FOH'ers Daily Smoke

[Paso]

[maverickdrinker]

Bespoke Montecristo 520 custom roll tonight...




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[BoliDan]

5 hours ago, Paso said:

 

That CoSho seen better days

[BoliDan]

BCJ. Anyone else enjoy these dark flavor powerhouses only when it gets cold out? My preferences change with the seasons like crazy

[NicPac]

‘16 BCG on the golf course today.

‘98 Cuaba Tradicionales afterwards. I was surprised how good the Cuaba was and how much strength it still had. 

[Trimming]

[Raskol]

C&C time. Punch 48 [ LGR OCT18 ] - 24:24

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[Shatner's Bassoon]

CoRo ETP JUN 16

Media Corona PUR ABR 17

Bolivar Royal Corona ETP MAR 16 (snap @Kongelunden). Such a reliable box, and only three left.

[Chucko8]

A cheeky lager with a QD 50

[fokker4me]

2018 Hoyo Epi 2.

[Kongelunden]

Back to an old trusted friend this afternoon: Bolivar Royal Corona (ETP MAR 16). These are just so very enjoyable, and pure bolivar flavors......?

[CampDelta369]

My first RGPC and its fantastic. A big thanks to our host. They came in my favorite color.

[CampDelta369]

11 hours ago, BoliDan said:

BCJ. Anyone else enjoy these dark flavor powerhouses only when it gets cold out? My preferences change with the seasons like crazy

I remember winter days in Acworth GA where small format cigars were the rule for self preservation. Gloves recommended.  I need to score some BCJ  since it's one of the Bolivars I have not tried and I'm all in on dark flavors. 

[TTP21]

Siglo III PUR OCT 13. Thanks, @Markspring1978!

Round 2. BRO OCT 19. ERDM CX. 

[TNT009]

[Bijan]

Rainy day so SOP DIC 16 RyJ Petit Julietas

Turkish delight of the "good" RyJ in the first half and the mongrel bite of the cheap RyJ in the second.

[JohnS]

Cohiba Medio Siglo TPO Oct 2019

The Cohiba Medio Siglo is currently enjoying a solid reputation on our forum as a quality 'go-to' cigar which, antithetically in relation to other Cohiba cigars, can be smoked and enjoyed with minimal time rest.

The one main distinction I have enjoyed in all the Medio Siglos I've smoked this year is the consistent honeycomb biscuit in them, something akin to a UK Cadbury Crunchie confectionary or the similar Australian Violet Crumble. This cigar had very strong honeycomb biscuit notes from the very first puffs, yet it also had the hallmarks of classic Cohiba grass/hay, butter and mocha coffee, making it like a 'pared-down' Cohiba Siglo VI, in my opinion. It also had plenty of smoke per draw, which necessitated smoking it slowly and it also picked up in spice in the second half, but it was superb flavour-wise.

Despite being released in late 2016, I'm still 'kicking myself' as to why it took me a little over three years to get into these as this vitola, in my opinion, is amongst the finest Cohiba products currently available at the present time.

Trinidad Topes MUP Oct 2019

This is now my fourth 2019 regular production Topes within six months. My first one was superlative, my second one was mind-numbing average, my third one was a 'return-to-form', so-to-speak (i.e very, very good to excellent) and this fourth one was simply outstanding!

The first one was spice, coffee and butter which took on elements of butter pastry, some savoury salt and slight gingerbread-type sweetness as it went along. It felt like I was smoking a rich butter croissant, it was all-quality and all-class. The second one was more wood, dark coffee, salt and thankfully a delicious and viscous buttered texture which redeemed the cigar for me. The third one had elements of both the first and second cigar, but more of the first, which made it above-average in quality in my thinking.

This fourth Topes had milk coffee, dough and a buttered texture from the beginning. As it smoked down it had elements of salt and buttered pastry, like a mix of a croissant crossed with brioche bread, at other times the cigar had stronger notes of wood and strong coffee, much like my previous Topes a few months ago. The flavours resonated on the palate for hours afterward, this was a cigar that was rich and required attention to smoke slower.

I did not use my Credo 3-in-1 Punch cutter this time but I did alter my cigar-smoking technique for 'sipping' this large-ring gauge cigar from the back, meaning that it smoked slower and felt richer to smoke. After smoking the Topes this week and the Media Luna last week, I still feel that these new 2019 Trinidad releases are reputable in keeping with the premium brand status of Trinidad. I've found the Topes, Media Luna and Esmeralda quite satisfying to smoke thus far in 2020.

[99call]

23 minutes ago, JohnS said:

in my thinking.

On the back of your recent honey-a-thon traversing back to front, all of the golden greats of Cohiba..John,  I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the recent focus/quality of Trinidad&QDO and how it equates to current Cohiba in quality.   

 It's a question that always interests me. I think back to a time with the old band Fundadores,  where it would have been possible to do a like for like sampling of a Fundy, Lancero and Davidoff no 1,  and speculate as to which was the premo brand.      Of course life isn't that simple, someone cant demand "Bowie, or the Muddy Waters......which is better?" it's an futile question really. 

So I wont ask which is better, but with QDO and Trinidad rising like a phoenix, is the Cohiba crown at least slipping? is it getting hard to sell the brand as the undisputed market leader?

[mtd057]

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon were both beautiful days in Denver - I love this time of year.  Montecristo #1 from a 2008 jar and Punch Coronation TOS ABR 2016.

[RichUK]

Hoyo San Juan this evening




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[JohnS]

31 minutes ago, 99call said:

On the back of your recent honey-a-thon traversing back to front, all of the golden greats of Cohiba..John,  I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the recent focus/quality of Trinidad&QDO and how it equates to current Cohiba in quality.   

 It's a question that always interests me. I think back to a time with the old band Fundadores,  where it would have been possible to do a like for like sampling of a Fundy, Lancero and Davidoff no 1,  and speculate as to which was the premo brand.      Of course life isn't that simple, someone cant demand "Bowie, or the Muddy Waters......which is better?" it's an futile question really. 

So I wont ask which is better, but with QDO and Trinidad rising like a phoenix, is the Cohiba crown at least slipping? is it getting hard to sell the brand as the undisputed market leader?

In regards to construction and consistency, the very best at the moment, in my view and from my recent experience would have to be Trinidad. The reason for the resurgence is due to the 50th anniversary of the founding of the marca in 2019, although this is from Habanos S.A's point-of-view. The descendants of the Trinidad family would argue that the brand was founded in 1905 (and this dispute is on-going), whilst our dearest friend @ATGroom would point out scant references to any diplomatic gifts being Trinidad prior to the 1990s. So is the Habanos version of Trinidad really 50 years old? I know dear pal @99call that you are aware of the saying attributed to Lord Alfred Tennyson, "Ours is not to reason or question why!" It's a phrase that can be condescending but sometimes, as Habanos enthusiasts, you've just got to accept "Cuba being Cuba", put reason aside and accept the fact that Trinidad was a marca in the doldrums in the early to mid-2010s and now it's back to its premium status.

The resurgence of Quai d'Orsay around very late-2017/early 2018 with the introduction of the Quai d'Orsay No. 50 and 54 and the updated band for the Quai d'Orsay Coronas Claro is harder to pinpoint the reasons for. This was a brand which for me was close to 'dead in the water'; after all, the Imperiales was discontinued in 2015, the sadly last Ninfa-sized Panatelas went a few years prior in 2010.  From 2011 until 2018 there were five special release Regional Editions in the Quai d'Orsay marca. To attain the best logical guess for the resurgence of Quai d'Orsay one needs to delve into Habanos history as, like the Trinidad example above, this can give us an insight into the context of why Habanos S.A does the things they do, at times. The Quai D'Orsay marca was founded in 1973 for the French market. Now, France is one of the biggest Habanos markets in the world and if we look into Quai d'Orsay releases since the QdO Nos. 50 and 54 came out we'll see three Regional Editions in French-speaking markets (including a prestigious Numero 109 slated for release in 2020 in Switzerland) and the first Limited Edition ever for Quai d'Orsay with the Senadores. If anyone had forecast that such things were possible with the Quai d'Orsay marca in 2015 when the Imperiales was discontinued you'd have to say that they would have been crazy! Such is the joy of following this distinguished hobby!

On a personal note, I would opine that the first run of QdO Nos 50 and 54 were of better quality than the recent 2019 run. However, Quai d'Orsay is still a very good Habanos product currently, it's just that I feel the initial 2018 offerings were better.

The question of Cohiba is complex and as I need to go to work as I type this, I may need to come back to it. If I use a sporting analogy, the reason why NFL is arguably one of the world-leading sporting products is because the people that run that game actively make sure to stick to a 16 game season. By doing this, the NFL ensures that their brand is more valuable as they avoid diluting and over-marketing their product. With the release of the Talisman Limited Edition in 2017, I would argue that this was a quality Cohiba release but Habanos S.A re-releasing in 2019 was a foolish step, it's akin to the NFL playing their game in the middle of the Baseball season in late-Fall/early Summer. They've (H.S.A) diluted the exclusivity of their premium brand and I wonder if the quality of recent Cohiba is equal to Cohiba regular production prior to the Talisman release in 2017. I would argue no but we need to keep in mind that Cohiba did have a shortage of crop in relation to wrapper recently so perhaps these things were taken out of the hands of Habanos S.A literally!

Having said this, I still think that Cohiba is a premium brand but recent Cohiba is not as good as Cohiba from the mid-2010s, for example. This Daily smoking thread is a good guide to following trends and if you go over the pages in this thread in the past few months one could see for themselves the veracity in what I'm saying. There's a lot more image uploads and references to Trinidad than there is for Cohiba currently.

[Bijan]

13 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Having said this, I still think that Cohiba is a premium brand but recent Cohiba is not as good as Cohiba from the mid-2010s, for example. This Daily smoking thread is a good guide to following trends and if you go over the pages in this thread in the past few months one could see for themselves the veracity in what I'm saying. There's a lot more image uploads and references to Trinidad than there is for Cohiba currently.

This is definitely amplified further in the latest CC purchases thread. So many boxes of Esmereldas and Media Lunas recently.  

[99call]

30 minutes ago, JohnS said:

With the release of the Talisman Limited Edition in 2017, I would argue that this was a quality Cohiba release but Habanos S.A re-releasing in 2019 was a foolish step

I couldn't agree more John.  To cheat on the notion of exclusivity is (in this game) a big no no.  In the art world at least if you bought a limited edition of 1-150 you would have some degree of assurance.  It doesn't really matter if the estate of the artists then allows 151 to 5000 to go to the presses. your investment might even go up.      With cigars however, it's all about word of mouth and what's smoking well,  the original run of Talismans might of all been stinkers, where second release of 4949 might have all been golden.   With a consumable the idea of a limited edition is always fraught with tension

Irrespective of investment which is always counter to enjoyment, and not the purpose fo cigars.  I think your statement that Cohiba may not be as good as 2010 stock is an accurate reflection of current standing. 

Ultimately competition for the crown is always a winner for us the consumer. I look forward to the day when QDO, Trinidad and Cohiba all have a standard catalogue Lonsdale, that Rob and Ken can put to the sword, and decide who's king

 

 

 

[djrey]

Smoking a Serie V Melanio Robusto. Anyone else find these are similar to a Bolivar royal Corona? 

[mprach024]

The best lighter to light your Lusitania on the golf course on a very windy fall day in Michigan.  Never made creme brûlée myself but if I ever do I’m ready.