TAG Heuer Monaco - Time for a Champion?

As the Formula 1 season start creeps closer day by day, i thought it would be a great time to start my new post series called Timepieces with featuring one of the most iconic watches for the racing world:

TAG Heuer Monaco 

In 1969 the Monaco was the first ever water resistant watch with a  square case and working on the Chronomatic Calibre 11, first ever square automatic chronograph. What helped to make the Monaco legendary was the fact, that Steve McQueen wore it in the film LeMans. Since then, the Monaco has remained as a highly desired piece of elegant watch and racing history.

I myself carry around this version of the beautiful piece of design history - TAG Heuer Monaco Calible 12 Automatic Chronograph in black:

I love every variation of the Monaco watch. Here is one of them featured separately:

And how has Monaco developed? Take a look at the Monaco v4 - the first belt driven timepiece! Talking about sweet!

If you have any opinions on TAG Heuer Monaco watches or would like to share pics of yours, please feel free to comment or send me email through the "contact me" button in the navbar!

cheers,

Review - Cuenca 5 Anniversary Torpedo Box Pressed - 89/100

Celebrating their 5th anniversary, Cuenca Cigars has released a limited production cigar called, surprise surprise, 5 Anniversary. 

The cigar comes in a form of a box pressed torpedo, sized 7x54. 

The dark Habano wrapper gives out a silky hue which is a pleasure for the eye. The cigar feels good in hand (although i do not prefer pox pressed) and seems to be of a good construction. The unlit aroma gives promise of something flavorful with hints of cocoa bean and black pepper.

The large torpedo starts out with an abundance of smoke and a sting of spice and pepper, soon to mellow down. When past the blast in the beginning, the flavor profile offers a good balance of spice, leather and black pepper underlined with a sophisticated sweetness.

This medium bodied cigar offers good balanced complexity, which does not, however, develop quite enough down the road for my palate. Nevertheless, a great cigar to celebrate anyone's birthday.

Happy Birthday Cuenca! Well done.


Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nigaragua

Points: 89/100

How many cigars to fit in your next humidor?

My friends at humidordiscount.com have launched an useful service on their site.  http://www.humidordiscount.com/humidor_calculator.php leads you to a page where you can feed in the measures of the humidor you are considering to purchase (or any other) and see how many cigars of different vitolas fits in. You can set default to your favourite cigar to quickly see the results.

The only improvement i suggested to them when reviewing the service was that you should be also able to feed in the quantities of the cigars you are going to store in the humidor, and the service gives you back the minimum measurements and suggestions from the product range. Now wouldn't that be convenient? If this suggestion flies and they introduce this service, i will most definitely utilize it when considering the choices for my next humidor.

I greatly recommend you all to check out the service.

Light. Smoke. Remember.

When i review cigars here on World of Cigars, i usually write down notes to what ever paper i happen to grab with me. Usually i then forget about the notes and they end up in trash, preventing me to go back to them if i do a comparison of certain cigars with different age. There most probably was some notes on the paper which did not reach the review on the site and might be significant when returning to the cigar when there is few years on them. A shame really.

To help me out, my Friend Kyle Gellis sent me this really nice cigar journal!

Nice execution and attention to details. A great high quality product.

I love the quote from Winston Churchill on the first sheet.

I will most definitely use this notebook for all my future notes for my reviews.

You can all get your own at warpedpuro.com

Thank you Kyle!

Wooden Wonder humidors by Christos Karnabakos

As you all probably know, a good humidor is essential in keeping your cigars safe from the evil of going "stale". Controlling the correct level of humidity and temperature ensures that all the characteristics of the precious cigars do not get ruined inside the humidor. High quality hand-rolled cigars are entitled to a high quality humidor for storing and protecting them.

A humidor is therefore a luxurious necessity to enhance the perfection of the smoking ritual for the ultimate connoisseur.

Christos Karnabakos’s Wooden Wonder has provided the world with handmade, unique humidors since 1991. He specializes in the design, manufacture and installation of these handmade humidors, from desktop humidors to complex storage units. The humidors are custom made in various sizes and types, depending on the wishes and tastes of even the most demanding cigar aficionados. There are also humidors, upon request, for cars, yahts, planes, etc.

The Wooden Wonder humidors are manufactured from the most high class timbers in the world, while their hardware may be silver, 24k gold plated or even platinum. Karnabakos has also handcrafted exclusive humidors for some of the worlds leading hotels and has been featured in various magazine publications.

For more information, please visit Christos's website humidors.gr

cheers, 

Mikko

Cigar Journal: Missing Partagas Manager

Cigar Journal reported the curious removal of Abel Exposito from the Partagas Cigar Store position. Cigar smuggling perhaps? All comments welcome.

Read the full story here: http://www.cigarjournal.co/index.php/us/home/1266-missingpartagasmanager

Picture: Cigar Journal

"Abel Exposito has mysteriously left his position at the Partagas.

November 14, 2012. Rumors are swirling around Havana as Abel Exposito has mysteriously left his position at the Partagas factory cigar store. The store, a La Casa Del Habano franchise, is iconic due to its location inside the Partagas factory. But more than that, Abel has turned the store into a meeting place for international cigar lovers visiting Havana. 

Cigar Journal has confirmed that Abel is no longer working in the store and that he has been replaced by Rene Valdez. Mr. Valdez previously worked at the Romeo y Julieta factory."

Five years old!

I just came to realize, that it has been five years since i started writing World of Cigars... Wow! Time flies when you're having fun, eh?

I want to thank all of my readers and supporters for the ride. It has been a pleasure so far, and i can't wait for the next five!

I will try to dig something special from the depths of my humidor to review as the "5th anniversary celebration cigar". Keep reading!

cheers,

Mikko

Unique humidor project - 1950's school desk

I wanted to share this item with you, as i consider it to be extraordinarily fantastic!

It is a refurbished school desk from the 1950's transformed into a cigar humidor/station by Alan Gwiz. It is beautifully restored and built, and really a unique piece of the world of cigars! Check out these pics, simply beautiful!

You can find more on this and other projects by Alan from the Gwiz Shop at gwizshop.tumblr.com. I will be following his work closely and update you all on every development there is to report.

Great work Alan!




cheers,

Mikko