Archive for February, 2012

Viaje Demolition

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

The Viaje Demolition is a limited cigar offered in two sizes. It is claimed to have “Explosive flavor of earth and pepper.” It boasts strength and doesn’t really seem to focus on flavors. I was gifted a couple of them in a cigar bomb (no pun untended) by Bonita Smoke Shop. Thanks for that by the way! Anyway, these cigars sat for months, and I figured I’d try them. Here are my thoughts…

 

Wrapper, Binder & Filler: Secret

Size: TNT 6.25 x 54

Price: Around $11.00

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper had a shiny appearance and a few medium sized veins. No real flaws were noticed. The wrapper had a dark earthy smell. The foot was the same, which makes sense considering the wrapper is draped over the foot. The cigar was solidly packed, with minor differences in density. The draw was free, and had a mild dark earthy flavor.

The burn required a few minor corrections, and the ash held for about an inch.

1 Viaje_Demolition cigars

Construction:

The first third started off with earthiness and smooth pepper. After an inch or so, wood joined in, and the smoke feel thickened up but wasn’t quite creamy. There was a slight sweet bitterness on the aftertaste.

2 Viaje_Demolition cigars

The second third didn’t bring anything new to the table. Earthiness, wood, pepper, and a bitter sweet aftertaste. The pepper was more noticeable through the nose as you may have guessed.

3 Viaje_Demolition cigars

The last third kept the same flavors. The only change was in increase in strength. It packed a decent punch but wasn’t over the top.

4 Viaje_Demolition cigars

Conclusion:

This was an OK full bodied cigar. The flavors weren’t bad, but they were uneventful. I can’t complain about construction, burn, draw, etc. This may have been enjoyable in a smaller size. The one dimensional flavor profile got boring at times. I think this cigar would appeal to those who want strength and flavor is secondary.

Dona Flor Alonso Menendez Series

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

DSC07574

After a lengthy period of slacking, Ed and I are back at Stogie Review, where it all started in January 2008. Our first review was a Dona Flor cigar, and rightfully so. They offer something to the beginner and seasoned smoker. I was reminded of this while making this review. The subtle beginning leaves you unprepared for a flavor profile that explodes into rich sweetness and spice.

Soon Ed and I will be paying a visit to Mike from MikesStogies.com and Stogie411.com. We have done a few joint cigar reviews with Mike before, and they are always a good time. Keep an eye out for that one. In the mean time, take 24 minutes out of your day and join Ed and I as we review the Dona Flor Alonso Menendez Series.

Don’t forget to press the HD button to view us in Hi-Def.

MP3 Audio Only. Right click, Save As.

Valentine’s Day, For the Cigar Lovers in All of Us… by Tommy Zman

Friday, February 10th, 2012

With Valentine’s Day coming this Tuesday, I started wondering about who actually invented this holiday that fleeces a man’s pocket right down to his furry little lint balls (hey, watch your mouth Zman, this is a family blog.)… You wonder if it was Hallmark… the jewelry industry… the chocolate companies… the restaurant industry? Just how did this whole money pilfering operation all go down, and why is it basically a woman’s holiday that requires us dumb-ass dudes to do all of the work?

LittleArcher3_cherubAccording to Wikipedia: Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. But then Wikipedia entry goes and says: No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs.

So while this all ties back to a bunch of robe wearing, bald headed bastids, one has to ask, “Yo baby, where’s the love at?” How the hell did this whole deal get started with jewelry, flowers, candy, and cards? Okay, so get this… There is an additional modern embellishment to The Golden Legend, provided by, American Greetings and widely repeated despite having no historical basis whatsoever. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first “valentine” card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended and healed. It was a note that read “From your Valentine.”

Picture 8Ah ha, ah ha, AH HA! So it IS a greeting card company who perpetrated this ruse and is responsible for me having to give up a paycheck’s worth of baubles, bangles, and bullshit this coming week! While this newfound information doesn’t actually make me feel any better, I have come up with an angle of my own, something that finally gives us men their fair share this second week of February.

I am contacting everyone there is in the cigar industry to create cigar cards, cigar flavored chocolate, and print up gift certificates to cigar bars, all in the hopes we men can get treated a little special for once – a day where we lovers of the Latin leaf can make this holiday a smokin’ one!

Montecristo is Red, Don Pepin is Blue, maduro is sweet, and so is this god damned awesome box of El Rey Del Mundo Flor de Llaneza!” Wow, was I made to be the guy who is the head of this man-movement, or what?!

Picture 9I think every last one of us guys have spent a collective lifetime fortune on price gouged roses, boxed mixed chocolates (gagging on maple log cocoa crèmes), and rings, bracelets, earrings, and other items of sparkling Jared-type nature. Isn’t it about time that our female partners return the years of favors by showering us with a cornucopia of Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Dominican grown goodness?! Haven’t we provided for our loved ones long enough where we should be shown true love in return, a love for the likes of La Gloria Cubana, EP Carillo, La Aroma de Cuba, and of course, Romeo Y Juliet? Yes I say… hell yes, we dudes deserve it and I will stand up and fight for the rights of CROMAGS everywhere so that we may too experience the leafy tenderness we have always deserved. But unfortunately, I can’t do bupkis this year, cause Valentine’s Day is this Tuesday and we’ll all just have to suck it up and pay for the picked over, triple-priced flowers for just one more year.

So until then, I’ll be working hard for manly men everywhere, making sure that next year, February 14, becomes a day of hand rolled happiness for one and all.

And in the words of the late, great Don Cornelius, I wish you all Love, Peace, and Soul,

TZ.Sig.2

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

This may save your life by Frank Seltzer

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

This is not about cigars….but please read it. I am a statistic. I am one of some 785,000 Americans who have a heart attack every year. I am lucky because they caught it and are fixing what is wrong.

As you read this I am recovering (I hope) from Open Heart Surgery. [I did write this before the procedure cuz either way I knew I wouldn’t be writing this week.] Yup, some bypasses and new valve were put in. My blockage is in the left main artery…aka The Widow Maker. It is the Left Anterior Descending artery, which is what killed NBC Newsman Tim Russert.

Genetics rule, Doctors don’t know

I am convinced this is genetics. Here’s why. I look an awful lot like my dad…same height build, etc. I truly am my father’s son. I even look a bit like my grandfather, though he was shorter. Both my grandfather and father died in 1963 from heart attacks. Therefore, I have always felt that I was destined to have the same heart problems as they did and constantly checked on it.

Everything had been looking good; oh the cholesterol was a bit high but nothing like my sister’s levels. Normal EKGs until this past November. During a routine physical the doctor looked at my EKG and said—you’ve had a heart attack. HUH? You’d better check with a cardiologist. We’ll refer you. The office they were referring me to said the earliest appointment was going to be Feb 5. Fortunately, my wife told them that was to long to wait and we wanted the next available appointment with anyone. I got in December 5th. After spending 5 minutes with this guy and getting another EKG, he said he too thought I had a heart attack. They scheduled me for a Nuclear Stress Test and an Echo Cardiogram. First available time was January.

They didn’t seem to be in a rush, so neither was I and didn’t worry bout it. 3 weeks ago, I went in for the tests and when done, I was about to leave when another cardiologist said I HAD had a heart attack and they wanted to do a cardiac catheterization the following week. I was expecting a roto rooter and maybe a stent. When they went up my artery, nothing doing. Full on open heart was needed,

No Symptoms (apparently)

I was really lucky in that my echo showed abnormalities. The scary thing is I didn’t have any of the classic heart attack symptoms and did not know I had a heart attack. Neither did my father nor my grandfather. My grandfather never had any symptoms until the day he died. My father, we found out later, had two prior heart attacks that were diagnosed as indigestion and gall bladder and the third was only listed as a possible attack until he got to the hospital. (He had a final attack a couple of weeks later in the hospital.) These were all silent heart attacks.

The American Heart Association (good friend of smokers…not…and one of my favorites based right here in Dallas) lists hearty attack symptoms on their website. We know most of them:

Chest Discomfort, a squeezing or pressure in your chest

Pain or discomfort in the arms

Pain or discomfort in the jaw

Pain or discomfort in the back

Shortness of breath

Cold sweats

Nausea

Light-headedness

They have added one saying your stomach could hurt too…but the problem is many docs don’t catch it. Or they misdiagnose it. And American Heart does not emphasize it. They emphasize the crushing feeling on your chest, sharp jaw pain or pain going down especially your left arm.

What I had, for several years, was indigestion. After a meal, I could not work out for a couple of hours. I thought it was the old–wait an hour after eating before going into the ocean thing. It got to the point even just walking after a meal would trigger what I thought was GERD. Severe indigestion so I thought. I told two doctors about it but since my EKG was normal they thought it was GERD and that I should take antacids. Two weeks ago, I got a new primary care doc who is older than me and when I told him my symptoms he immediately said oh that is classic angina. Why didn’t I have him several years ago?

To give you an idea how prevalent this is, in talking with one friend, his cardiologist and gastroenterologist were arguing for months over HIS symptoms, which were the same as mine. His Echo Cardiogram and EKGs were normal. And just last week I found out about another friend’s husband who went through the exact same thing about 2 years ago.

You need to know this.

The indigestion is part of the silent heart attack. They should be telling people this and they really aren’t. If you find that after a meal some exertion causes indigestion and an antacid doesn’t cure it…it very well could be heart problems. (See after you eat blood goes to the stomach to help digestion…if your heart is not putting out enough blood the indigestion happens. At least that is a simple version my doc told me.) Get yourself checked. And keep checking.

The other thing I learned is that while echo cardiograms and Nuclear Stress tests are good…the doctors often don’t know squat until they do a cardiac catheterization and actually look inside your arteries.

My buddy Dru had gone through the tests and everything was fine. The cardiologist told him it couldn’t be his heart because his echo and nuclear stress tests were ok. When they finally did the cardiac catheterization last November they found out he needed 5 stents and had severe blockages. He, like me, was a sick puppy but his doctors didn’t know it.

My friend’s husband was younger and worked out but also had the indigestion. His echo and stress and EKGs were fine but when his doctors finally did the cardiac catheterization he too needed 5 stents (his problem, like mine, involved the Widow Maker which if it hits you have 5 minutes to get to a hospital or get emergency care).

So bottom line….if you have indigestion or stomach pain when mildly exerting yourself after a meal and antacids don’t help… Go to your doctor. You are your best advocate and if your body is telling you something is wrong believe it. If it continues on a regular basis, I do not care if your EKG, Nuclear Stress Test or Echo Cardiogram are normal….keep after your doctors. Get a coronary angiogram. You may be ok, but do you want to take that chance?

Perdomo Estate Seleccion Vintage 2002 Maduro

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

After slacking off and missing a review, it was time to try another cigar or two. This blend is the follow up to the Estate Seleccion Vintage 1991. The tobacco is said to be grown in Perdomo’s own farms in 2002, hence the name. As always, I paired this cigar with water.

 

Wrapper: Habano Maduro

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Size: Epicure 6 x 54

Price: $7.60

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The shiny wrapper had no visible flaws, and had some small veins. The smell of the wrapper was sweet and woody. The foot was woody with a slight pepper. The cigar was rock solidly packed, and felt harder towards the foot. The pre-light draw had some resistance, perhaps a little too tight for my liking, and had a dark sweet flavor.

The ash held for about 1.5 inches, and the burn required no corrections.

1 Perdomo_Estate_Seleccion_Vintage_2002_Maduro cigars

Flavor:

The first third started off with a simple coffee flavor. A woody and almost nutty component was noticed after the first inch. Passing smoke through the nose revealed a bit of pepper. At about 1.5 inches a nice maduro sweetness joined in. The smoke feel was very dry, causing me to drink a lot of water. Otherwise the dry feeling wasn’t

2 Perdomo_Estate_Seleccion_Vintage_2002_Maduro cigars

The second third stayed right in the medium bodied range. The main flavor was still coffee. Up next was a sweetness that was like dry cocoa. The pepper remained present but didn’t cause any burning or discomfort. In the background were earthy and woody notes. At the half way point, cocoa took it’s position as the dominant flavor. The dryness eased up a bit and I didn’t feel as parched as before. The draw also loosened up a little, making it more enjoyable to smoke.

3 Perdomo_Estate_Seleccion_Vintage_2002_Maduro cigars

The last third kept that dominant sweet cocoa flavor. The pepper calmed down but kept a little of it’s zing. Actually it was like cocoa and coffee mixed. The sweet spicy aftertaste drowned out the earthy and woody notes I picked up before. While simpler and more straightforward, I enjoyed this third the most.

4 Perdomo_Estate_Seleccion_Vintage_2002_Maduro cigars

Conclusion:

This was a good medium bodied cigar. It was a bit complex and simple at the same time. The flavors were pretty straight forward. I did enjoy the ones I smoked, despite that parched feeling and snug draw in the first third. There was no wow factor here, but I may try this one again from time to time. I think it’s worth trying for a simple and good smoke.

BIG GAME FOOD & CIGARS for SUPER SUNDAY by Tommy Zman

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Super Bowl 46… Giants vs. Patriots…. A rematch of the 2008 game that saw the New York football team pull a stunning upset over the favored Brady Bunch. Now with all the non-stop hoopla going on for this year’s match up, I’ve been thinking that it’s kind of funny how when used in advertising, no one is allowed to say the heavily trademarked term: Super Bowl. You’ll see everyone and their cousin on TV, Radio, Newspaper, and the web, publicly referring to it as the BIG Picture 9GAME. But I guess you have to admit that it truly is BIG – a game that has turned Super Bowl Sunday into the second largest food consumption gathering in the United States, surpassing Christmas and not far behind Thanksgiving.

I think we all eat just as much on Super Bowl Sunday as we do on Thanksgiving, but there’s no doubt that the football parties produce more acid reflux than several major holidays combined. In other words – we eat a massive amount of horrible fattening crap that tastes oh so good, but has one hell of an after burner affect. Antacid sales jump 20% the day after the game, but hey, we don’t really want to think about that when there’s wings, subs, pizza, chili, chips, dips, sodie pop and ice cold beer about to be consumed!

Wanna see some staggering food numbers predicted for the game? This’ll put a little gas in your rear tank…

• 1.2 billion Chicken Wings

• 50 million cases of beer, 325 million gallons (An increase in the sales of beer compared to the average daily total = $11.8 million)

• 15,000 Tons of Chips (lining up each and every chip would produce a trail of almost 293,000 miles – not quite 1.5 times the distance to the moon, or 6 feet per American)

• 8 million pounds of popcorn

• 12 million pounds of avacados (That’s enough to cover Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium end zone to end zone in more than 27.5 feet in avocados.)

• 2.5 million pounds of nuts

• $237.2 million spent on soft drinks at grocery stores during Super Bowl week

• 30% increase in sales of processed-cheese loaves during Super Bowl week

• 30% increase in sales of frozen shrimp

• Frozen Pizza is the top Super Bowl seller at grocery stores

• Fans at the game will eat 5,000 pounds of hotdogs. (If you laid those hotdogs end-to-end, they would stretch more than 5 miles.)

• Average number of attendees for a Super Bowl party: 17

• Average number of calories consumed during the Super Bowl: 1,200 calories per person

I don’t know about you guys, but I just popped a few Pepcid AC just reading that list!

ditka-cigar-smokerWhile I don’t have any actual hard data, I have to believe that premium hand rolled cigars are smoked in record quantities each and every Super Bowl Sunday. While I always choose a pre-game cigar, one for halftime (I’m sure as hell not watching Madonna), and one for post game, with my favorite New York Giants playing, the post game smoke could either be celebratory or… well, I don’t want to think about that one. So for pre-game, we’ll go medium bodied, and I suggest a delicious old favorite, the Arturo Fuente Hemmingway. For halftime, a shorty is in order and the NUB Habano is the pick. And for post game, you want a full-bodied beast to cut through all the calories and spice, so I say go with a kick-ash Joya de Nicaragua Antano, a cigar that is not for the faint of heart, but perfect for celebrating a box-pool victory.

Okay, peeps… you want my prediction? No, you say? Well, too bad… you’re gettin’ it anyway…

NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS 34 . NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 20

Mr. Brady, say hello to my little friends, Pierre Paul, Osi & Tuck. Oh yeah, and don’t forget Mr. Manning, Nicks, & Cruz. Sorry my New England Brothers of the Leaf, we can be bestest buddies again… after the game.

That’s it for this week, my peeps, hope yours is equally as SUPER!

TZ.Sig.2

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman


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