Hey All! Here we are with a new cigar review!
Mrs. CigarMoose and I decided to take a day trip to one of our favorite places we hadn't been to in awhile, because of this whole Covid thing running rampant through our world. That Place would be Lake Placid New York home of the Winter Olympic Training Grounds.
Main Street is where all the action is with bars, restaurants, stores, and gift shops you would expect from a "Resort Town".
In that picture, it's just around that bend and on the right you will find the Alpine Mall.
It is here you will find a store called Stouts and Stogies. If you look back in my reviews I showcased this store when I reviewed the Room 101 The Big Payback cigar. The store has stood the test of time despite the dwindling economy, due to a virus that has swept our world.
Entering this day I was greeted by the patrons wife welcoming us to the store. She also apologized for the lack of inventory in the humidor due to being unable to get proper stock from their suppliers. Despite her warning, I didn't feel the choices were that underwhelming. There were ample choices, in my opinion, with the average price being around $15 per cigar. Now don't let that alarm you. All the cigars present were super premium cigars and remember that these are resort town prices. I was able to find an unbranded Nicaraguan maduro cigar for $8.50 per stick, so that's where this review is coming from.
Now I'll be honest......I was not expecting much for this unbranded cigar, Was I ever fooled! I Will say that this was one of the best unbranded cigars I have had in a very long time, and I have had quite a few. Because I have literally no information about this cigar other than its Nicaraguan we have to go in all blind into this one. By "We" I mean me and my trustworthy compadre Meatloaf!
Lets start of by talking about appearance. Defiantly dark maduro wrapper which has little slight veins, It has to be a a shade wrapper. You can barely see the seams where it is wrapped, simply flawlessly wrapped. So whoever produces this cigar has some very experienced torcedors.
The wrapper has a very nice sheen to it exuding with oil. I can even feel the the silkiness of the oils on my finger tips where I have touched wrapper. What a nicely aged wrapper is all I can say.
The body smells like sweet straw. the foot smells of rich sweet tobaccos that you would expect from a maduro..
We cut the head and take a cold draw. Great airflow, not like a straw, but in the middle ground between a straw and medium airflow.
After a quick toasting of the foot, we light up. Immediately we are blasted with peppery spice. very intense. this should have been a foreboding for me.........Meatloaf is also pleasantly surprised at this show of strength right of the starting line.
But with a few puffs the spice disappears just as fast as it came and the cigar mellow right out with a Hazel nut taste and slight woody undertones.
Conversation ensues as it always does while partaking in cigars. Some of the most deep and meaningful conversations I've had have been with someone over a cigar. Isn't it funny somehow a cigar can level the playing field in opinions during discussions? Somehow you can hold your opinion yet listen to others and see their point of view and vise versa. It's no wonder it has been a long tradition for our leaders to share a cigar during negotiations throughout the world. With Meatloaf and I its usually about old times, the tv shows we have been binging, cigars we are considering, and the current opinions of the worlds affairs. Its all good.......
My cigar is burning slightly uneven. Soon it is time to make our first tap of the ash. No cone . The ash is quite dense and silvery in color.
Meatloaf has noticed a small tunnel in his cigar but says it's not affecting the draw.
More conversation ensues while we listen to Big Hair bands on satellite radio. It's a hot muggy evening, but we started late and the sun has set bringing on the night. The drinks continue to flow (for Meatloaf anyway) and it has cooled just slightly making the outdoors all that more manageable.
Getting into the last third of the cigar Meatloaf shows me the tunnel has run the the whole length of the cigar. But again and luckily it hasn't affected the draw at all.
So I take a look at mine and low and behold there is a tunnel in mine too! If I hadn't looked I would never have known as it is smoking fine.
At this point I stick the cigar in my Corn Cob Pipe, "The McArthur", from Missouri Meerschaum Company. Why you may ask? Because cigars are expensive now and I'm going to smoke them till they are almost nothing dammit! Not that I am defending myself or anything.... LOL
Everything was going fine up to this point. Then the strength started coming back.......
I take my last couple of puffs and things take a big turn. Suddenly my stomach starts to not feel so good....... I start to get dizzy and hot. Droplets of sweat start beading on my head. I relay this to Meatloaf. He says that I am looking a little pale.....
Now I can count on one hand how many times this has ever happened to me in the 15 years I have been smoking cigars. And most of them have been early on in my cigar smoking life I chock up to just not having the tolerance for the nicotine in strong cigars at that point in my life. But this cigar.... Has me by the balls.....
Meatloaf looks at me and says "Well you haven't drank anything since we started. You got to keep something in your stomach." I have to concede he's right. So I amble my way to the fridge, grab a Green Tea, and make my way back to my chair. Half a bottle later the sweating has stopped and stomach feels much better. All I am left with is a euphoric buzz which comes in waves like the ocean. This cigar almost had me...... All the while that damn Meatloaf just snickers and smiles at my almost demise! He feels just fine, but does concede it did get stronger on the end.
So here is where the chips lay:
Buzz Rating: 7 out of 10
Both of us agree. A nice comfortable numb...... After it's strength subsided in me.
Overall: 4 stars out of 5
We both thought that it was a good tasting strong cigar. Full flavored with a couple of surprises in spice. Nice medium in between the the 2 spice blasts. This was a very good and eventful cigar that ranks right up there with some of the brand name big dogs we have experienced in our opinion. We would have given it a 4.25 overall but the tunnels we had detracted that quarter star. Definitely will grab a couple every time I am up there and you should too. For $8.50 it's a premium cigar at a good price by today's standards. I wish I could find more about this cigar so I could track down where I could get them online.
I might have to do a little investigating........
Till next post......... PEACE!
No comments:
Post a Comment