Memoirs of a Cigar

The #8 rated cigar of 2008, the Don Pepin Garcia Lancero Blue Label is a fabulous smoke. It is a sweet and balanced smoke from first to last puff, one which both cigar novices and experts can enjoy, as it’s not overly strong, but still is full flavored and complex to satisfy the most discerning of palates. It produces a smooth blend of spice, wood and creaminess, all wrapped in a sweet and rich Nicaraguan Wraper.

If you aren’t familiar with Don Pepin Garcia, you should be. He is arguably the best roller in the cigar industry today, and makes the best Lancero’s hands down. He also is a key factor behind the trend of boutique cigar makers in Miami, if not “the” reason.

I paired my Don Pepin Garcia Lancero with a premium Sri Lankan Black Tea with Apricot and Saffron Petals that evokes an exotic evening in Tangier, from “Le Palais Des Thés” in Beverly Hills. They are the #1 Tea Store in the United States, and have wonderful gift packs if your looking for a Christmas gift for the Aficionado in your household.

http://www.palaisdesthes.com/us/

Last night I smoked an Alec Bradley Tempus Cigar out on the terrace, one of the highest rated cigars of the year at 94 points. The one I smoked last night was the Alec Bradley Tempus Magistri, which is the prefierdo shaped cigar with a rounded head and tapered foot. It’s a rare size which I found at the Smokers Inn on my last trip to Florida.

The Alec Bradley Tempus Magistri is a beautifully crafted cigar, which appeals to the eyes as well as the mouth. Flavors of earth and licorice were predominant, with undertones of cedar, leather and black cherry. All of the Tempus cigars are great smokes, but the Magistri seemed to be the most elegant of the line, not just for it’s looks, but for it’s complexity. You could really distinguish the layers of flavors and the changes throughout the cigar.

I drank a mix of Bacardi & Blood Orange Juice, which was great too! I’m really lucky to have found such a great new home complete with Miami style waterfront cigar lounge, and I’m not going to let it go to waste! See you next cigar!

The answer is the “Bat” (think caves, not baseball).

Bacardi Rum, which was orginally founded in Cuba, and then re-founded in the Dominican Republic later to avoid Communist persecution, uses the Bat as their corporate logo. Legend has it that when Bacardi was first getting started, they built a following amongst sailors who would stop to refuel in Santiago Cuba, who would simply refill whatever rum bottles they had on hand with Bacardi’s superior white rum. During Bacardi’s humble Cuban beginnings, many of their customers would also fill empty olive oil bottles with Bacardi Rum. One of the most popular olive oils of the time had a Bat on the bottle, and being that most of the population was illiterate, some people started referring to Bacardi as “the Bat Rum”. Facunado Bacardi, being the marketing genius that he was, soon realized they were missing out on a huge branding opportunity. When opportunity allowed he created Bacardi Bottles with their Bacardi Signature, and the Bat Logo featured prominently on the bottle and cap.

The Lamborghini Murcielago, Spanish for Bat, is named for it’s front headlights, which resemble Bat Eye’s. It Front doors also resemble bat wings when open.

The new 2009 Murcielago Cigar features a beautiful Capa Negra Wrapper, which is a Maduro Wrapper from the San Andreas region of Mexico. These cigars are the creation of Eddie Ortega & Erik Espinosa, who visited bat caves in Mexico while harvesting this Capa Negra Wrapper. They are also the minds behind the great new Cubao and 601 Cigars. For the Murcielago they enlisted the help of Master Roller Don ‘Pepin’ Garcia, one of the best cigar rollers in the world, which clearly shows, as this is one if the most amazing looking cigars I have ever seen. It started off sweet and spicy with flavors of leather and dark fruit. I then noticed the addition of cocoa and nuts. The cigar became very smooth and balanced toward the middle, with the addition of a creamy smoothness, while still maintaining it’s dark blackberry flavor. The last third of the cigar maintained it’s creamy, dark fruit flavor, but without the sweetness.

The new Murcielago Cigar is a great smoke! One that I highly recomend smoking while driving your Lamborghini Murcielago around town sipping Bacardi Rum.

After a hard day at the office I like to come home, slip out of my Prada Shoes, throw on my 49ers Smoking Jacket, and head out to my Waterfront Terrace for a Cigar. Today was an especially arduous day so I chose an especially astounding cigar.

The La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Miami Torpedo is one of my favorite cigars. They tend to be a bit strong when young, but after a few months of aging they settle brilliantly. You can then distinguish dark fruits and subtle spice’s on the palate.

I would highly recomend visiting their factory store in Little Havana, Miami, which is called El Credito Cigars, and is on the corner of 8th and 11th street. Not only can you purchase the full line of La Gloria’s, but also other lines produced there (which are also quite good). If you go during a work day you can walk around the factory and witness cigars being bunched, rolled, pressed and cut. They also have real Cafe Cubano (Cuban Coffee) like you ain’t never had before!

Tonight I decided to do a little tasting to see what paired well with my La Gloria.

-Irish Coffee: helps to bring out the creaminess of the cigar. I think any coffee with cream would work well here.

-Dark Chocolate: might be a bit much for the natural wrapper torpedo. A milk chocolate might fare better. It did cleanse the pallate however.

-Butter Croissant: really paired well and brought a focus to the texture of the cigar. It was incredible how the taste of the croissant accentuated the sweetness of the cigar.

La Gloria Cubana was my first favorite cigar brand, and as my palate has expanded, and my love for cigars has grown, I still rank them amongst my absolute favorite smokes! I guess I’m just a La Gloria Cubana Smoker at heart!