Da Daily Drumbeat
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A number of brothers at both sites have asked me to evaluate the home rolled cigars I received during the Drumroll Please contest. Contestants, put on your thick skins, cause I intend to be as frank as always.
The winner Buck sent three cigars. One was his entry. One was something he can get in Canada, but which we cannot get here in the USA because if we just keep it up long enough those commies will leave the island so that the Mafia can have back their casinos. One was an uncapped robusto which he asked me to try. I begin with this latter cigar:
Buck tells me the wrapper and binder are Aleman, the filler 2 parts Dom Seco, 2 parts Criollo 98, with one part Nic Habano Viso. Construction I would rate as fairly good. Equally firm end to end. Rolls true across a flat surface. Just a mite skinnier in the middle than on the ends; but not much. The fact it had no cap was inconvenient, because it required close inspection to figure which end to light. Also the wrapper appeared to be glued along its whole length. Most remarkable was the way the filler leaves were rolled up before binding. Look at this pic:
Despite that rolled up filler, which looks like you'd create a soda straw effect, I'd describe the draw on this as medium.
The stick had a fine chocolate and barn aroma. The wrapper tasted dark chocolate. But as soon as I lit the thing, my impression went way downhill. It lit damn sour. Volume was real small. Burnt well, tho. So I kept at it for twenty minutes, hoping the sour would go away as I crawled up the stick. It did not. I would describe this as fermented horehound with notes of tennis shoe.
After 1 1/4" of fine burn, the cherry suddenly tunnelled and went out. No way was I about to relight this. As a matter of fact, even after rye whisky, my mouth tasted so bad I gave up smoking for the day. That night, Bearswatter got up and slept in her recliner because she said my mouth was stinking up the bedroom.
Next day, I pulled out Buck's contest entry. Figured I'd give that a go:
This cigar was very nice and firm throughout. Had an earthy odor to it. Except at the cap, where a white mold, a soggy feel, and a sour aroma greeted me. Sogginess was most apparent under my knife when I uncapped it. The draw was easy. There was an attractive earthy flavor to the wrapper, and a similar flavor to the draw. One match toasted the foot into life. There was real good volume. But the burn alternated between excellent and dying. Meanwhile, the flavor alternated between an excellent mellow habano and that same sour stinkage. You have seen a wavy burn? This cigar had a tsunami burn. Look at this pic:
See how it refuses to burn anywhere near a vein?
Here's where I figured it out: Buck's cigars were too wet. I think he probably wet the binder and wrapper trying to get it flexible enough to shape round that oddball drumstick shape. I left them in his plastic bag inside a package sealed up with layers of plastic and tape. The head molded. the other got too damp, the tobacco started fermenting, and so it's all my fault why they tasted sour and burnt poorly. Sorry Buck; I ruined your samples.
My project today is to get each entry out of its plastic so it can air dry properly before I test anything else. These will have to age before I can get a true test.
Except for Mad O'Shea's cigars. His artistic presentation nesting his cigars in foam inside a fancy box will have allowed them to dry out. He's got a whole batch of different smokes in there for me to try, starting later today. I will wait until after handball, though, cause I'll be panting hard enough without smoking first.
By the way, I smoked Buck's third cigar, the one from the island which we discreetly shall not mention, last night watching UFC and drinking beer. This one did not seem to have been waterboarded like the other two in the package. I have not smoked many examples of this forbidden fruit; but this example was well and away the best one I have tried. Loved it. Mellow and dark, smooth and flavorful. Right on! Viva Batista!
The winner Buck sent three cigars. One was his entry. One was something he can get in Canada, but which we cannot get here in the USA because if we just keep it up long enough those commies will leave the island so that the Mafia can have back their casinos. One was an uncapped robusto which he asked me to try. I begin with this latter cigar:
Buck tells me the wrapper and binder are Aleman, the filler 2 parts Dom Seco, 2 parts Criollo 98, with one part Nic Habano Viso. Construction I would rate as fairly good. Equally firm end to end. Rolls true across a flat surface. Just a mite skinnier in the middle than on the ends; but not much. The fact it had no cap was inconvenient, because it required close inspection to figure which end to light. Also the wrapper appeared to be glued along its whole length. Most remarkable was the way the filler leaves were rolled up before binding. Look at this pic:
Despite that rolled up filler, which looks like you'd create a soda straw effect, I'd describe the draw on this as medium.
The stick had a fine chocolate and barn aroma. The wrapper tasted dark chocolate. But as soon as I lit the thing, my impression went way downhill. It lit damn sour. Volume was real small. Burnt well, tho. So I kept at it for twenty minutes, hoping the sour would go away as I crawled up the stick. It did not. I would describe this as fermented horehound with notes of tennis shoe.
After 1 1/4" of fine burn, the cherry suddenly tunnelled and went out. No way was I about to relight this. As a matter of fact, even after rye whisky, my mouth tasted so bad I gave up smoking for the day. That night, Bearswatter got up and slept in her recliner because she said my mouth was stinking up the bedroom.
Next day, I pulled out Buck's contest entry. Figured I'd give that a go:
This cigar was very nice and firm throughout. Had an earthy odor to it. Except at the cap, where a white mold, a soggy feel, and a sour aroma greeted me. Sogginess was most apparent under my knife when I uncapped it. The draw was easy. There was an attractive earthy flavor to the wrapper, and a similar flavor to the draw. One match toasted the foot into life. There was real good volume. But the burn alternated between excellent and dying. Meanwhile, the flavor alternated between an excellent mellow habano and that same sour stinkage. You have seen a wavy burn? This cigar had a tsunami burn. Look at this pic:
See how it refuses to burn anywhere near a vein?
Here's where I figured it out: Buck's cigars were too wet. I think he probably wet the binder and wrapper trying to get it flexible enough to shape round that oddball drumstick shape. I left them in his plastic bag inside a package sealed up with layers of plastic and tape. The head molded. the other got too damp, the tobacco started fermenting, and so it's all my fault why they tasted sour and burnt poorly. Sorry Buck; I ruined your samples.
My project today is to get each entry out of its plastic so it can air dry properly before I test anything else. These will have to age before I can get a true test.
Except for Mad O'Shea's cigars. His artistic presentation nesting his cigars in foam inside a fancy box will have allowed them to dry out. He's got a whole batch of different smokes in there for me to try, starting later today. I will wait until after handball, though, cause I'll be panting hard enough without smoking first.
By the way, I smoked Buck's third cigar, the one from the island which we discreetly shall not mention, last night watching UFC and drinking beer. This one did not seem to have been waterboarded like the other two in the package. I have not smoked many examples of this forbidden fruit; but this example was well and away the best one I have tried. Loved it. Mellow and dark, smooth and flavorful. Right on! Viva Batista!
“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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I know I promised to smoke Mad O'Shea's cigars next. But I have this curiosity eating at me about the two little Fat Dutchmen, so I had to bust into hit Ben Brand's package next.
Ben tells us his wrapper was Pen Red, his binder a Connecticut broadleaf, filler a blend of Little Dutch ligero, hue huetenango viso, flor sumatra seco, and Pennsylvania broadleaf volado. This is one whole heck of a lot of flavors to stuff into a wee stick scarcely 3 1/2" long. But after smoking this little gem, I can tell you this much without any doubt: It works.
You stick this under your nose, you can't help but think of pipe tobacco. The skin of it is knobbly. It has a tangy sweet berry taste -- I think of acerola berries, if I can remember them right. It feels hard and tight. Most all the drumstick knob of it is on one side. The cap is flat.
When I cut the cap off, the tobacco felt rubbery. Unlit draw was like one of those cherry pipe tobaccos. A tight draw.
Lights pretty easy. Away we go. Scant smoke, aromatic, delicious fruity flavor. The smokle was hot hot. Even the stick was hot to hold. I would love to try at least a robusto with this blend, where the draw could be fuller, and the smoke would have a chance to cool. Even the ash of this smells good. A solid steady slow slow burn. This tiny stick lasted me a good hour and a half. Probably the cleanest finish I have ever had in a cigar. Trying to sniff the stinkfinger of it now, but all I get is the ghost of Cutter's I spread to keep skeeters off.
If you like the smell of pipe tobacco, you would love Ben Brand's cigar blend. I did. Great smoke.
Scarfing some ham and smashed beans now. I'll get into a Fat Dutchman later. MMA on the toob all night.
ArizonaDave over at FTT likes them so much he goes to all of the trouble of making them. He sent a fistful of cigars with his contest entry, and I can't tell how many were flavored, cause the flavoring smells up the whole bag of them. Like this one I tried yesterday:
The label on it advertises 2005 Aleman and Piloto Cubano. But I know there's got to be other stuff in there too. Not only because of the aroma, but also because when you look at the foot, you see a variety of fillers, going by the colors:
This cigar was gently and evenly tapered from the foot to the head. There was no cap. The veins were coarse and lengthwise. It felt equally firm throughout. There was a fruity odor to the foot. I guessed vanilla and molasses and some elusive type of berry. AZDave later tells me it was vanilla and Malibu coconut rum. It had a medium tight draw unlit. There was not much flavor to the unlit draw, except for that same fruity odor. Pretty hard to light. Scanty smoke. But a real good burn. There was a mild wood tobacco flavor; but the rest was this molasses and vanilla thing. Combined, it reminded me of a granola bar. I even reached into my camping supplies and pulled out a granola bar to compare, and ate that. Similar. Oatmeal, honey, and some kinda berry. The flavor was actually better if I went real slow, letting it rest a lot between hits. But if I tried to get any volume, I'd produce that hot sour taste that makes me dislike infused cigars. I especially didn't like the second half. Seems like I ran into stronger infusion there. Flat cherry. Ash hung real tight. Nice stinkfinger afterwards. Pleasant morning mouth today. No wheeze.
Hope he don't take it personal.. I'm sure it's my fault. I don't even like it when they bring my beer with a lemon slice in the neck of it. Hate that. Gets me pissy with the waiter. Can't stand those Belgian ales with fruity flavors. Barley, Yeast, Water, Hops -- that's all I need. Would no more drink Malibu than kerosene. Gimme that Anejo straight up. If they ever brought back the Man Laws panel and applied it to cigars, I'd vote for "Don't fruit the baccy" for Man Law #1.
If it ain't worth smokin, vanilla won't rescue it, my theory.
Must be missing something.
I'm gonna try another one of his stix, one not juiced up. I am sure it will be tasty.
Rough enough for ya? You should see it up close:
But here is the thing: None of that makes it un-smokable.
Roland used the entubado method.
He rolled it loose, loose, and loose. I make mine way too tight tight tight now; and I'm working on trying to get a draw. No such prob here. I had to cut the back end off so it would light, it was so loose. No need to tell you this cigar had a free draw. It also lit up easy enough, of course. And the smoke was plentiful and tasty. It had better be tasty, cause Roland made it out of good Whole Leaf Tobacco, where the FTT guys mostly roll out of leaves they grew themselves. I don't know what the wrapper was he used; cause I ran short on the wrapper and had to send people some Aleman and Oscuro and such. I would guess this was Aleman. A little bit of mood, but not much flavor. The dom seco is not my favorite filler; but that's just a matter of taste, and I'm more of a Nicaraguan guy. A woody taste to this. It was hard to keep it lit, being it was too loose to get a good cherry going. I had to keep puffing all the way through. But it re-lit just fine; never made that hard crispy foul critter that cigars do when they go out mid-stream. I smoked it right down to the hot place. Never a harsh spot. Fine job.
Roland signed up over at FTT now, and he has a beginner sampler pack to roll from, and some tools, and is studying some videos and such. I fully expect that by the time he rolls his way through the sampler pack he will have real respectable results. It doesn't take that long to learn.
I am way way behind on the daily drumbeat. Sorry. Other projects, other cigars, what can I say. I have notes for three more reviews I have to find time to format the pics for and write up. Patience. I never shoulda said "daily".
This Grim had a hard hard skin. Hard. A shell. You wouldn't think it was leaf. You'd think it was armor. A knobby appearance. Veins spiraling round about. No cap. Despite how hard it felt, the draw was super easy. That's something I need to figure out, is how to get my cigars tight and still have an easy draw. I couldn't make out the odor, unfortunately, cause fresh cut grass in the back yard had me all sneezy at the moment. Lit up easily enough. Tasted like the good old fashioned honest flavor cigarettes used to taste, back when they were made of real tobacco. Chesterfields. Something like that. I could not get enough of this cigar. No, literally; I could not get enough. In fact, I could not keep Grim 1 lit for two puffs in a row.
Let me say here, I regret now that I promised to review the cigars I received as part of the drumstick contest. My FTT brothers appear to be taking my negatory remarks personally. But in all honesty what am I supposed to do when I snag on something like this:
See that deep crater? That's where the filler burnt into the center. See that charred outer shell? That's where I took this propane torch lighter that someone sent me, and I attempted to torch the skin of this Grim into flame. No dice. Flat out could not get that shell to burn. So despite the enticing flavor, I was out of luck. Couldn't get enough.
This picture looked clearer on my phone than it does here. I'll see if I can hunt that charred Grim up and take a better snap of it.
Second Grim soon followed. I'll write up that review next. I think if I were to go back and count, I prolly used the word "smooth" about fifteen times in the notes I took when I was burning Grim 2. Cause it was some smooooooth smokin.
You c.com brethren take note: So far, discounting appearances, the tastiest and best burning cigar subjected to review has been Roland's humble lookin first ever roll. You just cannot go by appearances, is what.
I wish that I could tell you what blend of tobaccos Indianamac used in his Cofiero. Unfortunately, I am forbidden. Indianamac posted: "Cofiero = corojo/mata fina/ nic. ligero/ dom. binder/ criollo 98 wapper. Shhhh! don't tell everybody my secret blend...." So I must respect his wishes, I can't tell you what's in it. It's secret.
This massive cigar measured a solid 60 ring at the head, and it had to be at least 80 ring at the fat part. Let's put it this way: The fat part got pressed flat on either side because it fit so tight in the mailer. The cap was as flat as an excuse, and perfectly perpendicular to the rest. The wrapper was folded over the foot, so that end had to be trimmed as well. The wrapper lay perfectly smooth. The cigar was looser in the foot and head than it was in the middle. It had a neutral odor -- dry, maybe woody. A very easy draw. A nice leathery taste unlit, with a sweet overtone.
This stick was so fat I had to use dos matcheros dobles to get it going. Of course, with a stick this big around, I got some tremendous volume. Right off the light, I got a woody sweet flavor, with a bit of a horehound tang. But as soon as it settled in, there was a smooth smooth cedar and nutmeg, with a hint of chocolate. I cannot remember smoking a corojo filler before. Wonderful construction. A steady slow burn. The aroma was especially beautiful -- chocolate, sweet, smooth smooth cedar and nutmeg, with a bit of earth -- soft and friendly. Even BearSwatter thought it attractive enough not to gripe. In the retrohale, soft chocolate and nutmeg. The finish was full of rich flavor as well.
I stopped taking notes here, pulled the lawn chair in front of the garage toob, watched cage fighting, sipped some rye whiskey, and thoroughly enjoyed this cigar for an hour and a half.
Just look at this beautiful ash about forty five minutes in:
Right now, I am still enjoying a super delicious stinkfinger and a lasting aftertaste.
I could wish it wasn't so fat, but other than that, I would smoke this cigar any day.
XLNT
Turquoise is a fair sized cigar:
In the picture, you can see an Arizona **** toad peeking over Arizona Dave's cigar. **** toads are familiars of Turquoise.
Well made, firm packed, draws well, burns perfect, lasts long. The flavor reminds me of a Tuscorora, but mellower. Oak, hops, and the woodsy toasty flavor of natural broadleaf tobacco. Good volume. Wish I could say more; but I was caught up in my project, so I didn't pay close attention. A pleasant enough yard gar. And an excellent garage gar, in that I could set it down, run two errands, do some work, come back, and it would still be burning right, just waiting for the next hit. Never had to tune it up.
I will say this now here at c.com: When I first started rolling cigars, sage Kuzi gave me a sage bit of advice: Do not over-rate your own sticks just because you rolled them. That's always the tendency, isn't it? We always want to over-rate anything which we made, or, for that matter, anything which we paid too much for. (Which pair of principles explains, I think, a lot of the high praise lavished on expensive boutique blends.)
Well, the square of that advice appears to apply to tobacco leaf which a green thumb grew himself and then rolled. I am lucky in that I have a black thumb, so I was unable to grow leaf. Otherwise I might be trapped behind rose colored glasses. So far, nothing containing leaf which the gardeners at FTT grew is anywhere in the same ballpark as leaf which was grown, picked, sorted, fermented, and then sweated for twelve years in a tropical warehouse, all by guayabera wearing experts who have been in the business for generations. So take these amateur rolled drumstick entries -- even the ones rolled by c.com brothers taking a stab at their first ever roll, but constructed from leaf bought from Whole Leaf Tobacco, are in flavor, if not in construction, worlds ahead of tobacco raised by gardeners. And when the FTT rollers roll WLT tobacco, those flavors are easily equal to premium cigars. Surely not the construction. Certainly they don't have the band, the cello, the hype, the cedar box, the whole presentation. But the flavor is there.
Waiting til I get thru the whole stack of FTT offerings before I present that observation to the green thumbs.
Got to thinking about Morgan Geo's entries today. Was going to burn one. You will remember MG sent his entries wet wet wet. I thought I'd dried them out some. Left them out on the desk for a couple weeks. Apparently not long enough. Pulled the lid off the mini coolidor. Smelled unfunny. Opened MG's baggiedor. Diaper pail!
Time for Plan C. Stuck MG's sticks in a Fratello box. It's one of those boxes with a sliding lid and a pisspoor seal. Set it out in the garage. Some heat and time, I'm thinking, in a leaky environment. Anyone have a better idea how to un-diaper pail a cigar?
Got the lid off the rest of them in the home office. Criminy. My eyes are burning in here. Scuse me while I run this out to the porch.
I'll give the whole batch several more weeks.
Then three nights ago, I opened Kuzi's box and yanked out a fine stick labeled "blend # 2" from DIT Pete. Holy Hannah! Won't review it here cause it wasn't a drumstick contest entry; but one very fine cigar. Pete printed up cigar bands saying Southbound Cigars, with a picture of a happy little pup walking away from a steaming pile. But don't let that fool you. Far from being the north end of a southbound pup, these are samurai sticks.
That motivated me to grab Walt Basil's drumstick entry the next night. Shazam! Let me tell you bout this fine creation:
Two months' of age vastly improved WaltBasil's drumstick entry. What had started as a soppy soft wad before, had by now tightened up into a firm bodied cigar. Any diaper smell absorbed from Puff Dougie's wetty wet ones went away; and now you had an attractive woody aroma, from a very enjoyable smoke.
The wrapper was big-veined. Walt apparently cut a wide strip cut from the inner part of the leaf, rather than trimming a narrow band from the delicate outer edge. It's darn hard when you first start rolling to realize you may throw two thirds or three quarters of the wrapper leaf away. At least he laid veins inwards. But he made the veins spiral round the cigar, rather than laying them along the length of the cigar. These faults will make a cigar look coarse, but they also make it burn improperly. So the subsequent burn did hit some hitches at each fat vein. The middle of the cigar was packed tighter than either end. Especially the un-trimmed foot, all shaggy and near empty. There was no cap; just a twisted bit of leaf which I cut off. The wrapper tasted salty. Unlit draw was woody and mild.
Lighting this thick beast was a challenge. The fact the foot was soft prevented it from making an ember. Had to suck hard to light it. But as soon as it got going, there was a fine big volume of fine tasting smoke. I don't remember exactly what tobaccos I sent to each contestant; but this filler I am sure must have consisted in good part of Dominican Seco. Had that typical Dom Seco flavor of graham cracker, oak, and cream. I did not distinguish any ligero sting. Just smooth and mild. Could probably have stood to have some volado, cause up until I pulled the fire up to the tighter middle portion, I still had to puff rather frequently. But the flavor was excellent. Rather like a poor man's Don Benigno. A very creditable smoke.
So kudos to Walt Basil for a very smokeable roll.
... and he's got that highly prized two toned barber pole thing going on
Now that these drumsticks are finally ready to rock and roll, I gotta put some fire to them.
Graham cracker....I have been trying to put a name on that flavor in some of my Black Pearls for months....it was just on the edge of my tongue....thank you.
Reminds me... I gotta get up with Buck, the FTT roller in Canada who won the drumstick contest. Sent him 4 each of five kinds of Black Pearls. Got a great c.com deal on large double perfectos. Find out how he liked them. I've had a few good BPs. If the deal comes up again, I may score again. Never know when a new contest may need ammo.
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Not Indianamac. He goes all Hawaiian shirt on you. Ransacks the paint store, rips the pigment machine right off the counter, runs home and splashes the walls. Here's the result:
Indy did a hell of a job rolling this drumstick. Had he tapered the head more and rounded it he might have stood a real good chance of winning the drumstick competition. However, taking his stick as it is, it's a fine shape. The flat cap is black, whereas the rest is about as dark a brown as you could hope for. There was a barn odor in the foot. The wrapper had a peanut butter taste. Thing was hard as a bobby's nightstick end to end. Made me wonder if it would draw. So I cut the cap off. Looks like a drumhead. The draw was firm, but not cheek sucking firm. I tasted barn and spice.
It lit with one match well enough. Medium smoke volume. The smoke would cling round my face. I was busy binding three Uppowoc Perfectos at the time, so I set Indy's stick down to burn in while I worked. What a very nice burn. Slow as forgiveness, straight as a die, moody aromatic. Every now and then I would hit the thing, exclaim "Dayum!", set it in Dan Reyes' stogie stand, wave the cloud away from my face, and set back to work. Time it took me to bind three UPs, I don't think that stick burnt a quarter inch. Slow burn.
By that time I just had to sit down there in the garage with Indy's cigar in my hand and watch some football. You can buy these tobaccos at WholeLeafTobacco. Piloto Cubano comes from the DR, grown "cuban style" the name claims, a bit of sting, lots of earth, nuts, and a deep moodiness. Mata Fina comes from Brazil, is chocolate, sweet, aromatic, woody, smooth, and again deep. The two combined will put you in the lawn chair in front of the garage TV with your eyelids at half mast. One half later, game over, I found some MMA. That ended, four bouts later I watched the post fight jabbering heads. Time Bearswatter returned from her daughter's house, I was more than two hours into this cigar, and I still had a third left!
Now, that's a slow smoke.
Stuck the end of that stick in the nub jar with regret. Had to step inside and sit on the couch to do my connubial duty, by pretending to listen to the gal who has the inestimable privilege of laundering my skid marks tell me all the dire gossip of her and daughter's day. But all I could think was:
Dayum!
Aj