10 Manchester- 16/2/10

[cohibaIV]

I wondered if we could wander back to 10 Manchester Street and give some views on a previous post?

Where is this place????

[snooky]

5mins walk from Baker St stn. due south.

[kingcohiba]

I have been hesitant to write this entry but I will now bite the bullet.....

I would like to start by thanking those involved from the forum who assisted in me obtaining three example of the Padron 45th Maduro cigar that Jimmeh and I smoked at 10 Manchester Street on Monday. This is the cigar that Cigar Aficionado awarded the cigar of the year award to for 2009. The main point of the evening had been for Jimmeh, myself and Ajay to smoke this particular cigar. Ajay wanted to see what the venue was like and I was looking for a way to repay my gratitude to Ajay for all the things he had done for me and Jimmeh over the recent past.

Sadly Ajay was taken down with the flu and had to duck out at the last minute so Jimmeh and I rang around some people to see who we could drag out at the last minute. In hindsight there are several people (like Monkey66) who I should have called but I was in a foul mood about the change in plans so spoke to nobody. I did manage to bring myself to text Laxcaux as he is such a odd-ball character, but in a great way and I enjoy him being around to smoke with hugely. We also had a regular smoker friend from Wardour Street join us but whom I find increasingly tiresome.

I had killed the afternoon at JJ Fox and smoked a SLR DC that they currently have on offer as part of the relaunch (the entire SLR range is on offer). This is the same offer they are having for those of you that attend the mini-function next Thursday. I am unable to attend but am pleased to have already had one of the cigars. The SLR DC was enjoyable but will not be supplanting the Hoyo or Partagas in my DC selection plans. As you all know, a DC can take a long time to smoke so it was no surprise that Jimmeh was already at the hotel and had started a thin gauge cigar by the time I arrived. It was a La Gloria Cubana if memory serves, I forget which specifically.

He instantly detected that I was in a particularly foul mood (the lack of anybody speaking English in London and the change in plans put me in a black mood very efficiently) and he tried to placate me with the gift of an RAF aerospace chart of the North Sea area from just after the period of my birth. He knows that sort of stuff interests me and now I can plan my destruction of the Soviet block in the privacy of my own home.

Once he had finished the LGC and I had ranted about the cold war for a short while we elected to smoke the Padron in Ajay's absence. I would like to repeat at this point that I am VERY grateful for those that helped me obtain these sticks and that what follows has NO reflection on those efforts and my gratitude.

Well, WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS this cigar is. Was it a BAD cigar? No. Was it a GREAT cigar? NO. It was a hint above average for an NC but had I thought it was a Cuban (difficult considering the format and extreme box pressing) I would have raised an eyebrow and sworn never to smoke another. How CA can put this above many fine Cuban's and even some NC's beggars belief. The second place went to the tubed Cohiba Siglo IV. I am no Cohiba fan-boy but I would smoke that instead in a heartbeat. The Rocky Patel Decade that received 8th place is better than the Padron, hands down! I ended up looking longingly at the Rocky Patel Vintage 2nd Lascaux was smoking as I tried not to think about how much this bloody disappointing Padron had cost me! Jimmeh agreed that it was not a horrid smoke, but was certainly nothing special.

In JJ Fox that afternoon a friend who regularly smokes Cohiba Robustos was talked into try one of the NC's that Fox's carry. This was the Oliva Serie V that received the fifth place on the CA awards list. He really enjoyed it. One of the staff had tried his first of these that morning and was also extolling its virtues. If you get to Fox's give one a try, I was unable to afford one that day (they are only about ?11).

All in all, what a total load of tosh the CA awards are. Many of us already knew this. Oddities like giving the Montecristo Open series very high marks had caused us to reconsider what weight we give the judgement of CA staff writers. The same goes for the Bolivar RE 2009 Petit Belicoso which they liked a few issues back, horrid bloody stick at the moment. I dug out some of my back issue and now remember that five or so years ago this was on ok publication, now its toilet material. When it used to be published only on alternate months it was a big, thick, heavy and grand looking publication with some interesting articles. Now it is a pamphlet that is more interested in shopping trends and shoes fashions.

I continue to maintain that of the NC's I have smoked only Rocky Patel can put a smile on my face consistently. I have yet to try the "Brick House", "My Father", "601", "Opus X" and other highly rated NC's, but we have tried a lot. We both thought (Jimmeh and I) the Ashton VSG Spellbound to be totally underwhelming.

Anyway. Padron 45th Maduro as cigar of the year? Only if they paying you to say it! Cigar Aficionado is total rubbish, simply do not bother with it. Try to refrain from being a Cuban cigar only snob as it is a bore and foolish. There are good NC's but few GREAT NC's. There are far more GREAT Cubans but you still have to hunt them down, you wont find a great one in most cigar shops.

T.

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man! tough to hear that. i have had several 45ths and they have been out of this world. and when i say that, i mean worth every penny i paid for them. with the exception of two. i had one yesterday and it was as you described it....very average. i hope the others still give them a chance and that they find them very different than you did! but i guess like any other cigar, you will get a bad one sometimes. the one i had yesterday was purchased from the same place yours was. maybe they need more humi time? i dont know! mine was from november of 09, if i remember correctly those were december? sorry to hear, but like i said the one yesterday that i had.....wish i would have handed that one to the guy i shared them with!

[Big_T_UK]

Haha, do not worry. I will give them another try one day maybe.

T.