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Maksimus54 posted:These are the sticks I chose. I'm dangerously low on humidor space so I put a few more in than I took this go around, looking forward to seeing what all ends up in the box! Those are tasty smokes, nice rich figgy broadleaf wrappers. Excited that the box will be on its way again soon. Gramps posted:My Father no.1 got the nod this morning. I just lit it, but so far this is the platonic ideal of a cigar flavored cigar. It reminds me of a cohiba red dot but more robust and meaty. I'm not convinced there are better cigar blenders alive than Jaime and Don Pepin. The more of their portfolio I smoke the more impressed I get. I hear these get compared to Cubans a lot-curious what the people who smoke a lot of Habanos think of them. I've been wanting to try the My Father no. 1 for a while now. The Garcias are incredible, I love everything they've touched. Sounds great.
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Apr 15, 2021 19:03
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Smoked a marvelous Nub Connecticut 460 tonight. Just as sweet and creamy and mild as you'd like in a Connecticut, and burned beautifully the whole time. That was a delicious cigar.
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Apr 16, 2021 08:50
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Good to hear the bigger Macanudo Cafes are also good! I've only had the two smallest vitolas, but I quite like them as an easy friendly smoke. I'll have to try some bigger ones if I can find them for cheap. I've been out of the thread for a few days, but I've smoked some excellent cigars in that time. Gotta catch up! DerekSmartymans posted:The wind up...the pitch... Had a Nub Habano on Saturday! It was a bit cold and windy, but still smoked very nicely. Had to do a bit of work with the PerfecDraw to get the draw straight, but the sweet spiciness was there. It's a bit hard for me to rate the Nubs anymore, other than to say that the Nub Maduro was terrible. Nub Dub was loving excellent, but I've also had beautiful smokes with the Connecticut and Cameroon lately, and historically the Habano has been one of my favorites. It's really a nice brand, especially for people new to cigars, since it really captures the styles of the different wrapper leaves. I had a Rose of Sharon lancero today, which is honestly just excellent. It's a mellow Connecticut, but it opened up with some cracking white pepper, and throughout the last half or so there were hints of freeze-dried strawberry right at the edges of each puff (I've been on a freeze-dried fruit kick lately and there's a particular ghostly flavor to freeze-dried strawberry). After a break and some dinner I had one of those Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu and I'm consistently impressed how those manage to taste like the tang of black pepper but without the spicy bite that that usually implies in a cigar. Wonderful rich little smoke. It's been so nice to have my humidor back at a reasonable humidity, everything is smoking amazing. That said, we're starting to enter the time of year when the ambient humidity is too high rather than too low. In winter we run the heater, and the winds are variable, so humidity is in the 50s. In summer there's no heater and we get onshore winds, so humidity can regularly be in the mid-high 70s. Gonna have to do some fiddling to keep everything smoking nicely. I guess that's part of what makes cigar smoking a hobby and not just a vice.
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Apr 19, 2021 09:38
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Smoked a Flathead last night. The last time I smoked one I think it had gone rather dry, and was cracky and the flavor was poor. This one was much better since I've gotten my humidity back under control, and was just rolls of smoke and excellent Broadleaf flavor all the way down. One thing I can say about the Flatheads, I've never had one that didn't have a perfect draw. The burn wandered a bit, but nothing crazy. Quite nice.
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Apr 21, 2021 20:54
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Maksimus54 posted:Has the box been sighted again? It went out middle of last week. Oh nice! Yeah, the 1990 is a really great smoke. The Flathead is also great, just beware the nicotine, it's a strong one! Make sure you've got a full belly and maybe a snack with it. As for the box pass, I was curious as well so I looked up the tracking and saw that it had been delivered. I pm'd zuffenphile and they said they'd gotten it, done the swap, and were sending it out tomorrow. I told them to post about it too, hahah. It'll be heading to NFM next.
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Apr 22, 2021 04:22
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Gotta try some of the Tabernacle stuff, it sounds great. I smoked one of the last La Aurora Preferidos Sapphire coronas last night. They're not up on CA anymore, I can only see robustos, toros, and perfecto tubos. I hope they get more of the coronas in soon, they're a perfect coffee smoke, all sweet and creamy.
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Apr 23, 2021 23:19
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NewFatMike posted:I couldn't help myself and lit up that Rose of Sharon lancero this morning and it whips. Hell yeah, I'm glad the box pass was so successful, and I'm glad you enjoyed the Rose of Sharon lancero. It's a beautiful smoke for sure. I'm super excited to get the final box and document its journey. I took a picture of the sticks I put in, so it will be fun to see what comes out. I'm looking forward to doing another box pass in a couple weeks once the dust has settled, this has been pretty fun. I'm thinking of making a Cigar Bid order that will include the AJF box press perfecto sampler I got last summer. I hope they've been stored well, since I feel like CI/CB sticks tend to be a bit dry, but it's a great deal and I loved everything I smoked from that mix. I guess one might as well roll the dice. I'm definitely not going to make my "no more cigar purchases until July" goal, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.
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Apr 26, 2021 09:31
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zuffenphile posted:Been lurking for a bit, however i have to update on what i did for the box pass. This is a great post! I'm glad you got some fun stuff from the box. The LbO corojo is interesting because I feel like it's got one main note throughout the smoke and then little things appear here and there randomly puff by puff, as opposed to other cigars that have a narrative through line. I definitely think you're right about the H-2K-CT benefiting from some age. I smoked my first one of those back last summer and it was pretty disappointing, and by December they were smoking much better. I think I have 2 or 3 left, I'm gonna leave them in the bottom of the humidor for a while before giving them another go. I'd also love to try the corona size, to see how it smokes with a higher wrapper-to-filler ratio. Seems like everybody had a good time with the box pass, I'm definitely looking forward to putting another one together, maybe for late May or so. Super fun!
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Apr 27, 2021 01:43
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It'd be great to have you on board for the next one! Also, congrats on buying a house.
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Apr 27, 2021 03:37
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I definitely second all of NewFatMike's suggestions. I consider the Padron 2000 to be the most quintessential cigar out there. It tastes like what you'd expect, is beautifully constructed, and smokes for a little over an hour. Another brand worth exploring is the Nub line by Oliva. They're pretty commonly available at brick and mortar shops, and there are also good samplers of different Nubs from the various online retailers. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with different wrappers: Nub Connecticut: creamy and sweet Nub Habano: spicy and meaty Nub Cameroon: leathery and rich Nub Dub: chocolatey and peppery Nub Maduro: boring and bitter Important word of warning: Gurkha is a trash brand, and not worth it, even at the constant "promotional" prices they're offered at.
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Apr 28, 2021 01:29
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Friends don't let friends smoke Gurkhas.
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Apr 28, 2021 04:07
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I think the box is arriving tomorrow after completing its final leg. I'm stoked.
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Apr 30, 2021 08:32
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The box arrived yesterday! And I've gotta say, holy poo poo. I'm putting together a post to review how it played out. Super excited for the next round.
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May 1, 2021 21:36
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Okay, so the box pass arrived on Friday and it was amazing. I had a busy weekend and haven't had time to post, but now it's time to finally get down to brass tacks. I had cut the box open, but then I realized I should do an unboxing, so I closed it back up and took a picture.  According to the cigar goons I am a #1 sweetheart, an honor I humbly accept.  Somebody added this cool leather 2-finger cigar carrier to the box, which is very cool. It definitely increases my temptation to take a cigar to work. Okay, so now we're opening this bad boy up (click following photos for higher resolution). First, a photo of what me and my buddies put into the box to start with.  Not pictured in this photo is a second Leaf corojo lancero. And here's what came out.  First, I'm glad the Leaf, the RoS, and the H-2K-CT moved. A little surprised nobody grabbed one of the Preferidos or the Opulencia corona, those are excellent smokes. Let's zoom in on the new stuff that arrived.  This is an unbelievable haul. The Perdomo 20th anniversary torpedoes are beautiful, and I'm very excited for that La Aurora 115. I'd love to hear more about that Stradivarius, I couldn't find much about it online. As for some of the Cubans, those Partagas shorts are calling my name (I've been thinking about grabbing a box of those), and I'm very interested in how the Jose L. Piedra smokes, since NFM has been talking about them. The Bolivar PC and La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or no. 4 round out the list, and I'm particularly excited to smoke that MdO4 for how elegant it looks. Now we get into the serious territory. I'm going to be real, some of these sticks are pretty overwhelming. I talked with my buddies and we're definitely going to re-donate a few of these sticks to the next box pass, since we want to spread the love a bit. First, the Davidoff Millenium robustos are an amazing opportunity to smoke a famous brand I've never had a chance to gently caress with. Next, the 2017 Bolivar belicoso and especially the Partagas Serie D robuto from 2012 are a chance to try classic habanos brands with some serious age on them. Finally, the Cohiba Talisman 2017 and the El Rey del Mundo Kon-Tiki. Amazing special-release habanos. Honestly much rarer stuff than I anticipated getting my hands on for quite a while. Wow. So. I'm gonna declare this an extremely successful box pass. I had a great time with it, and everybody else seems to also have had a lot of fun. I'm planning to get another one on its way in late May, so please PM me if you wanna be in the mix on one of these going forward. I will also absolutely post when we smoke any of these real special sticks going forward. Thanks for being such a great crew of degenerate cigar goons.
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May 5, 2021 09:23
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My buddies and I have considered it. Might do it for the next big purchase we make.Iacen posted:Any UK goons here? Welcome trans-Atlantic goon! I don't know much about online retailers outside the US, but I think sites like Cigar Terminal and Cigars of Habanos have global shipping. They seem to carry both Cuban and non-Cuban brands, probably worth looking into!
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May 7, 2021 02:56
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Maybe we should just get a goon account. Tonight I smoked a Nub Dub with one of my buddies. I think he mistook it for the Nub Maduro when I got 2 ten boxes recently, and was worried it wouldn't be good. Luckily it's an excellent cigar, with a really lovely chocolate spice flavor that hangs out very nicely. I had to do a bit of PerfecDraw surgery on mine to get it pulling properly but it was a nice little hour smoke once we got it going. On Tuesday we smoked a new My Father cigar for us, the La Antiguedad Grand Corona. This is a 6.4 x 47 with an Ecuador Habano maduro wrapper and corojo/criollo binder. Really fun to smoke. Excellent draw, a little light but not too loose, and the burn was maybe a B, needed a bit of touching up as it canoed occasionally. The flavor started peppery and meaty, and right around the 2nd third there was a hard shift to huge sandalwood/palo santo perfumey flavor that was really great. Around the final third we got some cinnamon and richer brown sugar flavor. This was a cigar that definitely evolved and it was very fun to smoke. I'm looking forward to my next one for sure. Kenning fucked around with this message at 10:25 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 08:04
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Is the issue with Utah a legal one, or is it that your cigars dry out in transit cause you're in the desert?
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May 7, 2021 19:01
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NewFatMike posted:Double post Hell yeah degenerate idiot crew.
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May 7, 2021 23:21
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Whoa those are great prices. Prolly gonna pull the trigger.
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May 14, 2021 23:10
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Hell yeah live that sicko life. I'm smoking a CAO Flathead Carb right now, and it's really hitting the spot for "big, heavy-duty cigar to smoke when it's cold out". Also, I was over at my buddies' place yesterday and they had all sorts of poo poo in their humidor that I'm out of. I was starting to feel like it was time to start thinking about another order, but I forgot that I've been trading stuff out and giving stuff away, and I also smoke a bit more than them. I'm gonna just buy back some of the stuff I split from them so that we're back at parity and then I can push back making another order until maybe late June, early July. Sometimes it's important to reign in one's degeneracy 
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May 20, 2021 05:05
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Honestly, I've been veering back towards enjoying somewhat larger vitolas lately. I think it's just that it has to be something that you know you like, and you know you'll continue to like for the whole smoke. A 6 x 52 toro of a meh cigar is a real bummer, but if it's a well-aged favorite I feel like it's perfect.
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May 22, 2021 08:39
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NewFatMike posted:
hahahah holy poo poo
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May 27, 2021 22:21
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Absolute mad lad.
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May 27, 2021 23:36
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I can't believe you're actually doing this.
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May 28, 2021 00:37
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You'll have better luck at Cigar Auctioneer if you're looking to just buy RoS. I've only seen Southern Draw samplers on Cigar Bid.
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Jun 1, 2021 00:31
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So last night I did my typical Kenning Fuckup™ and checked Famous Smoke just to see what was going on and I saw they were having a 20% off orders over $100 Memorial Day sale. Queue me picking up an 18 box of La Aurora Preferidos Sapphire robustos to qualify for the sale, and a 6x6 pack of tins of Padron Corticos, which their 4 1/2 x 35 petite corona. With the 20% off the Padrons ended up being $3/ea, which is a goddamn deal in my book. I'm so excited for these to show up.
Kenning fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jun 1, 2021 |
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Jun 1, 2021 03:59
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Smoked a Rocky Patel Vintage 1979 robusto the other day with my buddies. We all agreed that it's the best of the Vintage series we've had so far, which is appropriate since it's the more premium release. The first one I smoked was a tad on the dry side, but this one had a few extra weeks in the humidor and it was perfect. Smell of the foot was hay and barnyard with a bit of cocoa, the wrapper smelled like cocoa and cinnamon, and the dry pull was all chocolate. It sparked up beautifully with lots of smoke production, and the flavor was a very nice mix of leather, fresh wood, a subtle sort of chocolate/caramel thing that didn't get too sweet, and (especially near the end) plenty of the Cameroon wrapper perfume of musk and sandalwood. It was also a perfectly-timed smoke, clocking in at just around an hour fifteen. The only issue I had was a bit of wandering on the burn, which required some touching up but didn't really mess with the smoking experience. My buddy had some draw issues on his, and had to use the PerfecDraw. You can get a 15 box of these on Cigar Bid for under $60, and it's absolutely worthwhile if you like Cameroon wrappers.
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Jun 3, 2021 18:44
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Hey y'all, I wanna do a thread refresh to include some new info in the OP and just keep things real fresh and zesty. Can you all give me 3 cigar recommendations, at least one of which is newbie-appropriate? For example, I'd probably do the Leaf Corojo lancero, the Perdomo Champagne Purito, and the Padron 2000. If you have any must-have accessories (I'll be mentioning the PerfecDraw, for example) that would be great too.
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Jun 4, 2021 07:57
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Oh yeah, I'll have a whole section on how to use the auction sites to get deals, especially on hardware. Also! Pipegoons, now that a critical mass of you has assembled, would anyone be willing to draft a quick primer? I'd say just a quick rundown of the following: 1) types of pipes 2) types of tobacco 3) how to smoke 4) how to store tobacco and maintain pipes 5) where to buy pipes and tobacco 6) recommended pipes/tobaccos for people who are pipe-curious If nobody's up for drafting a whole guide, I can also just consolidate some recommendations from this thread and post them in a pipe section, but I'd love to use something a bit more finished.
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Jun 4, 2021 17:35
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NewFatMike posted:Pipe info Great stuff, thanks NFM. ThatOneGuy posted:The newbiest most friendly recommendation: Yeah absolutely, I'll be pushing simple humidification solutions. charliebravo77 posted:Oh hello. Hell yeah, great photo. Okay for me to use in the OP?
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Jun 4, 2021 19:13
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Mr. Wiggles posted:I'll give this a run down over the weekend if you like. Sweet! Between what you write and what NFM wrote upthread there'll be an excellent pipe guide for the new thread.
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Jun 5, 2021 01:18
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Hell yeah, I almost picked up the Londres but I went with the Corticos instead. Padron is so good. I just reorganized my humidor and it feels amazing. I'm gonna take pictures of it for the new thread, but having everything lined up just so rocks.
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Jun 5, 2021 19:21
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Welcome to the thread fellow poster. Great to have you here! On Saturday I smoked that Jose L. Piedras from the box pass. First time smoking a short-filler stick, and it was definitely tasty. The draw was fairly tight though, and I think being short-filled the PerfecDraw didn't work the way I'm used to, and it ended up sort of hollowing out the cap-end as the short flakes came straight out. I was able to muddle through for about half of the cigar, but it ended up getting dodgy eventually and I called it. Considering the price I'd definitely give it another go, in case there's a technique for opening it up that could work better. Goddamn I cannot wait for my Padron Corticos to arrive tomorrow.
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Jun 8, 2021 02:59
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Nexein posted:The good news is we're all cigar idiots, welcome in! Hell yeah degenerate idiot crew. Gramps posted:Cool part about this hobby is being a nerd about it is 100 percent optional. As long as you're finding sticks you enjoy then rock on. I am a hopeless nerd about everything I take even a passing interest in but at the end of the day we're sticking leaves in our mouths and setting them on fire and it really doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. This is also completely true. One of the reasons a thread like this is nice is that if you ever wanna try something new there are folks in here trying all sorts of stuff and reporting back. I've learned about several of my favorite cigars from this thread!
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Jun 8, 2021 03:43
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NewFatMike posted:Those JLPs have been more miss than hit for me too, same for a box of Bolivars (thankfully the other is good). I'm planning on letting them sit for a long time and seeing if they've improved at all in a few months. Hahahahah nono! I was super pleased to have tried it, and like I said it tasted great. I'd been planning on another box pass, I think I'll try and get it going in the next week or two. If you were in on the last one and you still have the same address, just post and say you're in. If you'd like to get in on this one, send me a PM with your address! Mr. Wiggles posted:I failed. It's cool, there's no big hurry on the new thread. I'm still working on it in the background.
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Jun 8, 2021 06:17
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I'll work something up this week, though.
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zuffenphile posted:I'm back Baby...... Congrats on the job! Hope you get to smoke something nice to celebrate. The Parsons arrived today, I'm super stoked to bust one out. Gonna see my buddies tomorrow to give them their share. I'll report back.
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Jun 9, 2021 06:39
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A couple nights ago me and the boys smoked the La Aurora Preferidos Sapphire robusto, as well as one of the Padron Corticos. The Sapphire was quite good, although it's like 2 years younger than the coronas we got earlier this year. I really liked the format, and I caught a decent amount of the honey-and-cream flavor, but I feel like I should leave these in the box for a few more months to see if they can relax a bit and develop some more. The Corticos were super weird in a fun way. There was a flash of pepper on spark up, and then there was a really distinctive yeasty note that hung out for the first half inch or so. Like being in a bakery at 4 am, it was this rich bready yeasty flavor. Then some vanilla popped up so it felt like cupcake frosting, then a little bit of the more normal Padron oak and walnuts, then lots of cinnamon, and it finished with a burst of potpourri right before we kicked them. Quite a ride for a little smoke, and easily the weirdest Padron we've had so far.
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Jun 11, 2021 18:29
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ThatOneGuy posted:Just finished a Padron 1926 No 47 Maduro, now smoking a Padron 1964 Exclusivo Maduro. Really branching out here. Now that is a day of smokes. I had a La Aurora Preferidos Ruby corona and it smoked real nice. Big clouds of smoke, delicate chocolate and perfume flavor. Love those Preferidos.
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Jun 13, 2021 06:44
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Kenning posted:A couple nights ago me and the boys smoked the La Aurora Preferidos Sapphire robusto, as well as one of the Padron Corticos. The Sapphire was quite good, although it's like 2 years younger than the coronas we got earlier this year. I really liked the format, and I caught a decent amount of the honey-and-cream flavor, but I feel like I should leave these in the box for a few more months to see if they can relax a bit and develop some more. I forgot to mention that this cigar had the most beautiful burn line and ash I've had in a while. I took a picture!  Great stuff, I love a nice dense, white ash.
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Jun 13, 2021 11:41
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 17:47 |
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Hell yeah Wiggles that's a fuckin' pipe primer. Thanks for doing the work! Now I need to finish the cigar post re-work and we're in business.
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Jun 14, 2021 05:08
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