I was gonna make this post another in our "Broadening" series but we've pretty much reserved that title for beer. Yeah, cigars ARE included in those posts from time to time, but we're mostly on about the beer here (or there). Today we're drinking more of the same...which this week is sumthin' from those oh-so-delicious Sammy Adams Winter Seasonal 12-packs... but we're smokin' sumthin' quite different. One o' these:
It's a damned fine cigar when ya get right down to it... and I'm about one-third of the way down to it (the end of it). There's jes one small lil drawback, however. From the linked review:
Overall: For a cigar that started as a gimmick and a prop for my sense of humor it turned out to be a pretty good cigar. The only thing that bothers me is the price. At 10.00 a stick it is a lot of gelt (Yiddish for money) to be handing over for a cigar. At that price point there are other cigars I rather smoke, but it was nice to have Kinky over for the holiday and he won’t be a stranger to my humidor.
Yeah, what he said. I don't think I'll buying Kinkys by the box anytime soon, but I will keep my eye out for samplers that include one of his cigars... which is how I came by this one.
"What experiment," you may ask? This (from an old post):
Speaking of... I bought myself a box of Deep Dishes for Christmas and that box remains largely untouched, as I'm engaged in a lil experiment. I read somewhere that aging a cigar has much the same effect as aging fine wine... as in "the older, the better." That presupposes you keep the cigars properly humidified, of course, which I'm doing. So, we pulled one of the now three-month old Deep Dishes out of the humidor yesterday, fired it up, and I couldn't tell if it was any better or not. There may be two things in play here: (1) I haven't given the cigars enough time to age properly or (2) I just don't have an educated palate. As far as (1) goes... I'm not sure if I have the will power to let the cigars age for a year or more. And there ain't no fixin' (2). It is what it is.
I published that about four months into the experiment. I'm happy to report that (a) not only did we HAVE the willpower to see this thang through (there bein' three aged cigars left in the stash, as of yesterday) and (b) I got a second opinion from SN1 yesterday about the project. His verdict? Hard to tell, but the stick seemed more mellow... which meshes with my opinion, as well. The only way to really tell is to smoke two sticks back-to-back, one fresh outta the box and one aged. My bottom line is the project wasn't entirely without merit but it's also highly unlikely I'll ever repeat it. My palate just isn't that refined to notice any differences.
I'm surprised that I let those cigars age for well over a year. Why? Simply because I'm not known for my will power... now or evah.
Longtime readers here at EIP know the post title is my way of referring to the Supreme Being, whose existence I acknowledge with the express caveat that I'm not sure what his or her name is. I'm also fond o' sayin' that I hope the Supreme Being is a goddess and her name is Phoebe or Athena or something like that. And I'm only half-joking... I'm pretty partial to the old gods and goddesses. Thor would be in the running, too, for that matter.
But we digress. I'm adding another candidate to the Deity Pool... this guy:
The 'toon came to me by way of a "special edition" of Cigar Journal that was bundled along with this month's cigar re-supply. Ya gotta like this deity's style.
Remember last week when I said I wrote my congresscritters about the FDA and cigars? Well, today I got a response... the only response, so far... from Senator Tom Udall. Here it is, in its entirety:
January 12, 2012
Dear Mr. Pennington,
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 1461, the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, yet every day thousands of children have their first cigarette. Because of this and other statistics on the health risks, health costs and addictive nature of smoking, in June 2009 the Senate passed with my support S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), by a vote of 79-17. The House version of this bill passed on April 2, 2009 and President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law on June 22, 2009.
This law gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to regulate the manufacturing, distribution, advertising, promotion, sale, and use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and other tobacco products, subject to clarification by future guidance. The FDA subsequently issued strict restrictions on cigarette and smokeless tobacco sale, distribution, product labeling, marketing and advertising towards minors.
In July 2011, the FDA indicated its intent to issue a proposed rule that would deem cigars, dissolvable tobacco, and e-cigarettes subject to the FSPTCA and the FDA's jurisdiction. The FDA has not yet issued this rule, but expects to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking this fall. Following publication of the proposed rulemaking, the FDA plans to accept and review public comments before issuing its final rulemaking.
In response to this, on August 1, 2011, Senator Bill Nelson (FL) introduced S. 1461, to exempt traditional large and premium cigars from regulation by the FDA and from user fees assessed on tobacco products by the FDA. Upon introduction, S. 1461 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, where no further action has occurred. I will be sure to keep your comments in mind should S. 1461 or any related legislation come before the Senate for a vote.
Oh, my aching ass. Thanks, Nanny. I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of my decision to become a New Mexican, as my representative and both of my senators were solid, right-thinking Republicans when I was a Texan. Now? They're all frickin' Democrats. I suppose that's incentive for me to get out and vote (which I ALWAYS do) but my county is decidedly RED, as are most rural constituencies in these United States. It doesn't help my attitude to find out that S.1461 is languishing in committee, where bills go to die. Today ain't off to a great start.
I like it. It's been over 15 years since I was last in Scotland, but this brew meshes quite well with my memory of Scottish Heavy. I don't think we'll do two of 'em, though, even if we are so very tempted. This is a tasty beer. Strong, too.
That fat stick o' incense to the left o' the beer is looks a lot like a Gurkha Status Natural in the torpedo size. You might think that's a cigar, but who are ya gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?
"Limited interest" unless you smoke cigars, at which time there's this excerpt from an e-mail I received from cigar.com...
By now, nothing should surprise us with the way the government views our hobby. The last few years were some of the most important and influential in the long history of the cigar industry. Between taxes, smoking bans, and regulations, the government keeps trying everything in their power to regulate the cigar industry into oblivion. As enthusiasts, we carry the torch of defiance through these troubling times and we hold firm in our beliefs of our beloved hobby. But the fight is not over...
Currently, the FDA is trying to insert itself into our hobby; they proposed a bill that would dramatically alter the way we all enjoy premium cigars. Some of the regulations include banning walk-in humidors at your local tobacconist, banning any non face-to-face tobacco sales (which means mail order and internet sales), banning color advertisements for cigars, banning the words "cigar" or "tobacco" from advertisements and store fronts, and forcing manufacturers to submit blends for "testing." That's a lot of bans, huh? So what does this all mean for you? You'll have to go to "speakeasies" to pick up cigars, which you won't be allowed to view with your own eyes, only to find out the new blend you wanted isn't available yet - it's still going through "testing" with the FDA.
In short, this is a call to arms. A bill filed under the name Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act (H.R. 1639 and Senate Bill 1461) is now being proposed to protect all of us. Please use the link below to contact your local congressman and urge them to support this act. In these turbulent, economic times, the government seems more concerned with regulating your hobbies and leisure activities than getting the economy in order and balancing the budget. It's your time to speak up and get your voice heard! Use the link below and let freedom ring: Fight to Stop the FDA Click Here
There's more at the link, including a nifty little app that will send an editable message to your Congresscritters. Which I did, of course.
―:☺:―
Back to Firefox... I noticed some weirdness between IE9 and Blogger over the last few days and my initial reaction was to think it was just Blogger bein' Blogger, where the occasional episode of weirdness and petulant dysfunction isn't exactly unknown. First it was the "quote" button's apparent non-function... I fixed that by editing the HTML, inserting the "blockquote" command and "end blockquote" command in the appropriate places. Then I tried to put up a post with video from yesterday's Bruins-Canucks game and Blogger simply REFUSED to accept video from either the NHL or The Tube O' You. I posted a couple o' drafts and wound up deleting both, mainly coz the missing video was the point of the whole post. Today it was Blogger refusing to include the image you see above, cut and pasted from an e-mail I received from cigar.com. IE9 also wouldn't import the link in the final quoted paragraph. So that famous lil lightbulb went on over my head and we opened up FF, cut 'n' pasted the quoted bits above and everythang was cool. How weird, eh?
Oh. Mr. Gates? You're fired.
―:☺:―
Here's that video I tried to post yesterday:
The fight in the vid above is one of the longest hockey fights I've ever seen. The linesmen didn't intervene, mainly coz they were tied up refereeing three OTHER fights. While it wasn't an old-fashioned bench clearing brawl it was the next best thing and there were 48 minutes in penalties handed out for that lil scrum, including a game misconduct. That was an excellent hockey game... fisticuffs aside... featuring world-class goaltending, a penalty shot, and an outcome that was in doubt until the final horn sounded. It was also the best game I watched yesterday, given the Beloved Wings lost a close one in Toronto. But we don't wanna talk about THAT.
Two days in a row, this broadening thang. Today it's a Sammy Adams Chocolate Bock (rated "B" at BA) which is included in a 12-pack of winter seasonal ales I picked up today. Like this:
Yeah, I know. I made a beer run yesterday but the local likker locker didn't have the seasonal "Winter Classics" 12-packs (which includes two each of the above plus two Old Fezziwig Ales, two Black & Brews, two Winter Lagers, two Holiday Porters, and two Boston Lagers) and Wally-World did. Go figger on that one, eh? But... in this neck o' the woods ya gotta jump on these thangs while ya can, coz ya never know how long they'll be around or even if they'll come back once the first round is gone.
As for the beer itself? I give it a B+... mebbe even an A-. Hearty, tasty, full-bodied, and warming... a perfect accompaniment to one of those Drew Estate Cafe con Leches I got in the mail the other day. And I mean PERFECT.
Is this a case of adding insult to injury, or what? That's why I look pissed, out o' focus, and not unlike Rasputin on a bad day. Coz I AM all that and a bag o' chips.
We were still drinkin' our morning (heh) coffee when Happy Hour time rolled around but we think we're caffeinated enough to make it through the rest of the day, even if we're leavin' a couple o' cups in the pot. As a good friend o' mine useta say... "Sometimes it bees like that." Today is one of those days.
But... to the bid'niz at hand. No, make that the pleasure at hand:
That's a Linenkugel Fireside Nut Brown. I like this brew, unlike one o' The Bros, who gave the beer a "D." A D! That means "avoid" in BA-speak. I firmly disagree and I'm not the only one who doesn't share Mr. Alström's point o' view, as the consensus opinion on this tasty nut brown ale is C+ and that's based upon 347 reviews. Personally? I'd give it a B, mainly coz I like the smoky taste that is quite prominent in this brew. It's definitely a seasonal sorta thang, and it goes very well with a chilly Fall kinda day.
Today's cigar is a box-pressed Ave Maria, a stick I have some small experience with and a worthy companion to the Fireside Nut Brown. You'll note that I'm both politically and legally correct today: the cigar sits in the ashtray unlit.
And now it's time to layer up (coz it's a mere 52 degrees outside) and take this show out to the verandah.
Update, 1555 hrs: Well, THAT didn't last long. I could handle the 52 degrees but I couldn't handle 52 degrees along with the brisk breeze that accompanied the chill. So we're back indoors to enjoy our beer in the coziness of El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington. Sans cigar. (Sigh)
I haven't done one of these Broadening thangs in a while... what with us sticking to what we know best for well over a month now... so it's time. Past time, actually. So, there we were out at the Cannon Class VI Store this morning when we noticed a passel of these on the shelf:
That's a New Belgium Lips of Faith Super Cru, about which one of The Bros has this to say:
Big beer brewed with Asian pear juice. Shiny copper color; two-finger head drops to a thin ring of lace. Some vague floral fruitiness meets spiciness, with medicinal herb and alcohol in the nose. Some smoothness, slick with a big body. Mild tartness with a thick malty foundation, and a hint of sweetness up front. Toasted bread and ripe fruit soon make way for a more toasty, dry, almost broth-like flavor. Spicy, boozy alcohol, rose water and tropical fruit. Semidry finish clings to the booziness. A serious beer if strength is considered, though beyond that, it lacks a bit of depth that was expected. A tasty brew nonetheless.
The general consensus is the beer rates a B- and so much for criticism... I like it, even if it IS fruity, but it's not TOO fruity. I'd give it a solid A, but you have to realize I'm predisposed to like pretty much everythang New Belgium puts out. We've paired the brew up with an old favorite... an Acid Kuba Kuba. Now it's time to adjourn to the verandah before the Smoking Police come and bust me for lighting a cigar inside the house. Whatever will I do when winter comes?
Which means "Just In Time," in logistics-speak. That was the case with today's mail, where we were re-supplied just in time with these:
Those are Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve in the Lancero size. Note the extraneous "E" hung on the perfectly good and serviceable standard spelling of "old." I am NOT impressed; as a matter o' fact I find that practice rather annoying.
We were down to our very last everyday cigar... one each... the five sticks in the jar at right are what remains of my on-going experiment to "see if aging makes any difference" where taste, etc. is concerned. If you've been with me for a while (and have been paying attention) you know I set aside about a dozen of those Deep Dish beauties last Christmas for the experiment. Five are all that remain... what with me smoking about one a month as part of the evaluation process. Right now I'm of the opinion that aging a cigar for six months is a worthwhile endeavor, as these sticks are now the softest and most pliable cigars I've ever smoked... which is a left-handed way of saying they are fully humidified, perhaps even over-humidified. My guess is the smoking time lasts just a bit longer, as the cigar seems to burn a lil slower than I remember a fresh-out-o'-the-box Deep Dish doing. I haven't noticed any change in the taste: they're still wonderful.
The sun went over the yardarm about 20 minutes ago, so now I think it's time to put fire to the end of one of those OWRs and pop open a 1554. Lunch, in other words.
The restocking of the humidor... two Drew Estate samplers, described thusly:
Staying true to the Drew Estate mantra, this sampler is anything but conservative. Whether you're an infused cigar junkie or you're just looking to switch up your normal routine, this sampler aims to please.
Three Six each (ed: coz I bought two) of Natural Limited Edition Irish Hops, Natural Big Dirt Torpedo, ACID Kuba Kuba, and the highly acclaimed Tabak Especial Limited Edition Red Eye. Expect sweet flavors ranging from coffee infusion to unique mixes of herbs and botanicals.
Only one of the cigars included in the sampler is new to me, and that would be the Irish Hops stick. I'm a big fan of the others and buy them by the box quite regularly. So... we just sparked up a Big Dirt Torpedo, poured us a State Pen Porter... a perfectly poured Porter as it were, even if the head receded somewhat before I got the camera out... and Happy Hour is under way, as we speak!
Kinda-sorta, in that we do this Octoberfest thang every year around this time...
That's a Sammy Adams Octoberfest, about which one of the Bros has this to say:
T&M- Very malty, not overly sweet. Lots of bready notes, lightly toasted crust comes to mind. Kiss of hops to balance, slight herbal flavor. Finishes semi-sweet with a lingering maltiness.
D- A tasty choice this year, its good to have a fresh O-fest rather than getting burned by a stale imported O-fest that has been sitting around since last year.
Yup... fresh. And good. That's the remnants of a Rocky Patel Decade you see idling in the ash tray. The reason you see a remnant is we're just in from runnin' our errands depleting our bank account; we got a head start on the cigar thang while runnin' our errands for the comfort that was in it. This buyin' new furniture might be fun for some people but I hate what it's doin' to my bank balance.
We're just back from the mailbox where we retrieved a timely shipment of new cee-gars... ten San Lotano box-pressed maduros and ten Man O' War Puro Authenticos. As for the "just in time" bit... you can see we were down to our last stick. Well, that's not entirely true because we still have five of those Deep Dishes we're aging (seven months and counting... and we hope at least ONE will make it a year) and about 20 or so of those small Blondies we got a couple o' weeks ago. But the Blondies are 20-minute smokes and not quite suitable for After Dinner Whiskey Hour... unless I do three of the things back to back to back. I rather prefer a single cigar that will last for the entire hour or slightly longer, as we've been staying outside quit a bit later these last few evenings. It's the stars, Gentle Reader... the stars!
And now I do believe it's time to fire up one of those Puro Authenticos, pour a beer (undecided about what flavor at the moment), and go sit my old ass down under the awning and read the paper. I fear bad things might be happening in the world today but it's waaay too early to turn the teevee on and I haven't had my attitude adjusted yet.
T'is the season to be jolly... coz the summer seasonal brews are upon us. Here's the best of which I've sampled this year:
That would be a Somersault summer seasonal ale from my favorite brewery up in Fort Collins, CO about which the consensus opinion at Beer Advocate is a not-often-seen B+. Me? I give the brew an "A"... no ifs, ands, or buts. Yeah, it's THAT good! And ain't that label clever?
Our cigar today is an Oliva Serie V in the Double Toro size. And boy-howdy, you'd better have your boots on when you fire one of these puppies up. The Serie V is a highly rated cigar (94 by Cigar Aficionado) but it's also one of the strongest cigars I've ever had. I'm thinkin' we'll smoke this in two parts today, based on my previous experience. We'll do half now and save the other half for After Dinner Whiskey Hour, where the cigar will pair much better with the current single malt than it does with this light, dry, and citrusy beer we're drinkin' at the moment.
One of the things I like about G+ is the "sparks" feature... which allows you to specify interests and then gives you a daily list of articles from around these inner-nets that fall into the category or categories you've defined. I've defined a few interests, all of them obvious, like cigars, beer, and single-malts. Here's a few grafs from a lil sumthin' in the Beaumont, Tejas local paper that popped up in the "cigars" category yesterday:
Cigar boxes are no longer a part of childhood. In an office supply store last week I saw a display of plastic boxes for children for use in school, for storing pens and pencils and glue and scissors and all the other easily-misplaced little impedimenta of very young artists.
Once upon a time, children employed wooden cigars boxes for such purposes; if one's father didn't smoke cigars then someone else's did, and so nice little wooden boxes were as common as 1943 steel pennies. I suppose that if now a child were to carry his art supplies to school in a cigar box he would be sent for therapy and his parents filed on with some state agency for Not Thinking Correctly.
The plastic boxes for sale now contain only air, and to a father that's disappointing; wooden cigar boxes came filled with, well, cigars, so everyone was happy. Contemporary boxes are filled with nothing more than the chemical aromas of Shanghai, and no one ever celebrated an accomplishment or a birth by lighting up a victory Chinese air molecule.
In another time-space dimension, the birth of a child was celebrated by the proud father handing out cigars to his pals. Upon retrospect one realizes that the young mother probably needed a cigar more than anyone, but such an image would not make an appropriately-sentimental greeting card. One wonders if somewhere there is at least one mother who smokes cigars while holding her infant, in Newton County, perhaps.
The article goes on at some length and it's quite a good reminiscence. I do relate to the first few thoughts expressed above... I kept my childhood treasures in Dutch Masters boxes that were handed down from the Ol' Man. My friends all had cigar boxes, too. We kept our baseball cards in 'em, our marble collections (yeah, I shot marbles as a kid... do you know ANY kid that does that today?), and, for me, my model airplane paraphernalia... paint brushes, glue, small bottles of Testors paint, not to mention scads and scads of leftover decals. I had more than a few cigar boxes.
I still have more than a few cigar boxes (see right), even after I've "gifted" ("pawned off" would be more descriptive) more than a few of 'em to grandson Sean and even some friends. I find it hard to throw away these small objects of beauty, as I struggle to find some sort of use for 'em. They only take up valuable and limited space right now, even considering the fact a couple o' boxes hold my Small Treasures, even today.
So... we have boxes. If you have a child you want to indulge with a nostalgic sort of gift, drop me a line. I've been known to ship, gratis. And I have a few boxes on hand.
I think I swore off fruity beers back in March after one too many close encounters of the cloying kind. Well, hope does spring eternal (ask any dumbass who voted for Obama) so here we go again:
That would be a Shiner Ruby Redbird, which supposedly has gen-you-wine Texas Ruby Red grapefruit juice in the bottle, somewhere. Beer Advocate doesn't come down too hard on the lil ol' brewery in Shiner, Tejas... rating the beer a C+... and I think that's about right. This particular fruit beer is far from cloyingly sweet; it actually has a rather pleasant tangy taste about it. I like it.
Our cigar today is a '93' rated La Perla Habana Morado, and please note the linked reviewer is a girl. We're tryin' to make amends for yesterday's somewhat chauvinistic remarks about coppin' feels on over-dressed wimmens. Pennance and all that.
More about which (the cigar): nice graphics on the band, given you smoke the cigar and not the band. Still, I appreciate the "art," if'n ya wanna call it that.
So: here's lunch or part of it, anyhoo. Like Mr. Buffett sang: "it's five o'clock somewhere." That would be 1700 hrs for us military types.
We got resupplied with cee-gars today, opting this time for a box o' Acid Blondies, our favorite small cigar. Small cigars are good because there are times when a half-hour smoke is better than one lasting an hour or I might want to have two half-hour smokes, as the case might be. So... it was a box of Blondies, like so:
I had an e-mail conversation with Tim (my go-to guy at cigar.com) when I ordered the Blondies, sayin' I wanted a small cigar, loved the Blondies based on past experience, but would entertain other suggestions if he had any. He responded with "let me send ya a few samples." And so he did.
I was gratified to find eight small cigars included in this shipment... three different flavors from Man O' War, two different Diesels, two from La Herencia Cubana, and an Ave Maria. I should mention those ain't cheap-o cigars, either. But then again, I'm a pretty good customer... you wouldn't wanna know how much I drop on cigars on a monthly basis, not that I'd ever tell ya. But Tim treats me right.
So. All that said, we're currently puffin' away on a La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte (with which we had a loverly prior experience) and sippin' on the Newcastle you see in the pic above.
Life is good even if it is a bit warm, which is code for yet another indoor Happy Hour.
There are times when I wonder why I'm still in P-Ville, especially when I read stuff like this:
Burn is an exercise in design fusion and this was accomplished by incorporating the dark, ambient lighting of a hookah bar with stained-glass embellishments, lit candles and well-researched furnishings. Intricate Moroccan-style lanterns hang from the ceiling throwing an almost ritualistic light on Burn's marble surfaces and inlaid tile floors.
"The stone bar is underlit to look like flowing, volcanic lava," says Patel. "The effect is stunning. All these details combined with the cigar allow you to take a journey."
Burn is a "branded" cigar lounge, aka cigar bar, in Naples, Florida. The trend in branded, upscale cigar bars is spreading all over these United States, according to the linked article in Cigar Aficionado. I remember the joys of goin' to a good cigar bar in the wayback, chief among them bein' the opportunity to broaden your horizons by picking and choosing from the wide selection of cigars available on the premises and spending quiet quality time with friends in a well-furnished room. There ain't no such animal here in flyover country, and more's the pity.
We could claim there's a similar environment here on the verandah of ElCasaMóvildePennington... but we would be lying. There ain't no lissome, cigar-smoking brunettes loungin' on the bar and shootin' "come hither" glances my way, nor are there tuxedo-clad men. Hell, there ain't even a BAR, for that matter. But the environment is cigar-friendly and that's a beginning.
