Tuesday 31 July 2007

An example of dedication and craftmanship

I thought i should share this with you.

On Club Stogie, i had a correspondence with a man - from Wichita, Kansas - who put together a beautiful humidor using scrap materials left over at his job. This piece of cigar accessory is a work of art in my opinion. Let the pictures speak for themselves:





If you want to know more, please dig up alias ArturoFuente on the Club Stogie discussion forum, and i bet he will be glad to give you more details. Now he is building a new humidor, that holds more cigars and has a glasstop on it. I guess i'll have to post pictures of that too when the time is right.

Peace out!

Sunday 29 July 2007

Review - Partagas Serie D No.4 - 93/100


Partagas Serie D No.4 is a great typical Cuban cigar. It is a pleasure to the eye with its oily, chocolate wrapper and solid structure. It is also a pleasure to the nose - the unlit aroma is gentle and soft, promising a tasty smoking experience. In fact, all the basic qualities are there in addition to the perfect wrapper and great structure: Easy lighting, easy cut, and close to perfect draw and beautiful white smoke and ash.

The PSD4 is a little slow to get started. In the beginning it offers great flavor of tobacco and some woody under tones. It turns out to be a sturdy smoke right from the beginning. When the second third of the cigar closes down however, the flavor picks up faster and more intense that you could predict in the beginning. A very complex range of strong flavor jump out of the cigar and play on the tip of your tongue, creating a very special mix, that one could describe as a classis amongst habanos. No wonder PSD4 is the biggest selling Cuban robusto out there at the moment.

The flavor is a mixture of spices and dark chocolate with woody and somewhat earthy character. Towards the end, it developes into something i might describe as a mix of salted liquorice and Finnish rye bread. The Robusto size is perfect: it gives the tobacco room to burn cool and create different flavor up in between the filler leaves. If this cigar was even a bit smaller in ring gauge, it would probably make the flavor too bitter and strong to be enjoyed as one of the best "all-purpose" Cuban cigars ever.

This full bodied Cuban delicacy is no doubt a classic. The cigar used for this review was from an -06 box, and as far as aging goes, this cigar is probably made just for that. For now, I can only imagine what a few years more can do with a cigar like this. In all, the Serie D No.4 is one of my favourites.

Origin: Cuba

Construction 19/20
Appearance 19/20
Smoke/Ash 9/10
Burn 19/20
Draw 19/20
Aroma 8/10 (7,9,9)

TOTAL POINTS 93/100

Results of the review poll

The voting is over. This experiment of mine was a success. Total of 49 people voted for the next review. Here are the results for that:

1. Partagas Serie D4 (cuba) - 17 votes
2. Montecristo #2 (cuba) - 13 votes
3. Santa Damiana Seleccion 600 (dominican) - 11 votes
4. Bucanero La Noche Robusto (nigaragua) - 5 votes
5. Don Gabriel Robusto (Gran Canaria) - 3 votes

Thank you all who voted. Review on the PSD4 coming soon...

Saturday 28 July 2007

Re-organising my humidor

I am a little short on space here. I have my glasstop humidor and my plastic container full of cigars and boxes... How did this happen? Oh, well... Had to re-organise both while waiting a new 300 ct humidor coming from Humidor Discounts. It should be here some time next week or few days after that. Then there is the seasoning and all... No patience!

Anyways, these are some fresh pictures of my humble collection. The Glasstop humi is showing the recent Partagas Serie D3 2006 Edicion Limitada, Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos. In addition to those, i got also some Padron n3000 and Ashton VSG Corona Gorda in the last shipment.




Wednesday 25 July 2007

Some brotherly love from Club Stogie

I received these today. Forwarded to me from the US by a great friend of mine, Shawn. I could not get these inside Europe, since the Cuban Trinidad is the Trademark holder here. Wanted to try the Dominican Maduros so this had to be he way to get them. These beauties are the Robusto size. Thank you Shawn.

I love the dark appearance of these beauties:



Sunday 22 July 2007

New design for new times

Hey, and welcome to my renewed pages. Hopefully the new navbar helps you explore my realm. Please give me Feedback on the pages as much and as harsh as you like.

I also changed the backround. Now it has a more luxurious, ebony-like feeling. i love it better...

Mikko

Thursday 19 July 2007

And still some More

This keeps on going...

These 50 lovely cigars - Bucanero La Noche Robusto Bundelos - i received from CigarBundlesCheap. Thank you BOTLs Lowcountrycigars and Madurolover from Club Stogie!


out again...

More, More, More...

Hey,

i haven't been very active in writing here these past few days. Been quite busy with life...

Anyhow, now i just want to post pictures of my recent pick ups. The Santa Damiana Seleccion 600 box i got, is a demonstration of good will between Bothers and Sisters of the Leaf enjoying the good life. So, thank you Janelle from AltadisUSA for the cigars and Paul Briganti for delivering them to me safely...


Over and out...

Wednesday 18 July 2007

Anticipating reviews?

Dear possible, perhaps imaginary readers,

I am sorry that i have not or will not update the blog more frequently in a while. I have some sort of a busy phase going on. I am however trying to slip out for a smoke once in a while, but the reviews can come a little slow. my apologies dear Brothers and Sisters of the Leaf. I Promise I will write somthing this week end, assuming i am anywhere near civilization.

Meanwhile, vote for the next rcigar to be reviewed and send me tons of e-mail!!! You can give me suggestions and perhaps even your own reviews, that i might be starting to post on the blog... just give me a holler!

mikko.eriksson@welho.com

God Bless,

Mikko

Saturday 14 July 2007

Review - Bucanero Clasico Maduro Churchill - 88/100


The cigar is not the same size with the one in the picture, but same blend. Just could not find a proper picture and forgot to take a pic of it before smoking. Anyway, here goes:

Clasico Maduro Churchill of the Bucanero line, is a great cigar. It has a firm construction, a nice cap and an oily, very dark wrapper. The surface is however scarred with clear, thick veins and a little ragged feeling, but not to the extent that it would do any difference. The unlit fragrance of the cigar is clearly that of a very dark chocolate.

The cut was clean and lighting the cigar was no problem. First draws were a little too loose and tasted of mild tobacco. When smoked for a while the draw got tighter and the flavor developed to be very sweet and light, even fresh you might say. It was a pleasant mixture of burnt sugar and wild berries, with a twist of lemon.

The ash grew solid and almost snow white, firm and solid. Smoke was also pleasant in color and smell. Extra points for this.

As i continued to the second third of the cigar, the flavors grew more intense and interesting. This usually happens in quality cigars at some point. Now the berries including cherry climbed to the stage and the tobacco flavor built up to full. Coffee and dark chocolate stood on the second row, just behind the berries. A very interesting and diverse mixture of flavor in all.

Closing down the end, the flavor grew woody and remained pleasant - neither too harsh nor bitter, as could be the case in some smokes, no matter how "high class"... Only major flaw could be the uneven burn, caused by the veins in the wrapper... I recommend

Origin: Nigaragua

Construction 19/20
Appearance 18/20
Smoke/Ash 9/10
Burn 18/20
Draw 16/20
Aroma 8/10 (7,8,8)

TOTAL POINTS 88/100

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Some sweets fo my... well, me.

Just thought i might post my last received deliveries here. So, thank you Gabriel at the Don Gabriel Cigars.

Montecristo 2:



Partagas Serie D 4 and Don Gabriel Robustos: