Fuente Fuente Opus X – For When You Need to Celebrate

Read More

The Fuente Fuente Opus X came to us all the way from the Arturo Fuente company – specifically, Chateau de la Fuente, a paradisaical-looking spot in the Dominican Republic, where workers roll the cigar leaves by hand. These Fuente workers pioneered the first Dominican wrapper leaves. And with the introduction of the first ever Dominican premium cigar – the Fuente Fuente Opus X – the company shocked the world with the cigar’s quality and deliciousness. The Fuente Fuente Opus X remains one of the most sought-after smokes in the world.

These two Fuente Fuente Opus X’s have been aged for over three years, since the inception of our beloved Cigar & Whiskey community, which we began in December of 2012. And we’re celebrating in this post, y’all. Cigar and Whiskey just hit 40,000 subscribers on Facebook and we have YOU to thank.

Let’s talk about the Opus X.

The wrapper itself indicates that the Fuente estate put a lot of care into this cigar. Rich red, accented with dimmed gold to promote a sort of family crest look, it’s a play off their standard lines of cigars, which are old standbys of C&W themselves. Mineral deposits shone around the surface of the smoke. These deposits, called “bloom,” are condensations of the tobacco oils that occur when the cigar has been left to age in optimal conditions. Stephen takes good care of his coolidor, paying close attention to the temperature (it sits in the back of his closet) and the humidity (assisted by Boveda packs).

It’s a cool night for May. El Nino has tapered off since the winter, and so while in some years our summers begin in March, the days grow hot but cloudy now, and the nights return to a perfect cool. I chopped a smaller cut than usual on the tapered end, toasted the end gently, and the cigar still drew – beautifully. Stephen had started his before me, but as soon as I drew we arrived at the same conclusion –

Spice! Tons of spice that floats in and out across the draw. Salt, pepper and just a hint of capsaicin or red peppers. At the very beginning of its first third, the Opus X gives off something like a very light char on a ribeye steak. It fades completely and quickly, but you’ll definitely notice it.

As the night scrolled by, Steve and I began smelling wheat or something sweet that we couldn’t quite identify, wondering if it made sense to follow up such a char with something sugary. You do that all the time with a steak entrée and a dessert, so not sure why I was so skeptical. But the Opus X definitely segues into something like an old-fashioned breakfast cereal. I tasted a Honey Nut Cheerio in the wheat; Stephen picked up buttered toast with honey, another comparison I appreciated because it kept in mind the char.

Like many cigars, the Opus X mellows out in the last third instead of amping up the drama. The endings of cigars have a structural similarity, when the flavor condenses, the smoke output diminishes, and the quality of the smoke deepens, becoming more syrupy. This is often my favorite part – a good nicotine buzz setting in, the night getting cooler, the conversation at a natural lull. I wrote down, “I feel like I’m being rewarded at the end of this smoke,” and I did. It was hard to put down even has the stick shortened and began burning my fingers.Fuente Fuente Opus X

The Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro – “WHOA.”

IMG_0423

I sat down with the Perdomo 20th (Maduro) on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, right as floods began invading Austin and before we realized what kind of damage would be done here and in the surrounding area. It also happened to be my birthday weekend, and I had looked forward to the Perdomo for some time. Stephen has smoked it before, but it’s never before been reviewed on the site. It was a hell of a birthday gift.

Some smokes take time to develop, only revealing their true characters at the end of the last third or even later. The Perdomo immediately hit me with a wallop of rich cocoa flavor. I quote, from my notebook, “WHOA!” The cigar has a slightly flattened shape, but if I feared that the Perdomo would resemble the disaster that was the Alec Bradley Puro Diamond Cut, that anxiety was instantly put to rest.

On the second third, the rich cocoa mellowed out into more of a milk chocolate flavor. The Perdomo features amazing, prolific smoke production, and it was a still night in between the rainstorms, making it a perfect atmosphere for smoke rings. The flavor grew less bold and more nuanced, with dried cherries threaded or coating throughout the chocolate. If you’d described that to me it wouldn’t be my first choice, but trust me on this. Light coffee flavors also complimented this part of the cigar.

Finally, the last third deepened into something richer, with more heavy syrup. The smoke was almost liquid. When I stood up to take a quick break, I realized how woozy the Perdomo had turned me. Normally these kinds of smokes are few and far between for me, and I definitely respect the power that the Perdomo 20ths possess.  And since I had been drinking a coffee, there was no element of other intoxicants there to muddle (or enhance, depending on who you ask) the experience.

With a price hovering around $8.00 per single, the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro is an immediate buy. Enjoy the flavors, the boldness, and getting your ass kicked.

My Cigar Smell Removal Routine

Read More

loofah

I’m not gonna lie: if you can’t stand the smell of cigars, you’re probably in the wrong hobby. While a number of products exist to get rid of smell or dissipate smoke, the fact remains that the smell is a necessary component of the experience and nothing will completely get rid of it.

However, many of us have friends or significant others who truly hate the smell of cigars on clothes, hair, etc. when we want to enjoy a cigar camisetas de futbol baratas and then hang out with these people, problems can arise. I am going to share with you the best method of cigar smell removal that I have yet found:

1. Brush teeth with a strong mint toothpaste, I find the kind infused with Scope is quite effective.

2. Rinse mouth with mouthwash of choice (not the teeth whitening kind).

3. Get hot water going in shower.

4. Wash your body with a liquid body wash. HERE IS THE KICKER! You should use a loofah. This will remove way more dead skin cells, and by extension cigar smell, than wash cloths or just washing with hands. Make sure to focus on cigar smell problem areas: the hand that held the cigar, the lips, cheeks, neck and ears.

5. Wash hair thoroughly with a dandruff removal shampoo. This doesn’t matter as much, but seems to get more smell off of hair than other shampoos.

6. Get out of shower.

7. Brush teeth and rinse with mouthwash again.

Some of this stuff may seem fairly basic, but this is truly the best way to get rid of unwanted cigar smells. You’ll still have some cigar billiga fotbollströjor Barn aftertaste in your mouth, but it will be very difficult for others to detect that you have had a cigar.

Happy smoking and hope this keeps someone out of the doghouse!

 

Cigars, Whiskey, and Philosophy

Read More

cigars, whiskey, and philosophy
 

Cigars and whiskey, despite the great pleasure that they bring to many men and women worldwide, are nonetheless a fairly divisive subject. Whether the individual focuses on the flavor profiles, construction, or ritual of smoking and drinking, there will always be those who contend that there is some flaw in the interpretation. Of course this is billiga Nike fotbollsskor to be expected with any activity done for recreation. Those individuals who have dedicated their time, money, and attention to any subject are incapable of providing a purely objective outlook. Rating systems, though often a rough indicator of the quality of an item, must then be viewed in the context of an individual