New World cigar articles

[Puff Scotty]

I was gifted a FdlA toro gordo...total disappointment for me..poor construction, the middle of the cigar was very loose, the wrapper very toothed & gnarly...as for flavours, it started out woody with a touch of leather & ended up woody with a touch of leather...all in all a bad wooden stick with no development & zero character..sorry...

[Monty Cristo]

I was gifted a FdlA toro gordo...total disappointment for me..poor construction, the middle of the cigar was very loose, the wrapper very toothed & gnarly...as for flavours, it started out woody with a touch of leather & ended up woody with a touch of leather...all in all a bad wooden stick with no development & zero character..sorry...

Thanks for the feedback, Puff. I must admit, I have come across a number of so-called great NW cigars that have proved to be particularly 'meh' to me. For example, I very rarely come across a Maduro cigar which I like. Of course Maduro is massive in the US, but I find it mostly terribly dry on the palate and raspy on the throat. I can see this topic is going to take some serious experimenting

Please keep your favourite and not so favourite NW sticks coming guys.

[baileyth]

I've yet to try add they are more costly than Cubans in some cases but padron 1926 or1964 are meant to be on par and better than some Cubans....

[Puff Scotty]

Thanks for the feedback, Puff. I must admit, I have come across a number of so-called great NW cigars that have proved to be particularly 'meh' to me. For example, I very rarely come across a Maduro cigar which I like. Of course Maduro is massive in the US, but I find it mostly terribly dry on the palate and raspy on the throat. I can see this topic is going to take some serious experimenting

Please keep your favourite and not so favourite NW sticks coming guys.

Will do Boss...

PS Those damn Yankees dye their wrappers too....

[TJCoro]

Cigar of the Year?

Thanks for your feedback, all, and your noted deference TJ I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Flor de las Antillas.

I was gifted a FdlA toro gordo...total disappointment for me..poor construction, the middle of the cigar was very loose, the wrapper very toothed & gnarly...as for flavours, it started out woody with a touch of leather & ended up woody with a touch of leather...all in all a bad wooden stick with no development & zero character..sorry...

I just finished off CA's No. 1 cigar of 2012 - Flor de las Antillas. (I've been a wee bit under the weather, so I waited to give it a fair go).

I have to agree with the puffster on this one - it was a boring, one-dimensional stick with no character. Binned it with over 5 centimeters left.

This is the second year in a row that I thought the cigar of the year was kinda' meh.

The No. 5 cigar - A. Fuente Rosado 44 - is a much better stick, IMO.

But that's just me.


Perro, el Perro

[EugeneSax]

It may well be trite, but I still think a very apt analogy is the comparison of Cuban/NW cigars to French/NW wines (at least when dealing with the top end, premium market as implicit by the widely accepted shorthand "Cubans").

The one may not be an exact model of the other, but I'm sure the many striking parallels significantly outweigh relatively few exceptions : Old established industry, complacency, bucks up production & marketing methods in the face of harder working upstarts, the latter catching up quickly but oldie still commands top prices and undoubtedly(?)still wide gap in taste, proven ageing ability, complexity, depth of flavour, much more limited supply, 'snob' value...et al.

That said, no matter what resources I had there are still many occasions that I'd plumb for an easily quaffable non-French Pinot Girgio over a premiere cru white Burgundy - and the same goes for cigars.

Continuing the analogy, circumstances have largely restricted me to beer (read: a pipe) - largely the reason for absence from this place. And before there are any wild Mexican claims of sympathy gathering, here's picture of what I treated myself, wife, mother & brother to on NYE (and I still have a fair few of their equivalents in my humidor) Not surprisingly my bro & I didn't get round to enjoying a choice stick after this lot:











[And if anyone's interested, the star of the show for me was the black label 2005 Canard-Duchene - real vintage character champagne for only ?20, absolute bloody bargain. If funds & storage space permitted I'd be straight down to Majestic for case or two keep and enjoy over the next few years]

[Monty Cristo]

Now that is a line up Eugene. Still recovering?

[Davex]

Good to some Brane Cantenac there, clearly a man with taste.
Have you tried Chateau Dangludet? A cracking wine for ?22/ bottle, the 2004 is drinking well now.

[Puff Scotty]

Big Girl's Blouse! ...where ya hiding the whisky....

[Davex]

Big Girl's Blouse! ...where ya hiding the whisky....

A true gent drinks Armagnac after dinner Puff, unless like me one has drunk it all and is left with Heineken
Oh, but i`ve just realised,, being a scot your dinner would be the whisky

[Puff Scotty]

Aye tae that laddie! Aye tae that!

[Monty Cristo]

As has mine this week, Burns Night extravaganza a good excuse for a dram or several