Çnote

I'm not voting on how someone wants to run their show. I come here for 24:24, pro/am reviews, and for the 'expert' cigar knowledge that is lacking in other forums. I do not see SP/Paul's condemnation of Rob's long term behavior available for all to read. It was nerfed after being live for less than an hour. I happened to see it and agree with a couple of points, but I acknowledge that this is a private marketing sandbox above all else. Frankly, I think more nerfing of topics should happen, rather than a 'simmer down lads' or a locking of thread. If something is drifting to a third rail, just nuke it, pass out a couple 7/30/90 day bans and move on.

N3 thanks @5thStarChicago After an unexpectedly great N1 experience, I had high hopes, but I'm not a fan after this example. A little tunneling in the 2nd 3rd and a snap rain shower right after lighting could be the issue; to me, this pushes alot of HQ NC buttons but never showed any CC class, unlike the N1 or Hamlet 25th which I loved from a half inch in. Still really good, just didn't scratch my itch. ~ So that's the story of the 1st 3/4. The last couple inches blew the doors off. Still very NC, but a couple laps of redemption at the end. I'd certainly try this again. Still holding out for the N2

Nudie #1 Thanks to @5thStarChicago Very enjoyable, and I'm not a fan of the vitola. I'm really looking forward to N#2, which should be spot on for me...

Worth the wait, but very mongrel. I'll try to wait 2 more years for the next one from this box. Burnt sugar cookie from the 1st puff and I enjoyed the rest without alot of introspection...

Terrible humidity so a rough light. Tough draw. An excellent example of CC QC. Alas. Still enjoyable, but never 'wow.'

I'm not hitting enough repeats in CC to have an opinion on what is going up and down in quality. I have noticed that I am smoking bigger cigars more often when I do smoke. Longer at least, alot more time to sip skinnies. Also, my frequency this past month is way down, but it's either been hot and humid, or pouring rain, and I've noticed that I get alot more burn issues, so I wait for better weather. The local lounges have reopened, but the mood there no longer suits me as the conversation is often dire or too lubricated, so we'll see.

I've been doing as much cooking for the family as I can. Here's tonight's enchiladas. We will persevere. We all know what we should be doing to survive this, and we all need the support of others to do it. Take the opportunity to sit in the silence and do the next thing and build on that. Everyone's details will be different, and some situations will be much worse than others, but we can all get through this if we take care of each other.

Do a little back of envelope math and guess what prices will be like. Then take a deep breath and think which venues will have them first. I'll park my coin here, thank you

It's all about avoiding taxes and finding deals at vertically integrated supply chains. If the same umbrella owns the manufacturer and retailer, you can find crazy deals. If you have the opportunity to buy at low/zero tobacco tax, that will help too! QC is an issue, say if 10% of CC is 'off,' then you'll have some value lost. A PerfectDraw and figuring out your individual tastes in regards to humidity and dryboxing should get you down to 1-3% failure rate on CC, and <1% on NC. For what NC I like, there are rarely deals except for volume; so regular production CC, even with QC failure is as about as good as you can get.

I've done that, stellar results with ribeyes and Bordeaux. If you ever come across an overgrown rosemary bush, where there is significant woody growth, that also works magic on ribeyes with Brunello. Almost a reason to let that part of the herb garden go feral for a few years.

Thanks for posting this, it gave me some things to google that weren't cigar related! Pineapple Capriorna seems to refer to a well known growing area of pineapple on the Capricorn coast of Australia, so perhaps some thoughts of this menu would be to show the agricultural bounty of Australia. Before the EU and trade agreements, wines would often be referred to by their European equivalents, so that's not too damning as it looks like these wines would have been the toast of Australia in the 1960's. I'm not even 100% the Moselle style would have been as sweet as it seems the German house that established that winery goes back in Australia to pre 1900, when the German style was not governed by the 'quality' (ripeness) levels that became predominant post WWII, and wines were often fermented out to a very light degree of sweetness. I'll do some more research and post over the weekend... That being said, I'm reminded of Monty Python's Australian wine promotion sketch...

Whoa! Thanks FoH!

Getting back to topic, isn't this a little speculative as the code is a packing date and not technically a rolling date? Aren't there a few more steps between rolling and boxing that, Cuba being Cuba, could add a month or so?

Whoa. I may have to try this asap

Generously traded to me by @5thStarChicago I usually don't have Tubos handy, so thanks for adding this to the mix! I haven't had alot of experience with Punch, and what I have had has been non-descript if not simply subpar. This immediately gets off to a great start, with rich and slightly sweet Christmas spice with that supposedly telltale anise which has been missing in every other Punch I've had. Great looking wrapper, the tubo has at least protected it well. Construction is hard to tell as it's very humid this afternoon and I used a bic as a torch wasn't immediately handy. Spice staying in play as the 1st 3rd progresses, smoke is very mild and creamy. 5star was thinking he had ordered these in 2017, so this matches to what I would want in a 4-6 year Habanos. Burn line straightens up nicely approaching 2nd 3rd with ash fall at about the 1/2 way mark. Smoke picks up a big dollop of sweetness, with the anise dominant spice flavor covering up almost any trace of tobacco. Texture has gotten even richer, like a soft nougat. I've been informed we are going out posthaste, so I will enjoy the rest of this without taking notes and leave you to your weekend plans. I'll give this a 91 and will be looking at Punch prices more regularly