Quesada Oktoberfest, with a Sam Adams pumpkin spice ale. The beer is fantastic. Cant say the same about the cigar. Its not bad, the wrapper is shiny and gorgeous. Decent flavor bur one dimensional and too mild to pair with a spicy type beer. The burn so far is very even, not very smoky though. Id give it an 8.2 out of 10. Its good and consistent but not great.

I have to add. The ash is really cool looking. Its speckled. Worth smoking one just to see the ash. Id also pair it with something milder than Oktoberfest or spicy beer. As the beer overpowers it.

quote:

Originally posted by Jaywendland1981:
Quesada Oktoberfest, with a Sam Adams pumpkin spice ale. The beer is fantastic. Cant say the same about the cigar. Its not bad, the wrapper is shiny and gorgeous. Decent flavor bur one dimensional and too mild to pair with a spicy type beer. The burn so far is very even, not very smoky though. Id give it an 8.2 out of 10. Its good and consistent but not great.

I'm glad actually to hear that you did not love this cigar. Last year's batch was very good, this year...not so much. It's one of the few thatgive me a belly ache after smoking it.

My b&m still has a box of last years supply in stock. I might give one a go next week.

On another note. I got 5 Perdomo lot 23s and 10 Perdomo esv sungrowns a couple weeks ago that I've been drooling over. Perdomo seems to have my flavor profile down as I have not had anything bad from them yet. I have got to try a tatuaje though after reading the last few pages of this thread.

Rocky Patel Habano tonight. It's a great $8 stick. Partnered up with two fingers of Woodford Reserve and I'm a happy camper.

Apparently cigars improve with aging. That's certainly the case with pipe tobacco – I have several tins of 7-year old Full Virginia Flake (Samuel Gawith) that's vastly superior to newly-purchased FVF. Does anyone know what physical or chemical changes occur to cause the improvement?

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Apparently cigars improve with aging.

Some do, some don't. There are obviously many, many variables... humidity, environment, heat, chemicals, what it is aging in, etc. A cigar can definitely go downhill with age.

Cigars will last forever if stored in the proper conditions. Whether it ages good or bad is dependent on what you are looking for. Nicotine will diminish with age. So if you like a "buzz" when you smoke, the fresher the better. Flavors on the other hand will almost always get richer and smoother with age. The main factor, I think, is due to the oils pulling out and chrystalizing changing the chemical make up of the tobacco. Of course, there are some cigars that go "stale" after just a little bit of age. The key is to keep track of which cigars you buy and how long you have had them. Drew Estates, now part of Swisher, tend to not age very well in my opinion while Fuente seems to get better with age. Of course you or anyone may not agree with that. That is because everyones palates are different.

Petr, et al:

Petr, I just saw today the announcement regarding Drew Estates. Curious what you guys think this means for my favorite cigar company.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com...ng-Drew-Estate-17818

I'm not sure what is going to happen to the brand. If Swisher doesn't mess with anything it should stay the same. Drew Estate was having a lot of problems with quality and sales were slumping leading up to this. I was not a big fan of his cigars but the ones I do like are way overpriced anyway. This may drop the prices on new cigars or may increase pricing on old blends. Time will tell. You may be able to get a No. 9 at a gas station now though

Call me crazy but, I'm outside on this crisp 50* evening smoking a Schizo. It really isn't too cold out as we have some cloud cover before the rain comes along.

quote:

Originally posted by petr:<snip> You may be able to get a No. 9 at a gas station now though

At least I didn't say they were going to have a plastic tip on them, or grape flavored! Lol

Finally getting to smoke a Nub connecticutt. It's the last variety of the Nub line for me and I can't say which is my favorite. They've all been great quality and flavorful cigars. Oliva has quite a winner here.

Yes they do. Too bad they didn't produce the U.S.A in full swing. That was my favorite followed by the double maduro, which is a rare bird itself. The others hold up well too but those were my favorites.

Tonight I am smoking a Victor Sinclair triple corojo gordo. Not a bad cigar but not much going on with it either.

Enjoying a My Father connecticutt toro right now. It's no coincidence that the sun came out when I stepped onto the porch with this beauty.

That My Father Connecticut is quite tasty.

We had our first little boy a little over a month ago and I haven't really slowed down enough to enjoy a smoke. But we're going over to his Papa's house tonight and I think I'll have one of those #2's with a glass of Eagle Rare... Looking forward to it.

Congrats! The #2 is definitely a celebration cigar!