Cigar Basics, Part 3

Lesson Three - Smoking

First thing you need to know when smoking a cigar is not to breathe into the lungs. I've seen veteran ciggerette smokers put on their knees because they inhaled their first puff on a cigar. If there is ever a Rule to cigar smoking, this is for sure it. NEVER INHALE! Always pull the smoke into your mouth, then blow it out. If your feeling risky then you can blow it out your nose, but I would recommend against this if your smoking even a slightly strong cigar.

Ok, First things first, The cut. This will be a little different for every cigar, there is no one spot that will give you a good cut every time. What you need to do is look for the cap on the cigar. The cap is the spot on the very end of the cigar that looks like the wrapper has been folded in on itself. You will want to get a hold of a Guillotine style cigar cutter, as they seem to work the best, Mine is a two bladed Vector cutter and it seems to work pretty well. You will want to cut right above that line, go under and your cigar might try and come unraveled on you while you smoke.

Next things next, The Light. There are several ways, Try not to use a Convenience store lighter, you know the type, Its usually some brightassed color and likes to pretend that it uses butane. Try and use either ceder matches or a torch type lighter, or if you want to trick the aficionados into thinking your a really super cigar snob, go to home depot and get some small ceder chunks, and light those on fire, then use THAT to light your cigar. When You light your cigar, rotate it slowly over the very tip of the flame while keeping a steady pull of air coming through, this is called 'Toasting' your cigar, this makes sure that there will be an even burn and your cigar won't canoe (burn faster on one side than the other) after you can see a slight bit of ember evenly all around your cigar, lower it into the flame a little more to ensure that the center of the cigar is burning in the center at the same speed as the outside. Now you just sit back and puff away. Congratulations! You just lit and started smoking your first cigar! About four or five minutes in, you will notice you have about an inch or two of ash on the end of your cigar, all you do is lightly tap the cigar with a finger on the hand your holding it with over your ash tray, If it doesn't come loose, don't worry about it and keep tapping about once a minute to make sure you don't drop the ash on yourself (it tends to stain clothing, it is ash, so It can be used as a color separator) At the end of your smoke, you shouldn't snuff it out like you would with a cigarette, Just set the cigar down in your ash tray and let it put itself out, Even if you get a cigar that you don't like, the best way to deal with it is the same way. The reason I say to do this is just to show respect for the people that made that cigar, They made that cigar by hand and deserve some credit for it.


~ Taste ~

Cigars all have their own distinct taste, the darker cigars will have thicker tastes, the lighter will have more delicate tastes. If your new to cigar smoking then make sure you pick the lightest cigar you can find. Its much easier to determine what the flavors are later on if you start out on really lightly colored cigars. Sadly this is another thing there is no trick to. The darker cigars flavor is usually described as 'leathery' because the taste of the smoke is the same as leather. And the lighter cigars, like I mentioned before, tend to be very delicate and flowery in taste. I would say roughly 85% of the flavor comes from the wrapper, so make sure that you choose your cigars carefully, the darker the cigar, the less forgiving it will be if you breath at the wrong time.


(Cigars should always be kept going once you light it, If it goes out, relight. It will be a little bitter, but you will still be able to smoke it. Don't let your cigar sit for more than a day after you light it, It will be an unhappy smoke. There is a rhythm to it, instead of puff puff pass, its puff puff talk, Be protective of your cigars, atleast you know that you will appreciate them.)




Closing Notes ~ The Brotherhood of the Leaf


Alright, this is where it gets a little more sociable. If you are a cigar smoker, you can go to most cigar shops, talk to the owners for a little while, and you will be able to tell that your welcome. Why? Because you bother to follow the same goofy rituals and investments of time and money that they have for smoking cigars. You instantly have something to talk about, whether you know them or not, all you have to worry about is what your going to smoke. So long as you pick a decent cigar, no one will be the wiser. Talk about cigars, get them to tell you the stories they have about cigars. If you make good friends with a good tobacconist, you can get a hold of cigars that most people would not be able to lay hands on. Just remember, if your stuck in a strange town and just can't quite figure out what to do, hunt down the local cigar shop, they will usually help you out so long as you stick around and smoke a cigar with them.


This has been a primer on cigar smoking for all those who just can't quite figure out cigar smoking. I realize that its alot to take in, But I pumped all this out in one sitting, and I think that It is a good first place to start for someone who is wanting to start smoking cigars, but wanting to not look completely retarded to the people who are all ready smoking. If you have any questions then feel free to leave me a comment!

Cigar basics, Part 2

Lesson Two - Cigars

Ah, the cigars, the symbol of power that America has come to adopt as its own. Can't really blame us, as a Cigar smoker myself, I like the feeling you get when you have had that perfect amount of tobacco, You feel like your are on top of the world and nothing can bring you down. But what makes a good cigar? Is it just the wrapper? Is it the tobacco that you use for the filler? or is it the shape? or the Ash? No one really has a straight answer, which is why no one says they have the 'Best' cigar. Cigars can have many appealing factors, many are what I just asked questions about. And to be completely honest, everyone will have a different definition of a good cigar, For some its just a brand name, for others its something else. This is why I use a number system when I evaluate and review cigars. Its not because something is bad or good, its just where it lands on the scale. So I am going to break this up into several different pieces to go into detail on what's what of a cigar (and what to do with it!).

First ~ Shape

There are as many shapes for cigars as there are clouds in the sky, some shapes take, some don't and are never seen again, this is why people collect cigars the same way they collect coins and baseball cards. Because once something is gone, it more than likely will be worth a lot more. Ring gauge is how big around a cigar is, standard size is 50-55, 60 is considered ginormous, most people don't smoke a 60 because its just a massive smoke. Some of the most popular shapes seem to be:

Lancero: This is a really long thin cigar, and seems to have recently become popular, It is usually longer than most Churchill cigars by about two inches, and is about 1/3 smaller around, so I would say these are usually a 40-46 ring gauge.

Robusto: This is the standard tasters smoke, it is about five inches long and is about a 50-55 ring gauge.

Churchill: Best for golfing or enjoying the outdoors, usually 50-55 ring gauge, and about seven to nine inches long.

Torpedo: Another standard tasters smoke, this is roughly six to seven inches long and 50-55 Ring gauge. Best defined by a point on the end.

(Now realize, these are just a handful of the shapes that cigars come in, and if your not sure, don't feel ashamed to ask your tobacconist what the hell that thing is that looks like a leg off of a pair of bell bottoms(I'm talking about a Salomon, this is a monster of a long smoke, but still). Either Way, if your not sure, Most tobacconists have no problem helping you find what your looking for in a cigar!)

Second ~ Smell

You've seen it, I've seen it, Almost every one has. You hand a cigar smoker a cigar, and the first thing he does is stick it up to his nose and take a big long snort to see what it smells like. Disgusting? Mostly, but it serves a purpose. All cigars have a different smell, Its like a finger print. Its what makes most aficionados what they are. They can tell you the blend and lot number and where the tobacco came from just by the smell. Sadly there is no trick to this, only experience and a talented nose can teach you these things. There are a few different things you can do though, Make sure your nasal passages are clear, that way you can breath without smelling morning breath bacteria(yeah, that stuff lives in your nose too). Next is to learn your wrappers. The really dark wrappers are called 'Maduro' (Or bull scrotum's, as one of my cigar buddy's calls them due to their toughness.) and usually have a whole hell of alot of smell, I would say they come the closest to smelling like caramel and having a really oily wrapper. If your wanting to achieve plume (crystallized tobacco oils, not to be mistaken with mold, your enemy. plume is usually highly sought after) on your cigar, these are usually a good short cut. The lightest wrappers that I've seen come from good old Connecticut. These are usually a really really light tan to blond color and are actually grown in the shade under sheets of cloth. These usually carry the scent of flowers due to their being so thin but still porous, so they absorb the scent of the tobacco flower. There are several different kinds, but these are the two big ones. Connecticut wrappers are usually best in the winter for smoking, due to their extreme Delicacy. Maduros are usually smoked in the summer since you can chew on the cigar while you smoke and not damage it too badly, so you can have both hands free while your outside(And these are just from my personal observations, if someone has a better reason then feel free to leave a comment, I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong.).

You will develop your own taste in cigars, even if its just the smell that you like, It just takes time.

Cigar basics

Ok, I know that most non smokers prefer to be around people that smoke cigars over those that smoke cigarettes. But how do you hang around cigar smokers if you don't understand the whole 'Brotherhood of the Leaf' thing? Well, that's what this is for. This is for those of you that just do not understand cigars, but want to learn without having to look stupid for the first little while of smoking, or being around smokers. I have broken this up into three parts due to the fact that its freakin' Huge! There are links on the Left sidebar that you can use to navigate quickly between the three.


Lesson One - Humidors

Ok, first things first, The humidor! The staple of cigar smoking, If you don't quite understand it, your in luck, because this is the primer! Humidors should usually be made out of very mild and very dry wood, no Aromatic Ceder, and no Pine. Usually Spanish ceder is used for humidors due to the fact that it absorbs moisture and the smell of the tobacco, producing that wonderful tobacco smell every time you open the humidor, even if there are no cigars in it at the time, it will retain the scent of the cigars it had in there previously. If you are just starting out, I would recommend a 25-50 stick humidor, as they will be able to hold a decent variety, for the more experienced, as you can see in my blog post "Humidor Drama", we have over nine different humidors of varying size, and plans for more!

(Curing the humidor usually takes about five days for a good cure, So keep this in mind when you first start!)

As a General Rule of thumb (and a great way to fool the so called 'aficionados' if you have never smoked before), you will want to buy the humidor a week or two before buying cigars. Why you ask? Because then you have sufficient time to 'cure' the humidor. You see, brand new humidors have a tendency to have never had humidity in them before, so they are dry as a bone, not very conducive to cigars, which like 60-75% humidity. The trick you use to cure a humidor is to first take out the Hygrometer(There should be a little dial that actually says 'Hygrometer' on it, if you don't have one, you'll need one for watching the humidity in your Humidor, If you have a digital one, you will want to take it out for calibration anyway) and if the dial is on the outside, plug the hole with a wet rag so that the humidity doesn't change on the inside, and to get a wet rag and use distilled or pure water of some form on it, and wipe the sides and bottom of the inside of the humidor, if you have a solid lid humidor you will want to wipe that down as well. Next you will want to get some more pure water of some form in a shallow cup or bowl (We tend to use a sushi tray) and set it inside the humidor. Now you just sit and wait, and let the humidor soak up all the moisture it can, and make sure to wipe the inside of the humidor down with a wet rag every few days, and checking the water level of your shallow bowl to make sure that it stays full.

To calibrate your hygrometer you will want to start this about six hours before you finish curing on the last day of the process. First you will want to put about a teaspoon of salt into a 2-liter bottle lid, then wet it with a few drops of water and make sure that you don't dissolve the salt! if the salt dissolves you will not get an accurate reading. You will then want to put the hygrometer and salt inside a container that can tightly seal(we used a candy jar). Next you will have to wait roughly six hours to get your first basic read on it(We calibrated ours three times to make sure we had it perfect, just remember that not everyone is that desperate for perfection, if you feel the need, you can calibrate multiple times to make sure you have the proper read), it should be almost exactly 75%, if not, you can adjust the hygrometer by the little screwdriver slot on the back till it reaches 75% if you have an analog hygrometer. If you have a digital you will want to refer to the owners manual on how to calibrate it. Take the bowl out of your humidor, and Now you pop the Hygrometer into the humidor! Your humidor looks a lot better without a rag sticking out of it, this is a proven fact! Now all thats left is to fill your humidity pucks. These are the little plastic bits with florists sponge in them, if you can, you will want to take them out, but some pucks aren't designed for that, so you just set them in about a half inch to an inch of distilled or pure water of some form for about thirty minutes. Slide your pucks in, And Woohoo! Your ready for Storing Cigars! Just remember that about Once every one or two months you will want to refill your humidity pucks, and always make sure you are watching your humidity, Because if the humidity gets too high, you run the risk of tobacco beetles, which would love to devour any tobacco you have in there!

(In a pinch, you will want to use a Boveda packet to assure that you have exactly the right humidity percentage, these are great if your just

not quite sure that you did it right.)

K. Hansotia & Comapny Sherpa Founders Choice 2002 Limited

Lighting Taste: 6
Smoke Texture: 4
Smoke aftertaste: 7
Band Design: 6 (Reminded me of duck hunting)
Ash Coloration: 5
Ash Density/Viscosity: 3
Nicotine: 7
Tobacco Taste: 7
1st Quarter overall: 7
2nd Quarter overall: 7
3rd Quarter overall: 7
Last Quarter overall: 4

This particular cigar came from lot 312 of a limited production
set.

First thing I noticed about this cigar is that after I cut it, the
draw was perfect. Not too loose, not too tight, but just right in
that zone that you would expect from a much more expensive cigar.

The wrapper had that classic buttery smooth taste that you expect from a conneticuit wrapper, but still had the sharpness that you expect from the maduro wrappers. This is why I usually don't smoke barber poles, because they have conflicting tastes. Don't get me wrong, they are very good, but they tend to make for a confused cigar.

After I got to the first ash, I noticed that it was flaking off in chunks about the size of my fingernail, I figured it was just my imagination till I got to the second ash and saw that it was doing the same thing then. I'm thinking this may be due to construction on the barber pole design.

I Also noticed that It had alot of tar, A day and a half later I'm still sucking up tar from it. At the last quarter the smoke taste turned bitter, all that tar built up and made it on the sad side.

My overall thoughts on this cigar is that it is a reliable smoke. I've talked to others who have smoked these particular cigars, and they all agree as well that it is a good smoke for day to day smoking.

Cigar Reviews? I do that?

Alright folks, I have a handful of cigars I was going to review over the next week or so, and I figured I would give y'all a heads up on what they are going to be! If you have any recommendations on any other Cigars you would like to See Reviewed, Post them in the comments!

Aruto Fuente Gran Reserva Candela
Camacho 1962 Pre-Embargo Series
Hungry Trout Copy Solomon
Oliva Masterblends One
El Premier Mundo Rosado Oscuro Limited
Sherpa Founders Choice Limited Production Barber Pole


~CB

Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet Review

Lighting Taste: 7
Smoke Texture: 7
Smoke aftertaste: 9
Band Design: 9
Ash Coloration: 7
Ash Density/Viscosity: 6
Nicotine: 7
Tobacco Taste: 9
1st Quarter overall: 6.5
2nd Quarter overall: 7.5
3rd Quarter overall: 8
Last Quarter overall: 6.5

This is a curious smoke, the more I smoke them the more I come to like them, but they all seem to be delicious no matter what the conditions are when I smoke them, So they very well may become a staple of my collection. They seem to have an issue with cannoeing badly, but that may be that I seem to like smoking when its a little windy out. Either way, these cigars seem to be consistant taste wise, out of the churchill, torpedo, and robusto that I've smoked they all seem to have the same good taste. As far as the taste goes I get a solid tobacco flavor from these, there's no doubt that these are a very tasty smoke. This is just my thought, but I think that every cigar smoker should try these at least once.

San Cristobal de la Habana El Morro Review

Lighting Taste: 9
Smoke Texture: 8 (Might be better, wind was blowing that day)
Smoke aftertaste: 9
Band Design: 7
Ash Coloration: 9
Ash Density/Viscosity: 9
Nicotine: 7
Tobacco Taste: 9
1st Quarter overall: 9
2nd Quarter overall: 9
3rd Quarter overall: 9
Last Quarter overall: 9


Wow, that's all most all that I can say about this cigar! Its like smoking coffee, very tasty from start to knuckle burning finish! The only downside to this cigar that I could tell was the band, which while it left just a smidgen on the plain side, suited the cigar extremely well considering how they intended for it to be fashioned. Band aside, this was a tasty smoke, and I would recommend it to everyone, Beginners and Experienced smokers alike should come to love this cigar (If they can find it >.>), In my opinion anyways.

Dunhill Altamiras Cigar Review

Lighting Taste: 7
Smoke Texture: 6 (Might be better, wind was blowing that day)
Smoke aftertaste: 8
Band Design: 7
Ash Coloration: 7
Ash Density/Viscosity: 8
Nicotine: 5
Tobacco Taste: 8
1st Quarter overall: 7
2nd Quarter overall: 5
3rd Quarter overall: 8
Last Quarter overall: 8

This was an interesting and angry smoke at the same time, it started out very peppery, It took quite a bit to get it lit, dunno why, but it was still a very good smoke, the pepper taste is quite literally like smoking pepper, Loved it since usually when there is a pepper taste it is followed by a more mellow tobacco taste, this however was delicious and different. This is one of my new favorite cigars. It's full of flavor, lots of pepper at the start, then takes a sudden shift to a more whiskey flavor in the middle. The only downside to this cigar is the price, which was, at our cheaper shop, 16.95. Still though, I think it would be well worth the money to keep one or two of these on hand just in case you feel like having a strong smoke.

Alec Bradley Tempus Short Review

Allright, I'm going to step on some toes here, but I'm going to come right out and say it. I tried an Alec Bradley Tempus robusto cigar two weekends ago, and I'm going to say this: Its not a 94 Cigar. I Don't care what CI says, this is the blandest cigar I've ever tasted. Which, considering that my first smokes were Factory 57 Rejects, is saying something. Pending another review, my initial thoughts on this cigar are pretty sad. Now two of my business partners tried the lancero and thought that it was a pretty decent cigar. Maybe I just got a bad one, Maybe its just the robusto shape that changes the taste. But there was nothing special about the cigar, I Likened it to smoking what we called back on the farm 'pig weed', a particular brand of fireweed that will grow anywhere, and has the nastiest sap smell I have ever come across. My personal rating on the Tempus is a 75, and thats pushing it. The entire cigar was bland from start to finish, there was no tobacco taste, there was no intricacy, hell, there was no strength. Even the MAXX was better than this, in my opinion, and I didn't like that one either. Alec, You disappoint me, you really had a chance to make your first really good mainstream cigar, instead you shuffled a different kind of tobacco over to CA, and they gave you a stupidly high rating in return.

Padilla Habano Review

Padilla Habano Torpedo
Lighting Taste: 8
Smoke Texture: 7
Smoke aftertaste: 8
Band Design: 8
Ash Coloration: 6.5
Ash Density/Viscosity: 7
Nicotine: 9
Tobacco Taste: 7.5 ~ 8
1st Quarter overall: 7
2nd Quarter overall: 6.5
3rd Quarter overall: 9
Last Quarter overall: 6


Yay! First Review! OK, 'nuff that. I went with this as my first review smoke mostly because my roommate owed me a cigar, so I grabbed it out of my review humi last night. The initial appeal was kinda lost because the tip of the torp was a little off kilt, but the initial smell of the tobacco was still good, I was kind of afraid it had a blowout like my Sol Cubano maduro Churchill, but thankfully it wasn't. The initial smell of the wrapper threw me off a little, and I had to get a consult from my roommate, Cognac was the response, who would have thunk it! first thing I noticed after cutting the cigar is that the flavor had sunk into the tobacco, don't quite get that, but ok. The actual tobacco taste was very mild and extremely flavorful, had a strong flowery taste, but didn't have the tar content that I expected it to have with that amount of flavor, maybe I'm just missing something. For all the tobacco flavor that this cigar produced, I was expecting a REALLY strong smelling smoke, Not so! The smoke was actually very tasty, I was a little confused as whether to smoke it or eat it, this is a very tasty, very light smoke, this could very easily be an all day smoke if you could afford it. At roughly the start of the second quarter the cognac flavor disappeared, but about halfway through that second quarter the cognac taste came back, strangely enough, it wasn't quite the same, and left an aftertaste kind of like those candied orange slices only sans the orange. About this time the neighbor kids sounded like they just stabbed their little dog that could pass as trout line bait, and prolly should be used for it since the little bastard shit on my back porch. BLAGH! Off subject, back to the cigar! Back the the 2nd quarter of this Cigar, the tobacco's flavor started to come through in a big way, I'm thinking that the Cognac flavor was there for this purpose, mostly to scare the beejeesus out of first time smokers, Because all of a sudden, this just turned into a REAL cigar, the tobacco flavor was insidiously complex and demanded that you smoke it NOW, because its soooo damn tasty! pretty much for the first two quarters of the cigar you couldn't really taste the tobacco because of the cognac taste, but now the full flavor of the cigar came through, fairly decent apple wood taste hidden back behind the stronger hazelnut taste, hints of chocolate and maybe a hint of rye, but that may have been my taste buds playing tricks on me because this went from being a light 'Occasional all-day' smoke to a 'I Need a glass of port to go with this Cigar because I'm done for the day!' smoke, roommate had a good choice in smokes. The third quarter of cigar did not disappoint, strong flavorful tobacco, with all the beauty of the ash and smoke of the first half, the tar was still very light and didn't make me haulk it up and try and puke the tar out, Most cigars seem to switch to filler after the first third, but this cigar seem to be a surprise waiting to happen, about this time I took the band off, and noticed that the wrapper was a little crackly where it had been, don't know if this was because of something due to humidity, or the sealant that they used to put the band on, the band did however slide off rather nicely, so I'm thinking that it was a humidity issue, I may have to recalibrate the hygrometer in the review humi. AHHH! They let the little demon of a dog outside, it hadn't noticed me for a little while, but just when I stopped typing the little bastard noticed me and started squeaking, but I gotta give the dog credit, it at least waited till I paused in my typing to smoke some more. Ach, now the roommate shut the damn light off, what the heck is with these people and their distractions! Anyways, back to the cigar. Due to the distractions I ended up having to relight, but the flavor didn't change at all. After about two sixteenths into the last quarter of the cigar the draw got tight, not gradually tight, but just all of a sudden taaaiiiiiight, horribly monstrosly taaiiiiight! felt like I was sucking on a piece of medical tubing that was tied at the other end, dunno what caused it, if it was the band that had caused it, or if it was a rolling issue, or if it was because I had been holding it near the end, but Damn! I took this as a sign to end the smoke, so I set it in the ashtray, and let it be. Overall, I think this was a delicious smoke, kind of a surprise in the middle, which I think gave the cigar a rather pleasing character. Definatly a repeat smoke, if for nothing else to see if it was just that one, or if that was the way that line was designed.

Undead Kittens

So yeah! Its been a while since I posted last, I realize that it's not good for a blog to go inactive like this but its been a rough couple of months. We'll be back in business shortly pumping out reviews for ya'll.

Beginning of Humidor Drama, pt. 2 (fin)

Aight! Pictures of the CB's Humidor collection Get!



As you can see, we have a variety, So starting from the top left and going American reading style:







1. The Top Left Humi is an 80 Stick humidor that is rather tempermental for some reason, we've been trying everything and it just seems like its not getting a good seal somewhere, but damned if we can figure out where.







2. Top right is a 50 Stick humi that we bought at TJ Max for 20 bucks! great buy, and it has an excellent seal, and comes with a large gardeners foam puck, after we cured it and calibrated the Hygro, it has kept a perfect 68% humidity, of all the places to find a Humi, TJ Max Did It Right! Something I have noticed, however, is the glue that holds the velcro for the puck seems to come loose after its been humidified for a while, dunno what kind of glue they used, but we will prolly end up just glueing the velcro back on and going from there.








3. Middle, Ah, the Beast, this is a Limited edition 200 stick La Grande by Humidor Supreme, This is more than likely the best Humidor I Personally have ever owned, Sad that they stopped making them, this was the one that had run up to 70% and had caused the cigars to start to burst. The solution? Take half the pucks out, and it comes down to 65%, after a couple days at that humidity the cigars seem to have recovered nicely and are doing fine, luckily its not hot enough out here yet for tobacco beetles to hatch, so all is well. This thing has Four separately humidified compartments, five if you count the shelf, each of the dividers has two gardeners foam pucks ( which explains why it was at 70%, and also proves that I wasn't firing on all cylinders at the time xD ) Currently its sitting at about half capacity, as far as cigars go, so we'll see how well it handles as time goes on.







4. Bottom Left, Ah, my little baby, this is a noname 10 stick humidor, came with a single gardeners foam puck, and is the oldest one out the the group, it was my first humidor, and I've abused it in ways that humidors shouldn't be abused, but it still keeps a pretty decent seal, and does pretty well in a pinch if i need to Offload some cigars in case of an emergency. couldnt tell you what humidity it keeps at, never put a hygrometer in it, but I've never had a problem with it.







5. Bottom Center, The guest Humidor, this is a Noventa Torano box turned Humi, humidified with a single gel puck, this is a decent 25 stick humidor, had a hygro in it for a short time and it kept a respectable 63% humidity, so not bad if your just taking cigars out of the main humidor and then putting them back after the event. I wouldn't recommend using this as your main humidor, due to the fact that it doesn't have a sealing lip, so it doesn't keep the best of pressure, but either way, great guest humi.







6. Bottom Right, Another TJ Max special! this is a 20 stick humidor, gets a good seal, and uses a large gardeners foam puck, and has the same issue with the velcro as its big brother the 50 stick, prolly going to fix it the same way. After we cured it, it seemed like whatever cigar was in there attracted a playdo smell, I'm not sure if its the lacquer smell coming in through the wood or what, but I'm going to toss some tobacco in there so that the whole thing will get the right scent.



As you can see, we have quite the collection, and have been working on the cigar part of it for several years, with any luck, we'll be filling these suckers up and getting ya'll reviews in no time.

Happy Smokes,
CB

Beginning of Humidor Drama, pt. 1

Allrighty! I know its been a while since i posted last, but I Figured I'd go ahead and make a post just for ya'll.


As you can see, our 250 stick humidor is doing rather well, and sits right at 65% (We had a bit of a mess up when I had it sitting at 70% on the dot and the cigars started to burst >.<) Later today I'll open up the Vice cabinet and take a picture of all of our humidors together, its a rather impressive amount of humidors, and we're working on getting them all filled up so we can give quality reviews to all of you! That about does it for Seven in the dang morning, its too early to smoke, and even if it wasn't, we both have a mild case of head cold, so we wouldn't be able to enjoy them anyway.

Happy Smokes,
CB

Sup

Aight, this is going to be a blog about My Roommate and I's taste of cigars, so you think: "Great, this guy thinks he's qualified to tell me what cigars are good?" well, pox on you then, both of us have been smoking cigars for over five years, and know better than to give an opinion on something that I don't have a solid opinion on and disregarding the fact that my roommate and I have differing thoughts on how a Humidor should be kept, we both enjoy smoking cigars and have each developed a unique taste in cigars, so I have good company to smoke in. I have also have a small collection of pipe tobacco on the off chance that the feeling hits me to smoke, and its too cold to smoke a full cigar, or one of my pipe smoking friends comes over. My Pipe tastes vary from meerschaums to full briar churchwardens, and the Taste varies from aromatics to English blends. I hope that you enjoy my reviews on cigars,

Happy Smokes from the Cigar Bastard