Take a Cigar for a Walk – Partagas Serie D No. 4

I took a half a vacation day today (the second half!) to go to a doctor appointment, and have a nice late lunch with my wife. I also had to drop the scooter off at the shop for some service, and when I got home I decided to take a cigar for a walk to burn off some of my lunch. It was a rainy day, temps in the high 40s, so I struggled with what cigar to choose. The weather reminded me a little of what English weather might be, so, beneath my umbrella, I lit up a gifted Partagas Serie D No. 4 for my walk. I know what your thinking: Why choose an amazing Cuban cigar to take a walk in the rain? Well, what better occasion to treat ones self for taking a walk in the rain! And what a treat it was!   I have a small assortment of Havana cigars that I smoke sparingly, some with some age on them, others without so much age.  This particular robusto was one of the more recent visitors in the humidor, a gift from a friend and reader.  The cigar was fairly light in color and heft, and had a bit of a ragged burn, but the flavor was a delight, I barely noticed the foul weather.  I think the current cigars coming from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Honduras, and, to a lesser extent, Costa Rica, have been of such exceptional quality in the last few years that the cigars from Cuba have taken a back seat to them, at least to me.  That being said, there’s a flavor in Havana cigars that hasn’t been replicated.  The construction isn’t always the best, but the little zing that they have is something special.  Many thanks to DB for the opportunity to smoke this classic Habano, and I’ve never met a Partagas I didn’t love.

This gets me thinking ahead.  Last August when my birthday rolled around, I started a personal tradition of smoking a cigar with a ring gauge to match my age.  I went with a Havana Punch Churchill with a 47 ring gauge.  This year I need to find a 48 ring gauge cigar.  It occurs to me that the Hermosos vitola fits that requirement, so I need to go through my humidor and see if I have any of those.  This tradition will get harder to continue when I get past 50 in a few years.

That’s all I have for now.  I hope to have another guest post from Tommy soon, he’s busy with the daunting task of home buying.  While I’m thinking about it, it seems that cardiologists don’t necessarily condone “Take a Cigar for a Walk”, but the one I talked to did understand that taking a long walk with a cigar was better than a short walk or no walk at all!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig