Memoirs of a Cigar

I just smoked a 2001 Hoyo De Monterrey Le Hoyo De Roi from a Cabinet Selection Box. The first handful of cigars were plugged, but after a few weeks of corrective humidification, they became smokable, albeit with a slightly tight draw. The wrapper of this 10 year aged Hoyo De Monterrey had a honey hay scented center, with an espresso scented foot.

Imagine smoking a Capuchino with Brown Sugar, Cinammon and Nutmeg sprinkled on top, and dipping in a Toasty Woody Hazelnut Biscotti. That’s what this amazing Le Hoyo De Roi tasted like!

Upon lighting, the first few puff’s revealed a smokey dark cedar wood taste, with a touch of soft black pepper. Most of these flavors are recognized through inhaling the cigar’s smoke through the nose, which was soft and flavorfull. This cigar smells amazing, and it’s smoke is rich and aromatic.

Toward the end of the first third, the cigar moved from mild to medium in body, with the addition of coffee flavors, a slight increase in spice, and the secret ingredient…cream. Le Hoyo De Roi is one of the creamiest cigars I have ever smoked! It tasted just like a capuchino, and exhaling the velvety smoke felt like covering my face in cream.

The center of the cigar was medium bodied, mildly spicy, with flavors of coffee and creamy cedar wood. The cream was the most obvious stand out ingredient. There was also a good amount of that world famous Cuban Earthiness to this cigar, which I believe comes from the high amount of volcanic ash in the Cuban soil.

The final third of the cigar became more full bodied. Flavors of espresso, cedar wood and black pepper were the core flavors. The cream was still present, and the aroma was still heavenly.

The Hoyo De Monterrey Le Hoyo De Roi was a rich, flavorful and creamy smoke, even with 10+ years under it’s belt. It undoubtedly has additional aging potential, as it is still quite rich in flavor and strength. I would rate this as a 94-95 point smoke at 10 years old.

Avo Uvezian is known for his amazingly complex and delicate cigar blending skills. Each year he releases a new blend, which is always full of new exciting flavors. His most famous cigar is probably the AVO 787, which is an outstanding smoke.

In March 2010, he released the Super Robusto AVO LE 10, which is a larger ring gauge robusto, at 5.5 inches long and with a 55 ring gauge. This cigar is a mouthful. Add to that its dark and oily Equadorian Sun Grown Wrapper, and your in for a flavorfull treat.

The AVO LE 10 starts off with a musty oak flavor provided by the wrapper, and a strong spiceness which fades fairly quickly. The LE 10 then reveals a light earthy character, with a faint sweetness in the background, a creamy mouth feel and a dry finish. It alternates between being sweet and spicy, grassy and woody in it’s first third. The middle of the LE 10 is earthy and spicy with flavors of chocolate and almonds. Very nice! It finishes with a delicate earthy character and features a return of it’s spiceness, although to a lesser degree.

The AVO LE 10 is a full flavored cigar, with a strong nicotine content, yet with extremely intricate and delicate flavors. It’s as if the tobacco leaves were picked by barefoot women in Greek gowns by moonlite to retain their delicate qualities and maximum freshness. A master blended cigar.

My Birthday is coming up early next month, and so of course I’m planning on smoking an amazing cigar. It just so happens I recently came across an opportunity to purchase what may be the FINEST CIGAR EVER MADE…the Cohiba Gran Reserva!!!

The Cohiba Gran Reserva was rated at 100/100 points by James Suckling, the worlds foremost expert on Cuban Cigars. It is literally the cream of the crop, made with the finest tobacco leaves Cohiba has ever produced, and I am so excited to endulge in this masterpiece on my upcoming birthday.

A cigar this amazing comes at a price, of course, 85 Euro’s which is around $125.00 a piece. You might expect a markup to around $250 or even $300 for this most desirable cigar in the world. My contact sells them for $175, but I got the special b-day price of $125.

You might think $125 is alot of money to spend on a single cigar, but I feel as though I just got one hell of a bargain. Stay tuned for the review of this cigar in less than 2 weeks.

I stopped by one of my absolute favorite cigar stores today; Hemingway Cigars in Palo Alto. They had every new rare cigar I had been unable to obtain while in Florida last month, including the new La Gloria Cubana with 2 wrappers, and the new EPC Short Run, which is made by the founder of La Gloria Cubana as well.

The La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros, as it is called, has a light colored Connecticut Shade wrapper for the first third of the cigar, and then a dark Equadorian Sumatra wrapper for the remainder. It is said to provide a ‘cigar dinner’ like experience, with an appetizer followed by the main course.

I smoked this new La Gloria walking around Palo Alto after a late breakfast at Crepevine. It started off like a classic La Gloria Cubana with a light toasty and nutty flavor, and plenty of white pepper spice. The 2nd section of the cigar, with the dark Equadorian wrapper, morphed into a deep rich leathery smoke with flavors of coffee, cocoa and cinnamon! It was definately a cigar experience, with two completely distinct flavors, but which went together perfectly. It had excellent construction, burn and draw, and the ash held on through the entire first wrapper of the cigar. This is another favorite of mine from the wonderful La Gloria Cubana!

Location:
“The Refuge” in San Carlos, a Belgian Style Bar with over 21 Belgian Ale’s on Tap, each of which has it’s own glass. The Refuge is best known for their thick and juicy, carved in-house, Hot Pastrami Sandwich, which was recently featured in SF Magazine as the Best Hot Pastrami in the Bay Area. They also have amazing cheesesteaks, burgers, and tapas available.

http://refugesc.com/

Event:
Watch Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals, which did not include the king Lebron James and crew, as they were knocked out of the playoffs by a energetic Boston Celtics team, who are now facing off against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Belgian Beer:
1) Moinette Blonde – poured with a frothy head that shrinks to reveal a floral scent, with a honey golden hay mouthfeel.

2) Tripel Karmeliet – as the foam slips away, the pale amber slides into your cheek to reveal an elegant orange spice masterpiece which is cold, balanced and refreshing.

3) Gouden Carlous Tripel – served in a gold lined glass, this frothy golden beer is amazingly good, with a honey aroma and flavor bursting fruit explosion, and has a carbonating citrus finish.

Food:
The Rueben is served on toasted Rye Bread with sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese, Russian dressing. The Pastrami is cured in house, hand carved thick, and basted in coriander and black pepper. OUTSTANDING!

Cigar:
A 91 point El Triunfador #4, which was just released in the past few months as part of 6 sizes, all of which scored 90 points or higher. The El Triunfador #4 started with a sweet cocoa and leather flavor. It then added coffee bean and vanilla toward the center, and finished with a savory quality which made it a perfect after dinner treat. A solid box pressed robusto which is well suited as a half-time smoke, preferably with a Lebron James, but can be substituted with a Kobe Bryant if necessary.

Montecristo is the best selling Cuban Cigar Brand in the world with 22% of the sales volume for 2009. The Petit Corona sized Montecristo #4 accounted for 8% of the market by itself, followed by the Romeo y Julieta Cazadores with 5%.

I have now smoked 4 of these little Montecristo #4′s and I can easily see why they are they are a top seller. They are beautiful little box pressed cigars that are briming with flavor. They are affordable and convenient, lasting about 45 minutes per smoke, and you can hand them out with pride, knowing the recieving party will experience a world class smoke.

The Montecristo #4 is rich and flavorful from the first puff. Toasty wood flavors with a nutty almond taste in the background followed by a smorgasbord of flavors including; cocoa, vanilla, walnuts, light fruits, coffee, earth, leather, and white spice to name a few. All these are blended in perfect harmony, and accompanied by a fragrant cedar aroma. The cigar mellows into a light and toasty white spice finale with an aromatic finesse. If you are a serious cigar smoker, you should always have a box of these on hand, and if you are a beginner you will find these a great first box purchase. I would rate the Montecristo #4 at 93-94 points.

This Tuesday June 1st was our dog Maggie’s Birthday! She turned 3 years old, which is 21 in dog years. Maggie is now old enough to go out and buy her doggie friends alcohol, which is fine, but I told her I don’t want any dogs driving afterwards.

At lunch I went to Whole Foods and got Maggie a new Chuck-It, three cool balls, and some organic turkey strips. After work Chloe and I took Maggie to Petco and let her pick out a bunch of new squeekie toys.

At about 6:30 her doggie friend Twinkie came over for Maggie’s Birthday Party. Twinkie’s Mom even baked Maggie a special Doggie Birthday Cake! (You can see Twinkie patiently waiting for birthday cake in a picture below)

We then walked the dogs to the beach where they ran around on the grass, did some digging in the sand, and fetched sticks in the water. Maggie and Twinkie did everything a doggie could ask for at Maggie’s Doggie Birthday Party.

During the party I lit up a H. Upmann Reserve Maduro Belicoso. I have to admit that this cigar well exceeded my expectations and was a great smoke! I was expecting an overly strong cigar, but the H. Upmann Reserve Maduro exhibited a smooth and balanced profile, with a sweet maduro wrapper. It was a medium bodied cigar with flavors of cocoa, coffee and leather, and smoked perfectly from the Doggie Birthday Cake to the end of our Doggie Birthday Party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!