CaptainQuintero

New legislation coming in too, essentially all UK stock has to be electronically tagged and tracked in real time, stores have 2 years to liquidate all current stock 😬 Video from one large UK importer explaining it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6EqE-_NqUj/?igsh=NWQ1cWN0ajNqcmJn

Oh nice how was it? I can't even really imagine what the Connecticut wrapped one would be like, those Maduro wrappers give such an overwhelming character to any blend.

Solidly medium body, no noticeable nicotine hit either. Not a whiff of pepper at all too, compared to traditional NC blends it seemed very unique and Cuban styled, as much as a Maduro can be.

Personal experience is a huge thing with this at the end of the day, it's still down to a subjective taste and we can't get away from that, only really give generalisations that on the whole ring true for most For me, humidity is one factor that hugely affects taste, not a single digit here and there but high 60s gives me a completely different experience to mid 60s, to the point where I'll just not smoke something near to or above 70% as it's a waste of time and money to me, I just don't enjoy the hot and grubby/muddy flavours that come in at higher rh, not to mention re-lights. I prefer as close to 60% as I can. A decade or so ago I took one humidor down to 54% to find my sweet spot and flavours got progressively more pronounced, I only stopped as the wrappers became more fragile. In terms of the shipping rest time, I'd simply guess that due to the vast differences going from the wildly different locations and their climates along a journey, that cigars may not have a consistent rh through the tobacco? Or some derivative of that. Whatever the science, it's enough of a difference for me that I use 3-6 months to let cigars settle down and then acclimatise to my preferred rh. Edit--- I seem to remember some threads years back showing the volatility of flavour compounds changing with how many/much water molecules were present, but I haven't the foh Google fu to delve that out, @PigFishmay have to jedi powers to snatch out of the ether though And back to the topic, NC seem to be generally accepted to tolerate, or even perform better at closer to 70%, but how much of that strays into subjectivity again, it's probably up in the air and come down to personal preference.

I think before you get into any blend reasons, there's always been a pretty solid guide that any cigar needs 2-3 months rest after a shipping journey. Just for them to settle down and acclimatise.

Getting back into the saddle, bear with me! So it's Spring finally and the months of watching those in warmer climates enjoying their sticks is finally at an end. With the recent discussion on NC lanceros, the good and the bad, I picked up one of these curious looking cigars 7x38 Nicaraguan Maduro Jalapa wrapper, with a Honduran binder and filler. A band made from the cuttings from the local guava plantation and no cellophane, but uniquely wrapped in a tobacco leaf. There's claims about it helping the ageing, colour me not convinced on that, but it's a nice and tactile touch regardless It's a Maduro, so it's going to be a fairly familiar road I'd assume. There is a Connecticut wrapper version, so it would be interesting to see how the blend stands up without the influence of that dark beastie of a wrapper, and it is a beautiful looking wrapper. First up and it's a classic Cuban style draw. I do really enjoy great NC cigars but only if the draw is firm; too many to me are ruined by being wind tunnels and revert to being a cigarette in all but name. Tighten that roll up and show off what your tobacco and blend can really do. That's just the case here. Sweet and meaty off the blocks, classic Maduro. I'm paring back on the thirds review as I'm not expecting a huge change from a Maduro blend, there's old leather, some dark cedar and just a hint of fresh ground expresso. Most importantly there's not a sign of that metallic nature that I find can be a feature of NC tobacco, this thing is smooth as buttered fudge Not much evolution throughout the cigar; little wafts of overripe berry, occasional showings of floral notes and high percentage dark chocolate, but overall it faithfully sticks to that traditional dark brooding Maduro blend You know what you're going to get when you reach for those dark wrappered sticks and this delivered in spades, a solid 8/10. Clean burn, excellent construction, classic blending and a showcase of what NC tobacco can do.

I think 80 is an okay cigar, 79 and below is a Forest Whitaker Eye to me Which is bizarre because on a /10 scale, 7/10 is pretty damn goodml, I'd say 5/10 is okay but wouldn't buy again, 4/10 is dogger. An 8/10 would be excellent So I'm a walking hypocrite and 8/10 and 80/100 mean two totally different things to me

I'm generally very against legislation over education. Especially here it strikes me as strange: a PM who seemingly has done nothing for the benefit of the public good during his whole tenure suddenly throws this in the ring. It smacks me more of laying the groundwork to being able to discriminate for lifestyle reasons over access to healthcare, and the inevitable replacement of the NHS by private healthcare. It starts with this and when it's accepted it's very each to also say that people who smoke can't access the same level of healthcare as someone who doesn't smoke. The messaging is already being pushed about the tax burden of smokers. Then it's people who are overweight and consume sugary food/drinks, then it's people who consume alcohol etc and their tax burden on the healthcare system. I've seen nothing from this government that isn't about enriching friends and special interest groups at the sake of the general public, I don't think this is any different. It's just wrapped up in an emotive subject.

I used to follow the /100 scale pretty aggressively but found chasing the single digits differences more and more, and losing sight of the experience as a whole. Now I've settled into the /10 scale and go with the flow.

Personally, and in a generalised/sweeping way, from how I taste things I think Cubans have more in common than not; that there's a core 'CC' base blend that makes up something like 40% - 60% of all CC, and the rest is made up of leaf that gives the uniqueness of each marquee/vitola. That base blend can sometimes be very prominent to me. For some the base blend is less prominent eg Bolivar is one of the more unique, but in others that base blends seem to be a higher % eg RyJ and Punch, or QdO and Cohiba, and the similarities can be quite strong. The blind tastings I've taken part in seems to underline this too (To my tastes). From my tastings in for example 1960's Cubans, there doesn't seem to be too much of that commonality. Eg RyJ have been extremely unique and slap you in the face with what they are; I don't really pick up any core/base blend to which RyJ blends have been added, it's just straight 100% unique RyJ.

When in, I do use mine I'll always massage/roll the cigar to try and get the bunch back as even as possible, those first few times before starting doing it I definitely noticed that drawing through a hole experience If you've gotten some of the old 99-02 tent pegs it's a bit more challenging with them being rock hard.

If the blend is off by there being too much of a certain leaf causing the tightness then it won't solve that unbalanced nature to the blend. Also if the cigar is too tight due to r/h issues then am improved draw won't help the flavour either If a roller is making truly plugged cigars then I'm guessing their bunching probably isn't going to be great either.

I'm trying to figure out who the Monte 2 would be as an athlete. It's always a contentious cigar whenever these discussions come up, I love Montecristo (No.3 probably being my favourite) but I've never managed to have a half decent Monte 2, never mind a great one. I keep dipping my toe back every few years but it's been 17 years since I first had one and still never had that experience so I'm many seem to be lucky with. I know the sheer numbers produced also generate sheer numbers of duffs, but I seem to just keep getting them!

I would have thought a Dip 2 when on song would go toe to toe with any cigar in the world regardless of vitola, origin or price.

The Anejados are dead, long live the Anejados! Did we ever get to the bottom of the mysteries of how secret cigars, like the Monte Churchill, appeared out of nowhere aged and new banded but no one had ever heard a whiff about them previously? And with flavour profiles that didn't match the branding?