<puffing on a Plasencia TKO from 7/03>
With the wife still in the hospital (since August 19th), taking care of my 14 year old son, the dog, 2 elderly parents and the house, I needed a break. When I want to spend time in a cigar shop I go either to Martinsburg and spend time with Shadow or to Skippack and spend time with Jim. Don't have time for the 2 hour ride just now so I decided to go to a local shop for the Diablo unveiling.
Turns out I know the owner, Sheldon, from my days in the Cross Street Market. Aside from not knowing any of the locals, another reason I don't go into local shops is the dearth of selection and the prices. Ifn' I want to try something new I try to run sampler/splits on the board.
Don't have time for that either right now so I ponied up and purchased some cigars. This week I smoked 5 of them, all new to me: Diablo, Jericho, Excalibur Sterling and the house cigar in nat and maduro. All were a robusto size. All burned well with only the Diablo needing an occasional touch up.
The best of the lot was the house cigar in maduro. This cigar had just enough spiciness to keep it interesting. Not something I would want in the evening but a good "background" cigar while doing something else. I could see myself keeping a few of these on hand.
I smoked the Jericho, Excalibur Sterling and the house nat in the evening when I generally want something a little stronger. These cigars just didn't do it for me. I found very little difference between the three: light side of medium at best with precious little taste; maybe an ever so slight edge to the Jericho. Don't see any more of these in my future.
I found the Diablo to be the worst of the lot (and the most expensive). Tasteless might have been an improvement on this one. It had a dry, ashy taste that I just didn't like. Unfortuneately I bought two to get one free. Guess I'll bury them in the cooler and hope that age will improve them.
I still have a CAO Italia (robusto), a Don Lino Africa (robusto) and an inexpensive Corojo wrapped Churchill which I hope to get to this week.
With the wife still in the hospital (since August 19th), taking care of my 14 year old son, the dog, 2 elderly parents and the house, I needed a break. When I want to spend time in a cigar shop I go either to Martinsburg and spend time with Shadow or to Skippack and spend time with Jim. Don't have time for the 2 hour ride just now so I decided to go to a local shop for the Diablo unveiling.
Turns out I know the owner, Sheldon, from my days in the Cross Street Market. Aside from not knowing any of the locals, another reason I don't go into local shops is the dearth of selection and the prices. Ifn' I want to try something new I try to run sampler/splits on the board.
Don't have time for that either right now so I ponied up and purchased some cigars. This week I smoked 5 of them, all new to me: Diablo, Jericho, Excalibur Sterling and the house cigar in nat and maduro. All were a robusto size. All burned well with only the Diablo needing an occasional touch up.
The best of the lot was the house cigar in maduro. This cigar had just enough spiciness to keep it interesting. Not something I would want in the evening but a good "background" cigar while doing something else. I could see myself keeping a few of these on hand.
I smoked the Jericho, Excalibur Sterling and the house nat in the evening when I generally want something a little stronger. These cigars just didn't do it for me. I found very little difference between the three: light side of medium at best with precious little taste; maybe an ever so slight edge to the Jericho. Don't see any more of these in my future.
I found the Diablo to be the worst of the lot (and the most expensive). Tasteless might have been an improvement on this one. It had a dry, ashy taste that I just didn't like. Unfortuneately I bought two to get one free. Guess I'll bury them in the cooler and hope that age will improve them.
I still have a CAO Italia (robusto), a Don Lino Africa (robusto) and an inexpensive Corojo wrapped Churchill which I hope to get to this week.
