that impressed, not because of the construction but the tobacco they bring along with them from Cuba… Or… Maybe it was just the fact that I’ve smoked them right away and the cigars were a bit young… Whatever the case, Sunday’s cigar was a whole different experience for me, it was a fabulous cigar, so much so that I had to take my iphone out and take a few shots of the cigar whenever I was at a red light… As you can see in the picture, the wrapper was a great color, the cigar was a bit rough but had a nice oily sheen… The flavor, which is ALWAYS the most important factor was what had me thrilled… Immediately I tried to identify what kind of Cuban tobacco was used in it’s construction… It wasn’t the Romeo y Julieta profile I thought it might be and it didn’t taste like a Partagas but from time to time I thought that it could have a bit of Bolivar flavor profile but just when I thought that I might have it figured out, the flavor would change and evolve, which would have me starting all over again with my guessing…. Well there you go, I’m again reminded that I’m no aficionado when it comes to a Cuban cigar’s profile and my ability to pinpoint exactly what this was… Did I care?? Not in the least…. keeping my taste buds happy are a lot more important to me than making sure my ego is intact… Its all about the flavor and I’m pretty sure that it will always be that way!!!

In September I found myself golfing in a tournament in Ontario at a gorgeous course called “Angus Glen” with a bunch of Pharmacy reps.  It was a beautiful day, a hang with good friends and punched greens… Punched greens?? There’s a blemish!!!! Everything else was fine though, and for a guy from British Columbia, seeing a different part of the country in a manicured environment with a golf club in my hand…. well….. It just doesn’t get any better than that !… Just as all the golfers were waiting in their carts for the shotgun start I smelled that beautiful unmistakable smell of a cigar in the air and I had to go over to see what was being smoked… Cigar smokers are usually more than willing to share information about a cigar to someone who walks over and proclaims an undying love for those cylinders of rolled up tobacco… This gentleman smoking a Jose Llopis was happy to reach into a travel humidor and give me one of his Non-Cuban Churchills with a bright gold band.. He mentioned that this was a Jamaican cigar, no longer available and his go-to cigar… That had me very curious about this cigar which really did smelled great in the mid-day air… I went to my golf cart, retrieved my own travel cylinder humidor and, in turn, gave him a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2 which I had been aging since 2007….. Fast forward about a month and now I’m golfing in Canmore with Tom, Brendan and Sid and its time to light up a few cigars out on the deck after our first day of mountain golf in Alberta… I light up this PANAMANIAN cigar and find out that it is mild, mild, mild, mild… A bit of a trick to detect any kind of flavor but it DID taste aged and pleasant enough so I was pleased about getting the opportunity to taste something different and was inwardly grateful to the Ontario gentleman who was giving me this opportunity… That night we were smoking an Arturo Fuente Opus X, a Partagas cigar that was given out last November at the Partagas dinner in Havana and this Llopis… The big, hands down, no arguing the fact winner of the night was the Arturo Fuente… The Opus X IS as good as a cigar can get…. I could go on but thats for another day… The Llopis was eventually smoked by Brendan since he likes mild cigars and mentioned that he loved it and would smoke one again…  I took the above picture after a bunch of rum, also seen in the picture, and I guess thats a good enough reason as any for a blurry result… The night WAS blurry… At the end of the night I saw that Brendan didn’t finish his cigar and I thought that I would clip off the ash and smoke the rest in the morning… I don’t like to waste a good cigar, I jammed it into a half package of cigarettes and forgot about it until I got home a few days later… When I pulled it out of the pack, the wrapper had come unravelled, which I discarded,  and I lit up what was left… Wow, what a difference !!!! This was a great cigar that revealed all kinds of flavors that I didn’t detect at all a few days before… Does this mean that I’d go search out this cigar again?? Nope!  But, I did now see what the guy in Ontario finally meant… If I see him again I’ll give him 2 Cuban cigars!

Chestnuts have nothing to do with a cigar as majestic as a Partagas Lusitanias unless you have an overdeveloped palate and can detect the faintest of notes of roasting chestnuts in the first, second or final third of this cigar… Hey if you can, then your palate is in great shape and you should be working at a tobacco shop… I don’t particularly like roasted chestnuts so I would be the wrong guy to ask whether or not these faint notes exist in the Partagas flavor profile… So how’s your short game?? With a sand-wedge in your hand, can you hit a horse chestnut across the street and nail the fire hydrant 9 times out of 10?  I can NOT, so thats why I take a look out the front window every day in the fall and see how many of these free golf balls have fallen on the lawn overnight… This resource is free and the benefits are priceless… Your short game, when in fine shape, can be the difference between breaking 80 or not.. On a good day… OK OK there’s putting and thats a whole different story and, YES, these little brown Titleists don’t roll worth a darn so go downstairs to the hallway and see how many real golf balls you can roll into your coffee cup… Back to the Lusitanias… This cigar is probably 5 years old and smoking like a dream.. I’m not quite into the second third but there is something unmistakable about the grassy and herbal quality of this cigar… This one is burning very evenly which tells me that the Torceador in charge of rolling this particular Prominente took great pride in insuring this cigar’s smoker would have the greatest pleasure and enjoyment… I just heard a few more chestnuts hit the roof of the house… Off I go!