“Smoked Up” No.30

Posted by Shawn

July 30, 2013

The last week has had its ups and downs. Ups and downs in weather, life etc… The heat is here to stay, the rain is not sure, but will be glad when it lets up for more than a few days. I got a three day weekend, but it was followed by working 12hour days for inventory. I really, really dislike doing inventory. But, I go in, get it done and go home.

Went to a little get together a local shop had. They grilled burgers, sausage, boudin and even some shark steaks. They had a buy 4 get one free on all cigars special in which I made out pretty good on. Nothing too fancy, but did meet a few new cigar people and enjoyed friends’ company and being able to smoke inside out of the heat.

The Cigar News area is pretty blight this week. After IPCPR Show, I imagine companies are focused on getting orders filled and shipped. Then, I suspect there will be a few vacations being taken.

Cigar Views

EP Carrillo Inch MaduroÂ 62: Very, very rarely doÂ I smoke any cigar over a 54rg, let alone a 62rg. This is one of those and I have really found a liking for them. I got my first one as a gift and liked it enough to buy another. Great flavors, burn and draw. But, it still is tough for me to get over the large ring gauge, it just don’t feel right. I guess the 62rg is not “large” any more with 7x70s coming out more and more….. I just don’t understand it. But there are a few cigars in a “large” ring gauge that work for me, and this is one of them.

El Puros Perfecto House Cigar “100% Ligero” This was gifted to me at the event by the shopÂ owner. I have never been fond of powerhouse, full ligero, knock you on your arse cigars. So I figured, “yeh, I’ll smoke it…. one day.” Well, that cigar didn’t last too long in the humidor. I lit it up and actually liked it a good bit! It reminded me of a smaller ring gauge CAIN Daytona, yet in a larger ring gauge. The smokeÂ was flavorful and had a strong body to it, but not too powerful that it overpowered the flavors. At $6.75, its a pretty good smoke seeing a similar smoke is around the same price in a smaller format. Slap a band on it, and the CAIN Daytona may have a competitor.

7-20-4 Lancero I like just about any lancero there is. It seems to be getting harder and harder to find lanceros in a shop these days. More people are gravitating to larger 60+ ring gauge cigars. Well, not me. I prefer a small ring gauge cigar more times than a large. I have had a few 7-20-4 Cigars and really liked them. But, I tend to prefer the smaller ring gauged ones. Many of my friends agree with me. I really smoked mainly the “Dog Walker” size, but I think from now on out, I will go for the lancero. I LOVED this smoke and I think this is probably my second or third favorite lancero I have ever had. Very box worthy!

Gurkha Spec Ops I don’t smoke many Gurkha Cigars. I just can’t keep up with the ones I like & don’t. It’s about a 75% chance I probably won’t like it though. I have found a liking for some of the newer lines released in the last year of so. The Wicked Indie, Red Witch etc.. have been decent for the money. I got these for about $3ea and have a few left that’s been resting about a year or so. This isÂ good for the $3 I paid for it, I wouldn’t pay much more for it fresh, but if you can get some with some with age they are better. But I see these in shops for $10+….. “No Thanks!!” I guess they are trying to offset the cost of the knife that comes with a box purchase into the price of the cigar.

Villager 1888 Fuerte If I am not mistaken, this line is pretty new to the Villager company. I have had many of bowls of their pipe tobacco and there were fairly pleasing. They also make a some tasty machine made “quick smokes” that run about $1.60 and are a great smoke for when you want a cigar, but only have say 10 to 20 minutes. This Fuerte had nice cinnamon, dark berry and woody notes that were pretty good. But, the draw was absolutely way too thick! I think I willÂ buy another one and let it rest in the humidor to see if the draw loosens any. I think the draw held back many good flavors.