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hey hey John Hay okay
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My quest to discover an acceptable American sotweed cylinder took me to a tourist trap in Intercourse Pennsylvania, where I smoked the John Hay Statesman Natural at their factory store. I rated this awful stick in a previous thread, titled "John Hay gack and a half". The John Hay theory of a walk in humidor is to close the windows in a non-air-conditioned room on a hot studgy day. I don't mind a sweaty girl, so long as she got that way for the right reason; but I pitied the counter clerk in this stuffy place. The gackworthy sticks we attempted to burn outside this store required a blow torch to light and a Hoover to draw. Therefore, post-gack I scored another John Hay offering for six bucks (they run four bucks by the box), namely their Ambassador series, which I brought home, to burn under more normal conditions. I stowed this one away in the humidor for a week to give it a chance to dry out. Pulled it out yesterday.
This Ambassador series uses Nicaraguan filler and a maduro wrapper (which I think is CT broadleaf). Very pretty. Slightly glossy. Gave out a sungrown aroma. Reasonably leathery taste. Firm throughout. Uncapped easily. Uncapping unleashed ample flavor of seco filler. Just the seco and leather were enjoyable without smoke.
She lit up easily by toasting the foot with one match. Got a real rush of wood flavor. There was plenty of volume. She burnt slow and required frequent puffing, but that didn't make her hot or bitter. The flavor was smooth, dry, and tasty. Bearswatter and I like to keep the hearth toasty in the TV room during Winter. Last couple winters, Paula Bunyan, as I call our woodmonger woman, has delivered cords half locust wood. This cigar reminds me of locust firewood on the hearth. That and leather. Burnt right along, smooth, tasty, woody. A real good time. Suddenly, half an hour in, it canoed and died. Probably needed another week or two in the box. The foot burnt right along; but the middle had not yet shaken off the sweaty room syndrome.
I gotta say, this stick really made me want to poop. So, since it went out, I did. On the way back, I noticed Bearswatter was on the same errand in her powder room. So this stick is a second hand pooper.
Trimmed the canoe and started up again. An hour in, the flavor got a note of ash and she died again. This time, I let it go. It is a quality cigar, if you like that woody Nic filler flavor. No bite at all. You would want to season it longer than a week, that's obvious.
I gave it two and a half stars, because that's not my flavorite profile. I wouldn't buy it again; but others would enjoy the heck out of it.
I got no stinkfinger out of it. This morning, I had no wheeze. Morning mouth was weak. But oddly enough, here this afternoon, morning mouth grew strong. Right now I can taste that cigar all over again. Not only that, but it just made me poop again. So it's not only a second hand pooper, it's also a second day pooper.
This Ambassador series uses Nicaraguan filler and a maduro wrapper (which I think is CT broadleaf). Very pretty. Slightly glossy. Gave out a sungrown aroma. Reasonably leathery taste. Firm throughout. Uncapped easily. Uncapping unleashed ample flavor of seco filler. Just the seco and leather were enjoyable without smoke.
She lit up easily by toasting the foot with one match. Got a real rush of wood flavor. There was plenty of volume. She burnt slow and required frequent puffing, but that didn't make her hot or bitter. The flavor was smooth, dry, and tasty. Bearswatter and I like to keep the hearth toasty in the TV room during Winter. Last couple winters, Paula Bunyan, as I call our woodmonger woman, has delivered cords half locust wood. This cigar reminds me of locust firewood on the hearth. That and leather. Burnt right along, smooth, tasty, woody. A real good time. Suddenly, half an hour in, it canoed and died. Probably needed another week or two in the box. The foot burnt right along; but the middle had not yet shaken off the sweaty room syndrome.
I gotta say, this stick really made me want to poop. So, since it went out, I did. On the way back, I noticed Bearswatter was on the same errand in her powder room. So this stick is a second hand pooper.
Trimmed the canoe and started up again. An hour in, the flavor got a note of ash and she died again. This time, I let it go. It is a quality cigar, if you like that woody Nic filler flavor. No bite at all. You would want to season it longer than a week, that's obvious.
I gave it two and a half stars, because that's not my flavorite profile. I wouldn't buy it again; but others would enjoy the heck out of it.
I got no stinkfinger out of it. This morning, I had no wheeze. Morning mouth was weak. But oddly enough, here this afternoon, morning mouth grew strong. Right now I can taste that cigar all over again. Not only that, but it just made me poop again. So it's not only a second hand pooper, it's also a second day pooper.
“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
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