Sunday, February 24, 2008

Camacho 1962 Perfecto

Camacho 1962 Perfecto





First let me set the scene...it's Sunday afternoon and it's the first warm day in a long, long time. I'm setting on my patio as my two littler kids are playing on the driveway. Michelle is putting a new car seat in my new Honda and I'm enjoying some scotch and some much needed rest. Wind is light and the warm sun on my neck is feeling oh so nice.

I really like these little guys...it's the fourth I've had and they run around$2. The double-band is attractive and the shape is really cool...short, stubby, and tapered at both ends...and then given a little "schmushing" (box press). They feel really good in the mouth, smoke well, smell good, and provide about 30 minutes of good times. Tough to beat that.

I found the flavors to be nutty, with a little pepper. I could have sworn I tasted a bit of Cameroon but nothing I've read indicates that it has any. It seemed on many puff to have a "higher" taste than many of the earthy Hondurans that I've been enjoying.




Here's my short fatty after I smoked it a bit. I had to do one touch-up on this dude...after that, it burned like a champ (unlike other Camachos I've had, which can be really good but are often inconsistant).




Here's a guest star of the blog...who came by to show me a leaf. What a sweetie!




Here's the final bit of my smoke with a focus on the ash. Very nice medium flavor, medium strength.

Construction: 9 (very solid-only one correction. Oily and buttery appearance. Short fat and flat...this dude was really great).
Flavor: 8 (A little pepper, a little butter, some leather and some nut. Very pleasant).
Value: 7 (though it only cost $2, it is a pretty small smoke. I'd like to get these for a dollar).
Plumage: 8 (plenty of smoke and it smelled good too. Peppery and a little sweet).
Special: 8 The form factor was great. I noticed some small gold and copper flecks on it when I held it in the sunlight-probably tiny pieces of the band. Kinda cool, though).

Total: 8.116 This is a really good cigar. I suggest you try it if you can get one for around $2 (not hard online).

Monday, February 4, 2008

La Cabana Corojo

Well, it was Sunday night after 7 days of working straight (plus a training gig and a website project) and the last thing you'd think I'd have wanted to do was go out. But as I rolled home from work around 9 last night, I decided to reconnoiter at O'Dowd's on the Plaza. It had been awhile since I'd seen Eddie Delahunt play, and so I decided it was a good chance to get a smoke and a few Boddington's in before the weekend was through.

I brought a gift stogie that my baby had picked up for me from a cigar shop in Omaha. The store is La Cabana, and the cigar is a house brand bearing its name. I have two more I'm looking forward to as well - a maduro and an habano.

The singlemost peculiar thing about this cigar was that it had been rolled into a tapered wrapper nipple at the end. Although I admit to being a little thrown off by this, I was also intrigued. Even more so by the fact that when you cut it off, it's as if it was never there. Why was it there, I have to ask myself. Is someone screwing with me on this? Was it ever there? But yes, it was, and I have proof!

So, to business. Here were my scores:
  • Appearance - 5 \ I just found the look impressive overall. I liked the medium brown wrapper, the respectable size and the plain label with a distinctive font, considering it was a house brand. Still, I have to admit that the nipple freaked me out a little, even as it piqued my curiosity.
  • Draw - 4 \ For the first half, it was a little tighter draw than I prefer, but doable.
  • Burn - 8 \ Terrific. Never fought it once on the evenness of the burn.
  • Plummage - 6 \ Until perhaps the last third, the smoke this baby produced was average. It increased towards the end - but smelled very good throughout.
  • Flavor - 8 \ For some reason, I was never able to nail down a useful adjective for the flavor or the smell. I just liked it generally. And both the flavor and the aroma got better that last 20 minutes.
  • Overall - 7 \ This was a worthy smoke, and a pleasant discovery. I'll have to stop by this shop in Omaha sometime.
In other news, Eddie Delahunt and his Mexican bodhran player Gabriel kept things flowing with lots of great stuff I hadn't heard before. They even had a pipist named Rashid who sat in for a song and added a cool "medievalish" feel to things. And towards the end of the evening, Eddie gave an awesome and soulful rendition of "The House of the Rising Sun"... Quite powerful, and a great way to finish my weekend with Kellie.

Cheers!

Friday, February 1, 2008

El Rico Habana

I bought several of these cigars after reading that the maker was the same guy who makes La Gloria Cubana...and I've had several good La Glorias...figured that the El Rico might be a good'un. Plus my brother's name is Eric and I call him "Rico" so, in Ryan T. Reid's mind, buying a five pack or two of these made perfect sense.

Ryan T. Reid's mind can sometimes go horribly, horribly, southwest of Reality.

This dude had a red and gold band, looked rather unremarkable, and smelled...undistinguished. I believe it was a robusto size...probably 5" long and 50 on the ring gauge. The wrapper had some bumps and veins and wasn't shiney or interesting in any way. After I lit it up with my trusty yellow Blazer PB-209, I got a few puffs...and realized that I was probably not in for a treat.

The thing had been resting for almost a year in my humidor. It tasted of plain (but strong) tobacco, with a metallic edge. No pepper, no chocolate, no tea or coffee...just a taste that was nasty enough to be nasty but not nasty enough to be fun (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The smoke was...okay. The construction was...adequate. The appearance was okay. But the cigar just didn't taste good. I did get a nice nicotine buzz out of it.

Maybe the fact that I'd just realized that I was going to get hosed on my income taxes this year soured the stogie...but the Pacifica beer I drank and a fine stogie should have been able to compensate for a little turbulence in the great skyways of my mental health.

Yeah, I think I can safely say: don't buy this cigar. If I gift you one...don't take it! Or at least trade it to someone who doesn't read Puros on the Low Low.


Construction (x2): 7 It held together. Needed a few touch-ups but nothing serious.
Flavor: 2 (It just didn't taste good. Period.)
Value: 2 (I wouldn't buy another for a quarter)
Plumage: 5 (smoke was present but not "big" and didn't smell good.
Special: 5 (It was noteworthy in that it seemed to have a lot of nicotine in it!)

Total: 4.67

I have learned from this just because a cigar is named after one of my friends or loved ones, it could still suck. I guess I'll hold off on pulling the trigger on the El Scotto and Vegas Cutcliffe boxes that I had marked down to buy!