MrGlass

I always knew that cigars were something I was interested in from my early teenage years, but there were a couple of key points that led me to this particular destination. My first Cuban at 20ish was a standout, picked up at the casino to smoke on the drive home and starting a tradition. That was a RYJ tubos. I was around 25 when I decided that this was going to be a more regular hobby, and while buying some singles I was gifted a HDM Epicure No. 2, which I smoked at the store. It immediately blew me away and confirmed this was the right decision.

2003 - Jewels Vanilla (we all have to start somewhere and I was just out of high school, dumb and broke). 2010 - HDM Des Dieux, Epicure No. 2. 2018 - LGC MdO 4, but really these days I'm all about variety. 2028 - Whatever is left of my current (and at that point, no doubt borderline illegal) collection.

Basically it just means to casually discuss the topic as a group.

I am biased against the Petit Robusto and refuse to buy them because I think it is stupid size, so both Coronas got my votes. I can't give you any more justification than that - it's simply personal preference. While this may not be what you are looking for, if the sizes were reversed in your question it would be a valid answer.

Thanks again Rob for hosting all these competitions. I had a blast doing it, so winning something from it is just the icing on the cake.

For what it's worth, there was a special release of the Trinidad Fundadores in 1998 that came in a cajon of 75.

Cheers for updating the title with the correct details John.

For this review, I decided to fire up the Cohiba Lanceros. This particular cigar came from the 2017 Christmas sampler, so I think it was a 2017 cigar, but if anyone happens to recall the exact year and box codes for the samplers, feel free to list it. This is my first Cohiba Lanceros, and I had been saving this cigar for the right occasion since receiving it at Christmas. This review competition felt like the right time to break it out and treat myself, so I paired it with a Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvée, setup my laptop on the balcony and before I knew it the evening had turned to tomorrow. The cold draw brought out hints of sweetness and lemongrass. The draw itself was quite firm, but I think that is to be expected with a cigar as long and skinny as this. Firing the cigar up, the opening was incredibly mild with that sweet lemongrass Cohiba are notorious for coming through. The draw remained tight, but it was manageable. Regardless, the cigar just felt elegant, and time itself seemed to slow down while smoking this. The cigar did not want to be rushed, nor did I feel any inclination to do so. Moving into the middle third, there was a gradual increase in strength as the sweetness faded and I was just left with grass. This was the case until about the halfway point of the cigar when it instantaneously transitioned to black coffee. I had never had a change quite like it before - one puff was grass, and literally the next was like sipping black coffee. As it continued, it was like someone began slowly adding sugar to the coffee. Going into the final third, it was time to start adding cream to that sweet coffee. Towards the end of the cigar, the coffee was finished and I was left with that sweetened cream. When the finger burning became unmanageable, the total smoke time was right on 3 hours. This was my first experience with the Cohiba Lanceros, and thankfully it won't be my last. Try as I might, I ultimately had high expectations for this, which is a sure-fire way to make even a great cigar feel average, but this definitely exceeded my expectations. It really did feel like this cigar sent me back to a time that has long since passed, showing simple elegance and class rather than ostentatiousness. The size definitely made it more difficult to smoke, but boy did it reward you for the effort. I can see now why this format is falling out of favour, and that is such a terrible shame.

Given the choice between a wrapper shortage and a band shortage, I'll take the band shortage. These recent occurrences speak volumes on their QA process.

I'll play. Some of the totals listed here include some approximations, but they're close enough for the purpose of the exercise. Ring Gauge - Total Count - Percentage 30 - 25 - 2.46% 32 - 20 - 1.96% 33 - 25 - 2.46% 36 - 25 - 2.46% 38 - 25 - 2.46% 40 - 99 - 9.72% 42 - 275 - 27.01% 43 - 25 - 2.46% 46 - 55 - 5.40% 47 - 88 - 8.64% 48 - 23 - 2.26% 49 - 116 - 11.39% 50 - 140 - 13.75% 52 - 35 - 3.44% 55 - 8 - 0.79% 56 - 28 - 2.75% 58 - 6 - 0.59%

"Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something." - Jake the Dog, Adventure Time.

And here is the pronunciation of it in case anyone is interested:

First time I tried catching at trapeze. I had been flying for 12 months when they asked me if I wanted to learn how to catch as well. I figured how hard can it be - they basically just sit and swing on the catch trap, and when it's time to catch, hang underneath and hook their legs on. The guys that were doing it always made it look effortless. After two minutes of swinging, I was drenched in sweat, and my efforts to hang underneath and hook my legs on resulted in me nearly falling off. Turns out it's much harder than it looks - go figure. After a few weeks of practising just swinging up there and getting to the correct position, they decided I was ready to actually catch somebody. That first day, I did 10 catches, and when I was done my entire body ached, my legs were bruised and I could barely walk. It was the most physically exhausted I have ever been. The beer that afternoon was magnificent, but one was enough. I basically went home afterwards and passed out.

I'm not falling for that again.

My first box purchase was a box of des Dieux, and because I loved them, I gave away as many as I smoked. I was always going to pick up another box and it was never going to be a problem. I have one single from that box left and I'm not sure when I'll ever get around to smoking it.