New York

Whatever happened to the days when people passed around cigars for celebration? My Dad brought a box with him to the hospital when I was born (he refrained from lighting up in the room........I think). I used to have a neighbor who would offer them to anyone as congratulations for promotions, graduations, or anything. You just don't see that as much anymore. Now it's always "Hey let me buy you a beer" or "Have a glass of champagne". In fact, last year when we all took my friend George to Foxwoods for his bachelor party, everyone was so focused on getting drunk that most of them shoved me away when I broke out some Cusano 18 year robustos. Inexplicable. I know my brother reads this so I'm putting this out there. When I eventually get engaged, screw the tequila shots til I pass out. I just want to smoke Cubans til I get mouth cancer. THAT'S a party.

So I was very pleased a few weekends ago, while in Long Island at an engagement party for my friends Josh and Kelly. They had a nice setup as well as some good food and drink (Excellent wine choices). But what pleased me the most was seeing them pass out the cigars toward the end of the night. Unfortunately, the upcoming long drive kept me from sticking around to enjoy it there, but I had it the next day.

Somehow, I managed to lose the label to the cigar. This is a big deal for 2 reasons. The first is that I collect all labels off of my cigars and love saving them. I hope to eventually combine them all into a frame to hang in my living room as a display of my unhealthy addiction. The second is that I had never had this cigar before and do not remember the name of it. I only recall that it was rolled in New York. I think New York may have been in the name but I'm not sure. I keep track of everything I smoke and if you check here every so often, you'll see that I always note the origin of the wrappers and fillers. Eventually I plan to use these ratings to figure out what country has the best tobacco and then move there (who am I kidding? It's Cuba). I asked Kelly if she could get me the name and origin information of the cigars her family handed out that day. She never got back to me on it. So this review is basically a few words on a cigar that I thoroughly enjoyed yet have no idea what it is. You can thank Kelly on that one. The lesson here? Women ruin everything.

It was a dark cigar, and pretty bold in taste. Probably a maduro of some kind. They seemed to be kept pretty well too. It was nicely pliable, the cut was perfect, the light was easy, and the draw was nice and smooth. The fullness of the smoke faded in and out through the different parts of the cigar, but overall it was pretty good.

The tastes were as you would expect for a maduro. Lots of spiciness, leather, and nuts. It was a relatively simple smoke so the transition of flavors wasn't really there but I would argue that the initial tastes were good enough so complexity wasn't really needed especially since it pandered to my bold preferences.

Overall, I would buy a box of these cigars if I knew what the Hell they were. Perhaps one day Kelly will come through for me. Until then, I'll have to hand out a rating to this nicely constructed stick and hope that I eventually will get to try it again.

Overall Rating: 84