Thin is in

Cigar Review:

For me the perception back in the day that longer but thinner cigars were favored by the upper crust. These cigars looked very fashion oriented, sleek and had flair. Not sure how I came up with this conclusion but it was an idea that did appeal to me. Cigar manufacturers always had the Lancero shaped  in their roster but I believe they were not big sellers.
As larger ring gauge cigars became the rage and are still getting bigger, it is often not easy to find a smoke that appeals to the Lancero crowd. I personally like this shape and find it a great shape to smoke.

The Alec Bradley Coyol Petit Lancero comes with a 93 rating  and a # 18 ranking from Cigar Aficionado in the best cigars of 2016.
I purchased my cigar from the Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge on 1/2/17 and smoked it on 2/24/17 at the Wolf.
 With all my ratings, how and where I received the cigar does not impact my subjective thoughts on the blend. I suggest you try it on your own and make your own judgement. Hope to hear your thoughts on the cigar.



Brand/ Name of Cigar:   
   
                                                                Alec Bradley /Coyal Petit Lancero
                                                                Country of Origin: Honduras 
                                                                Size:  6.5 x 41 
                                                                Wrapper: Honduras
                                                                Binder: Honduras, Nicaragua 
                                                                Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
                                                                Price: $8.99 Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge, Los Angeles , Ca.

  
                                                                  Appearance/Construction:

 A slim cigar with a choice brown wrapper, well crafted with seams that do not mar the appearance of the wrapper. The band combination displays a very cool looking counter point to the cigar itself. Not flashy but says look at me. 



Flavor/ Taste and Aroma:


First third was a pleasing combination of cream, chocolate notes with a slight hint of spice/black pepper. Also a tease of cinnamon or nutmeg. Sometimes they taste the same to me. It was smooth, consistent and not harsh.


Smoking  Characteristics :

Cool smoking but slightly off in the burn as the photo clearly indicates. I did not find this off putting but wondered why it happened. I sometimes do a poor job on the initial lighting of a cigar but this was not the case as you can observe the first photo had  a good burn.


Conclusion/ Overall Impression:

As a top 25 cigar I have my doubts but as a good smoke it hits it for me. As a baseball fan I would describe it as a solid line drive two bagger but it would be a stretch to make it to third base. 



Final Thoughts:

This cigar just missed the mark for me. Slight burn issue was not a big thing but the taste was light without a major strength.

The numbers:

Appearance / Construction: 3.8 out of 5
Flavor/Taste and Aroma: 3.5 out of 5
Smoking Characteristics : 3. 3 out of 5
Conclusion/Overall Impression: 3. 5 out of 5

A good Triple A player with the chance to get to the Show.

Keep smoking.
     





                                       

Saturday afternoon at the Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge

Micky and Mark relaxing at Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge

One of Habano's choice blends



Keep Smoking

Micky and Mark relaxing at Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge

Old school , revisiting history, or cigar lounges are great everywhere

When I travel , I make it a point, to find a local cigar establishment and spend a couple of hours there. It's not that I am a frequent traveler, but I get a good idea of what the local populace is about and what they are thinking.

Couple of places come to mind. The grand daddy of all cigar B & M 's is Fox's in London. I was in London back in 2009 with my wife and while she was having a business meeting, I made the pilgrimage to Fox's. The store was about a 20 minute jaunt from my hotel in a business section of town. I arrived at the front door and my heart jumped. I was going to be in the place where WInston Churchill smoked.
 There were a couple of customers there placing orders. What struck me immediately was that the two employees were dressed vastly different.
 The younger of the two had a three piece suit on, looking as if he was a member of the House of Lords. . He was behind a computer screen, speaking to a client on the phone. They were in conversation about a new shipment of Cuban cigars coming in and the client was placing an order.
 The other employee was an older man, sporting a vest with a pocket watch and resembling a character from Dickens. He asked me if I needed help and I said to him, " I've come 6000 miles from Los Angeles to pay a visit to your store." He seemed impressed and offered to show me around. 
The store itself is not particularly large but I enjoyed the guided tour. He showed the chair that Winston Churchill smoked in and a painting of Sir Winston that hung on a wall . I also looked at many different brands of cigars, mostly Cuban and a small amount of central american brands. 
I was overwhelmed with the selection and asked him to help me pick out a special cigar as a remembrance of my trip. He went back to the front counter and selected a Monti #2 from the stash. He told me this stick was specially aged and would be a good choice. I thanked him and paid for the purchase, ( the most expense cigar I ever bought 17 pounds , 20 pence ), and asked him if I could take some photos of the shop. He said of course, I thanked him and then left. As I left I felt I just marched through a piece of history and Sir Winston was about to smoke with me.
 That night I went back to the hotel, sat in the English garden and puffed away. I don't know if it was the best cigar I ever smoked, but wanted to believe it was.
 Thank God for England, they do things differently with a style that is unique and full of custom which is a throwback I truly enjoy. 
A bit of a contrast but no less enjoyable was a B & M in Larchmont , NY called Dom's cigars. I hope that place is still around because if you live in the New York area, Dom's is worth a trip. Once again, I was with my wife, visiting this time her sister in law . The two of them chose to do something that did not appeal to me and was " allowed" to take off by myself. I noticed Dom's the day before while we were walking around Larchmon , looking for a lunch spot. It was a cold, rainy walk to Dom's  which to me was not unpleasant. I was dressed for the wet stuff, and truly enjoy a touch of bad weather as Los Angeles is about 75- 85 degrees 325 days a year. As I grew up back east, I am not taken aback by rain or snow.
 I went into Dom's and the place was empty. The walls were lined with sport celebrities, mostly NY legends such as Joe D, Mickey Mantle, Walt Frazier and Joe Namath. I walked through the store, looking at cigars and accessories when Dom came out from the back room. He asked me if I I needed help and told him I had time to kill and wanted to sit down and smoke a cigar in his lounge. Dom took me through his humidor, and I picked up a Gispert Maduro, which at the time was a new stick for me. I lit it up, Dom offered me a cup of coffee which I accepted. There was a basketball game on the TV screen ( not a flat screen , this was around the year 2005) We proceeded to watch the game , and talk about LA as Dom never had paid a visit.
I told him LA was not what I expected when I moved there in 1997 as I shared many stereotypes that east coast people have of Los Angeles. After the Gispert smoked down to the nub, he offered me another cigar as his gift to this transplanted NY/Boston guy. I don't remember what the cigar was, but it did not really matter. I was sharing a smoke with a friend who I knew for about 2 hours but felt like I knew him for years. Eventually I needed to get back and thanked him for the great time. He said he had a fine time too and if I ever come back, pay him a visit.
I recently went through my business cards and tossed his out which I could kick myself for.However, Dom is in my memory and this is what cigar smoking is about, finding new adventures ,new friends and never being bored.

They were right

Cigar Review:

Best cigar of the year rankings are always anticipated. They create discussions, thoughts and sometimes anger. I like reading about them but most of the time have not smoked the majority of the cigars in the rankings.  Cigar Aficionado magazine, the mostly well respected publication, put Rocky Patel's sun grown maduro in the number 2 slot in 2016. As I have several times in this blog , maduro cigars are not my favorites but I do appreciate a well made cigar regardless how the blend is formulated . Rocky Patel cigars are for some the pinnacle of cigar making. For others they are the Walmart of smokes. Plenty choices but of dubious quality.
Here is my thoughts on the 2016  #2 ranked cigar from CA. I purchased a 5 pack from Cigar.com. They were toro smokes and not the robusto shape that were reviewed.
My reviews are subjective and not influenced on where or how I received the smoke.

Brand/ Name of Cigar: Rocky Patel/ Sun grown Maduro Special Reserve
Country of Origin: Nicaragua 
Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Sungrown Connecticut Broad leaf Maduro
Binder: Dual Binder, Nicaragua
Shape: Toro
Price: 5 pack, Cigars.com, $29.95 special
Where and When smoked: Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge, Los Angeles, Ca. 2/19/17

Appearance/ Construction:

Almost a flawless cigar with a dark chocolate wrapper, box pressed and an oily touch. There are several large veins showing but totally not an issue. The cigar band completed the smoke giving it a very luscious look. The construction was outstanding.

Flavor/ Taste and Aroma:

Initial foray was a very choice chocolate flavor with a hint of black spice in the mix. Also some notes of vanilla as we progress through the first third. The flavor was consistent with a medium strength profile no harsh or bitter hits as some maduro smokes get .

 Smoking Characteristics:

The burn was straight, cool with a pleasing to the eye grey ash. No problems with uneven patterns.  Smoke continued to be faithful with the chocolate flavor.

             Conclusion/Overall Impression:

This is a dynamite cigar with all aspects that makes the Rocky Patel Sungrown Maduro a world class cigar. The Rocky Patel brand has been an enigma to me as they can produce such a fabulous smoke
and also  make run of the mill smokes. I understand manufacturers need to appeal to all price points and tastes but I hope Rocky keeps aiming for a higher plane. 

Final Thoughts:

Here is the number breakdown.

Appearance/Construction: 4.5 out of 5
Flavor/Taste and Aroma: 4.5 out of 5
Smoking Characteristics: 4.2 out of 5
Overall: 4.3 out of 5

This is a total winner from Rocky and suggest go out a buy a assortment of all sizes.


                                                 Keep smoking.

This has nothing to do about cigars but it's about driving in Los Angeles

Commentary :

I have lived in Los Angeles for almost 20 years and it is a great city to live in. Having been brought up on the Northeast there is a certain bias about what people think about the west coast and LA in particular. However , whatever your geographic persuasion is, two items are very apparent when you move to the city of Angels.
Folks in LA have no clue in driving in bad weather conditions and driving in LA is a total mess.

Lets build on point one.  Everyone talks about the car culture in this part of the world but what they do not say , this is based on great weather. Sure 300 days a year, this sun is out, the blue sky is stunning and it 80 degrees.
 So what we see on TV, the news, movies and the like are cool cars being driven by cool people. They are heading to the beach,  the mountains or cruising in Hollywood. If you want to fantasize this is the image you should choose. Here is the reality when bad weather hits.
*The major freeways flood like crazy. Poor design, poor flood control, poor drainage leads to massive puddles, potholes and lane markers that are impossible to see.

 There are no or very few lights on the freeways so either no visibility  or poor visibility is compounded by the dark. You basically point your car forward and follow the car in front of you hoping they know where they are going.

If you are traveling on local streets it is just as bad as they flood in just about every wet condition. The traffic lights are not synchronized so there is no pattern for stop and go traffic. Travel one block at a time and stop. For example the stretch on Sunset Blvd from the Pacific Palisades to the 405 freeway during rush hour can take one hour or more. This is about a 3 mile drive.

* LA car mavens do not change their driving patterns in inclement weather. Fog or rain, its still driving 70 miles an hour and up. Traffic jams drive fast , tailgate and change lanes without signaling.
School bus stops, drive through the flashing red lights on bus. Local streets, freeways it does not matter, the rule of thumb is you are in charge, courtesy is not a word in the dictionary.

* Now for a Boston guy driving west , you could make the trip to Western Massachusetts which boarders New York state is 2.5 to 3 hours. In LA , you could still be in LA and not make it the the outskirts in 2.5 to 3 hours.  A trip to San Diego which is about 150 miles can take 4 hours. What this means is LA is massive, the freeways are massive, the traffic is massive and an north east driver does know this no matter what he reads. You have to experience the sheer vastness of the freeway system and streets just to appreciate it.

There is plenty more we can write about LA traffic but let's end it by saying , bring a cigar if you inclined to smoke in your car and just enjoy it.

Keep smoking 

Fitness and Cigars ?

Cigar Thought of the day

My real job is managing a fitness center. I often hear from clients and friends how do you justify smoking cigars as a fitness dude? It's a legitimate question and I have a legitimate answer.
How many times have you seen outstanding sports personalities such as Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mike Ditka, Charles Barkley, Tom Brady just to mention a few smoking their favorite cigar?
 Of course, the Hall of Fame basketball coach of the Celtics , Red Auerbach, lit up a victory stogie on the bench before each win.

Here are several reasons that I feel it's permissible to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes,  smoking cigars without any regret.
I limit myself to 3 -5 cigars a week. I am certainly aware that tobacco may have negative effects on your health. A friend of mine who received his PH.D researching the effects of cigar smoking on oral health, told me cigar smokers death rates are only slightly different than the national average. He is also a cigar smoker. There is concern about soft palate cancers and dental issues.
Cigar smoking is good for mental health. This comment is not based on a statistical analysis but observations over the years. Cigar people love to relax, chat , enjoy the moment. During those cigar interludes, tension is decreased, it's about enjoyment.
Cigars cut across political, economic and social lines. Many cigar mavens regardless of what kind of politics they espouse, have friends of other political thoughts. Cigars allow honest talk without threats or intimidation. You are exchanging ideas, not death threats.
I work out 6 times a week, remain within 3 lbs of my weight from 40 years ago. I watch my calorie intake, stay on top of health and fitness developments and also train clients. I rarely drink so I do not add calories due to alcohol. So the key understanding here is, be moderate in your approach.
If you need any fitness advice and and cigar advice too, let me know. Am glad to help.

Keep smoking

Sometimes we don't always get to things

Cigar Review:

I reviewed  the Caldwell Gibraltar Extra robusto this past November 2016 and then totally forgot about the smoke. Does this mean the cigar was not to my liking, or  did not make an impression on me ? Actually none of the above. In reality , I don't even have a reason.
I have now smoked several Caldwell cigars with a mixed track record. Read my previous reviews to see my thoughts on them.

Take a look at this review and make up your own thoughts.  Where and how I obtained the cigar does not influence my take on the smoke.

Brand/ Name of Cigar:

Caldwell/ Gibraltar Extra
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Dominican Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Shaper: Gran Robustto
Price: $5.25 Each
When and where smoked: 11/6/16, Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge, Los Angeles , Ca.
Purchased : CigarsCity.com

Appearance/ Construction:

Medium brown wrapper, slightly oily touch to the wrapper.
 Firm ( hard ? ) with veins fairly visible  but not distracting. Good looking band which Caldwell Cigars seems to thrive in their marketing.

                                             

 
                                                            Flavor/Taste and Aroma:
    

Initial third had a slight taste of black pepper with some hay and grassy notes. Nothing really grabbed me to think this might be an exceptional smoke but it's early.                                        














Smoking Characteristics:

Easy burn, grey ash, slight deviation of construction as the cigar started to become uneven. Stayed lit throughout the smoke but burn issues became a problem. Burn became more disjointed as the construction failed.
This probably help create a bitter and more metallic overall flavor in the second third. Not a good thing.













                                                           
                                                           
  Conclusion/ Overall Impression:

The cigar had several problems including burn quality, metallic taste and not a pleasant experience. I wanted to give it a chance to get better so I smoked it to the end but would not do that again.


Final Thoughts :

The numbers:

Appearance/ Construction: 3 out 5
Flavor/ Taste and Aroma: 2 out of 5
Smoking Characteristics: 2 out 5
Conclusion/ Overall Impression: 2 out of 5

Caldwell Cigars need to develop a quality modest priced cigar. This certainly was not it. Total pass on the smoke and if you get one from a buddy, be warned.

Keep smoking

Super Bowl or Super Cigar?

Cigar Review

Heading to the Lone Wolf Cigar Lounge shortly to see the Pats hopefully win. Still not decided what cigars to bring to the event. However, here is a smoke that for many has Super Bowl winner all over it.  How or where I purchased the cigar does not effect my subjective review of the experience.  Use this review as a guide and make your own judgement.


Brand/ Name of Cigar:

 Monticristo/ #4
Country of Origin: Cuba
Size: 5.1 x 42
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Shape: Petit Corona
Place and Date Purchased: CigarTerminal.com. 12/16
Date on Box: July 2014

Where and when smoked: Long Wolf Cigar Lounge, 1/17

















Appearance/ Construction:

Solid feel without any plugs, Striking chocolate brown wrapper and depending on the light it has different hues. Small veins are noticeable but not really a fault.  The cigar band is simple and very classic looking.

Flavor/Taste and Aroma:

The first initial third was a smooth medium experience with a mix of pepper and earthy overtones. The description was be similar to other Cuban cigars I have tasted. Experienced cigar smokers enjoy this, novices might not. Aroma is so subjective I rarely blog on this aspect but in this case, the aroma was very farm
The first initial third was a smooth medium experience with a mix of pepper and earthy overtones. The description was be similar to other Cuban cigars I have tasted. Experienced cigar smokers enjoy this, novices might not. Aroma is so subjective I rarely blog on this aspect but in this case, the aroma was very farm like.

Smoking Characteristics:

The burn was slow, methodical without any hot spots or large problems. However, I did notice an uneven burn in the second third of the smoke. It managed to self correct so overall, it did not cause much impact in the overall enjoyment of the cigar.






















Conclusion/Overall Impression:

The Monti #4 is reputed to be the best selling Cuban cigar in it's inventory. It has been a staple for many years and this is very understandable. For cigar smokers,  this is what is thought of when you think of Cuban cigars.  It never fails to bring satisfaction, but as a representative of a truly outstanding cigar it is not quite there. This is a lack of overall complexity which I think is the result of it's small size , not of  any deficient quality.  Otherwise this is a top line smoke.

Final Thoughts:

If this is available in your cigar world, always have them in your staple. Of course availability may hinder this but as Cuban cigars are somewhat more available , I think you can score them.

The numbers:

Appearance/ Construction: 4 out of 5
Flavor/ Taste and Aroma: 4. 2 out of 5
Smoking Characteristics : 3.5 out of 5
Conclusion/ Overall Impression: 4 out 5.

Keep smoking.