Puff, Puff, Keep!

This past Sunday, February the 24th, the temperature in West Palm Beach, Florida reached 85 degrees.  Not hot, but in the middle of 'winter', this is about as good as it gets.

I couldn't resist the call of the soft breeze, and warm afternoon sun any longer, so I headed to the pool (I know you probably hate me by now, but it gets worse!).  Along for the ride was a couple of  Magic Hat #9 cold-ass beers, and a beautiful Alec Bradley 'Connecticut'.

This cigar is dressed in a seamless Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper and chock full of Honduran and Nicaraguan long-fillers.  Typically a light Connecticut share wrapper is not my tendency.  In fact, I can't recall the last time I bought a natural cigar, favoring heavily the maduro wrappers.  This guy got in my bag of goodies at the latest Great Smoke event sponsored by The Smoke Inn...my favorite day of the whole year!

Well, well, well seems like I've been missing out on a little piece of heaven.  This cigar almost melts in your mouth with a wonderful pallet of flavors, easy draw and long finish.  Nothing overpowering or hot, just a ture pool side companion to soak in the rays.

While I usually do smoke it down to the nub, I was truly looking around for a clip or stick or someway of smoking this puppy down to my fingers!  Not very classy I know, but there was hardly anyone else there! LOL!

Now I love Alec Bradley's amazing and ornate bands, many of which I would like to turn into a custom cigar band ring, but I equally love their smokes.  This is a natural cigar that I will absolutely keep in stock (which to me means it will last in my humidor at least one week).

Enjoy!

John Garcia
Custom Cigar Band Rings

Custom Cigar Band Rings

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Montecristo #1...maybe not?

OK, I hadn’t smoked a good Monte in a long time, and with one as a gift from my recent birthday, and a great Knicks v. Nets game on TV, I thought it was time to spark it up.

That’s where all of the trouble started.  The cigar did not seem dry or moist, in fact it had a nice firmness to it, and it seemed ready to go.  When I put it to my lips I got no immediate flavor or spice, but I cut into it anyway and lit a bit of cedar to get a good burn.

For whatever reason, it did not want to cooperate.  The draw was very tight, and took effort to pull in any smoke.  It was very slow going , and I finally took a torch lighter to it, and held it there for quite a few seconds to try and get it as hot as possible.  After nearly burning the front end, it finally gave in, and the draw started to ease up.

The frustrating start caught me off guard, and had me writing some derogatory notes in my little 33 Cigars book.  With such high expectations off to such a poor start, I almost didn’t notice how quickly the cigar turned from naughty to nice!

Really, from about ¼ of the way in, all the way through about ¼ of the way finished it was a pleasant smoke.  No real flavor or kick to speak of, just a mild and smooth ride along the way.  Although I’m big on maduro’s and cigars that pack a punch, I think everyone occasionally should smoke something less demanding. Unfortunately it did not pair very well with my Johnnie Walker Black, but I should have expected that.

It also was not a cigar that I could smoke to the nub, which is another one of my preferences.  It became just a little too flat at the end, and the draw began to tighten up again.

So…not one I would go to again, not this size and not this complexity, but still will keep my humidor open to the ‘darker’ side of Montecristo and let you know how that goes.  I would rate it a 5 on a 10, hope the Cigar Gods aren’t listening. 

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