A well constructed cigar with a nice white ash and good burn. Aroma is burnt almonds, vanilla and nutmeg. It finishes short with hints of pepper. This is a good medium bodied smoke. Overall another execellant cigar from CAO.
I enjoyed this after having a Royal Jamican earlier this evening with a few Beck Lights.

LT Rating: 7.5/ 10

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I’ve always loved the Fuente Hemmingway series, and I’ve always wanted to try the Short Story in particular, mostly due to its unique size and shape. I’ve never been able to stomach the price, however. Paying $7.00 for 10-15 minutes of gar is just too much. Indeed, after the Hemmingway Work of Art turned out to be a Work of Disaster at HudGar06, I was convinced I’d never try this little gem.

Thanks to a great deal at Famous-Smoke.com, however, I finally got an economical chance to sample this little guy, and I was generally impressed. Don’t be fooled by the specs on this gar. It’s not a short robusto; it’s a perfecto, which means it’s closer to 40-guage in diameter than 48 (the size of its bulbous head). Add to that the four inch length, and the result is a cigar that starts out warm and lively from the moment you light it up. The flavor is good–classic Hemmingway, though it is a bit bitter toward the end. The burn is perfect, and it has to be: at only four inches, there’s not much room for error.

All-in-all, this is a perfect gar if you’re on borrowed time and want to smoke an primo cigar. Maybe it’s the gar you give to someone before you execute him? For me, that’s not all that often. And when I want a primo for myself, I usually want to sit back for hours. I guess in the end, at $7.00, I just don’t know what this gar is for. Rushing luxury doesn’t make any sense. And that must be what’s so charming about this gar: it’s contradictory nature.

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Internation Edition

Well, I’ve been in Strasbourg, France for the past week on business. And thus Dominican Mornings was really Dominican Evenings for me. I’ve spent the past week in search of Cuban cigars here in Strasbourg, but unfortunately it’s been very difficult to find any tacac dealers open after 5PM. And on Sunday when I finally had some spare time, all of the tabac dealers were closed. Today is my last day in France and I plan to take all necessary steps to procure some Cuban cigars before returning to the United States.

Dominican Mornings were brief but enjoyable. Topics included:

• Procuring Cubans (of course)
• Weather [Hot hot hot in Strasbourg]
• Tourist events in Strasbourg. Castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg
• OS/2 - Popular Operating System in Europe
• Arturo Fuente Sampler Purchase
• Del Taco and the OC

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Sampler Includes 20 Cigars + Desktop Humidor
5 x 5 Vegas Classic Torpedo (6 x 54)
5 x 5 Vegas A Limited Ed. Atomic (4.5 x 54)
5 x 5 Vegas Gold Toro (6 x 50)
5 x 5 Vegas Limitada 2006 Torpedo (6.25 x 52)
1 x Desktop Humidor (20 Ct.)

Regular Price: $125.00
One Day Price $59.95!

Comments:

Another humidor special this week.  Maybe all these different on-line retailers are owned by the same company?

At any rate, I’m just not as ambitious as I was when I first started smoking gars.  These days, I’m not buying 20 of anything unless I know I like it or the reviews are fantastic.  I’ve never had a 5 vegas, and the reviews on top25cigar.com put these as mediocre smokes at best.  Moreover, I don’t need another average-quality humidor (particularly a branded one for a product I’ve never tried).   In short, this is a good deal if you’re looking to stock up on moderately priced smokes that will get the job done (and little else) and you’ve been waiting for a starter-humidor deal.  Otherwise I suggest passing on this.

PS:  Since there were no great specials this week, I went searching for some additonal deals and found a great Arturo Fuente sampler at www.famous-smoke.com for 49.95 (plus shipping).  You get 14 Fuentes, including 4 Hemmingways(!), for just under 50 bucks.  I’ll take 14 Fuentes to 20 budget-gars-in-a-box anyday….

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The Montecristo Golf Set.

1 Hexagonal Montecristo Humidor (holds at least 27 cigars)
9 White belicosos
9 Platnium belicosos
9 Original belicosos
Assorted golf extras (tees, mostly)

Price: $129.00

Comments:
This is a very good deal. The Belicoso versions of these gars are worth $129.00 all by themselves, particularly the whites (which make excellent morning smokes). The fantastic humidor only sweetens the deal. Ordinarily this collection sells for at least $250.00, so this is a steal–at least by JR’s standards (never seen it anywhere else). If you’re in need of a humidor or like the Montecristo moniker, this is a good purchase. As I already have a Montecristo-dor, the only reason to buy these would be if I really liked Montecristos. I don’t. Not anymore, not these at any rate. Brother-M is out of the country this week, so I guess that means the brothers will not be purchasing.

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La Fincas:
Robusto (4.5 x 50)
EMS     $24.95
Maduro   $24.95

Fifty Four (5.0 x 54)
EMS     $28.95
Maduro     $28.95

Comments:
About a year ago, I ordered a box of the EMS Robustos “on special,” meaning they came with five free “fifty fours,” so I got to try both EMS versions of these gars for around $35.00.  All things being equal, I wasn’t too impressed.  These gars had below average draw and terrible burn.  Plenty of Nicaraguan flavor, however; so much so that I started calling them “La Stinkas.”

In the end, these are not bad gars for the price–if you smoke four or five gars a day, might as well stock up now.  Those with less of a death wish should stick to something with better construction.

rate 5.5

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This was a great series of “Dominican Mornings.” Brother-M was in town for Sister-L’s MBA graduation, and the brothers made sure to take advantage of their time together by getting in some first-class gar time. We started on Friday evening (Saturday morning, really) with La Flor Dominica Double Ligero 700’s–huge 6.5 x 60 fat boy gars that lasted a good hour-and-a-half. From there, we moved on to Fuente Single Chateaus, CAO Criollo Bombas, CAO Italias, S.T. Duponts, and even a CAO Brazilla. In between gars, we went to the Angels game (vs. Padres), Sister-L’s graduation and after party, the old Del Taco and Circle-K (by the Spruce place) and had plenty of beers at his wife’s parents place. Among other things, we discussed the benefits of living in So. Cal, work woes, international travel, and Brother-N’s upcoming travels. We also watched “Sin City” on a kick ass big screen. All-in-all it was rather painful to have to go back to work today. A great weekend indeed.

I’m looking forward to Brother-M’s return from his trip to Strassburg so we can fire up some great gars and talk about his travels.

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