Bad scotch tastes like iodine, you'll never forget it A decent single malt scotch will make a believer of you, you'll never go back to mixed whiskey. Chivas is a good place to start, but it is NOT the best (and not single malt, either.).
Good stuff. First introduced to it at a cigar bar in Houston back in about 03'. Ghrit, tried some very expensive scotch, just didn't care for it.
Expensive isn't necessarily good, and you obviously haven't yet acquired the taste. No problem with that, but it IS an acquired taste; you need to decide that the acquisition is a good thing to do. I am not going to spoil your adventure in finding a good one by giving out the names of the better ones, but do NOT look at the price when you buy the jug. (Just don't even waste your time with Old Ancestor. It did awful things to me in '62 that I remember as though it was yesterday.) Said acquisition is something you gotta wanna do. Like scaling Everest, it isn't for everybody. Glenlivet
I tend to agree. If I have to aquire a taste for it I don't see the point. I try a drink and if I don't like it I don't go back. Knob Creek is good. Try 40 Creek. Even better.
Just found this website. They have the 2009 Cigar Aficianado top 10 package. You get two of each, with the exception of the two Cubans on the list. I just ordered it. Cigar Aficionado Top 10 Cigar Sampler (2009) Cigar Aficionado Top 10 Cigar Sampler (20 Cigars) The 2009 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 cigars of the year is a special event that cigar lovers look forward to every year. Because we get a lot of inquiries on these cigars and because so many people want to taste the cigars we're put together a cigar sampler of the top 10 cigars (minus the Cubans!). Because we obviously cannot sell Cuban cigars, we have replaced the 2 top 10 cigars that are cubans with cigars that we're sure you will agree are easily as good as the others listed on the Cigar Aficionado list. The 2009 Cigar Aficionado Top 10 Cigar Sampler includes 2 singles of the following: 2 x PIO Resurrection Torpedo Rated 91 - Replaces No. 10 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Alec Bradley Prensado Robusto Rated 91 - Replaces No. 2 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Ashton VSG Torpedo Rated 92 - No. 9 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Torpedo Maduro Rated 92 - No. 8 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classic Rated 92 - No. 7 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x 601 Blue Box-Press Maduro Toro Rated 93 - No. 6 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Oliva Serie V Belicoso Rated 94 - No. 5 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Diamond Crown Maximus Double Corona No. 1 Rated 93 - No. 4 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x My Father Le Bijou 1922 Toro (No. 1 Robusto Out of Stock) Rated 94 - Replaces No. 3 on CA Top 10 List. 2 x Padron Reserve 45th Maduro Rated 95 - No. 1 on CA Top 10 List. This sampler is shipped in a ziplock bag with a humidity controlled device to ensure fresh cigars! So E.L. Me & the misses thinking of coming over your way around the 20th. You going to be home? Thought we might go to the East Texas Oilfield Museum in Kilgore and eat dinner at the Country Tavern. I hear it is awesome BBQ. Then drinks and stogies around the firepit at your place. What you think?
Hell Yes!!!! Sea is supposed to be dropping by on the 18th on his way through. Y'all are more than welcome to stay here with us. I"ll pick up the t-bones next week.
! So far, from last years top ten cigars, I have tried #9,#8,#6,#4 and #3. My favorite so far is the Rocky Patel Old World Reserve but a very nice surprise was the new My Father cigars, very, very good. The 601's are nice too. Tonight E.L. and I will be trying the #1 cigar, the Padron Reserve 45th Maduro. We may be wearing our M65 field jackets or insulated coveralls tho. Supposed to get just a bit chilly here in E. Tx. tonight. But we found something to warm us up. I picked up a bottle of Crown Royal Reserve Cask#16. It is a new blend of Crown Reserve that has Cognac mixed into it. Me, E.L., and Seacowboys finished that puppy off Thursday night. Good stuff! Very smooth. I had never tried it before, but I certainly see it becoming my new drink of choice in the future!
The 45th Maduro was an excellent cigar, very, very smooth with an even burn. I very much enjoyed it. While at $25 a pop I won't be smoking many, I surely appreciate MM for providing them, along with most of the booze. On Thursday night we highly enjoyed the bottle of Crown Royale Cask No. 16 whiskey which is finished in cognac oak casts. This was probably the smoothest, easiest to drink whiskey that I have ever had the pleasure to try. Move over Single Barrel Jack.
Hey Bud, I was thinking about you last night. I had a couple of those Padron's left and fired one up out on the bench in front of my office. Watching the full Moon rise in the cold air. Not as cold as in your garage last winter tho!!! I found a shop here and stocked up on some pure Cubans! Some Cohiba's and some Romeo Y Julietta Churchhills. I have found that a lot of the Cubans tend to have a tight draw. I was reading an article in Cigar Aficionado Magazine, an interview with Jim Belushi and he mentioned the same thing. He said he finds about 50/50 are tight and hard to smoke. But you don't ever get a bad draw with the Nicaraguans. I have to agree. I'm thinking maybe the much hyped Cubans may be a tad overrated. I've been hearing a lot about the Artur Fuentes Opus X. I am going to have to try that. They say it'll put hair on your chest!! Not for the novice! When I come back next Summer we have some catching up to do!!!
I have been known to smoke a good cuban from time to time along with a pipe, So I will be including a few luxery items in the supply list so who knows.
Thanks to my adopted daughter Summer, who spent a week's worth of her salary on cigars for me for Christmas, I have a bunch of different types to try. I smoked a box of CAO Maduro Gold Churchhills, and I really enjoy this cigar. Its a mild cigar, but very smooth, and I have had several beginner cigar smokers try it and it was not too harsh for them. After a box though, I was ready for something heavier. So I picked up four different types of Rocky Patel's. The Sun Grown, Vintage 1992, Renaissance, and Olde World Reserve. I have yet to try any as I have been smoking the Christmas gift cigars but once I do I will write a full report on them. Summer bought me a La Gloria Cubana Artesanaos de Miami which we both very much loved. The cigars appear as though they have alternating stripes which are the two different wrappers. The cigar produces a of very thick smoke, uneven burn though, and a outstanding taste as well, smooth, not harsh at all. I will be buying more of these cigars. It was my favorite "A rarefied collection handcrafted exclusively at El Credito, the landmark Little Havana rolling gallery, Artesanos de Miami is a bespoke blend rolled by only ten Cuban expatriate Torcedors. Meticulously handcrafted of a proprietary Nicaraguan and Dominican blend, Artesanos de Miami is bound with a rich Ecuadoran Sumatra leaf and is dressed in an elegant, reddish Nicaraguan Havana wrapper. Distinctive in its medium-to-full bodied flavor, Artesanos de Miami boasts spicy nuances that are evident with the first draw. The unique flavor is prevalent throughout, and its burn is slow and even. The collection received numerous accolades — the Elegante frontmark received a 91 rating in Cigar Aficionado, and the collection made it into the top 10 of the magazine’s “Top 25 Cigars of the Year.” The collection was also endorsed by Robb Report." Next up we tried the Macanudo P.P. 1868-1968. This cigar we were not as fond of, I am not sure what the flavor was, but it was not desirable. It did produce a even burn with good smoke, but I will not buying another. Next up was the CAO Sumatra, another cigar with two different wrappers. This had a great burn, smooth, wood flavored taste, and was an enjoyable cigar. It was a robust cigar, but I prefer the La Gloria Cubana. We still have the Cain straight Ligero, and a sampler pack of Macanudos to try. This consist of the Macanudo Cafe', Macanudo Gold Label, Macanudo Cru Royale, Macanudo 1968, and Macanudo Maduro.
I also took a cue from you and started recording the thoughts of each cigar, and taping the cigar ring label next to the comments. Life is too short, and there are way too many cigars out there to smoke the same cigar twice if you did not like it the first time. Yes that garage was freezing wasn't it. We have spent many nights out on the rock patio with a big roaring fire while we smoked cigars. It has yet to get too cold for that. Happy smokes my friend, cannot wait until you are back stateside so we can share a few more together.
I haven't been too impressed with the Macanudo's either. Now the Rocky Patel's are all good. I like the sun grown, but the Olde World Reserve is probably my all time favorite. Nothing bad about that smoke. Disciple, welcome to the lounge! I saw a post somewhere that mentioned cigars but couldn't remember who the poster was or where I saw it. I started this thread with the premise that, in a bug in situation anyway, a few luxury items added to your preps while not essential will certainly do much to lift spirits in the dark times. In my own Y2K preps I had cases of bourbon, a medicinal item as well as luxury, candy, and board games. Mental health is an often overlooked facet of long term survival. And even short term situations can become tedious with resulting short tempers and loss of cohesion in a group. Anything that provides a respite from the routine will become an important aspect of any successful long term survival situation. IMHO. I wouldn't want to be around Clyde after the beer ran out!!! Hmmm, or CRC when the coffee was gone!!!
what a fun thread! And, I agree completely. I'm also a proponent of storing luxury items, both for fun and as a reminder, no matter how bleak things get, of what once was. Hard liquor stores very well, particularly if you buy stuff bottled in glass. Although I actually store enough of a variety of booze to set up a modest bar, single malts and red wine are my primary vices. Unfortunately, I've found no way around spending money for good scotch. I store primarily Glenmorangie and Macallan. (I'm sipping 12 year old Macallan, aged in oak sherry casks, in the aftermath of a great steak dinner, as I write...) When it comes to wine, I've been a disciple of Robert Parker (author of the Wine Advocate newsletter) for years. I find his palate quite like mine, and I like the fact that he accepts no advertising, which seems to be the reason for very few disappointments in the wines he recommends. My rule of thumb is to find wines rated 91 or higher by Parker, but priced between $10 and $15/bottle. (There are more of these than you'd suspect.) Then, I wait for them to go on sale. I try a bottle, and if I like it I'll buy a case or three for storage - and five or ten cases if it's a really stupendous wine. Wines of this quality tend to cellar well (and I've never had trouble rotating them either!) I average around $8/bottle this way. The vineyards are often unknown, and the vintages usually aren't big ones. All the wines I drink these days are at least several years old. Hence, I have good wine that no one's heard of, and that cannot be found in stores. I've become a favored dinner guest by showing up with these wines, and I've never told anyone how I pick them until now.
I can see this is a thread I'll be coming back to regularly! In Iraq we had a Camp Cigar Club - for a $50- buy-in you'd get a premium stick every week at an outdoor event - a great way for everyone to take off theor rank and relax for a bit. I order fairly regularly from Cigars International - by cherry picking their samplers I can get some of my favorites for under $3- a stick, when the local shops want $7-$9 apiece for the same smokes.
How far would you go for a Cuban? To what lengths are you willing to go for a little luxury? The wife and I decided this last weekend to go to our favorite restaurant for Chicken Fried Steak and a cold beer. And while there we had to go to the Cigar store at the mall for some good Cubans to re-stock the humidor. That's all well and good except that all those places are in Bahrain!! We drove over there and drove right past Pearl Square where all the protests are going on, to get to the other side of the island where the restaurant is. We saw all the tents and the banners, skirted the police barricades. Then after lunch did it all again to get to the mall where the cigar store is. And it is right across the street from the square! But hey, whats a few bullets and a little tear gas compared to some real Cuban Cohiba's! And if I wasn't such an upstanding, law abiding, patriotic American citizen I would have snuck a couple back in my luggage to give to my best Bud so he could smoke one on his birthday that's coming up this month.[whistle2] I hear there is a shop in Tripoli that is having a once in a lifetime sale on Cuban stogies!! May go there next weekend.
