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Well I hope my neibors have ultra heightend pork chops this morning.
I read somewhere that lighting a cigar with a cedar splint will give it an extra edge, so I pillaged some of my Tubo's for some material and cut them into strips. I lit one the other day to see how it would burn and I was quite tentative ; It burnt nice, but let off quite a pungent smell, I was worried that the smell could equal something funky in the wood and would make the cigar taste funny.
Well I fancied trying it this morning and I did not regret it. On the chopping board this morning was my workhorse cigar Piedra Brevas. I had 4 strips ready to try out. I lit the first one and did the usual rotating, while holding the cigar in the tip of the flame. The flame was quite erratic but It was manageble. After the second splint it was lit lovely. Equal ash all around and I puffed once and looked to examine my light and it was a textbook execution. Perfectly lit around the edges, and with some blowing assistance the edges closed into the middle. Voila, perfect lighting technique!
After my first few puffs, I was getting some nice draw and some nice pure smoke, i'd wait a while for the flavors to kick in. The burn was still going strong and was producing some lovely white, solid ash. Again text book:
Just before half way down ,things were getting interesting. Great volumous smoke and no drawing issues. The flavors I were getting were unusual for ol matey Piedra. It was almost like a 'beer flavor' I was trying to put my finger on it, but it was a taste Ive never had with this cigar before. After the 1st ash broke off, I had minor coning, about 3mm, nothing bad , I slowed down a little to let the cherry catch up with it's outer rim friends.
The last leg of the smoke was amazing. I couldn't believe I was smoking a Piedra. Either I managed to pick out the best stick out of my Humi or the cedar splint made all the difference. Puffing was great fun. I had to inhale only slightly to see a satisfactory glow around the outside of the cigar (sign of a well lit smoke in my experience), before exhailing HUGE puffs of flavorsome smoke. At this time , the smoke was still very pure, no limey aftertaste on the pallet, and I didnt want this to end.
Toward the end of the cigar, it was still very well behaved, after the last tier of ash broke off and I was on the home run to the last inch, The amount of smoke and flavor was increasing still. A club could of hired me to be a smoke machine for the night.
I shit you not the flavors near the end were almost Bacon-beefy. Never tasted that before! I let the cigar die a dignified death for being so well behaved all the way through. Didnt want to but why ruin such a perfect experience.
Pictures couldn't even begin to show how smokey and perfect it was
This was only Piedra! Couldn't image how higher priced cubans (or non cubans) would smoke. Ill have to try this with a nice bolivar when I get some in.
Go pillage your Tubos for some wood and cut them into strips and get smoking. Ill defo be trying again. I just hope I dont run my tubo-wood into extinction any time soon.
10/10!
I read somewhere that lighting a cigar with a cedar splint will give it an extra edge, so I pillaged some of my Tubo's for some material and cut them into strips. I lit one the other day to see how it would burn and I was quite tentative ; It burnt nice, but let off quite a pungent smell, I was worried that the smell could equal something funky in the wood and would make the cigar taste funny.
Well I fancied trying it this morning and I did not regret it. On the chopping board this morning was my workhorse cigar Piedra Brevas. I had 4 strips ready to try out. I lit the first one and did the usual rotating, while holding the cigar in the tip of the flame. The flame was quite erratic but It was manageble. After the second splint it was lit lovely. Equal ash all around and I puffed once and looked to examine my light and it was a textbook execution. Perfectly lit around the edges, and with some blowing assistance the edges closed into the middle. Voila, perfect lighting technique!
After my first few puffs, I was getting some nice draw and some nice pure smoke, i'd wait a while for the flavors to kick in. The burn was still going strong and was producing some lovely white, solid ash. Again text book:
Just before half way down ,things were getting interesting. Great volumous smoke and no drawing issues. The flavors I were getting were unusual for ol matey Piedra. It was almost like a 'beer flavor' I was trying to put my finger on it, but it was a taste Ive never had with this cigar before. After the 1st ash broke off, I had minor coning, about 3mm, nothing bad , I slowed down a little to let the cherry catch up with it's outer rim friends.
The last leg of the smoke was amazing. I couldn't believe I was smoking a Piedra. Either I managed to pick out the best stick out of my Humi or the cedar splint made all the difference. Puffing was great fun. I had to inhale only slightly to see a satisfactory glow around the outside of the cigar (sign of a well lit smoke in my experience), before exhailing HUGE puffs of flavorsome smoke. At this time , the smoke was still very pure, no limey aftertaste on the pallet, and I didnt want this to end.
Toward the end of the cigar, it was still very well behaved, after the last tier of ash broke off and I was on the home run to the last inch, The amount of smoke and flavor was increasing still. A club could of hired me to be a smoke machine for the night.
I shit you not the flavors near the end were almost Bacon-beefy. Never tasted that before! I let the cigar die a dignified death for being so well behaved all the way through. Didnt want to but why ruin such a perfect experience.
Pictures couldn't even begin to show how smokey and perfect it was
This was only Piedra! Couldn't image how higher priced cubans (or non cubans) would smoke. Ill have to try this with a nice bolivar when I get some in.
Go pillage your Tubos for some wood and cut them into strips and get smoking. Ill defo be trying again. I just hope I dont run my tubo-wood into extinction any time soon.
10/10!
"Come in here, dear Boy, have a cigar" ....Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) 
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