What are you smoking today?

Had a Tierra Del Sol robusto (cigarbid.com) after work. Medium bodied and a little harsh. Great burn and draw. 5/10.

Happy Thanksgiving-
Joe

Review: MATASA 30th Anniversary Perfecto

History: Manual Quesada opened his MATASA Cigar Factory in 1974. They made a Dominican version of Fonseca. They now make blends for Fonseca, Cu-Avana, Casa Blanca, Cubita, Nat Sherman and others. They had an article in Cigar Aficionado Magazine about him and his family. Manual's nephew and two daughters are huge players in running the company and will most likely take over the company. If I remember correctly, the kids blended next cigar, the 35th Anniversary.

Anyway, the 30th...was a perfecto 5.7 x 24. The wrapper was Hershey chocolate brown, smooth as silk, oily with a par wrapper construction. Pre-light was a hint of spice and good draw. After lighting I new I was going to really like this cigar. The spicy/pepper was absent, but a great draw gave generous amounts of white smoke. This was a complex cigar. Great tobacco flavor with hints of cream. Medium bodied that finished full. About an inch into the cigar, something that I never experienced in a cigar before started to happen and continued until about half way---resin started bubbling/oozing out of the center of the head of the cigar. It wasn't enough to run off of the cigar, but it was odd. (Have any of you had this happen before?) I wiped it off after a while. Unfortunately, the resin was a taste was in the middle of the flavors for the rest of the cigar. It wasn't bad, but I'd love to try this cigar again (was a single purchase off of cigarbid.com) to see if this happens again and if not to really see what this cigar has to offer.

8/10 (with a potential of a 9.8/10)

Take care-
Joe

Review: Ashton Churchill 7.5" x 52

The Classic Ashton Churchhill Dominican with a Connecticut wrapper looks like something you would see featured on the cover of a magazine. It is a large cigar and the wrapper is smooth, free of veins and the color of caramel. It is a mild to medium cigar which is not normally my favorite profile, but this was great at 3:30 AM driving to Callaway County, MO to go deer hunting. Smooth like silk and with a short finish. If you have 2 hours to spare, this would not be a bad choice to pass the time with.

I do wish it had more punch, more pizaz, but like I said, it WAS early. If this had more spice and a fuller bodied profile, my humi would be full of them. That said, I can't fault it for being mild but at the same time, I just can't pull the triger on the perfect 10. Yes, it is almost that good. 9.73258745899/10

Matt

Review Gurkha Vintage Shaggy Toro 6 x 50

The Gurkha Vintage Shaggy Toro is an interesting looking cigar. It has a dark as night maduro wrapper with an open or "shaggy" foot at the end. Supposedly this is to make lighting and maintaining an even burn easier. I would have to agree with that. This was one of the easiest burning Gurkha's I have had.

The flavor starts out heavy with earth and coffee and mellows to a thick bready flavor. Burn was extremly easy with a decent draw. Medium bodied but I could have smoked this all day. Very smooth.

Besides the shaggy foot the most interesting thing about this was the band. Instead of the famous gold Gurkha band, there is a copper band. Very striking against the dark maduro wrapper. 8.5/10

Matt

November OCCS Meeting

Meeting Host: Rich
Date: Monday, November 30th
Location: Growler's Pub
Time: 5:30 ish

Adam

Your 2009 Top Pick

What is your top pick cigar of 2009? This does not necessarily have to be a cigar that was released this year--it just has to be one that you tried for the first time this year.

Mine? I'd have to say the Nica Libre. What a great smoke!!!

Adam

Best Win on Cigarbid

To the best of your knowledge, what is your best win on cigarbid?

Mine, I would have to say the Man O War Robusto for $49.00. That was a steal.

Matt