Lately I’ve been following the mantra of a member of this board for whom I hold great respect, even though we’ve never met in the flesh (please note this post is in no way trying to prove him right or wrong). Several months ago, he posted about cutting back the “quantity” of cigars he smokes, and going for “quality” instead, while presumably carrying roughly the same expenditure. I thought “What a great idea. I’ve had my share of dog rockets. I’ll give that a go.”
So several months ago, when things were finally getting settled from our move ½ way across Canada, and once I found a place to actually place my cigar storage units (as I like to call them), I chose the 2 biggest wooden ones and did some rearranging, placing anything I considered high value in them. These included high end Padrons, high end Fuente (which include GOF, DCM, Anejo, Opus, et al), preferred Cubans, assorted like TATs I enjoy, a selection of Coronado by La Flor, yadda yadda. I ended up with quite a selection, if I may say so, and still ended up culling the herd a little due to lack of room in these 2 boxes. Over the past 3 months I’ve had normally 2-4 smokes a week (weather dependent) and cannot honestly say I’ve enjoyed every one of them, ‘cause I haven’t.
But I digress.
Today, I said fuggit and came home early to get some yard work done and enjoy the outdoors on a beautiful afternoon. I went to a box different from the above and took out this ratty looking cigar that was, in size, somewhere between Toro and Corona size. The dark & mottled, somewhat veiny wrapper looked like a newspaper someone sat on while placed on a soft couch, the cap looked looked like it had been applied of someone who had 12 thumbs, the foot wasn’t square and I swear, the cigar wasn’t even rolled straight.
I clipped the end and that went to shreds. I took a dry draw and the resistance was somewhat loose, but I do happen to hate a tight draw, so this is fine with me. Pre-light taste and aroma were very nice and in spite of the exterior of the smoke, felt quite nice to the finger tips and there was nary a soft spot to be found.
Foot lit easily with a wood match after a hearty toasting with a single flame torch. The smoke was very nicely flavoured, with nothing exceptional standing out, just a nice taste on the tongue and a wonderful little tingle to the sinuses when exhaled nasally. Probably the lower side of medium for strength, but smoking early afternoon on an empty stomach, I won’t consider that accurate.
I wouldn’t say it a perfect burn in any shape or form, but it never required a touch-up at any time of the 50 minutes it took to finish this in spite of the breeze. Any irregularity self-corrected in no time flat. The amount of smoke from this thing would rival a city bus. I can honestly say I can remember very few cigars that come even close to the amount of smoke I could get from this cigar. I should also add that at no time during this did the smoke get bitter at all, which is very often a fault I find with lower end cigars.
OK, someone’s asking by now “OK, enough B. S., WTF was it?” It was a Consuegra # 17 Maduro. First one out of a bundle I bought at JRs in Detroit nearly a year ago. I have always enjoyed the Connie #9’s and these are a new source of enjoyment.
So, Noobs; there are 2 morals to this story:
• While on the average, the higher the {honest} price tag is on a cigar, the better it is, don’t ever consider making that a rule and automatically assume that “Buck-a-stick” smokes are shit. (I'll admit most of the time, “Buck-a-stick” smokes ARE just that, absolute shit. But these are worth a try.)
• This again proves what many here who are smarter than I have said so many times – “Smoke what you like, and enjoy what you smoke”.
So several months ago, when things were finally getting settled from our move ½ way across Canada, and once I found a place to actually place my cigar storage units (as I like to call them), I chose the 2 biggest wooden ones and did some rearranging, placing anything I considered high value in them. These included high end Padrons, high end Fuente (which include GOF, DCM, Anejo, Opus, et al), preferred Cubans, assorted like TATs I enjoy, a selection of Coronado by La Flor, yadda yadda. I ended up with quite a selection, if I may say so, and still ended up culling the herd a little due to lack of room in these 2 boxes. Over the past 3 months I’ve had normally 2-4 smokes a week (weather dependent) and cannot honestly say I’ve enjoyed every one of them, ‘cause I haven’t.
But I digress.
Today, I said fuggit and came home early to get some yard work done and enjoy the outdoors on a beautiful afternoon. I went to a box different from the above and took out this ratty looking cigar that was, in size, somewhere between Toro and Corona size. The dark & mottled, somewhat veiny wrapper looked like a newspaper someone sat on while placed on a soft couch, the cap looked looked like it had been applied of someone who had 12 thumbs, the foot wasn’t square and I swear, the cigar wasn’t even rolled straight.
I clipped the end and that went to shreds. I took a dry draw and the resistance was somewhat loose, but I do happen to hate a tight draw, so this is fine with me. Pre-light taste and aroma were very nice and in spite of the exterior of the smoke, felt quite nice to the finger tips and there was nary a soft spot to be found.
Foot lit easily with a wood match after a hearty toasting with a single flame torch. The smoke was very nicely flavoured, with nothing exceptional standing out, just a nice taste on the tongue and a wonderful little tingle to the sinuses when exhaled nasally. Probably the lower side of medium for strength, but smoking early afternoon on an empty stomach, I won’t consider that accurate.
I wouldn’t say it a perfect burn in any shape or form, but it never required a touch-up at any time of the 50 minutes it took to finish this in spite of the breeze. Any irregularity self-corrected in no time flat. The amount of smoke from this thing would rival a city bus. I can honestly say I can remember very few cigars that come even close to the amount of smoke I could get from this cigar. I should also add that at no time during this did the smoke get bitter at all, which is very often a fault I find with lower end cigars.
OK, someone’s asking by now “OK, enough B. S., WTF was it?” It was a Consuegra # 17 Maduro. First one out of a bundle I bought at JRs in Detroit nearly a year ago. I have always enjoyed the Connie #9’s and these are a new source of enjoyment.
So, Noobs; there are 2 morals to this story:
• While on the average, the higher the {honest} price tag is on a cigar, the better it is, don’t ever consider making that a rule and automatically assume that “Buck-a-stick” smokes are shit. (I'll admit most of the time, “Buck-a-stick” smokes ARE just that, absolute shit. But these are worth a try.)
• This again proves what many here who are smarter than I have said so many times – “Smoke what you like, and enjoy what you smoke”.
