I first tried Don Lino’s Africa line during my “week off extravaganza.”  I was pleasently surprised by the flavor and construction of this gar.  I was hoping I would enjoy this exclusive blend because I wanted the yellow-eye maple box almost as I wanted the cigars.  When I found a great deal on the Dumas at famous-smoke.com, I ordered it immediately.  The box sure is pretty, but the gars are even better.  They are utterly unique, almost cuban in their complexity, with hints of spice and nutmeg.  These sticks are everything full-bodied smokes should be, and I was able to get mine for only $4.00 per stick.  They are not to be missed. 

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The Brothers started off with what has become their usual Friday-night fare: great gars, booze and Battlefield Vietnam.  Uncle Moneybags celebrated his purchase of a box of Don Lino Africa Dumas (which he rates a solid 8.0), while Brother Dicksbain “enjoyed” a Gurkha Beast (which he rated a dismal 5.5) and some Sol Cubanos from the latest cigar.com deal.  Topics discussed included work woes, CTG business strategy, Dark Star One, holiday plans, HudGar 2007, and, of course, great gars.  Other highlights include Uncle Moneybags’ “night out” at his friend’s wedding, during which far too much alcohol was consumed.  Brother Dicksbain planned to do some housework, but ultimately abandoned his plans due to rain (and a leak in his roof).  All-in-all it was rather standard fare.  Another solid weekend.

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This monster perfecto from Gurkha was a decent overall stick. Composed of a Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan filler, and Cameroon binder one would expect this to be on the spicy side, and it delivered. It was buttery with a very peppery finish. However, it lacked any real complexity you might expect from a super premium cigar such as this. It did offer some of the best early flavors of almost any cigar I’ve had, but later transitioned into a pretty standard Nicaraguan once it warmed. As with most perfectos, burn and contruction were not perfect and a few corrections were necessary to keep this one going. I have two more of these resting in the humidor and I look forward to trying these again soon.

Leafy Rating: 8/10
Top25Cigar.com Ratings

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A staple in Dominican puros, this gar has good draw and even burn, but really suffers from a lack of depth. It’s not that this gar is bitter or harsh; it’s just that it’s one-dimensional, having the same exact taste from draw to exhale, from start to finish. This gar may please amatures, but it will leave aficianados with an empty palate. This is particularly disappointing for a larger-sized cigar, as larger sizes typically provide greater opportunity for cigars to show diversity.
Leafy Rating: 6.5/10

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This is a big, wonderful cigar from Rocky Patel. I have smoked 2 in the past and I’ve let this one age for about a month in the humidor. I think the aging really helped calm these down. Probably a few more month would bring these into near perfection.

A full-bodied cigar that had great construction and burned nice and slow. Flavors were dark chocolate, creamy and buttery. A nice burnt toffee sweetness finish.

A good 1.5 hour smoke to start up Dominican Mornings.

Leafy Rating: 8.5/10
top25cigar.com Reviews

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JR Cigar

Buy five TTT Trinidad (Toros or Robustos) cigars and get an ashtray, Colibri Leather Cigar Case, and Torch Lighter Combo. With a PPG of $7.80, this deal is just not worth it. Sure if you don’t already have enough freebie lighters and ashtrays you might consider this as the TTT’s are great gars. I’ve only been smoking now for less than 2 yrs and I have 6 free ashtrays and a few lighters. Perhaps this is a good gift to buy for someone looking to get into cigars.
Brother’s Purchased?: /
PPG (price per gar): $7.80
Deal Rating: 2.5
Deal Direct URL: Click Here

Cigar.com One Day Deal

Cigar.com loves their samplers and I love them for bringing together some great smokes I normally wouldn’t buy. This week they’re offering a Sampler including 9 Gurkha Ultra Premium Cigars for $59.95:

3 x Gurkha Legend Perfecto (6 x 60)
3 x Gurkha Beast (6.5 x 58)
3 x Gurkha Centurian XX (6 x 60)

I was on the fence with the deal but finally decided that I would great not having it when it was gone. These are all gigantic cigars that will need to be saved for Dominican Mornings when the cold weather returns.

This a great example of why we factor the PPG into these deals. Would you rather have 5 TTT’s or 9 Gurkha Ultra Premium Cigars for a lower price per gar? No brainer.

Brother’s Purchased?: /
PPG (price per gar): $6.66
Deal Rating: 9.0
Deal Direct URL: Click Here

JR Cigar 1AM Madness

I sorely miss JR’s 1AM madness and I wish they would bring it back. Send them a note asking for it’s return here!

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Maduro cigars are growing on me. In my early days of smoking gars, I found they were just too over powering to experience the subtleties that I’m now actually starting to appreciate.

The Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduros are a great maduro for those who don’t quite consider themselves huge maduro fans. It’s a medium/medium full bodied cigar that has great flavor derived primarily from it’s Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Earthy, with a molasses undertone that really balances this cigar out. This one really gets going around the 2/3 point and doesn’t let up until the very end. This is what a good maduro should be.

Rating: 7.5/10

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I ordered a box of 25 of these last week from Jr Cigar at $49. Having tried the S.T. Duponts from the Dominican Republic and enjoying them in the past, this purchase was pretty easy to make. ST Dupont has recently switched production to Nicaragua for these cigars and thus I expected a stronger, spicier cigar than their obsolete Dominican siblings.

The packaging for the S.T. Duponts is second to none. The box comes wrapped in two cardboard boxes. 1 to protect the cigar box and one to protect the cigar box cover I guess. The cigar box itself is a high gloss black piano lacquer with gold inlay. High quality packaging generally lends itself to good cigar quality, and the ST Duponts don’t disappoint.

This is great medium-bodied cigar all around. The taste is peppery with hints of cloves. The burn is excellent. The construction is wonderful. I’ve now smoked 9 of these and I have ordered another box from JR that arrived yesterday. I think ST Dupont made the right move switching production over to Nicaragua.

Rating: 8/10

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What can I say? I smoked a lot of gars on my week off, including CAOs, Arturo Fuentes, TTT Trinidads, Perdomos, Montecristos, Rocky Patels, Sancho Panzas, S.T. Duponts, Cusanos, just to name a few brands. Truly a great week off. While I don’t have time to review every gar I smoked (estimated at a total of 40), I am going to review the gars purchased specifically for the occassion. In no particular order they are:

1. CAO Italia Gondola (Torpedo) - still a great smoke, but I prefer this blend in the robusto size (Caio). But after smoking approximately 10 of these in the past 5 months, I’m starting to think they could use more depth. Of the five I smoked during this week, the best was the first one I had: as soon as I left work with a whole week off ahead of me.

2. Leon Jimenes Don Fernando (Corona) - this is quite possibly the most over-hyped, over-priced cigar I’ve ever had. I paid an even $10.00 for this thing, and it lasted for only 15 minutes. Still, I spent the better part of the week trying to figure out why it’s so damn expensive. And I still don’t get it. Flavor and burn were good, but not great. In short: Nothing special and criminally expensive. I’ve got to stop listening to the guys at cigar.com

3. Padron 1964 Anniversary Principe (Corona Gorda) - truly a masterpiece. I smoked this one with Brother Dicksbain during HudGar 2006 version 1.5 (Wednesday), while he had an Imperiale. This gar is like eating lobster. Buttery, sweet, full of flavor. I was glad to find these for sale at the Classic Vendome because now I can buy them at will. Prices were good, too: about $12.99 for the Exclusivo.

4. La Aurora 1495 Churchill - good depth and decent flavor, but terrible draw and burn. So bad I had to put this one out early, which was severly dissappointing given that I paid $11.95 for this gar. After smoking this, I came to the conclusion that the Churchill is the worst size for gars.

5. Don Lino Africa Kifaro (Torpedo) - another great smoke in SLO, this gar was like smoking a piece of dark chocolate. Utterly unique, and very spicy, I will definitely be ordering some more of these. Great draw and burn and a good value, too.

6. Pryme (Robusto) - A nice mild-bodied cigar with floral notes and hints of peppermint. I bought one of these on a whim, and I’m glad I did. They are a bit overpriced, probably due to their limited production, but they are worth trying if you can find them. Draw was acceptable after the first third or so.

7. Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Robusto - A mammoth-Fuente enjoyed during Dominican Mornings on 8/12/06 in place of the CAO Odyssey (which we never smoked, see below). Fantastic in every respect except for draw. Had to suck the hell out of it to get any smoke. Terrific nutmeg flavor and great burn. A satisfying smoke if you’ve got the time and the muscle for it.

Cigars purchased but NOT smoked:

A. La Aurora 100 Anniversary Robusto - a great looking gar that will only get better with time, and I want to save it for a special occasion. I have a few occasions in mind, and I’m sure it won’t last more than three months.

B. CAO Odyssey Odyssey - Brother Dicksbain and I decided not to smoke these on account of the horrible reviews on top25cigars.com. No one seems to have ever enjoyed this gar. Add to that its high price, and the fact that it looks great just sitting in the humidor, we decided to hang on to them indefinitely.

C. CAO 65th Anniversary Tonto - Another CAO specialty gar that I was looking forward to, but ultimately decided to save because of its poor reviews, yet high-quality appearance. I guess some gars are better to look at than to smoke.
HudGar 2006 version 1.5 / Dominican Mornings:
During my time off, Brother Dicksbain and I spent a lot of time playing Battlefield Vietnam. When we weren’t playing, we discussed (and at times, even debated) just about everything, from Eve Online to housing prices, to relationships, to computer games, to wireless routers, to what we’ve done in the past three years, to the future–and of course, we discussed gars, gars, gars. Some great moments, as always.

Vacation Highlights:
During my time off, I played through “The Bard’s Tale,” which I purchased lawfully from the Classic Fry’s Electronics in Anaheim. I went to the OC twice, the Classic Circle-K and Del Taco, and then to SLO for two days. While in SLO, I went for long walks through campus and downtown, met up with an old friend and smoked some great gars, and hand-waxed my car in Morro Bay (while smoking a Rocky Patel). The rest of the week, I took it easy at home and had a root canal (sucked). I am dreading going back to work tomorrow, but I believe things will be better now that I’ve had a little break. Only time will tell.Viva cigars!

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We had so much fun at Hudgar 2006, that we decided we needed to have another, condensed or “extreme” version of this wonderful event. Today will be marked with smoking some ultra premium cigars, good conversation, and even another Angels vs Indians baseball game to cap it off. We might even get a few rounds of BF:V in.

Here’s the starting lineup:

Dicksbain

1. CAO Odyssey Odyssey, 6.7 X 55
2. Arturo Fuente OpusX XXX, 4.63 X 48
3. Padron 1964 Anniversary Imperial, 6 X 54

Uncle Moneybag$

1. CAO Italia Gondola (Torpedo), 6.25 X 54
2. Leon Jimenes Don Fernando #4, 5.5 X 42
3. Padron 1964 Anniversary Principe, 4.5 X 46
4. La Aurora 1495 Churchill, 7 X 50
5. Don Lino Africa Kifaro, 6.25 X 52
6. Pryme, 5.15 X 52
7. Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Don Carlos Double Robusto, 5.75 X 52
8. La Aurora 100 Anniversary Robusto, 5 X 50
9. CAO Odyssey Odyssey, 6.7 X 55
10. CAO 65th Anniversary Tonton, 5 X 50

Uncle Moneybag$ unofficially started Hugar v1.5 on Saturday as he begun his condensed week long “sabbatical” from work. Hence his disportionate number of premium smokes.

Reviews, topics, and fun fun fun to follow!

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Another fine set of mornings/afternoons/evenings. This edition of DM marked the beginning of Uncle Moneybags’ (formerly Brother Delonne) week off. We were generally in good spirits, given the upcoming HudGar2006 1.5, which is this Wednesday. Brother Dicksbain ordered the CAO Oddessey, the Padron 1964 Imperial, and a (gasp) OpusX XXX Perfection. Uncle Moneybags ordered two Padrons(!), an Oddessey, a CAO 65th Anniversary Robusto, a Leon Jimmenez Don Fernando, some CAO Italias, a Pryme Robusto, a La Aurora 1495 Churchill, a La Aurora 100 Anos Robusto, an Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Corona (let’s face it, he has a whole week off).  Be sure to stay tunned for the reviews of Hudgar2006 1.5, in color!

As for this weekend:

Cigars Smoked:
CAO Italia Belicoso (x2)
Pryme Robusto
TTT Trinidad Toro
Leon Jimminez Don Fernando
CAO Brazillia
CAO Gold
5 Vegas Belicosoo
CAO Cameroon Belicoso
Carlos Torano Silver Robust
Padron Squared (x2)
Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro
CAO Black Toro
Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Churchill

Topics Discussed:
HudGar2006 1.5
Is Coca-cola Flammable?
Brother Delonne’s official name change to “Uncle Moneybags”
BF:1942, Vietnam
Bard’s Tale purchase (ok so far)
Fable (not available at Fry’s anymore)
KOTOR: is Darth Revan supposed to be an evil dude?
Car wash, busted 300 mirror (ouch!)
The Red Door (Brother Dicksbains’ weekend project, looks great)
Dancing with Kadafi (and other fine music by Infected Mushroom)
Real estate market (highs and lows, mostly highs)
Best size for gars: Robusto, Belicoso
Vacation plans (Uncle Moneybags goes back to SLO, again!)
Vendome revisted (has 1964 Padron available at good prices!)
Classic Del Taco and Circle K (oh, how I missed thee!)
Spruce place revisted (great drive-by this weekend, looks the same as a year ago, except there’s now a plant there; must have been what made it go up 30,000 in value)
(note: we did NOT discuss work woes!)

Finally, I’d like to mention that this month marks the third anniversary of Uncle Moneybags’ triumphant return to SoCal from the East Coast. It’s been a rough ride, but I’m glad I came back. Brother Dicksbain is a huge part of that. Unfortunately, this month also marks the first anniversary of Brother Dicksbain’s departure from SoCal for Cleveland. It just hasn’t been the same since he left. If I could stand the cold, I might just move. I’m just glad that we have gars, Dominican Mornings and games still, and I want to say “thank you” for the many memories and guidance over the past three years.

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