April Herf Plus

The April Herf came around and with it came the AJ Fernandez Fresh-Rolled (habano) compliments of Koob.  It won't knock anyone's socks off, but it had a good, woodsy taste with a little bit of pepper and a very slight sweetness on the exhale that was easy to miss but added an extra layer of flavor that I wasn't expecting for a budget smoke.  Nice choice, Koob.

In addition to the Herf, I've had a handful of other smokes over the past month.

Man o' War Virtue was a good, mild to medium cigar that made for a nice change of pace from the heavier smokes I've had lately.  Very creamy with a hint of sweetness to it.  While the first quarter of an inch was pretty harsh, it smoothed our and burned slow and smooth all the way to the nub.  It's a bit on the expensive side but was worth the averaged, per-stick price of the sampler it came in.

Graycliffe 1666 made its way into my humidor by accident.  I had intended to order the outstanding Graycliffe Double Espresso; however, the special I saw was for the Double Espresso size of the 1666.  A bit confusing, but what are you gonna do?  Anyway, this one a bit disappointing to start with since it wasn't the cigar I was expecting.  I really can't remember much about the flavor as I was mooning over the fact that it wasn't the real Double Espresso.  On the positive side, a sales manager at cigar.com (where I bought these) said he'd throw in the real ones for me on my next order since the naming of these is a bit confusing.  A nice gesture considering the mistake was mine.

I had high expectations for the CAO MX2.  I usually love maduros and the other double maduro I've smoked is one of my favorites (Gurkha's).  This one was a big disappointing, though.  I'm not sure if I built it up too much or what.  It had the type of earthy, coffee, slightly sweet flavor you'd expect from a double maduro, but it just didn't come out with all that much strength.  I wasn't impressed.

A couple of months ago, I split an order of Don Pepin's Blue label with Jape.  I wasn't too impressed with the first one.  It felt a tad on the dry side and wasn't too pleasant.  I let the rest age a bit longer and the results have been impressive.  Having a strong desire for a more woody and peppery cigar, I grabbed one of these and it fit the bill perfectly.  In addition to the wood and pepper, it had a slightly leathery taste with a subtle sweetness when cycled through the nose.  Definitely glad I picked these up.

I also recently had a Gurkha Special Ops.  Yes, another crazy name from Gurkha.  It started out fairly bland.  It wasn't until the second third that the flavor picked up and I could pick out the earthy, slightly sweet chocolatey flavors.  Even then, it wasn't too impressive.  However, oddly enough, about an hour after I finished it, I found myself really enjoying the memory of the flavor.  It was a strange but pleasant experience.

I've also revisited a couple smokes I tried many months ago but have since let age.  The Partagas Black Label is making a strong case for itself as my favorite cigar.  In fact, I think I'm about to go update the list.  The Alec Bradley Black Market seems to get better each time I smoke one (5 months in the humidor with plenty of bloom helped, I reckon).

Gorging on Gurkhas and More

Since the last update I've been snatching up so many good deals that I've had to upgrade my humidor already.  I'm now rocking a mid-size, 100-stick box that is already approaching the full mark.  I've stocked the new cedar with a bunch of old favorites but have also left room for some new stuff.  Here's what I've tried so far.

Gurkha continues to rank high on my list of favorite cigar-makers.  The Gurkha Black Dragon Fury is a great full-bodied maduro that may just be the best I've had from Gurkha.  Following close behind that is the Gurkha Doble Maduro also with a good, full-bodied taste.  Both are almost dripping with oils and both earn the finger-burner distinction.  Next was the Gurkha Master Select, a good medium to full-bodied smoke with a smooth flavor that works well as an every day smoke.

In addition to the Gurkhas, I picked up a pack of CAO VR.  A heavy-hitting flavor with a lot of spice and bursting with oils.

Maduro Madness

I picked up Cigar International's Black Friday Maduro Sampler.  Here's how each one broke down.

• Gurkha Regent Toro - Gurkha continues to make the case for my favorite cigar-maker.  The Regent was brimming with creamy flavor.  Loved it.
• CAO Brazilia Gol! - A nice, oily wrapper with a ton of flavor, though I had to work it a little more than some due to a less than perfect draw.
• Cu-Avana Intenso Torpedo - Strong and peppery.  Not bad if you like that type, but a bit much for my tastes.
• Diesel Unholy Cocktail - Decent flavor but a bit more spice than I generally like.
• Bahia Maduro No. 2 Torpedo - Didn't get much from this one.  It wasn't bad, but not as flavorful as some of the others in this list.
• La Estrella Cubana ’E’ - This one wasn't bad, but it didn't leave the impression on me that some of the others did.
• La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte Toro - CI calls this one full-bodied, but I didn't get much flavor from it.  It wasn't bad, but not the best of this lot.
• Indian Tabac Super Fuerte Belicoso Maduro - This one was disappointing.  Not much flavor, tough to keep lit, uneven burn.  I've heard good things about this cigar, so maybe I got unlucky.

There were a few others that I smoked but I forgot to note my thoughts on them.  The Gurkha and the CAO were the top of this batch.  The rest were in the "meh" range.