Cool article and attached video on how a cigar get's box-pressed. Not what I had expected.

Thought I'd share...

http://www.cigaraficionado.com...f-box-pressing-18723

CLE Cuarenta corona gordo tonight. This one has a few months of age in my humidor and is very good. A smooth pepper currently. Pre-light had a sweet raisin flavor. I'm only about a quarter into it with a little while to go yet.

After work today I grabbed the tractor and mower from the other house. Took the snow blower off and put the deck on, ate supper and mowed the yard for the first time. It was a quick mow as I still have branches laying, but the grass was getting tall. I am now enjoying this Fuente Don Carlos. I still have trimming to do, but I ran out of light. Tomorrow is another day!

Hey fellas,

What a week - going to sit in the garage and watch at least the first period of the Wild/Stars game.

Trying to decide what to smoke - nothing sounds good right now.

Flipping a coin -

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Winner is a Rocky Patel 50th Anniversary

What did you end up smoking?

quote:

Originally posted by petr:
What did you end up smoking?

I was going with a Rocky Patel 50th Anniversary. At the last minute I went with a Cuban Ramon Allones. A really good and flavorful stick, but these have such a tight draw it is sometimes like smoking a Lancereo. (because I am constantly tending to it)

It's been a while since I've had one of these, so I made a note to see if I run into the same issue next time.

Question.....how many here toast the foot before lighting your cigar? Or do you just put the torch to the foot and light up?

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Question.....how many here toast the foot before lighting your cigar? Or do you just put the torch to the foot and light up?

I always toast the foot first. I've got it down to the point where I pretty much have the stick fully lit before I even pull my first draw.

Lately I've been reevaluating my whole lighting process and now I'm using just a single flame torch. (down from the triple I was using). I found that the triple singed the sides too much and I get better control with the single; not to mention better precision if I am making a correction on a running canoe.

I still keep the triple in my pocket for lighting outside in windier conditions or the occasional relight though. A few weeks ago I was out and about and someone offered me a cigar...cannot remember what it was, but they lit their sticks with a bic lighter. Ugh. Those things just don't get hot enough to effectively light a good cigar (much less toast the foot) and you end up having to suck in terrible tasting butane just to get the damn thing lit.

LOL - sorry for the mini lighter rant in answering your question!

No no no!! PLEASE!! Give me all the details you can and keep 'em coming! I've been enjoying cigars and keeping a humidor for years, but I've learned so much from you more [ahem...cough, cough] senior gentlemen.

I am a foot toaster from way back. I use the kitchen torch from Williams Sonoma. If that is not available I use the multiple match method Gordon Mott demonstrates on you tube. That's very rare though I almost exclusively smoke cigars at home on my porch.

a true aficionado of fine cigars would never light one with anything but a wooden match, at that no impartation of any fuels will enter your cigar, so method 1 of proper cigar lighting is a wooden match.

However it's not always possible to use a match such as the wife kicking you outside and the wind blowing, so a good torch (never a bic, never use a Zippo unless it's been converted to butane)

a good single or double flame works well, and pre-lighting the end of the cigar enables you to get a flat full burn started, once that "foot" is done, then a match or butane lighter just away from the end, draw and rotate the cigar for an even light.

Using a too hot lighter pointed at the end can light the center of the cigar farther than the edge, resulting in "tunneling" or as we call out "we got ourselves a gopher!"

There are premium brand lighters, Xikar, Colibri, Prometheus, ST Dupont, etc you can spend from $15 to $1500.

Another key is Butane, get better butane, Lotus, Xikar, be sure it's multi level refined it will burn odorless and clean.

Odorless is key.

quote:

Originally posted by goatboyz:
I haven't smoked too many gars of late, but I did smoke some Capstan Blue on Pipe Smoker's recommendation.. I really liked it and if it was cased, I couldn't tell. Here's a pic of the Savenelli 311 ks I smoked it in.

Glad that you liked the Capstan Blue. J. R. R. Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings" author, smoked this tobacco exclusively. I think that it does have a topping, but it's delicately applied. That's a good looking pipe – looks like a "sitter".

BTW – I've never found a straight burley that I've liked, but a recommendation from a pipe forum buddy induced me to order several tins of Solani 656 – Aged Burley Flake. It'll be here on Monday. A couple of reviews said it had a cigar-like flavor.

Edit: Right now I'm smoking Dunhill Flake, a very fine Virginia with no flavoring of any sort.

About halfway through a Gurkha 12 year cellar reserve. Gotta admit I'm impressed with their higher end offerings. I prefer the 15 year maduro but this is no slouch at all. White pepper and cedar have been the dominate flavors thus far.

I toast the foot to light my cigars. I try not to light them by taking a drag with the lighter lit. I do prefer matches or cedar sticks to light them but most times it is not feasible to use them as the lighter is more convenient. You can taste the difference between matches and a lighter toasting the foot and an even bigger difference if you drag on it while lighting with a lighter.

Warped Lirio Rojo

Crux Limitada kind of night -

I'm smoking a Gurkha Yakuza that was given to me. I'm about a quarter into it and like it. This is one Gurkha I can actually recommend.

I had a full day with my Dad working on the floor. We needed to raise the stair treads to make an even rise to match the finished floor height. Took all day to do and then worked on the flooring around the steps.

Time to kick back and relax for a bit.

Some nice looking sticks.

Petr,, great find on the Family Reserve 50th! One of my absolute favorite smokes! Also, tell me more about the Gurka you found? That brand is attempting to make a comeback, I've been hearing good things.

Gator, how was the Monte? Did you have the salty aftertaste on it? I'm running down to my last few, trying to determine whether or not to purchase a new box.