I smoked a few pricey cigars this week, outside my usual comfort zone. However this first one wasn’t one of those! I picked up a few of the new My Father Blue in toro and gordo, and smoked one in each size. This is from the company’s new Honduras factory and uses tobacco grown on their Honduran farm. It has a Connecticut rosado broadleaf wrapper, and Corojo and Criollo tobaccos from Honduras. My first impression was what a gorgeous cigar this was. The bands are beautiful, tying in the whole “Blue” thing, they really pop on the shelf. Blue was once considered the kiss of death on a cigar band, but now longer, this is a stunner. It starts with some spice, who’s surprised? The best food comparison I can make is rye bread (TY NK for putting that in my head). I smoked both the Toro Gordo and the Toro and they were superb, a real winner. I’ll be very interested in smoking more cigars from the Honduras factory, including whatever Tatuaje might do there.
I was fortunate that J.C. Newman shared some of their new Diamond Crown Tampa cigars with me, it’s hard to say when I’ll get back to Tampa, as these are exclusive to shops in the city. I also have a hard time dropping $30 on a cigar. This is a Diamond Crown with a little extra, which is the Florida Sun Grown tobacco grown at Jeff Borysiewicz’ farm in Clermont, Florida. These are still made at Tabacalera Fuente, and still have an Connecticut Shade wrapper, although it looks darker to me than I’m used to. It’s only available in a 6½” x 52 Toro. The guts are Dominican, except for the FSG ligero. I was amazed at how good this cigar was, but I shouldn’t have been, I guess. My first Diamond Crown cigar was back in 1998 and it, along with all it’s siblings, have been favorites ever since. The new Diamond Crown bands are beautiful, and they added a large band on the body of the cigar that has Tampa imagery, El Reloj (not El Rehol, dammit Coop!), a rooster, Gaspar’s ship and other Tampa landmarks. It’s my week for smoking beautiful cigars! This was another bready cigar with the FSG spice which is unique. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to try it, and recommend it, it’s a special treat.
I could have smoked something more ridiculously expensive than this next cigar, but I’ll hold off on that one for a couple weeks. Once again, I was fortunate to receive a sampling of the newish Davidoff Maduro, and selected the 6″ x 54 Toro for my Friday evening smoke. This has a chocolaty maduro wrapper from Ecuador, a Mexican binder and Dominican fillers. A box will run you a little over a grand, make sure you get free shipping if you buy online! If I ever have a box of these you’ll know I won the lottery. This was another pretty cigar, the bands are classic, in this case it’s the wrapper that catches the eye. This cigar burned perfectly, razor straight with a perfect draw. It had some of the cocoa one expects, some spice, and that musty umami that I think Davidoff cigars usually have. This was stronger than I expected, it being a Davidoff and all, and I had to put it down sooner than I usually do (most cigars are finger burners for me). I had to take Zino’s advice and put it down around the band, which made me sad. My value brain saw me leaving $15 in the ashtray! I inherited frugality from my late mother. This was an impressive cigar anyway, and I very much appreciate Davidoff sharing these with me. It was a special treat.
We’ve been busy with the stresses that go with handling an estate, getting a house ready to sell, going through generations of stuff, and trying to turn some of it into cash. Cigars have been my therapy, hopefully it’ll be behind us soon. That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
