A couple of weeks ago we, the family and I, camped in the keys at a wonderful state park on Long Key, spent eight days there. Most of the days were spent frolicking in the water while the afternoons were spent fishing from one of the little bridges nearby. Most evenings I spent relaxing in a chair smoking a great cigar and enjoying the natural surroundings. One of the days we went into Key West, mostly because I had my nephew with me and he had never been, we really wouldn’t have gone aside from that. While there I picked up a House Special from the Original Key West Cigar Factory cart located outside of the Conch Tour Train station on Front Street. That night I placed it in my travel humidor and planned on smoking it later.

Well today I smoked it. Well maybe not smoked it but tried to smoke it I should say. Here is the “lipstick on the pig” description:


House Special - 25 Count
Never a complaint, our House Special is a traditional robusto size that is just about everything a cigar can be. It's tasty, lasts a good while and just the right blend of pure Dominican long-filler and binder and medium shade Sumatran Cameroon. It's a winner that friends like to share with friends.
Ring Size: 50
Length: 5

Nothing special about the cigar, wrapper had some good size veins but the smell was nice. I punched the end and did a pre-light taste. “What the hell?” Obviously the end was sugar dipped, I thought for a moment that I had stuck a swisher sweet in my mouth, from here on out everything just goes downhill. Lighting the cigar seemed to take some effort and within minutes started to canoe and even though the draw was good I couldn’t get any smoke out of the cigar without huffing away at it, which in turn made it hot. What smoke I could get out of it tasted like burnt garbage. This lasted for about an inch before I gave up and clipped the end, thinking I could relight it. This also didn’t produce anything but the same results. With about three and a half inches left of the cigar I gave up. Curiosity got the better of me and I split the remains open. While this is touted as a long filler cigar there was plenty of short filler present, I would actually classify it as a Cuban sandwich fill. Needless to say I would rather have had the Swisher Sweet.

I would like to apologize to both my readers for waiting patiently until I posted my next entry, sorry Mom and little sis. The last half dozen weeks or so has been a little hard for our group with some losses but I think the overall mood is back, the summer is in full force and life is getting better. For this week I will post a little prose for your enjoyment titled Secrets.

There you recline in all your shimmering oily glory.
Resting on a bed of fragrant cedar.
Casing of the most luxuriant dusky brown.
So soft and supple to the touch, so firm in your shape.
Your heavenly aroma excites my desire.
You are almost flawless through and through.
One thing makes you different from the others that lie with you.
You have a secret I must know.
Your resistance to give yourself fully to me frustrates.
Why must you tease me so?
Why must you haunt me with your exquisiteness?
Are you trying to drive me insane?
I so want to indulge in your pleasures.
Partake of your treasures in full.
Use you as you were crafted to be used.
Draining you of all your energies.
Leaving you spent, a fraction of your previous glory.
I hesitate because of your secret.
My mind storms and a rage shakes my body.
Give me your secret I mentally scream.
Why do you hold back on me so?
Why must you be so mysterious?
I cruse and rant, my frustrations overwhelming.
You will not budge, clinging to your secret.
My anger turns to resentment.
Resentment turns to loathing.
I will not touch you anymore.
I will not gaze upon your beauty.
My lust for you has turned to ash in my mouth.
I look away, not even a fleeting glance you are paid.
Keep your secret.
As I drift by I whisper one last time.
Tell me your secret.
Who took the $%&# band off of you?

Oh look at you my darling………

Lets go Canoeing

Alright I have held off long enough and I apologize to whatever readership I might have lol. I promised in my last blog that I would be evaluating a cigar from a wholesale online outlet the next time I posted. Well I have smoked about a half a dozen of them since and have been sorely disappointed. I really wanted not to be because they came highly recommended from a trusted source.

Let’s start with the facts. I purchased the rusbostorama sampler pack from a little boutique cigar website. The sampler contained 12 sticks with a bonus which were comprised thus:
4 #7 Robustos (the classic #7 blend)
2 #7 Special Fuerte Robustos (#7on a whole other level)
2 C98Maduro Robusto (the best maduro wrapper we grow)
1 CC Robusto Medium color, medium body
1 ARS Maduro Robusto (dark licorice flavor in a VALUE cigar)
1 EP SunGrownMaduro Robusto (the same wrapper&blend as the perfecto)
1 SmootheJazz Robusto--super creamy
BONUS 1 HHBarberPole Robusto

Being the cheap bastage I am I opted to double the package and saved a couple extra dollars. Besides if you will notice that a good amount of the different cigars only have one sample and who can truly say that they would invest in a larger purchase by just smoking a single cigar?

I smoked six of the eight #7, their “classic #7 blend” and one of the #7 Special Fuerte (sp?) so far. Of the six all were extremely mushy, soft, feeling under filled. Basically something I would expect from a second or a cigar advertised as being rolled by student/apprentice rollers. All of them canoed to one degree or another, which in of its self can be attributed to numerous problems not discounting over humidification, poor filler bunching, overly thick wrapper, etc. Positives were that the wrapper was a beautiful shade of medium brown with a wonderful spicy, earthy, tobacco aroma. Pre-light taste left a spicy tang on the lips with more earthy tastes, draw was very very easy/loose.

Smoking the cigar was a chore with all the touch-ups from the canoeing and puffing just to keep the thing lit I really didn’t get much flavor out of them besides burnt wrapper or just plain hot smoke. Every now and again you could catch a spicy, tangy earthiness that hinted at how good the cigar could be if constructed better. Overall I personally wouldn’t purchase the classic #7’s again.

Actually working on the cigar so distracted me to the point that it was hard to enjoy the company I was with thus ruining a nice lunch time herf. Couple this with the guy trying out his calypso renditions on his electric keyboard in the apartment by the pool side and you might as well have put a bullet in my head.

Next week I will be smoking one of the Smooth Jazz rustbos from this very same sampler pack and hopefully it will go much more smoothly. Happy herfing!

My standing standard disclaimer. All opinions are just that, opinions. I do not have a very sophisticated palate and my word smithing is often very lacking. I will not give a cigar a rating on the pure fact that my tastes are my own and your experience would possible be different. All in all you should smoke what you like and like what you smoke.

Since this would be my first blog post I struggled over what cigar to smoke. I spent a good fifteen minutes rummaging through my work humidor trying to choose just the right cigar. Finally I said the heck with it, this is suppose to fun and relaxing, not stressful. I mean why get all stressed out over something that from the start is suppose to be relaxing, so I pick a cigar that I haven't had in a long time. Way down in the bottom was the last La Vieja Habana The Early Years Wavell, so I gabbed it and head out to the herf spot to meet my friends.

First blush of the cigar. Feel was really spongy, but this is expected from this cigar. The wrapper is a milk chocolate color with some veins. Overall construction was pretty good. I punched the end, been using a punch for the last month or so. Pre-light draw has taste of leather and cedar. Toasted the cigar and then lit it. At this point I will say my memories of this cigar are mostly of leather and being very earthy. With that said this cigar, for what ever reason, was very disappointing for the first two thirds, mostly grassy and somewhat bitter (over humidified?). It wasn't until I hit the last third that the cigar brought back tastes that I remember, leathery with a heavy earthy undertone. The burn was fairly even throughout the whole smoke with a very flaky light grey ash. I will say that the company I was with helped to alleviate the disappointment of the majority of the cigar.

Next week I will be smoking a rubusto from a sampler pack I bought from a outlet web site, until then happy herfing.

Kick it off

Is there anything more appealing than the aroma of a finely crafted cigar being consumed? How about a finely crafted cigar being consumed with friends?

Each week I smoke a cigar with a few friends during our lunch time. We catch up on happenings with each other, our highs and lows; discuss a little office politics and maybe some gossip. Sometimes we even branch out beyond our little world and discuss global politics and other happenings in our society. I plan on letting you know what I am smoking that day, give some tasting notes and my personal opinions of the cigar and some of the highlights of our discussions. All of this is without any pretensions or any avowed knowledge of, well anything.

So come join us and maybe we can entertain you or maybe just piss you off.