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Posts Tagged ‘Cigars’

Anatomy of a CigarBid “Carmen’s Sampler”

July 19th, 2005

The folks at CigarBid.com
periodically offer “Carmen’s Sampler”, which is a bundle of
cigars that they describe as being first-quality stuff but with
blemishes, rips, tears, or other problems that prevent them from being
sold as top-quality, new cigars. I was a little cautious about bidding
on these because you have no idea what you’re going to get, but I
finally “went for it”.  Here’s a photo and description of
what I received for my bid (which I’d say was worth the price)…

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Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series “P” Maduro Cigar Review

May 27th, 2005

I just returned from a vacation in Florida where I had the opportunity
to pick up some cigars at the excellent Oasis Cigar shop in
Sunrise, Florida
. If you are in (or visiting) the Fort
Lauderdale area, I recommend visiting this shop. And if you happen to
speak Portuguese, you definitely need to visit to talk to the owners.

I picked up 2 of these cigars during my visit to Cigar
Oasis. I had previously smoked and very much enjoyed another
Perdomo Reserve cigar, one of the Cuban Cafe
Series P’s
, so I looked forward to reviewing this one.

Unlike the Perdomo Reserve Cuban Cafe series I
reviewed earlier, the “La Tradicion Cabinet
Series
” is a maduro and the series “P” is a
perfecto 5 and a half inches long with a 55 ring gauge. The
Perdomo web site describes the Perdomo Reserve
Cabinet Series “P” Maduro
cigar as featuring “a
distinguished and contemplative blend of medium bodied, double-aged
Cuban-seed tobaccos. Grown in the rich, dark soil of the
Perdomo family plantations nestled in the Nicaraguan
regions of Esteli, Condega and the Japama valley”.
Cigar
Aficionado rated the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series
“Red Box” or “Red Label” cigar a 92 and named it one
of the top cigars for that year.

The wrapper of the
Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series “P”
Maduro
 is dark and slightly oily looking, typical for a
maduro though lighter in shade than some other maduros in my collection.
The wrapper has very fine veins running through it. The cigar has
clearly been constructed to the highest quality standards.

Unlit, the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series “P”
Maduro
has a very pleasing aroma. A draw through the unlit
cigar revealed a definite but pleasant “punch” and the
fermented flavor you’d expect from a well-aged cigar. Drawing through
the cigar was quite easy.

Since I was attempting to smoke
the cigar while sitting next to the beach, lighting it with matches
proved to be quite a challenge. Still, once lit it burned very evenly,
requiring a turn only once to correct a slightly uneven burn. The ash
was a medium gray in color, very firm, and stayed on the cigar until
forcibly knocked off.

The flavor for the first inch or so of
the cigar was pretty strong to my taste, but very quickly mellowed out
after that. In the end, the smoke had a very pleasant flavor and a
decent body to it. There were some hints of chocolate or earthiness in
the last portion of the cigar. It burned pretty warm up to the end, and
left my head swimming quite a bit when I was finished with it, which
took close to an hour.

On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being
excellent, the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series “P”
Maduro
rated about a 7.9 in this review. Not as good as the
Cuban Cafe series (which I rated a 9) but certainly one
I’d smoke again.

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CAO Black Ltd. Edition Storm Cigar Review

January 5th, 2005

It’s probably not a well-known fact about me, but in a normal year I
enjoy 1-2 nice cigars. I typically do this to honor the memory of my
late great-grandfather, who in my memory very often had a cigar in his
mouth or nearby in an ash tray. I haven’t had one in 2-3 years, so when
I started thinking about my grandfather who passed away this past
December (10th), I was reminded a little of HIS father. In a sort of
tribute to them, I decided to smoke one of the cigars I purchased back
in November from Cigars
International
. That cigar was the CAO Black.

I’ll tell you some more about that
cigar and my experience below in the review, but the short version is
that the cigar’s smoke has a nice scent in the air, the cigar produces a
smooth white smoke, it burns very evenly, and leaves your mouth with a
distinct peppery feeling – like you just had a bite of a medium-hot
jalapeno pepper.

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