Snow in Dodge City

This weekend Ry and I managed to have a smoke...after we braved the Dodge City snowstorm of course!

We both enjoyed our stogies (sorry, no real review here!)...I had an El Triunfador (a long and elegant lancero stick). It was made by Don Pepin Garcia and Pete Johnson and it was full of maduro goodness! Ry said his Don Pepin Garcia JJ White Label maduro was also the bomb.

Here are some photos of us, the day after the storm...

Nub Habano 358 (by Oliva)

Nub Habano 358 (by Oliva)

Here it is...a short review of a short smoke...my first Nub!


First off a preface: I hadn't gotten on the "Nub" kick-all the promotion that this line got kinda kicked my Spideysense into high gear...but when my son Ryan smoked a Cameroon Nub a month or two ago and really enjoyed it, I got curious. Then when a coworker gifted me this one, I started to get pretty excited. I figured I'd let it sit in the humidor for a few weeks and wait for the right time to spark it up.

When the weather turned warm and I had nothing to do over my Lunch hour, I grabbed it up.


The stogie has a nice band and I like the appearance. It's stubby and short (which is a little odd, especially since I've been hitting the lanceros lately) but the wrapper is oily and inviting. The prelight smell is "barnyard"-reminds me of the old horse barns I used to explore as a kid in Oklahoma.



The stick burned well and kicked out some serious flavor. I got some mocha and a lot of "spice", though I'm not sure exactly what the spice was in this case. The draw was great and the plummage was good too...I realized very quickly that I was in trouble because 1) this was a really enjoyable smoke and 2) It was NOT going to be through by the time I had to go back to work!


I got about half way through this spark plug before I had to bail. The flavor and burn were still right on track-really wish I could have stayed for the whole thing. I'll probably grab another or two to see how they go when I have more time.

601 Blue Label by EO

601 Blue Label by EO (Robusto, 5.25 x 52)
blended by Don Pepin Garcia
(With special Kilted Irish guest star!)



Wow...what a day...I'm finishing up a really enjoyable fantasy/sci-fi book, enjoying beautiful sunny weather, and I have a great stogie and a brand new cigar accessory to try out! My sister and brother-in-law bought me that cool (pictured) cigar scissors from Cuban Crafters for my birthday and this is my first try at using it!

This short and stocky robusto cigar smells really good-kinda tart (cherries?) and spicey. It has a dark and oily wrapper (maduro) and is in a slight blox press-which I enjoy much more than the full box press. I don't think a cigar should really have "corners".

The cigar scissors performed flawlessly. It has three cool blades in kind of a circular array cut the stogie from all sides-very, very cool. Since Cuban Crafters made this (they also made the incredibly resilient double-g cutter Dad got me a few years back) I'm looking forward to enjoing this scissors for many years to come!

Upon initial lighting, the cigar delivered DPG pepper and some floral notes-very aromatic. In fact, I think that throughout this cigar I was enjoying the aroma as much as or more than the flavor.


Here I am enjoying this stogie...


As you can see, the burn on this bad boy was solid. The stogie had great construction, even in the SW Kansas wind.

The defining element of this smoke, I think, is its strength. After the first few puffs, I spent most of my time thinking "what the hell are these flavors I'm getting?"...there was this kind of "wall" of flavor" that kept pounding me after every puff but I couldn't make out any specifics. It does taste a little similar to some of the La Flor Dominican (Double Ligeros) I've had and I associate this strong but unspecific flavor rush to the ligero.

Overall, this stogie rates a 3 on my four point scale. It's a really good cigar-and would be great if I could have enjoyed some more specific flavors. I enjoyed it but I spent most of my time waiting for something to happen that never did. I don't think mild cigar smokers would enjoy it much though. It runs around $8 in cigar stores but in samplers (like I got it) it was closer to $4.




Here's my sweet wife, who came out to help me enjoy the 601 Blue.


And here, as promised, is the mighty Irish warrior Thane. I was discussing kilts with Michelle (I think the Reid men should all get them!) and Michelel remembered that she had a small one of her clan (the Lamont clan of Ireland). Thane was VERY excited and spent the evening kilted and ready to vanquish enemies!