Thursday night I took a late walk with a A. Turrent Puro Corojo Robusto. It was another reasonably balmy February evening, and this 4½” x 54 cigar seemed just about the right size for the time allotted. I received this cigar in a sampler from the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and have been slowly working my way back into those cigars. This cigar had a very nice look, the wrapper was very smooth and without a flaw. The burn was perfect and the draw was easy with just the right amount of resistance. I really enjoyed the flavor of this Corojo cigar, it was rich and satisfying. For years Mexican tobacco has gotten a bad rap, although I never really minded it, heck, I started out smoking TeAmo maduros way back when. Certainly the San Andreas tobacco is a pretty hot tobacco these days, and this cigar has a San Andreas Corojo wrapper and some fillers mixed in with Nicaraguan Corojo. I absolutely LOVE the San Andreas maduro wrappers, I wonder how this cigar would be with that wrapper? Thanks to Enrique Seijas for the tour at the show and for the samples.
Friday night we went to a little coffee house nearby to see my son play with his latest band. Even though the place has “Coffee and Tobacco” on the window, there’s no smoking allowed thanks to our states indoor clean air laws. Considering the size of the place, it’s probably not a bad idea. The area where the band played was an upstairs room with was pretty small. There were probably 50 people in a 20×30 or so room, with limited seating. The band was very good, despite my obvious bias, and I had some time before the show to enjoy a Griffins 500 on the sidewalk in front of the place. I am constantly impressed with the quality of this mild cigar. Burn and draw are outstanding and it’s loaded with flavor. I suppose you have to like a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar to like these, but I think it’s a nice smoke. I was an old guy smoking a cigar among a bunch of teenagers smoking cigarettes, but that’s OK, I was one of them once…
One often asked question I see is regarding beverages to go with cigars, and the question that catches my eye most often is the non-alcoholic beverage question. As one who gave up drinking long before I took up cigars, I’ve made a few conclusions of my own in that area. Of course, coffee is a great cigar companion, but there are times when only a cold beverage will do. I’ve often turned to root beers in this case. I particularly enjoy Stewart’s or IBC, but recently the brewery in town here started bottling their root beer and its phenomenal. Unfortunately, it may only be available in the Victory Brewpub retail store, but if you see it anyplace, give it a try. My absolute favorite cold beverage cigar accompaniment is Reed’s Ginger Brew. It’s a little like Ginger Ale on steroids. I love the “Extra”, but it actually can over power a lighter cigar because it’s so spicy. The Raspberry is quite good, and the Spiced Apple Brew is very refreshing on a hot day as well. I’ve been a fan of these since being introduced to them at a herf in 1999 , and pick up a couple four packs whenever I get a chance. Here’s a Food Network video about the product and the company:
httpv://youtu.be/6sebjdI4aj4
So, if you’re looking for a nice, non-alcoholic drink to go with your cigar, check out some root beers or ginger beers, and if you can find Borgnine’s Coffee Soda, you can’t really go wrong with that, but it’s darned near impossible to find. If anyone does know of a place to get ut, please let me know! It’s really my holy grail of cigar beverages.
That’s it for now, I may try to find a nice cigar and take a Sunday walk.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
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