Islandboy

Only had a few of each, but I’ve found the 54 fuller in body but a bit bland in flavor, while the 50 is the clear winner in the flavor department, but seems more consistent with typical QdO “mildness”.

The titanium one please.

I’m a 56 year old who regularly rides a bicycle in the dirt. I’m going with Yes.

Yup, I recall that Picadores was one of the boxes I experienced this with as well. Another that I remember was RyJ Churchill. The first one ROTT blew me away, and next few were a bit meh. Happily, 8 months later, they’re back baby!

It could all be in my head, but it seems more often than not, the first one out of a box ROTT is a flavor bomb. Then as they re-acclimate to the proper humidity, they go through a several month period of diminishing flavor, after which, the vibrant flavor slowly returns.

That’s an embarrassment of a fake.

I was just wowed by a pairing worth sharing... This evening I had a splendid RyJ Wide Churchill, and cracked open a bottle of Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale. It was a beautiful rendition of the RyJWC, starting out with bright flavors of cherry fruitiness along with baking spices, all bundled up in a creamy smoothness. I’m quite proud of myself with the beer tasting, as I’m not normally one to detect singular flavors. But in this case, after some concentration, and BEFORE reading the notes on the bottle, I got a clear flavor of caramel on the finish, with a very smooth, creamy feel to it. And a bit of fruitiness from the hops. Then I read the notes - Bingo! Enter the second half of the cigar, and flavors smooth even further with the fruitiness turning into...wait for it...caramel! Never before have I had a pairing of such extreme compatibility. It was like the beer was a liquid version of the cigar, and vise versa. The beautiful finish with each puff was perfectly extended with a sip of this beer. This pairing was enjoyable beyond words - and highly recommended.

I’m in the same boat, started out going after NC maduros after discovering them, because of the richness of taste. But I don’t really associate them with being sweeter, in general anyway. Some were, but most were just stronger. These days I can’t really handle the sledgehammer strength of a typical NC maduro - I find many CC’s to be significantly sweeter than any NC maduro I’ve had. I’m also under the impression that a maduro wrapper is nearly black, again, from my early experiences with NC’s. Which makes it hard to wrap my head around the existence of a maduro Lancero, or even CoRo.

2013 - the year I started delving in. First wow cigar was an Arturo Fuente Anejo 48. I basically thought anything with the word Maduro in it’s name or description was the bomb. 2015 - My first CC, an absolutely sublime CoRo. My strategy completely changed - buy only CC’s, smoke off my stock of NC’s until gone. Now - Variety is the spice of life. No real go-to stick, just trying to keep it interesting. In fact, I’ve recently started adding some NC’s back to the line up, but nothing heavy-handed. The smoother stuff like Opus X, Warped, Davidoff. For the days when I stare into the humidor and everything CC seems a bit too predictable. Happens occasionally lately.

I’ve never understood the attraction to adult animated shows....but then there’s not much on TV these days that I deem worthy anyway.

Seems to me removal of condensation from the sealed environment (or the lack of) is a factor.

We built a wooden half-pipe for skateboarding at the bottom of a little downhill road....on someone else’s property. It stayed there until we rode big holes in the thing. Much blood was shed. Good times.

I think you’re supposed to do this BEFORE clipping it.

Nice review. The Christmas sampler Lancero remains one of the tastiest cigars I’ve ever had, loved the transitions and slow build up of flavors.