What’s Your Super Bowl Cigar?
The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting/entertainment event each and every year. It’s the one day everyone gets together to watch the same game. In honor of this very special sports day you should have an awesome cigar to smoke while watching grown men nearly kill each other.
Some obvious choices for me would be these:
Montecristo #2 (Cuban)
God of Fire (any of them)
Each of these cigars I have smoked and I have loved them. But the perfect Super Bowl cigar needs to be something to behold; gigantic yet delicious – peppery yet refined. Luckily, the good guys at Cigar Aficionado, David Savona in this case, have produced a list of just such cigars HERE.
Need a list of big cigars to choose from for the Super Bowl? Here's a great list from Cigar Aficionado.
The Ashton VSG has always looked good. Didn’t much like the AB Maxx. I have an Illusione in the humidor but it isn’t this big momma. I would go with the Tatuaje not only because it’s the only cigar made in America (football is America’s game after all) but I do enjoy their cigars.
Want some other opinions?
Click on the pictures here to go to the next cigar on Cigar Aficionado’s list.
Gary Manelski at About.com likes the AB Maxx Freak.
Do any of you have a special cigar set aside for the Super Bowl?
Partagas Black Label Magnifico Cigar Review
I basically told you yesterday what I thought about this cigar. It just wasn’t that good. Which was weird because I thought the pyramid version of this cigar was excellent. Anyways, here is my review of the Partagas Black Label Magnifico:
Tons of oil. Jet black cigar. Perfect construction. There seems to be nothing wrong with the construction of this cigar. I am drinking Maker’s Mark and a glass bottle of Coke with this cigar.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: USA/Connecticut
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dom Rep, Nicarauga
Price: $6.50
Scrubs Flame!
I’m watching a great show, Scrubs, while smoking this cigar so I am in a good mood. Right off the bat I am getting chocolate and earthy notes. It’s like a sweet earthiness though. Not sure that I like it all that much.
The draw is great but the burn is awful. I know I will have to fix it soon. This cigar would be a lot better if there was a strong bitterness to it so that it could cut the sweet earthiness. As it stands a quarter of the way through the cigar the major flavor I’m getting is sweet grass.
About halfway through the chocolate flavors take over. It is just barely a full bodied cigar. Even though the earthiness has mostly vanished I still cannot say that I like this cigar.
What started out as a subtle sour taste has only gotten worse. I don’t know what’s wrong with this cigar but it’s just bad. The sourness kills any good feelings I had for this cigar.
Maybe I am being a little too harsh about the sourness. It’s only an intermittent flavor. In between the sour flavors the cigar is fairly good. Unfortunately, for me at least, I cannot get past the sourness – it ruins the cigar.
82 points
Other Partagas Black Label Reviews:
How Can Two of the Same Cigars be So Different?
Last night I smoked a Partagas Black. It was just plain awful and I know that it can be such a great cigar since I gave the Partagas Black Label Piramide 93 points. So, how can this happen?
Different Size
Maybe the difference in size had something to do with it. The one I gave a 93 to was a pyramid and the one I smoked last night was a toro. The pyramid has a larger ring gauge and, maybe since it’s more difficult to roll, it might have had a better roller.
Normal Variation
Cigar making isn’t a science, it’s an art. There are going to be differences between cigars even if they are from the same line and are the same size. Different rollers, maybe a slightly different blend, a longer or shorter amount of time in the humidor, or maybe the flavors of the other cigars in my humidor could have rubbed off on the Partagas the wrong way. Cigar making isn’t a six sigma process, after all.
Wrong Drinks
Normally, I have Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke with my cigars. For my cigar last night I had Maker’s Mark and a glass bottle of Coke. While I don’t think this accounts for the major difference between the two cigars, it might have had a negative affect on the cigar last night.
Temperature
I have to smoke outside and sometimes that is a pain because it can get quite cold, even in Southern California. Last night it was especially cold. And when it gets cold I don’t enjoy myself as much. But again, I don’t think that can account for the major difference between the two cigars.
Are there any other reasons why two of the same cigars could be so different? And, if you are curious, I will have the review for the bad Partagas up tomorrow.
Where Do You Get Your Cigars Online?
I had a question the other day from a friend on Twitter (follow me @Travis_Lindsay) about where I buy my cigars online. The answer is a little complicated.
For the longest time I got my cigars from cigar.com. I’ve also gotten cigars from Finck Cigar Company. There’s also the company that advertises on my site, TSCigar.com. And these sites only sell non-Cuban cigars, so there’s another cigar universe out there that I don’t really know about!
So I’m wondering, where do you buy your cigars online? Do you buy online for the selection, the price, or for some other reason?
CAO America Monument Cigar Review
I smoked one of these around Christmas-time and I thought it was a wonderful cigar. It was very peppery and had loads of flavor that I loved. I gave it 93 points, which is a score I don’t frequently give. I even said this:
- This cigar epitomizes America. It has brash flavors and a punch to it that almost no other cigar I have ever tried has. I will definitely be smoking another one of these in the future.
Wow! That’s high praise. Does it still deserve it? Here’s my new review on the CAO America Monument:
It is a very beautiful cigar. Smoking it on Inauguration Day, 2009 in honor of America, George W. Bush and the new president, Barack Obama. This cigar has a wonderfully constructed barber poll wrapper (one darker and one lighter wrapper) and there are some oils on the wrapper. Perfect construction. I’m drinking Wild Turkey Single Barrel and a Cherry Coke.
Cigar Stats
Torpedo
Length: 6 1/4″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: USA/Connecticut
Binder: Brazil
Filler: Dom. Rep., Italy, Nicaragua, USA/Connecticut
Cost: $8.00
American Flame!
Great draw and it’s a full bodied cigar at the start. Leather with a red cracked pepper core, which is reminiscent of the previous one but there’s something different about it. I’m less than a half an inch into this cigar but I’m thinking it is at least as good as the previous one.
Now that I am half an inch in this cigar has lost some of its strength; it’s now more medium-full than full bodied. And it’s more leathery than peppery now. I’m also noticing a sweet flavor in the background, almost blackberry.
Halfway through and I’m disappointed with this cigar. The last one was a flavor bomb. This one doesn’t have the explosion of spice that I remember so fondly. Even though it doesn’t have that explosion of flavor I loved from the other one I still think it’s a great cigar but just barely.
I have smoked it a little further and it’s at the lower end of full bodied. The pepper is completely gone and the leathery/blackberry flavors have taken over. It does burn well though.
Consistent flavors most of the way through. I just wish the pepper from the beginning had stayed and even gotten stronger. It is still a very good cigar but the flavors just don’t stand up well to the previous one, which is a shame.
Anyways, go America!
90 points
Other CAO America Reviews & CAO News:
