Daily Cigar

I actually had a cigar explode today. Seriously.

Ok, it didn’t actually crack like a gunshot but it did burst.

It started when I decided that the local block party might require some cigars. I didn’t have enough of anything on hand (other than the Fonsecas, which I’m keeping) to both smoke and hand out to a half-doze guys who might be asking. So I bought seven double corona Punch at the local shop, along with a Traveldor.

Now, here’s the thing about Traveldors – they use that green florist foam along with water and poly glycol to maintain a proper 70% relative humidity. I know this, but I didn’t have any poly glycol so I just used water. I suspect this had the humidity much higher. But, for a few hours at a part what’s the diff?

Nothing, but I didn’t smoke any at the party. Instead I smoked one today and while I was smoking it I heard this strange popping sound – it turns out the wrapper was cracking and the cigar was exploding out the wrapper.

It makes sense – over-moist cigar meets very hot air, which causes the water to vaporize and the cigar can’t breath fast enough to release it. But it kinda sucks to see a $5 cigar tearing itself apart.

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I met a local guy on one of the cigar forums, and today we met up at a local cigar shop. It was a very new place, and as a gift the local gave me a number of cigars (yay!):

• A Domingo – the local house brand.
• A Sancho Panza
• A Torano
• A Perdomo
• A San Cristobal (a @#$^$% Cuban!)
• A Comacho SLR
• A Bolivar

The Domingo was pretty good. About like the Consuegra (Ok, I smoke them a lot because they were cheap ;-) but perhaps not quite as smooth. Hard to say. I think it would be a great $2 cigar if it didn’t cost $4, but there’s no telling what some age might do. I have no idea – I haven’t done this long enough, but a very recurring piece of advice is to let cigars age if they’re rough.

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I decided to check out a local cigar store, and while I was there ended up getting several things:

• 2 Punch in ~Robusto size
• 2 Padron in same size
• A lighter
• A cutter

The lighter is one of those torch jobbies – it was $25 – and it works pretty well. The cutter is a $3 special, which I’ve since learned I probably would have gotten for free by buying a whole box of cigars. I’m not sure the cutter is better than the pocketknive I was using, but it’s more “correct” ;-)

I haven’t yet tried the Padron, but the Punch cigar was really quite tasty. It was about as strong as the Consuegra, but much smoother and more refined. I’d use the word “creamy”, but I’m not sure that’s right. It had a bit of spice that grew as I smoked it. The burn was uneven, but that could be the poor storage it’s suffered for a few days. The draw was very good. So far, I think it’s my favorite.

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I tried an Astral Favorito. Not unsmokable, but very rough. Not very pleasant. I’ll see if some age smooths it out.

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Ok, maybe not everyone will think so. Maybe they just need a bit of aging – aging cigars apparently makes them better, like wines – but right now it was like smoking a burning tire. Yep, plenty of smoke, but it was extremely dense and strong, with a rather unpleasant flavor.

My friend Matt had two suggestions: Keep them in the humidor for 6 months and see if they improve, and give them to moochers who are always asking for cigars. I have yet to accumulate any moochers, so we’ll see them again in 6 months!

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