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Fun with a newbie...

zeemanb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2015
Messages
1,341
I am not a Power Ranger before breakfast kind of smoker, but getting a point of reference for "strength" from a brand new smoker can be entertaining. I have a friend who is a popular and talented local bartender, and recently he's been getting into cigars while he does some consultation with a private cigar bar. He makes me truly great non-alcoholic drinks, I give him smokes, it's a nice little deal. His food and drink palate is sharp, so it's fun to throw him some decent smokes and get feedback.

I don't really have a stash of "golf buddy" cigars due to space, so he gets stuff I smoke...started out with Hemingways, super aged and mellow VSG's, Headley Grange, Room 101, stuff like that.

Last week I passed him a package of "the stuff in my regular rotation"...brown label Tats, JD Howard, Herrera Esteli, Illusione. I don't hesitate, because he smokes whatever I give him. Will eventually get into Cubans once he dials in some preferred characteristics.

Got a text from him a little while ago..."That Illusione! THAT THING IS SPICY!. It was an MK, not an Ultra. I laughed and basically said that yeah, they have a little pepper, I love them in the morning. Long story short, what he was communicating was all he could taste now was hot, green pepper, and since he wasn't big on spicy foods it was killing him. Totally blew out his tastebuds. So the Dirty Rat I was about to give him is a big NO....MK Ultra is another NO...Roma Craft is right out. I'm sure I can find him some stuff he'll enjoy, but lesson learned...everbody's palate is different and maybe there was a time when an MK would have lit me up. Damn...better check and see if he tried that Tat Unico yet.
 
My first cigar was a Macanudo cafe and I projectile vomited. Let that sink in everyone.
 
To be fair to my friend, I tried an MK from this new batch and while it wasn't close to an Ultra strength-wise, it was uncharacteristically strong compared to all others I've smoked. Great cigar, very dark ash vs. other MK's....may have gotten more ligero in the blend, not sure but man it was tasty.
 
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