Memoirs of a Cigar

Apparently all I smoke is world class cigars, and this cigar was no exception. The #4 cigar of the year, the La Aroma De Cuba, mastered by Don Pepin ranks right up there with the finest Padon’s and the Opus X.

As the party winded down I reached in my humidor for what I thought would be an excellent smoke, and I was right. This La Aroma De Cuba Belicoso was flawless. It exhibited full flavors of coffee, cocoa and spice, all perfectly balanced and mouth watering. It had a deep flavor profile, which was rich and satisfying, and a perfect burn throughout. A definite 93 point smoke, possibly a 94, which hit on all point factors. A beautiful cigar, flawless construction and full of flavor. Don Pepin surely outdid himself this time.

My 2nd Memorial Day Cigar was the main event, a new 92 point Cuban with the guys. Dave smoked a Bolivar Gold while Viktor smoked a CAO La Traviata Torpedo. I puffed away on the Quai D’Orsay Imperiales, which had an amazing scented wrapper and foot.

The Quai D’Orsay Imperiales was a great Cuban Churchill. As expected it delivered a great smoke as I sat on our jacuzzi tub, chatted up with friends and downed key lime Mojitos. A perfect draw, with core flavors of earth, coffee and cocoa. It was balanced out with a citrus orange peel flavor that surrounded the cigar, like being wrapped in a orange peel wrapper.

I’m really glad I have 1 more of these that I can smoke again. This was a phenomenal cigar, and I’m thinking or ordering a box soon. This was one if the best cigars I have smoked recently, and seem to be along the quality of a H.Uppman Sir Winston, another Cuban go to cigar.

My memorial day started of with a brisk morning walk, and the El Triunfador #5. I have been a huge fan of the original El Triunfador for well over a year now, with it’s secret blend by Pete Johnson in a lancero format. The recent release of five or six sizes by Pete Johnson all recieved a 90 point or higher rating in Cigar Aficionado, including a few 92 pointers. I purchased a few of these beautys at Smokers Inn in Florida and the first I tried was the #5, which is the half Lancero format.

The El Triunfador #5 was a great little cigar, with a very flavorful profile of toasty wood and nuts. It started of with a coconut flavor, reminicent of my Belieze trip a year back, where they cut fresh coconut off the branch and filled it with rum before handing it to me in the jacuzzi on the beach. The toasty flavors of wood and nuts quickly shined through, and made for a very impressive and relaxing early morning smoke.

I can’t wait to try the rest of the El Triunfador line. The #5 was rated at 90 points and was great, and the rest of the line are all rated higher, so I am really looking forward to smoking them in the next week or so.

I just spent a little over $200.00 on cigars at Smoke Inn located in West Palm Beach Florida…and that’s with my 20% discount. Back in Cali, the same cigars would have easily cost me over $300.00. I got some amazing cigars, and fulfilled my cigar shopping list with ease. Of all the cigars I picked up, the cigar I was most eager to try was the new Alec Bradley Family Blend T11.

The Alec Bradley Family Blend was originally released last year, in just one size, but recently an assortment of additional sizes hit cigar shelves. The T11 is the Torpedo size, and just recieved a 94 point rating by Cigar Insider last week!

So to recap: this is a brand new, highly rated cigar, with an awesome blend I have enjoyed before, which I purchased for the msrp of $7.25.

The Alec Bradley Family Blend T11 is a beautiful looking torpedo with a fine pointed tip. It delivers a rich leather and oak wood quality, with a smokey almost hickory note. The cigar starts off medium bodied, but quickly grows into a powerhouse by it’s mid-way point. The flavors are very good and perfectly balanced, complemented by a smokey aroma of fine scented cedar wood. The last third of the cigar seems to mellow out just a bit from it’s powerful center, allowing the smoker to fully apreciate the fully developed flavors, including the sweet hickory notes and some red pepper. The very end of the cigar became a soft and elegant smoke, with a clean mint like freshness to it.

I was quite impressed by the new Alec Bradley Family Blend T11. While the first half was quite traditional flavor wise, the last half exhibited some very exquisite and unique flavors, including a very refreshing mint taste I had never had in a cigar before. If you would call a cigar with 3 flavor profiles (for each third) a complex smoke, I guess you could call this a super complex smoke, as I experienced 4 unique flavor profiles while smoking this outstanding torpedo. The Alec Bradley Family Blend Torpedo T11 is a flavorful smoke, with perfect construction, a super complex flavor profile, and for a price of only $7.25, it is definately a winner!

I picked up my 92 point Ramon Allones Specially Selected at the Havana Humidor in the Bahamas. I chose the Specially Selected over the Gigantes because of the unique maple flavor, and because the price was half of the Gigantes.

The Ramon Allones Specially Selected is a great, strong Cuban Cigar, at an affordable price. It’s a box pressed robusto which is full of complex and changing flavors. It is probably the strongest Cuban Robusto I have ever smoked. That is not to say it was too strong or overpowering in any way, just that it was a tad bit more full strength then say the Montecristo Robusto. It had a wonderful flavor profile that clearly changed with each third.

The cigar had a gentle beginning of sweet cedar wood, mocha and notes of black pepper. The middle of the cigar was phenomenal, with flavors of caramel espresso and maple syrup, with a creamy leathery texture. The end of the cigar became much stronger with a sweet yet strong toasted tobacco flavor, lots of espresso beans, and plenty of spice. The sweetness at the end balanced out the strength perfectly, like a strong cuban espresso with loads of sugar.

All in all the Ramon Allones Specially Selected is a great cigar! It will appeal most to lovers of full flavored Cuban cigars, and is along the lines of a Bolivar Belicoso, but with more depth and complexity.

Atlantis is incredible!!! Swimming pools with waterfall grottos, stingrays, sharks and giant sea turtles. We took 4 laps around the lazy pool on inter-tubes, then I headed to the Crystal Mall next to the Casino.

The Havana Humidor is nestled next to Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo, and is a fabulous cigar store. I picked up one of the new La Gloria Cubana regional edición Cuba, cigars that come in a Ceramic Jar. Their selection is excellent, complete with Montecristo A’s for $47.00 and Montecristo #2′s for $27.00 dollars (if you want to comparison shop). Many of their cigars are quite expensive, but they are very rare, limited edición cubans, so the high prices are to be expected.

I lit up my La Gloria Cubana Delicioso, Exclusivo Cuba from a Ceramic Jar and enjoyed it while strolling the around Atlantis. Being able to freely smoke indoors and out, everywhere I went, felt very welcoming. My La Gloria Cubana Exclusivo Cuba had a rich raisin flavor upon lighting and revealed deep coffee and cedar wood notes. A great tasting cigar that I would rate 91-92 points.

Montecristo Robusto – The day started off with a quick trip to downtown Nassau for some shopping for souvenirs and groceries. When it costs you $8.50 to add fry’s and a Coke to the price of an already horrible $10.00 burger at Atlantis, you decide you can do better shopping for yourself. At the Bahafcu (a high end liquor store in the port of Nassau) I found an excellent selection of Cubans, and for just under $100.00 I got quite an assortment. We watched a cruise ship that had run ashore get pushed back out by a tug boat from the balcony at Starbucks, while smoking a Montecristo Robusto. It was a good flavorfull coffee bean smoke, which validated that these cubans were real.

Cohiba Siglo V Tubo – Chloe and I took the leap of faith, and rode all the massive slides and intertube rapids that Atlantis has to offer. I packed my Cohiba Tubo, cutter and lighter in a waterproof pouch, which stayed dry through it all. Afterwards Chloe and I made our way to the beach beside The Cove, and commandeered (snuck into) an empty ocean side bungalo, which I think was the one they used when filming the show Ugly Betty. We then snuck around back, an into a paradise oasis which goes by the name of Cain. Cain is a gorgous adults only pool, with a live DJ and sheek red poolside beds. This is where I enjoyed one of the finest cigars I have ever had, the Cohiba Siglo V Tubo. It was a rich woody and honey smoke, with a leather texture, which must have been at least a 93 point cigar. Fabulous!

Cohiba Robusto – After a light dinner, we caught the free showing of Avatar in the Atlanis Theater, which was my third time watching the film. I then decided to take a late night stroll by the pool which was lit up with blue and green underwater lights. I sat in the lifeguard chair underneath a straw umbrella and finished off the night with a Cohiba Robusto. The cigar was a strong smoke with heavy notes of toasted wood and raisens.

I sat out on our balcony in the Bahamas and smoked a Cuaba Salomon during sunset. For those who know cigars, a Cuaba is a true celebratory cigar. It’s a soft and elegant tapered end smoke, that provides lushious waves of gentle honey, nutmeg and spice in it’s smoke.

My eyes feasted upon the view of the main towers of Atlantis, with it’s 6 towers weaved into 1. As the sun set, the lights came on, including the blue and green lights in several of the 15 or so swimming pools within view. A magnificant hotel, towering casino, ocean front landscape, palm trees and the worlds greatest waterpark all kneeled down before me, with the Cuaba Solomon as my sceptor.

The Cuaba Solomon started off with a light honey comb flavor, and slowly progressed into a nutmeg and elegant spice masterpiece, with the key word being masterpiece. They should make a cologne with the aroma, as it is in fact quite heavenly.

I had been cloud watching earlier and saw a tyrannosaurus rex, panda bear and a human face clearly silhouetted above the Atlantic Ocean. Now in the fresh night air, the amber lamps of the Atlantis Hotel has taken a visual precedence, and the soft roar of the waterfalls are clearly in control of the auditory realm.

This is Paradise.

This is Atlantis.

This is the Bahamas.

We arrived in Nassau Bahamas and upon clearing customs, were greated with free drinks in the airport! I had a couple bahama mama’s and talked the bartender into “breaking the rules” and selling me a bottle of Bacardi Limon for $10.00.

We then took a white stretch limosine through Nassau to our quaint little hotel in Paradise Island called Atlantis. I broke out a bottle of Macallan Select Oak, which I picked up duty free in the international terminal for $55.00. This Macallan was amazing, and may be my new favorite Macallan.

We checked in and went to our room and the view was literally breathtaking. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself below.

Chloe and I are back in sunny Palm Beach Florida, where It was a gorgous 87 degrees today. Our day started out with our inagural trip to Tuoile Pan, a fabulous Cuban Bakery. We got our Cuban Coffee’s and our Guava Cheese Pastries. I have been thinking about those Guava Pastries for about 6 months now, and I can tell you they did not disappoint.

We then headed down to Palm Beach to swim in the ocean. The water was warm and crystal clear. There were schools of fish jumping in the ocean, and 5 medium sized angel fish who swam around my feet for a good 15 minutes. We laid on the beach for about 2 hours, and headed home to change. Then we were off to City Place for lunch at the Bellagio, where I enjoyed the Fettuccine Alfredo.

After lunch I popped into Lost City Cigars to grab a few factory fresh Connecticut Wrapped Cigars by Habaneros, then it was off to the World Famous Breakers Hotel. We grabbed some Pina Colada’s at the seafood bar, and I lit up my Habaneros Connecticut Torpedo. We strolled along the ocean and by the swimming pools, then landed under the roman pillars in the venitian gardens to watch the sunset.

A fabulous first day in Florida, and we’re just getting started. Tomorrow we head east for Atlantis in the Bahamas, and next weekend were down south in Key West.

Move over Ralph, there’s a new Polo wearing Sheriff in town!!!

A stressful day at work is often countered by a good cigar after work. So it figures that a very stressful day might require 2 cigars to balance out. I recently had a day so extremely stressful, I needed 2 amazing Cubans from my 2008 Habanos Collection to take the stress away. The Partagas Serie P No. 2 & the Montecristo Edmundo, both from my 2008 Festival Del Habanos X Collection.

The Partagas Serie P No. 2 was taken with an early lunch. It’s funky flavors helped to prepare me for the rest of the stress filled day. The Montecristo Edmundo and its toasty flavors helped to calm me once the horrible work day was behind me.

Both were perfect specimens of these Cuban brands, and both allowed me to remember work is only work, and life is life. In America it is so easy to become consumed in your work and to become a cog of the machine, but my cubans acted as a lifeline, pulling me back to a life of joy and happiness.

As I learned on the Greek Isles many years ago, “in America you live just to work, but in Greece you work just enough to live.” I admit I do both, but I surely prefer the latter.