Four Months of Herfs

Liga Privada Undercrown is the star of this post.  I haven't been too thrilled with the few sticks I've tried from Drew Estate, but the Undercrown is one of the best cigars I've had in a while.  Dark and oily maduro wrapper with a slightly spicy and somewhat earthy flavor. Bonus: Got a 10-pack and the hat for only half a Benjamin.  These usually run twice that in the shops.

Gran Habano 3SLS was Jape's contribution to the May Herf.  I missed it, but have talked about this one before. I'm sad to say that while the recipients of these from the Herf haven't had any issues, EVERY SINGLE ONE from the five pack I bought has sucked.

I supplied the original Man O' War for the June Herf.  If it weren't for the Undercrown, this would be this post's star.  It starts out medium and builds up to full with a somewhat complex flavor.  They're priced pretty well at just over $5 a stick.

The Warpig is yet another new cigar from Gurkha.  It wasn't bad but I get the impression that it will get a lot better with some again.

Camacho 10th Anniversary was outstanding.  Full bodied but very smooth.  I loved it.

I'm just going to speed through the rest...

Bahia Trinidad - A lighter smoke similar to the Puros Indios in both flavor and price.

Diamond Crown (Connecticut) - Wasn't too impressed with this one.  Pricey but no more flavorful than the Puros Indios or Bahia above.  I've got a Maduro in the humi, so we'll see if that's any better.

Camacho Diploma - One word.  Harsh!  It started out full bodied and raspy and ended that way.  It also kept going out on me if I didn't puff on it every 30 seconds.  First Camacho I didn't enjoy.

Padilla Limitada 2006 - Didn't get more than a quarter into this one.  Terrible draw, "green" taste in what little smoke I got, and kept going out.

Gurkha Beauty - Another lighter smoke that was disappointing.  I expected more out of this one given its reputation.

And we're caught up...

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).