Friday wrapped up my first week at the new job, and I felt like it was a success, and my boss expressed his satisfaction, so it seems like it’s going to be a good gig. As I often do, I rummaged through the humidors looking for a cigar, and I wanted something befitting the occasion, but not only did I want something to celebrate the end of the work week (by the way, this is the first time since April of 2018 that I’ve worked Monday to Friday, 8-4:30, like a regular person!), but I also wanted something that would get me fairly deep into game 6 of the Flyers, possibly clinching, playoff game. I was in the NewAir CC-300H and spied a pair of Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico “A”s, one each from two of the Barnsmokers I’ve been to on the top shelf. I also have a coffin with two that’s 
probably 6 years old in there, but these two were just sitting there on the shelf, vulnerable, so I took one to smoke. I figured this was a great occasion for a 9¼” x 48 cigar. I must have smoked one of these sometime over the past few years, because I should have had one more I think, but I can’t really remember. I took a walk, my usual one mile loop, and got back and had a double corona. By the time the Hockey game started I had a Churchill. The cigar got me through the first two periods. The timing was excellent. Flavorwise it was a nice cigar, T-52ish on the Liga scale. It has the Stalk Cut Connecticut Habano wrapper, which is amazing that the grow the leaves that large. It starts a little milder than a normal Liga, but the smoke has a mile of tobacco to filter it. It was a great tasting cigar, not overly unique or exciting, but interesting enough to not get bored with it over the two and a half hours I spent smoking it. Would I smoke another one? You bet!
I’m smoking an JRE Aladino Connecticut Robusto as I type this, more as we go along. CigarProp Kevin sent me an Aladino sampler and apart from the Maduro, Toro and Lancero I really haven’t smoked any JRE cigars. I’ve been working my way through the sampler this weekend. I started with the Aladino Corojo Reserva. One can’t help but notice the similarity between the Aladino band and the old Camacho bands, and the similarity extends to the authentic corojo in blend and the fact that the flavor of the cigar harkens back to the many Camacho Corojos I smoked in the 90s and early 2000s, when Julio Eiroa and his son Christian owned Camacho. I actually smoked my first Camacho in 1996, but it was pre-Christian’s involvement I think. This is a bold smoke with rich leather and spice and I liked it a lot, as much for the sentimentality as the flavor. It was perfectly constructed, and a pleasure to smoke.
The Connecticut is very flavorful, not at all mild, and quite tasty! Perfect with coffee and staying lit while I’m ignoring it for long stretches while I type my nonsense. I was quite intrigued by the JRE Aladino Cameroon. Any time I see a Cameroon made by someone that’s not Fuente, La Aurora, Partagas, or someone who’s been making Cameroon cigars for decades, I look forward to seeing the interpretation. I love Cameroon, it’s a great tasting wrapper, and even when used as a binder it adds a little something extra (look at the CroMagnon, it has a Cameroon binder and I think that is part of what makes it unique). This is another Aladino that burned perfectly. They really know how to make cigars right in this factory. I’m guessing the whole Bayer Crop Science processes they use on the farms extends to the factory as well, with regards to the quality control processes. The Cameroon had the nutty flavor on top of a fairly full bodied core which is a little different. 
Cameroon was almost a background flavor and not dominant, as it is in many cigars with that wrapper. That was my take on it anyway. The same can be said for this Connecticut I’m smoking now, although the shade wrapper flavor is a bit more dominant, but the slight sweet grassiness is there, but it’s got a bit off ass to it! It’s no wimpy smoke. I have to say, my favorite Connecticut wrapped cigars hail from Honduras, and this ranks right up there. Very nice.
So far, I have to say that to my palate, the JRE line suits me more than the CLE line. I’ve known Christian personally for many years (and he’s never once given me a cigar, btw 😁, no that it factors in to this), but I haven’t yet found a CLE cigar that trips my trigger. The Asylums I like. JRE, in my limited sampling, are outstanding, remind me of the tons of Camachos I smoked years ago, and get my attention. Thanks again to Kevin for sharing. Speaking of Kevin, and there will be more on this later, but head over to Smoke Inn and buy one of his samplers in their Battle of the Bands! All of the contestants are great, all of them are friends of mine, but I think Kevin is the new guy on the block and the underdog, and has a great sampler. That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
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