Archive for the ‘Cain Cigars’ Category

Pig-Skinning-Out on Premium Hand Rolled Cigars! by Tommy Zman

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Last week we talked about ANY excuse to smoke a cigar, but there’s one HUMUNGOUS excuse I’ll always have, and that’s NFL Playoff football. Cigars and football… damn guys, it’s like mac n’ cheese… Starsky n’ Hutch… mashed taters n’ gravy… beer nuts and… well, um… beer. Now being a lifelong New York Giants fan, you can only imagine how I’ve been enjoying the gridiron action so far. With the reaming of Atlanta and the pummeling of the 15 – 1, heavily favored Green Bay Packers, I have admittedly been a horror for anyone to be around who doesn’t bleed blue.

Men with cigars and a football, and a woman with football pads.Now I always break out the premium smokes when there’s hot playoff action on the telly, but when it’s my team winning, I will pass the good stuff around like a proud papa celebrating the birth of a child! And these past two weeks I’ve been like Santa on a month-late run handing out the likes of the Camacho Triple Maduro, Jaime Garcia Reserva Especiale, Montecristo Red, El Rey Del Mundo Real, and some Oliva Cain Daytonas! What am I nuts? No, just a generous BOTL who is enjoying the pigskin madness that only the National Football League can provide.

The unfortunate problem we will forever have up here in northern New Jersey is that it is just frigid outside this time of year, and even heading to the garage for a halftime shortie will undoubtedly freeze some important parts of the anatomical structure. Now come on guys, we’ve been thru this crap for over four years now, and you KNOW that I don’t smoke in the house. Yeah, go on tough guy, call me a wuss, girlie-man, or any kind of insult you’d like, but it’s not gonna change things for me. And I tried getting a really good heater for the garage, but I still freeze my little bag of onions off so I can only really go to a friend’s house where smoking is accepted, or a local cigar shop – and thank God, there are a few by me that I frequent for just these kind of occasions.

So this weekend we have two stellar match-ups: the NFC has My New York Football Giants on the road to take on the defensively tough San Fransisco 49ers, and the AFC has the Baltimore Ravens trying to take down the Patriots Brady Bunch in Foxborough, Massachusetts. If you’re a football hound anything like me, you’ll be glued to the flat screen, tossing epithets at opposing players, coaches, and referees, all while noshing an assorted mix of man-food goodness. (I’ve got a rootbeer pulled pork recipe that’ll knock your taste buds off into another stratosphere. Let me know if you want me to send it.)

tyreeNow these match ups are going to call for some special play selections direct from the JR CIGARS humidor. For the AFC game, your friendly neighborhood Polack is taking the New England Patriots along with a the Alec Bradley American Blend Classic with its Connecticut-seed Honduran wrapper intermingled with a flavorful binder and hearty blend of long fillers from the town of Condega, located in the province of Estelí, Nicaragua, to create a mild-to-medium-bodied, smooth, and creamy smoke with great balance and a sweet cedar finish. As for the NFC, well, you KNOW I’m picking the road dog Giants paired up with a Macanudo Cru Royale GIGANTE! Don’t let the Macanudo name fool you because this dark stick is packed with with a long-filler blend of Brazilian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican Mata Fina tobaccos, a smooth La Vega Especial binder, and a deep, dark, oily Ecuador Habano-seed wrapper. Plus the Blue band goes perfect with a Big Blue victory. (Sorry, dude, I told you I was an obnoxious snob.)

So, I guess what I’m saying is that it’s gonna be a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl, Patriots vs Giants and I’ll be looking for a repeat of that amazing game. (Can anybody see where that David Tyree fella is at?) Hey, don’t let me get ahead of myself, because it’s only Friday and we’ll see on Monday if the Zman is a champ or a chump. But no matter what happens, I’m gonna be smoking up some serious premium goodness, courtesy of our friends at JR CIGARS! Ahhhh… football and cigars… say, it’s just a hunch, but I bet some ice cold beer would work with this whole shindig, whaddya think?

Stay Smoky My Friends,

TZ.Sig.2

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

CIGARS: Why We Like What We Like by Tommy Zman

Friday, January 6th, 2012

I would imagine you guys know me long enough, where it goes without saying that I freakin’ love cigars. (Gee Zman, what a revelation… did your inner Polack just kick in?) Now I’ve been smoking long enough where I know what I like. I know the blends, the wrappers, the flavor profiles and the strength. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why I like what I like. That may sound a little dopey and your answer may be, “who really cares, just STFU and enjoy your stogies, ya fat bastid.” But I’ve been wondering why I like a certain cigar and another guy thinks it dog shmootz.

4479654741_97b4994b39_zI guess you could wonder this about anything: food, alcohol, taste in women, yada, yada, yada, but this query has led me to think about how personal cigar smoking really is. If a guy tells you that he doesn’t like scotch, or liverwurst, or even red heads, no offense is taken whatsoever. (Let me just say that if you don’t like red heads, you are mentally challenged, but please don’t let me stray from the subject at hand.) You just figure it’s his personal choice and that’s all there really is to it. But offer up say perhaps one of your prized stellar maduros to someone and that knuckle-dragging ingrate tells you that it sucks, well you take great offense as if it were a serious personal affront. I’ve seen this on many an occasion in online cigar forums where a guy says he loves a certain brand and then someone else will reply that it’s a hunk of excrement, and suddenly a war of words begins. I even get mad at my own dad when I give him what I think is a nice stick, and if he tells me he didn’t care for it, I get all pissy and tell him to go buy his own friggin cigars!

So when it comes to cigars, why do we like what we like and why are we SO goddamned particular and uppity about it? Hey I don’t know, I’m asking you! You have any concrete thoughts? Cuz I don’t. I know one guy that smokes the strongest cigars on the planet and eats triple maduro / triple ligero for breakfast. He thinks everyone else is an out an out puss for smoking anything less. Then I know an older dude who’s been smoking for 45 years – mild delicate Connecticut shade wrapped cigars, the kind most newbies start off with. I’ll ask him why he doesn’t try bumping up in flavor to a medium bodied cigar, something with a little more depth, complexity, and flavor. And you know what he says to me? “I like what I like.” I know as a fact that the guy dines on a variety of tasty foods and fine wines, but when it comes time to lighting up, it’s that same golden yellow wrapper cigar every damned time.

Picture 8Now for me, personally, it’s all about flavor. From medium to very full bodied is what I like and if I do smoke a lighter wrapper cigar, it’s usually in the morning or before I’ve eaten. Years ago, like most stogie lovers, I dug the mild stuff, but my palate has changed a lot and I just don’t get the flavor I need from a mild cigar. I’m sure many of you reading this are the same, yet, did you know that the basic Macanudo brand is the best selling premium hand rolled cigar in America? That’s because the casual smokers and newbies who smoke on the golf course, while camping, playing poker, etc., those guys want something mild that’s not going to leave them with Satan’s breath the following morning. Complexity means zilch to those guys, as where it means a lot more to us full time leaf-ionados. (That’s some writer’s license used right there, keep on reading….) Although I will say that complexity is definitely not as important to me as a cigar just having good flavor. There are certain sticks, like take the Cain Habano for instance, that really just has a nice medium to full flavor profile straight through and I’m totally fine with that. But then there’s times I have an expensive scotch or full bodied wine and I’ll reach for maybe an Ashton VSG to compliment the complexity of what I’m drinking.

Hey, I guess when it comes down to it, there really is no right or wrong answer, we really do just “like what we like” when it comes to cigars and I have to say upon final reflection that I’m totally cool with that. But if you tell me you don’t like red heads, I can assure you that you do indeed have some sort of mental blockage.

Happy New Year, Home Boys & Gals,

TZ.Sig.2

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

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