Well, again I haven't been good about posting. But I haven't been doing anything exciting. I just play with Madigan, enjoy her sense of humor, and eat. Actually I have been able to enjoy a few cigars this Fall. Some of which I will now share comments upon from Dave and myself. I did find that if you want a good Irish single malt you will have to go some to beat Tyrconnell. And no one came close to bumping OBan from the top of the Scotch board in the man shed. Guinness extra stout and Shakespeare stout from Rogue brewing remain my top two stouts for 2010. But I did try several that were very good. Maybe I should be reviewing some beers and single malts, eh? Well, here goes with cigar reviews:

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit
8/23/2010 The Man Shed
Randy Gibbs and Dave Anderson review the Casa ToranoRobusto 4 3/4 x 52Carlos Toranos$3.00 as part of a samplerAccording to the Torano's website this cigar is comprised of an Ecuador-Connecticut Wrapper, a Nicaraguan Binder and filler that is Honduras/Nicaragua and a family blend of Central& South American Tobaccos. This was originally the Torano's private family blend. This cigar as you can see from the picture is a lovely light brown color with an almost flawless wrapper. It is tightly packed and we could fine no soft spots or sponginess. After clipping we found the draw to be perfect with just the right amount of resistance. The cigar lights easily and the initial tastes are smooth and creamy with a slight peppery finish. It has just enough bite on the end to let you know that its there. It produces an abundance of thick smoke with a creamy mouth feel. Tonight we are pairing our smoke with a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. This is a classic English Stout, rich and full bodied, but not sweet. We are also having a bump of the Man Shed's favorite Irish Whiskey Tyrconnell single malt.This cigar is clearly in the mild to medium strength profile. By the midway point we are both really enjoying this smoke. It has held its flavor and although relatively mild it has some complexity to it. Along with the peppery finish the cigar has a toasty and nutty flavor as well. It was a good night in the Man Shed! We both really enjoyed this cigar smoking it right down to the nub. It burned very well, although it developed a slightly wavy burn line it was nothing that needed a touch-up nor did the cigar ever go out, a testament to its excellent construction. The cigar, although mild, held up to the strong stout and the smooth Irish whiskey giving us a wonderful and diverse set of complimentary flavors. We gave this cigar a 4 as it was both a great smoke and an excellent value. We will definitely be smoking more of these in the future (hopefully very soon) and I would not be surprised to see this cigar in our best new smokes (for us) of 2010 or for this cigar to flirt with the elite rarely given 5 score.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit
8/20/2010 The Man Shed Randy Gibbs & Dave Anderson review Rocky Patel 15th AnniversaryBox pressed Robusto 5x50$9.50 B&M shop.
According to information I gleaned from the web the RP 15th features an Ecuadorian grown Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan (Jalapa) grown binder and a Nicaraguan filler. During an interview with Cigar Afficiando about this cigar Patel reported that the cigars are made with triple caps, the bunching is done entubado style, a slow process where each filler leaf is rolled in a sort of tube, and the cigars get two binder leaves rather than simply one. "We wanted it triple capped, rolled the Cuban way, all by hand," said Patel. "I think it changes the flavor profile. The flavor is different."This is a dark and oily looking cigar. It is firm to the touch with some slightly spongy places midway down the cigar. It has some small veins but is a good looking cigar. I'm not a fan of the label as it does not stand out from the cigar with the type of contrast created by the Decade label.Randy and I clip the cigar and I find the draw to be very nice. Randy reports that his cigar is a little tighter than he likes but he does not perceive it to be problematic. The cigar lights easily and has a nice earthiness quality to it. The initial taste are that of cocoa and espresso. There is a dryness and bitterness that is nice and not overpowering.The cigar burns relatively well, although about a third of the way into it a slight runner develops that requires a touch up. The draw continues to be very nice and produces an abundance of thick smoke.Midway through the cigar the flavor profile is holding. Randy reports that he continues to pick up the flavors of earth and espresso. The cigar has mellowed out a little but there is still that dryness, slightly bitter finish.Tonight we are pairing this smoke with a bottle of Saboteur Brett Barrel Brown Ale that my brother Rob gave me. This beer has a fruity sweet nose, the taste is equally sweet and it is highly effervescent. It was too sweet for my taste, reminding me of grape soda. Neither Randy or I were fans so we abandoned it for a dram of Red Breast Irish Whiskey.The longer I smoked the cigar the more trouble I had with burn issues. It went out on me twice. Randy also had some burn issues but not as significant as mine only requiring one relight and a couple of touch ups. We both liked the cigar but given the burn issues and the price I gave it a 3. Randy was leaning toward a 4 until he considered price and then he settled on a 3 as well. We are both big Rocky Patel fans but there are several cigars he produces that we enjoyed more than this one. It was good, but it was no Decade.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit
8-17-2010 The Man Shed
Randy Gibbs (AKA - The Pastor) and Dave Anderson (The Shrink)
Brick HouseToro - 6 x 52J.C. Newman$ 6.00+ The Cigar ChateauWrapper: Havana Subido, Filler: Nicaraguan, Binder: Nicaraguan
Randy and I first tried this cigar in 2009 and we really enjoyed it. In fact it made our list of Favorite new cigars from 2009. We decided to smoke it again to see if it was as good as we remembered.These are really good looking cigars with minimal veins and a slight oily sheen on the wrapper. They were firm to the touch with no evidence of soft spots or sponginess. They are adorned with a simple and yet elegant label. The construction of these beauties is top notch.After clipping the cigars we test the draw and it is perfect, just the right amount of resistance. We light them up and settle in for a couple of hours of conversation, adult beverages and hopefully a repeat of a great smoke. The cigar produces copious amounts of smoke that have a nice silky mouth feel and an enjoyable secondary aroma. This cigar burns really well, with only a slightly wavy burn-line, but no runners and it is self-correcting. It has a mild-medium strength profile with a slight spiciness on the finish that lingers in the back of the mouth.Tonight we are pairing our smoke with some of Randy's son Ben's English Pale Ale and a bump of Auchentoshan Single malt scotch. The beer has a nice balance of hoppiness and bitterness. The scotch has a very light nose, with sweet and spice flavors followed by a clean finish and a lingering burn.At the midway point we are both really enjoying this cigar. It has held a consistent medium strength profile and the spiciness at the finish remains although it has mellowed slightly. It has a slight taste of earth and cedar. It continues to burn well although we both had to make minor touch ups.In the end we were pleased that this cigars was as good as we had remembered it to be. It's flavor was very consistent and it burned very well. We appreciated that the spiciness held throughout the time we smoked it and that the burn issue were minor. We do not smoke these very often as we have never seen them come up in online specials. We generally only smoke them when one of us gets to a B&M shop that carries them.We rated it a 4 - Great Cigar - one we will definitely smoke again, would not hesitate to recommend to a friend and that we would keep in our humidor. Who knows if we get the opportunity to smoke some more of these they may make their way into the rarefied air of a 5.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit 9-2-2010 The Man Shed Randy Gibbs and Dave Anderson review the CAO Black Bengal 6 X 50 - part of a sampler $3.00 Typical price point online $4.00 - $5.00 Randy was not a fan of CAO cigars (having had some previously bad experiences with them) when I gave him a Brazilia Gol to try. He liked that cigar as well as the Italia. Thus, we were on a run of good experinces with CAO cigars. I had ordered a CAO sampler that came with a couple of CAO Blacks, which neither of us had smoked before. The bonus was that I had read a number of reviews of this cigar that were very positive so I was anticipating a great smoke. In reading up on this cigar I found that it has an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper with a Honduran binder and a mixture of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Mexican filler tobaccos. We unwrapped the cigar from its cedar cocoon and gave it a close look over. It's a fairly light tan in color and mostly firm to the touch a slight spongy spot about a third of the way down the length of the cigar. It was dry looking with no sheen to the wrapper. We clipped it and the draw was very good. We lit the cigars and sat back to enjoy a cool evening in the Man Shed. We paired our smoke with some Dark Truth Stout from Boulevard Beer and a bump of Cardhu Single Malt Scotch. Although the Dark truth is a fairly strong beer everything I have read about this cigar and its medium body indicates it should stand up nicely to this potent beer.I took a few long puffs off this cigar and I'm not liking it at all. It is really strong with an acrid taste on the finish. Not wanting to bias Randy I keep my initial reaction to myself. I also know that sometimes it takes a little while for my palate to adjust to a cigar so I don't want to make any rash judgment. That said, however, this is an unusual experience for me. I've smoked a lot of very strong cigars so it's not that. There is something else going on with this smoke, a a harshness that stays in my mouth long after the smoke is gone. I'm thankful for the strong beer and the scotch but even they cannot remove this taste from my mouth.When we hit the one-third mark I ask Randy about his thoughts and I can tell from his facial experience it is not good. He is having the same experience that I am. He cannot identify that lingering taste but he knows he does not like it. I should mention that the cigar is burning very nicely with a very thin burn line and a nice tight ash. At the half-way point Randy has this to say, "at this point it's not quite a spitter but it has not made a case for itself". I shake my head in agreement, this is very disappointing. The Dark Truth and the Cardhu on the other hand were quite enjoyable. I'm not sure I could have made it through the cigar without the strong influences of these drinks. The bitterness of the cigar was that bad.Randy ended up finishing his cigar. I gave up with about a 1/4 of it to go, I just couldn't tolerate it anymore. We both felt like it had burned very well and had a really nice draw but the taste never recovered from it's initial harshness. It was not that this cigar was just to strong for us. We have smoked a lot of strong cigars (Diesels, Cains, Man-of Wars to name a few) this was caustic and unpleasant. We ended up giving it a 2 which means we might smoke it again if someone gave it to us, but otherwise we will avoid it like the plague. Generally when we have a bad experience with a cigar the first time we will give it a second chance, but since we both had such a bad experience with the cigar we may be less inclined to try it again. We are not giving up on all CAO's as there are some we really like, but we may have given up on this one.

Thanks Dave for posting these over on your Web site. We are ready for our 2010 year in review.

Well, it hasn't been months, but I have a few months cigar reviews to post. More to come.
I love having a friend who takes the time to reveiw our times of trying different cigars. I find myself doing a lot of writing, but not taking time to record our reviews. Shame. Enjoy these and I'll try to do a better job in the future.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The Rocky Patel 1961

Date: 6-14-2010
The Man Shed
Dave and Randy
Rocky Patel - 1961
Robusto - $8.00 from Churchill’s in Topeka

Randy and I decided to try this cigar from Rocky Patel . We have rarely been let down by a smoke from Rocky Patel (except the Indian Tabac Super Fuerte) and we are always excited to try a new product. Rocky Patel produces two of our all time favorites the Connecticut and the Decade. The 1961 has a fairly dark brown wrapper and has a bit of an oily sheen to it. It is well packed but not overly firm. It has some prominent veins that leads to it looking a little on the rough side particularly when compared to the exquisite appearance of the Decade or Old World Reserves.

The draw was relatively effortless and produced an abundant amount of thick smoke. Initially the cigar seemed to have a fairly strong taste profile with a significant amount of spice on the finish. However, very quickly (within about half an inch) this cigar turned into having a more medium body and mellowing out on the finish. It maintained some nice rich flavors but lost the spiciness and bite on the finish.

The burn started pretty well with this cigar, but it began to produce a wavy burn line and then Randy noticed that he was having trouble keeping his lit. There was significant flaking in the ash consistent with a cigar that is not tightly packed as are intermittent burn problems.

We paired this cigar with some Hoppin’ Frog Silk Porter (who knew they made good beer in Ohio?) and a bump of Glenmorangie Single Malt scotch. Both of these were very good and complemented the smoke.

In the end we liked this cigar but we did not love it. We gave it a score of 3. Randy indicated that he might give it a 4 if he smoked it again and enjoyed the flavor as much as he did this time and did not have the burn issues we experienced. I was not as enthusiastic about this cigar. To me it is clearly a 3, a good smoke but I could think of a number that I would prefer to have and most would cost less. Both of us would definitely smoke it again.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - John Bull
2-22-2010John BullThe Man ShedDave and RandyRobusto - $4.00This is a relatively inexpensive cigar and you can tell. It has a light brown and very veiny wrapper. It is fairly spongy to the touch and I found a significant soft spot in the cigar about a third of the way down, this usually means that there will be burn problems in that area. I also found a split in the wrapper of my cigar. The interesting thing is that Randy’s cigar showed none of the construction issues that mine did – sometimes it is literally the luck of the draw.We clipped the cigars and tested the draw Randy found his to be just right, whereas mine was very tight. This was somewhat surprising as it was not at all tightly packed – this generally means that it is plugged and that is a significant problem. In looking at the cigar I do not see any clearly visible stems protruding that might be causing the blockage. As it is, I am really having to work at drawing air through the cigar.There is not much going on with this cigar it is very mild almost bland. There is a slight little spice or pepper on the finish but very little. The cigar burns pretty well although it has a thick and wavy burn line. It produces a relatively compact and tight ash without much coning. We paired this cigar with Fuller’s London Porter which is one of my favorite beers – my brother Rob introduced me to it and it has only recently become available in Kansas. It is a wonderful, rich, dark, and flavorful beer. I’m enjoying it much more than the cigar.This cigar was what we thought it was, to paraphrase ex-Arizona Cardinal’s football coach Denny Green. It was very mild and lacked in any interesting tasting notes. It started mild and stayed that way. As I said before it was pretty bland. I also had problems with mine in terms of its construction and draw. Randy did not experience any of those issues but still found the cigar fairly mediocre. We gave it a 2 – we would not go out of our way to smoke one and in fact would choose almost anything over it, but if you wanted to have a smoke while you were fishing or playing golf and did not want to feel bad if you had to abandon it this cigar would fit the bill.
Posted by Plains Sailor at 7:48 AM 0 comments
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Posted by Plains Sailor at 9:53 AM 0 comments

What? I haven't been on here for months? What is my problem? Well, I have been busy in the manshed off and on. My buddy Dave has posted a few cigar reviews from the times we have done a review night. I am sharing some of them with you in this post.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The Carlos Torano 1916
Carlos Torano 1916
Robusto - $ 7.00 retail
Randy ordered a couple of these as he had not had one before. I have not had a Torano Label Cigar so I was excited to try this. Randy reports that he has had cigars from this manufacturer in the past but not this particular smoke.
It is a nice looking cigar that is fairly tightly packed. It has some small veins but they are not particularly prominent. The wrapper is a Cameroon leaf and a light brown in color. It has no sheen and is in fact dry looking. After clipping the cigars we both found the draw to be good. Randy found his to be a little tight; mine was just right with the perfect amount of resistance.
After lighting the cigar I found the first several draws to be medium to mild with a light spiciness and peppery note on the finish. Randy also found it to be pretty mild but he experienced the aftertaste to be quite strong. That can be a bad sign sometimes indicating a cigar that is going to grow acrid and bitter. However, after smoking the cigar a little longer he found the aftertaste to have faded significantly and was no longer problematic for him.
The cigar burned quite well. It demonstrated a little waviness in the burn line and some “coning”, but it produced a very tight ash that was almost white in color and broke off in one piece holding its shape in the ashtray.
Tonight we paired our smoke with a New Belgium 1554 Black Ale – one of my favorite beers and some Lagavulin 16 Single Malt Islay scotch. Neither of us are big fans of this scotch. It is very strong in terms of its smoky, peaty and medicinal flavors. I bought a bottle on the recommendation of a salesman at a liquor store over a decade ago. Needless to say to have lasted that long behind my bar it was difficult to get anyone to drink it.
I found this to be a nice smoke. It had a very good draw and burned well. It had a nice mild to medium flavor profile with a little spiciness that it maintained throughout the smoke. It was consistent from start to finish and I did not experience any bitterness. Randy enjoyed it as well, commenting that he found it to have a mild but dry and woody flavor. We both gave it a 3 but I think I enjoyed it a little more than Randy – it probably fits my preferred smoking flavor profile closer than it does Randy’s.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your spirit and mind - The Tatuaje Havana VI - Nobles

2-20-2010
The Man Shed
Randy and Dave
Tatuaje – Red Label – Havana VI Nobles
Robusto - $ 7.00 retail

This cigar was highly recommended to us by Randy’s son Ben. I’m excited because I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Tatuaje cigars but have never smoked one. This is an attractive cigar with an understated relatively simple label. The cigar is dark brown in color and very firmly packed. It had no soft spots or sponginess to it. There were also not any prominent veins, all-in-all a very attractive cigar.

After clipping the cigar we noticed that the draw was tight. This is not surprising given how tightly this cigar appeared to be packed. Hopefully it will loosen up as we go so as not to make this issue problematic . After lighting the cigar we both noticed a spiciness that was very present but not overwhelming by any means. I found the cigar to be of a medium flavor and profile and a bit stronger than Randy.

As we approached the halfway mark of the cigar we both commented on how much we were enjoying the cigar. It was burning well with a slightly wavy burn line but nothing that either of us would see as problematic. The cigar was flavorful with some continued spiciness but also quite smooth.

We paired this cigar with an O’Dell Bourbon Barrel Stout. This is a great beer to drink with a stronger cigar as it is rich and flavorful. It is a mouthful of flavor – vanilla, bourbon overtones, maltiness and yet it has a very creamy mouth feel and is quite smooth. It not only stood up to the cigar very well, we thought the two complemented each other nicely.

The draw did loosen up and was fine by the time we finished our smoke. Still a little tight, but that was to be expected and did not lessen our enjoyment of the cigar at all. It was a very consistent smoke that started relatively strong but then mellowed out without completely disappearing and became a very enjoyable medium body smoke with a nice spiciness. Randy and I both scored this cigar a 4 would happily smoke it again.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The Perdomo Lot No. 826 Slow Aged
Perdomo Lot No. 826 – Slow AgedRandy and DaveThe Man ShedRobusto $2.50/stickRandy and I are both fans of the Perdomo Label. We have found all the one’s we have smoked to be good consistent cigars. We can’t remember ever having a bad one but we also don’t think we have ever been blown away by a Perdomo. They seem solidly locked in on our Board as 3’s.Randy picked these up and as we had never had them we decided to give them a try. The color of the cigar is a little uneven it has some very prominent veins and a relatively unattractive label. It is not not tightly packed having some soft spots and overall feeling somewhat spongy. This looks like a value type cigar.After clipping we tested the draw. I found it to be a little loose and needing a bit more resistance. This is not supervising given how loosely this cigar was packed. Randy found the draw to be closer to his liking. The initial draws from the cigar produced an abundance of smoke and a mild flavor with just a little bite on the finish. The secondary smoke it produced had a pleasant aroma.The cigar burned very well. It kept a pretty straight burn line and required no touchups. It produced a remarkably tight white ash that demonstrated no bloomage or coning. It came off in one piece and held its shape in the ashtray. I was surprised by this given the sponginess of the cigar. We paired this cigar with some Knappogue Castle Single Malt Irish Whiskey. It is a wonderfully light and yet flavorful Irish. We were a little worried that this whiskey could be easily overwhelmed by a cigar but because this smoke is fairly mild it seems like a good pairing. In the end we enjoyed this cigar. It was not as smooth or creamy as a typical Connecticut having more of a bite to it (I think this is because of the ligero in the filler). It reminded us of a Don Pepin blended 601 with hints of cedar, pepper and wood tones. This smoke was nothing fancy, just a good solid 3, much like many of the other Perdomo’s.

I will, of course post more of our winter's effort to discover another great cigar. Until then ....

Here is another fine review by our cigar review writer Dave. Good job and keep it up.

The Pastor and the Shrink - cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - Ambos Mundos 1 and 2
2-21-10 This evening we are smoking the Ambos Mundos #2 and as we smoked the Ambos Mundos #1 last week we are combining our reviews. The name is Spanish for "Both Worlds" and the cigars are from the creator of the Tatuaje brand of cigars Pete Johnson. Now I have not had a Tatuaje cigar yet but I have yet to hear anyone say anything but good things about them. Like the Tatuaje brand these are blended by Jose Pepin Garcia.One of these comes with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper AB #1) and the other is wrapped in an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper (AB#2) - hence the two worlds reference. These cigars are apparently made with the same tobacco that the Tatuaje are just not as high of grade tobacco is used. It should be noted that these cigars earned scores of 90 and 91 in Cigar Aficionado with the Ambos Mundos #2 being ranked #18 in Cigar Aficionados Top 25 cigars of 2009. Both cigars also made Cigar Aficinado's Best Bargain Cigars of 2009.Neither of these are particularly attractive cigars. They only come in two sizes Robusto and Toro and we were smoking the Robusto size. Both cigars had very prominent veins visible in the wrapper - this may be because of the lower grade tobacco used. They are endowed with small and plain labels. I remember when I picked these up at Centro Cigars in Lawrence thinking that compared to the other cigars available in the humidor these were sort of plain and cheap looking. Now it should be noted that I paid about $5 a stick for these retail and most other cigars at Centro were at least double that price so I was not complaining. After all, we are going to smoke them not stare at them.The construction on both cigars was good. They were fairly compactly packed but not to tight. They were slightly spongy toward the back half of the cigar. The draw on the AB#2 we both felt was a little loose. The AB #1 on the other hand had a great draw with just the right amount of resistance.The first half of the AB #2 burned really well with a tight ash and only a slight waviness to its burn line. But in the second half it developed some significant burns issues needing to be both touched up and re-lit. The AB#1 burned better. It also had a tight burn line early on that got somewhat more wavy in the second half. It had much less significant burn issues than the AB #2.The Ambos Mundos #1 was a medium to full bodied smoke with an initial peperriness and spice that although it mellowed continued on the finish. We thought it was pretty good and gave it a 3. It was not one of our favorites but we would smoke it again. We paired it with an Avery Brewing Company Imperial Stout - The Czar. The beer was rich and flavorful with vanilla and carmel notes - very nice.The Ambos Mundos #2 had much more spice and pepper that did not mellow. It was not overwhelming, but it also did not smooth out much. It was fairly consistent in it's medium body presentation. It was good, but not great, we gave it a 3 as well. We paired this with a Boulevard Irish Ale - which was very crisp and clean and had an abundance of hops. We finished the cigar with the MaCallan Fine Oak single malt scotch, which was very nice.In the end we liked the Ambos Mundos #1 slightly more than the number two. We would smoke either of them again but we could easily think of other cigars we would reach for first. Although their $5 price point is pretty reasonable we generally order our cigars online and for that price we could get a Rocky Patel Decade or a CAO Soprano both of which are much better cigars.

Next installment of cigar reviews:

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story
Randy and I smoked this cigar the same evening we smoked the San Cristobol (2-12-10). As you may know the San Cristobol smoked very quickly for us. We decided that as the night was young and the Man Shed warmed up that we might as well have another smoke. It was then that I remembered that I had two Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story cigars in my humidor. In the interest of full disclosure I love these cigars and had been saving those two for a special occasion.Because of its distinct shape this is a more challenging cigar to roll. It has a Cameroon wrapper and Dominican binder and filler. I paid just over $5 apiece for these retail. I have not seen them online as part of a special.The cigar is very light brown in color and the wrapper is rather dull without any sheen. It appears very well constructed and you can tell that it is made with great skill. It was firmly but not overly tightly packed. It has a somewhat unusual "nipple" on the foot of the cigar. It concentrates the area by which the cigar is lit into a very compact space. Thus lighting is very easy and generally fairly quick.After clipping and lighting the cigar Randy and I got our first real sense of the draw. Both Randy and I found the draw to be nearly perfect. It had just the right amount of resistance.The cigar started with a very pleasant mild nutty flavor that had a little sweetness at the end. It did not have any of the spice or bite that the previous cigar (San Cristobol) had.Tonight we paired this cigar with one of our new favorite Irish Whiskeys. Tyrconne/l Single Malt Irish Whiskey. I brought a bottle of this home from a trip to Topeka. We really enjoyed it and now it is one of our staples.The cigar burned perfectly. It kept a very thin burn line and developed no runners, did not need to be touched up or re-lit. It had a very tight ash that came off in one piece and demonstrated very little coning and no blooming. It produced an abundance of smoke that had a wonderful secondary aroma.The Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story held a very consistent flavor and burn. Although on the mild side it was complex and had a wonderful flavor. It was also a really good pairing with the Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish. Both were complex in their flavor profiles with hints of sweetness.As I said at the beginning this is one of my favorite cigars and this smoke lived up to my memory of it. We both scored this cigar a 5. That makes it one of our all time favorites and one we think everyone should have in their humidor. That means I will have to keep my eye out for them as I need to make sure there are at least a couple in there for the next special occasion.

We have begun the new years list of cigars we want to try. Dave has posted a review on several. I share them with you as he posted them, starting with the San Cristobal.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your Mind and Spirit - San Cristobal
Randy and I have been looking forward to smoking this cigar ever since his son Ben told us how much he liked it. This cigar is an Ashton product. This following information is from their website. San Cristobal is a boutique cigar handcrafted in Nicaragua by Jose “Pepin” Garcia. Blended entirely from rich, well-aged Nicaraguan tobaccos, these cigars feature dark, oily Nicaraguan wrappers. The flavors are rich and full-bodied, exhibiting a perfect balance between strength and complexity. Hearty notes of earth, cedar and spices are accompanied by lighter notes of walnuts, espresso, black cherries and dark chocolate. Each cigar is constructed impeccably and finished with a traditional Cuban Triple-Cap.This is a dark brown cigar with a large, colorful and ornate label. It's construction is seen as generally good, however, Randy did find a couple of soft spots and it is not firmly packed, thus giving it a sort of spongy feel. After clipping and lighting the cigar we sat back to enjoy this smoke.Both of us found the draw of this cigar to be loose and easier than we preferred. Randy joked that we might be able to smoke these in a half-hour as loose as the draw was. As these are blended with Nicaraguan tobaccos and made by Jose "Pepin" Garcia we expected to experience the strong spiciness that usually accompanies this type of cigar. Whereas it had some spiciness it was more subtle and underplayed than most Garcia cigars especially those made by Jose's Father. We both liked the flavor and the bite - Randy compared it to Rye bread - like a pumpernickel.Tonight we are pairing this cigar witha bottle of Brother David's Double Abbey Style Ale from Anderson Brewing Company. I saw this in a liquor store in Lawrence and how could I pass it up. It seemed made for me.The burn of this cigarr was actually pretty good. We were a little surprised because of how loose the draw was. It held a pretty tight ash that came off in one piece and held its shape. The burn line was somewhat wavy and a little inconsistent, but again given the draw it was not to bad.At the midway point Randy felt like it was a good mild and yet flavorful cigar. I found it to be more in the meduim range and enjoyed the light and yet consistent spiciness that it had.Generally a cigar of this size (Robusto) takes us in excess of two hours to to smoke. We were both somewhat amazed that we were done in around an hour. The draw was so light that we smoked through the cigar in about half the usual time. The good news was that it held a consistent flavor, a pretty good burn line, and never went out. We really enjoyed the cigar and although it burned quickly it did not seem to get overly hot or acrid which can occur when the draw is to loose.We both gave this cigar a 4. It was not a strong 4 and the loose draw hurt it, but overall it was a very enjoyable cigar that we would recommend and gladly smoke again. We liked the cigar much more than the beer. Even though its name seemed to have all of the signs of a great beer we found it to be to light and to sweet.

Starting off the new year, Dave and I review the Cain. I sure am glad Dave like to write things up. Otherwise it would be a long time between reviews. Here is the latest.


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Randy and I had a number of cigars we were looking forward to trying in 2010. One of those was the Cain Habano. We've had a break in the recent cold spell and headed back out to the Man Shed for a late evening smoke. The following information about this cigar was found on the internet -The Oliva Cain Cigars are a triple-fermented all-ligero cigar that was released in August of 2009. The inspiration for the blend is the motto of "straight ligero". These cigars have a variety of ligero tobaccos from several regions of popular tobacco farms in Esteli, Condega, and the Jalapa Valley in Nicaragua. Making a Straight Ligero cigar requires a unique understanding of the leaf. Ligero comes from the top of the tobacco plant. Its direct exposure to the sun darkens and thickens this leaf. Smaller than leaves lower on the plant, it also enjoys a concentration of nutrients. Habano Seed Ligero is recognized as the most full flavored leaf on a plant.Cain is the creation of Sam Leccia creator of one of our favorite lines of cigars the Nub's. I'm a little intimidated by this cigars as I have heard so much about its strength. We are going to smoke this cigar in the Robusto size (5.70 inches in length with a ring gauge of 50). I picked these up while in Topeka at Churchill's. They ran just over $7. This is more than we typically pay but we have not seen the Cain's in any specials online yet and we really wanted to try them.The Cain Habano is a rather rough looking cigars with a single small understated label on the foot of the cigar. It is not the prettiest cigar I have ever seen but rather it has a masculine appearance. It looks like its going to be strong. The cigar feels firmly packed although a soft spot was detected about half-way down the cigar.After clipping the cigars we test the draw and we are both impressed with it. The cigars light nicely and we are off. After taking about a half dozen draws we find the cigar to be as strong as advertised. It is full flavored with a pronounced bite at the end. Now a lot of cigars start this way the question is will our palates adjust or will this cigar's full flavor, body and bite persist?As we reach the half way point the burn had been very good. The cigar does not hold its ash like a Nub but the burn line has been good and we have had no burn issues. That is until we get to the place where the soft spot was and then both our cigars went out. The cigar has held its strength through the first half of our smoke. It is not bitter but it is strong and the bite has remained for me. Randy has noticed what he called a kind of toasty or roasted flavor. It reminds me of espresso - very strong, bitter but if you like that then also quite enjoyable.We paired our smoke tonight with two drinks. The first was The Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Whiskey. This is a lovely drink with a floral nose. It starts a little sweet, quickly followed by a warm burn and then a rather dry and crisp finish. We actually tried the Tyrconnell before we lit the cigars as we were concerned that the strength of the cigar might overwhelm this whiskey. We then shared a bottle of Sam Adams Imperial Stout. Now this is a drink that can stand up to even the strongest of cigars. It is rich and bold with many complex flavors that are unveiled as you drink it. It is strong, slightly sweet, thick and complex. As we finish our smoke we talked about our final impressions of this cigar. we both thought that this cigar was very close in flavor profile to the Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic. It was a smoke that held its strength and full flavor from beginning to end. We both had burn issues in the back half of the cigar. Randy liked this cigar. He thought it was a good strong cigar. He called it a "change of pace" cigar. He gave this cigar a score of 4 and would look forward to having some of these in his humidor.I gave this cigar a score of 3. I had a number of burn issues in the second half of the cigar that required several re-lights. This cigar is not for the feint of heart. It is strong and powerful, a little to much so for my taste. I would smoke it again but if I were looking to smoke a stronger cigar I would probably pick the Man-O-War or Diesel before I would smoke this cigar again. The Sam Adams Imperial Stout was a better pairing for this cigar then the Tyrconnell Irish whiskey. The strength of the stout complemented the strength of the cigar. We did, however, really like the Tyrconnell and look forward to a few more drams of it on a cold winter night.

Cigar info from Dave: This is a post from Dave about our year end discussion concerning cigars for 2009. Looking forward to more posts about our favorites in 2010!

Randy and I decided to do an end of year review of our favorite cigars, the new ones we were most impressed by, the cigars we are looking forward to reviewing, and the biggest bust of the year.

Favorite Cigars of 2009:
Randy -Rocky Patel Connecticut; Man-O-War; Rocky Patel Decade; Montecristo White; Oliva Serie V

Dave -Rocky Patel Connecticut; Aurturo Fuente Hemingway; Oliva Serie V; H. Upmann Rare Vintage Cameroon; Rocky Patel Decade

Favorite New Cigars from 2009:
Kristoff Maduro; Diesel; Brickhouse

Cigars we are looking forward to reviewing -San Cristobal; Cain; Tatuaje

Biggest disappointment of 2009:
Alec Bradley Tempus

I just keep enjoying cigars and my friends comments on our cigar sampling. The manshed is a bit cold these days, but warm company and a good smoke help out. A little scotch doesn't hurt either. I post the latest two tastes and comments from Dave's web page.


The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The Oliva Serie V
Today's cigar is the Oliva Serie V. I should say right from the start that this is one of my favorite cigars. I picked two up while in Topeka at Churchill's. According to the Oliva website the Serie V is a complex blend of Nicaraguan long filler tobaccos. Blended with specially fermented Jalapa Valley ligero, and finished with a high priming Habano Sun Grown Wrapper. This cigar is blended to deliver full body taste while maintaining an unparalleled smoothness.As I said I really love these cigars my only problem with them is that because they are generally so well thought of I have never seen them on sale so I always have to pay retail for them. These run anywhere from $7 to $11 per stick. Thus, I do not smoke them very often. Today we are smoking the Double Robosto size which comes in at 5 X 54.The cigar is dark brown in color with a large and ornate label. It is very elegant and attractive. The wrapper is somewhat dull and does not have an oily sheen to it. The cigar is firm to the touch and obviously firmly packed. Both Randy and I found the initial draw to be very good with just the right amount of resistance. We are pairing this cigar tonight with another one of my favorites. Randy has brought a bottle of Johhnie Walker Black out to the Man Shed and that just makes me smile. I think that this is going to be a great pairing.After clipping and lighting the cigar Randy reports that he is picking up a slightly bitter aftertaste that he describes as being bark like. His initial thoughts are that the cigar is in the medium category and possibly on the light side of that. I on the other hand find the cigar to be medium to full. I too find it to have bite at the end of the draw albeit not unpleasant like the bitterness of strong tea or coffee. My cigar burns perfectly although Randy experiences both a runner with his cigar and eventually must relight and touch up his burn line. The cigar produces a wonderful amount of smoke that has a pleasant secondary aroma. The ash is compact and white and gray in color. It holds its ash for well over an inch before I roll it off. I'm trying to avoid wearing the ash or having any of it fall into my scotch. But don't kid your self I'd fish it out and still drink it.At the midway point Randy reports that the bitterness has mellowed and now perceives the cigar to be a medium with a complex set of flavors that have evolved during the smoke. I continue to experience the cigar as being more medium to full in its flavor profile. The bitterness has mellowed for both of us which is often the case as our palettes adjust. I'm really enjoying this cigar. I find it to be rich in taste and yet also quite smooth. For me it exactly parallels the scotch. The Johhnie Walker Black is also flavorful and rich but very smooth.In the end we both enjoyed this cigar. Randy said he thought it was a very good cigar although he was disappointed with the burning problems that he had. He found it to be not as strong as a Man-O-War or Diesel but probably closer to a Rocky Patel Decade. Randy gave this cigar a score of 4. I'm a bigger fan of this cigar, in fact it is one of my all time favorites. This particular cigar lived up to my memories of having smoked these in the past. It was dark, rich, flavorful and yet smooth and consistent. I love these cigars, although I'm not a fan of having to get them retail. The price is much higher than I normally pay for cigars but frankly they are worth it. I gave this cigar a 5.This is the first review where Randy and I have scored the cigar differently. I would chock that up to the burn issues Randy had with his cigar and the fact that I have smoked a number of these and I am very fond of them. That being said we would both happily smoke these again and would definitely recommend them to our friends.
Posted by Plains Sailor at 8:54 AM 0 comments
Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The CAO Soprano
Today's review is of the CAO Soprano. This cigar was created by CAO at the request of the folks at HBO in honor of their hit show "The Sopranos". I was a huge fan of the show and was a little worried that this might simply be a marketing gimmick. When I did some research into the cigar I found that it had been hailed as one of Cigar Aficionado's best cigars of the year in 2005. According to the CAO website the Sopranos are made with a Brazilian wrapper, Honduran binder and filler from Nicaraguan, Columbia and the Dominican Republic. This is the first Soprano either of us have ever tried. Once again we got these in an online special. They normally retail for somewhere north of $10.The cigar is a very dark brown color with very small and not at all prominent veins. It is a solid cigar that is very firmly packed. This is consistent with my experience with the CAO Brazilla (one of my favorites). Randy found the draw to be a little tight as did I but not problematic.We are pairing the smoke tonight with a Special limited Release Imperial Stout from Boulevard Brewery. this is a great example of an Imperial Stout, very rich with a chocolaty finish.This cigar burned extremely well, with a tight burn line. It held a very compact and firm ash. the ash was grey/white in color and had no blooming. It burned extremely well from start to end. Many good cigars that we have smoked have had burn problem and required touch ups and/or re-lighting. That is always disappointing. Thus, we really appreciated the exceptional burning characteristics of this cigar.Although this is a full-bodied smoke it was very smooth. It was strong but not at all overpowering. The taste stayed very consistent over the course of our smoke. Sometimes full-bodied cigars start out strong and their intensity grows. Others become increasingly acrid or bitter, this one did not. We thought it was a great smoke.It is clear that the blenders at CAO took the creation of this cigar as seriously as the folks at HBO took the Sopranos. This cigar lived up to the hype. We have not always agreed with the good folks at Cigar Aficionado, but this one they got right.We both gave this cigar a score of 4 (out of 5). Its score was hurt by its price. We would be hard pressed to pay $10 or $12 for this cigar, but would happily pay the $5 that we got them for. It is an excellent full-bodied cigar that we really enjoyed smoking. We would not offer one of these to a novice, but anyone who likes their smokes on the full side would really enjoy one of these. It paired very well with the Imperial Stout which is also a very strongly flavored beer. We will definitely be keeping our eye open for another special on these. I'd love to have a couple more in my humidor.As with all great smokes the band went up on the wall where it will remind us of a great evening where friends enjoyed a lovely smoke, good drink, and stimulating conversation in the friendly confines of the Man Shed - Bully!

Another fine review. Thanks Dave for writing them up. I post it for my blog followers. Look here for more in the future.



Today's review is of the CAO Soprano. This cigar was created by CAO at the request of the folks at HBO in honor of their hit show "The Sopranos". I was a huge fan of the show and was a little worried that this might simply be a marketing gimmick. When I did some research into the cigar I found that it had been hailed as one of Cigar Aficionado's best cigars of the year in 2005. According to the CAO website the Sopranos are made with a Brazilian wrapper, Honduran binder and filler from Nicaraguan, Columbia and the Dominican Republic. This is the first Soprano either of us have ever tried. Once again we got these in an online special. They normally retail for somewhere north of $10.The cigar is a very dark brown color with very small and not at all prominent veins. It is a solid cigar that is very firmly packed. This is consistent with my experience with the CAO Brazilla (one of my favorites). Randy found the draw to be a little tight as did I but not problematic.We are pairing the smoke tonight with a Special limited Release Imperial Stout from Boulevard Brewery. this is a great example of an Imperial Stout, very rich with a chocolaty finish.This cigar burned extremely well, with a tight burn line. It held a very compact and firm ash. the ash was grey/white in color and had no blooming. It burned extremely well from start to end. Many good cigars that we have smoked have had burn problem and required touch ups and/or re-lighting. That is always disappointing. Thus, we really appreciated the exceptional burning characteristics of this cigar.Although this is a full-bodied smoke it was very smooth. It was strong but not at all overpowering. The taste stayed very consistent over the course of our smoke. Sometimes full-bodied cigars start out strong and their intensity grows. Others become increasingly acrid or bitter, this one did not. We thought it was a great smoke.It is clear that the blenders at CAO took the creation of this cigar as seriously as the folks at HBO took the Sopranos. This cigar lived up to the hype. We have not always agreed with the good folks at Cigar Aficionado, but this one they got right.We both gave this cigar a score of 4 (out of 5). Its score was hurt by its price. We would be hard pressed to pay $10 or $12 for this cigar, but would happily pay the $5 that we got them for. It is an excellent full-bodied cigar that we really enjoyed smoking. We would not offer one of these to a novice, but anyone who likes their smokes on the full side would really enjoy one of these. It paired very well with the Imperial Stout which is also a very strongly flavored beer. We will definitely be keeping our eye open for another special on these. I'd love to have a couple more in my humidor.As with all great smokes the band went up on the wall where it will remind us of a great evening where friends enjoyed a lovely smoke, good drink, and stimulating conversation in the friendly confines of the Man Shed - Bully!

Another couple of reviews of our smokes. It has been a couple of good cigars and one good pairing with drinks.

This evening we are joined in the Man Shed by Randy's son-in-law Brett Hille. I wonder if we will ever see Brett's Uncle Richard again in the Man Shed. Tonight we are smoking the Monte Cristo White. Randy is smoking the Robusto size while Brett and I are enjoying the Toro size. These cigars range in price from around $8 to $10. But, as usual, we got ours as part of an online deal and paid $4 a stick for them. We paired the cigars this evening with the Odell Cutthroat Porter. I'm a big fan of the Fort Collins, Colorado based brewery but have not had this particular beer before.The Monte Cristo White is an elegant looking cigar. It has a flawless light brown Connecticut Wrapper and an understated but elegant small label complete with a Fleur-de-lis. We all perceived the draw to be very good, open with just the right amount of resistance. Both Randy and Brett find the cigar to be mild. I find it to have a slight bite on the finish, but still very much in the mild category.The cigar burns extremely well, with an almost perfect burn line. It creates a compact white and grey ash that has to be tapped off. The burn remains consistently good through out the smoke with a straight burn line and no tunneling or blooming. It produces abundant smoke that is light in color and has a pleasing secondary aroma.The cigar maintains a very consistent mild, mellow, creamy flavor. I'm sure some would find this cigar to be relatively one-dimensional in terms of its flavor profile. It would be the kind of cigar that you might offer to a new cigar smoker (except for the price) as it is mild enough to be enjoyed by anyone who is new cigar smoking.We found this to be an excellent smoke and rated it a 4 (out of 5). It's label earned a spot on our Wall-of-fame. This is a really good cigar. It is on the mild side of the taste profile. It burned exceptionally well and had a wonderful draw. We appreciated its consistent flavor. You could enjoy this cigar early in the morning with a cup of coffee or later in the evening with an adult beverage. The only thing that hurt its score was the price. If you could normally get them for what we paid for them we just might give this cigar a 5, but for the normal price we find it to be fairly expensive. After all, one of our all time favorite cigars the Rocky Patel Connecticut is very similar to this cigar in many ways but retails for half the cost.It paired well with the Odell Porter, which is a London style Porter. It is a fairly rich and strong beer and may have almost been a little to much for the milder cigar. As it turned out though we liked them both so they went together pretty well.
Posted by Plains Sailor at 2:33 PM 0 comments

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve - Corojo
Tonight Randy and I are smoking one of his son Ben's favorite cigars, The Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve - Corojo. The RP website lists the tobaccos that make up the Olde World Reserve as follows: Wrapper: Corojo, Binder: Nicaraguan, Filler: Nicaraguan. This cigar retails between $9 and $11 but we got these in a sampler. We paired these cigars tonight with a 2008 McManis Cabernet Sauvignon.As you can see from the picture this cigar is box pressed and has two labels. It is an attractive dark brown color and is well constructed. Randy found it to not be particularly firm but nor was it soft and spongy. The pre-lite draw was very nice.The cigar burned well. It had a fairly consistent burn line early and produced a compact ash. There was no blooming or tunneling. I did experience a bit of a runner in the second half that required a touch up, but nothing major.I found the taste profile of this cigar to be a smooth medium. We both found it to be very consistent from start to finish. It had a spiciness to it that reminded me of allspice or cinnamon. The smoke was relatively thin and airy producing a pleasant secondary aroma. Randy indicated that he would characterize this as a Full but not strong cigar. The cigar never got harsh or bitter.Scores: We both gave the cigar a 4 (out of 5). We thought it was a very good smoke and we would not hesitate to smoke it again or recommend it to a friend. We probably would not, however, pay the retail price for this cigar. If we were going to pay that kind of money we would probably just buy the Rocky Patel Decade instead. This cigar also comes in a Maduro wrapper and we hope we get the opportunity to try that one as well.In terms of the pairing, I did not think this wine and cigar combination was very good. The wine turned out to be very mellow for a Cab Sav, with little tannins and a relatively sweet finish. It did not seem to match with the spiciness of the cigar successfully.

I continue to share our reviews on various cigars. Here is one of the latest.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - Rocy Patel Decade
It is a crisp Autumn afternoon when Randy and I decide to venture to the Man Shed and smoke one of our favorite cigars - the Rocky Patel decade. Randy and I have both smoked these in the past - several times. Although this is one of our favorite cigars we decided to go ahead and do a review of it.As you may remember Randy and I split an order of cigars in which we received two each of five different cigars all of which had been rated 90+ by Cigar Aficionado. We did not like most of them as much as the folks at Cigar Aficionado, but we do think they got it right with the Decade.On the Rocky Patel website they list the tobacco that makes this cigar up as follows: Wrapper: Sumatra; Binder: Secret; Filler: Secret. It is the first time I can remember that a manufacturer did not list the types of tobacco used to make a particular cigar. We smoked the Torpedo size 6 1/2 x 52. Today we are pairing the cigar with one of our favorite single malt scotches - Macallam 12.This is a lovely cigar, covered in a dark brown Sumatran wrapper and complimented by a simple, yet elegant double band. The construction is flawless and the cigar is firmly packed but not overly tight, leading to an Excellent draw. Although the manufacturer describes this as a meduim to full body cigar we tend to think that it is much closer to meduim than full. This cigar produces a lot of smoke and has a nice secondary aroma. It is the kind of cigar that if you smoked around people they would probably not be put off by it.The cigar maintains a very consistent meduim body, that is smooth and mellow. It has a dry quality to its finish - like that of dry cocoa or strong coffee. Our cigars did experience some slight burn issues - slight runners and the need for a touch up. We both also experienced the need to re-lite our cigars. This was surprising, because the Decade is a cigar you enjoy smoking and do not want to put down, so it wasn't our neglect that caused the cigars to go out. Also, historically neither of us remember that burn issues were ever an issue with these cigars.One way you know how much you are enjoying a cigar is determined by when you give up on it. Some cigars get increasingly bitter as you smoke them. You may enjoy the first half but find the longer you smoke it the harsher the taste becomes. These cigars tend to be abandon fairly early. A really good smoke, that is consistent in its taste, tends to be smoked for as long as it can be without burning your fingers or lips. The Decade fits into the latter category, you do not want to put it down. Your last draw is as good as your first.This cigar was almost as good as we had remembered. We graded it slightly lower because of the burn issues we had. However, since we have smoked a number of these and this is the first time we have had this problem we are not going to allow it to impact the overall score. Scores:Randy - 4 this cigar - historically 5 Dave - 4 this cigar - historically 5 This is a great cigar. It is attractive, smokes well, and has a consistent medium bodied flavor. It is an elegant and refined smoke that we would both have as one of our favorite smokes of all time. Our experience of this cigar was enhanced by the MaCallan 12 Single Malt Scotch. They were an excellent pairing.

We just did a monte Cristo White label. I'll let you know how that is in a later post.

I again share a cigar review from my smoking companion Dave's web page (listed in previous posts). We reviewed the Padilla Miami. Here are the notes:

It is a lovely fall evening in the Man Shed. Randy and I have decided to smoke the Padilla Miami. We have been joined this evening by our friend Richard Jensen (who is smoking a Nub Connecticut).The following is information gleaned from the internet about this cigar. Each leaf of tobacco hails from the dark, fertile soils of Nicaragua and is grown from 1st generation Cuban seeds. The wrapper is a dark, reddish-hued Corojo. The filler, a robust mixture of Criollo and Corojo tobaccos. Three caps are applied to the head of this cigar in true Cuban fashion. This cigar was apparently previously made By Don Pepin in one of his factories, but the relationship between Pepin and Padilla cigars is now over. Thus, there are some people who seem to prefer the Don Pepin made Miami's and others who prefer the new one. This is a medium brown colored cigar, the color is like milk chocolate. It is not particularly attractive, but only has a few minor veins showing. The cigar feels fairly tightly packed and the construction appears very good. After clipping the cigar both Randy and I find the draw to be very good.Randy finds the cigar initially to be medium in body leaning to the milder side. I find it much more of a medium flavor with, some spiciness and a little bit of a Nicaraguan-zing. We have paired our smoke this evening with some Glendronach 12 year old Single Malt Scotch that Richard brought over.For the most part these cigars burned well. Randy thought his burned extremely well, with an even burn line and needing very little tending to. Mine was a little more temperamental and it developed a slightly uneven burn line and needed a slight touch up, but nothing I would consider problematic. It produced a fairly compact ash with only a little blooming and no tunneling.Scores:Dave - 3 - I enjoyed this cigar. It was a nice medium cigar with some spicy flavors that were not overpowering. It smoked well without needing a lot of attention and it stayed fairly consistent from beginning to end.Randy - 3 Randy also enjoyed this cigar. He found it a little milder than I did. He characterized it as mild and smooth with pleasant woodsy overtones.We both thought the cigar paired well with the scotch. Their taste profiles played off of each other very well. The Padilla Miami Band made it to the Board and we would definitely smoke it again.It should be noted that Cigar Aficionado gave this cigar a 94. The brothers-of-leaf who reside in the Man Shed liked this cigar but we did not love it.

Tonight I sit in the man-shed without my cigar companion Dave. I have an Olivia Serie O maduro, paired with Macallan 12 year old single malt Scotch. The Serie O was one of Olivia's first blends. In 2005 it got a 92 rating from Cigar Afficianado. A Nicaraguan blend with habana seed and a conneticut wrapper.

On lighting up I found the initial taste to be bitter. It got some better as the cigar progressed, but not much. The draw was very good, (over an inch of tightly packed ash.) By half way through the cigar I needed more Macallan to help me stay with it.

I do not get the "nice spice" some have claimed. Overall, a strong taste but a bit to the acrid side. Mercifully it went out about 3/4 of the way. It did not make the wall of the man shed favorites. I gave it a two but that may have been the scotch talking! Not a cigar I will recommend to others. I'm glad I only had one on hand!

I am sharing a couple of posts from my cigar friend Dave. He is putting our reviews on his blog page so you can look for future posts on our cigar thoughts. Here are the latest posts. Check it out at http://compacdave.blogspot.com/

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - The Alec Bradley Tempus
Randy and and I smoked the Alec Bradley Tempus - Terra Nova 5 X 50 today (9-28-09). we were both excited to smoke this cigar as we have heard good things about it. The Alec Bradley Tempus is a combination of Honduran Criollo’98 wrapper blended with Corojo and Criollo filler from the Trojes region of Honduras.It is an attractive cigar with a medium brown color. It has two ornate bands including one on the foot. It is firm to the touch and beautifully constructed. After clipping the cigar Randy indicates that the draw is great. I find the draw to be very good as well offering just the right amount of resistance. After lighting the cigars we have two very different first responses. Randy reports that he experiences the cigar as fairly mild with a little spice on the finish. I, on the other hand, perceive the cigar as quite spicy and medium to full in taste. We are both impressed that the cigar burns well and does not need to be tended to.After less than an inch we both loose our ash. This is surprising, because generally we have found tightly packed cigars to hold their ashes. After an inch Randy's cigar is burning well, I have a slight wavy and uneven burn, but I do not touch it up as I want to see if it will self-correct. The smoke has a brownish tint to it, not the more normal light gray color and for some reason I find this off-putting. Randy notices that the smell of the cigars he is picking up when he is not smoking is quite strong and much different than how he is experiencing the cigar as he smokes it.Both cigars went out in the same place about 1 inch above the label. Mine went out even though I was holding it and had not laid it down for several minutes. At the half-way point Randy reports that although he perceived the cigar had started fairly mild it had built to a more medium flavor. I thought the cigar was a medium to full and it had stayed consistent while I had smoked it. It continued to have a bite to it that I was not impressed with. I also found the secondary smoke to be very strong and sharp - almost acrid.After smoking 3/4 of the cigar I abandon it. I was having some real burn issues (having to re-lite it it again) and I was simply not enjoying this cigar. I smoked a couple of medium to full body cigars over the weekend (Elo Gio & 5 Vegas Series A) and really enjoyed them, but not this cigar.Randy finished his and felt that it had stayed in the medium category for him with only minor burn issues. He said he could think of a number of medium body cigars that he would prefer and "that this one was nothing to write home about". Nor, did he think it was worthy of going on the wall, me either!Scores:Dave - 2 I was very disappointed. After all I had read I expected to love this cigar, but instead I could not even bring myself to finish it.Randy - 2 Randy was more positive about this cigar than I was, he believed it was better than a lot of twos and pretty close to a 3 - just not quite.To be fair we will probably need to smoke this again. After all, this cigar received a 94 rating from Cigar Aficionado and was in their Top 25 cigars of 2008. A lot of people really liked this cigar, but they don't smoke in the Man Shed. So the label goes in to the trash.Next up for us is the Padilla Miami - until next time, Smoke em if you got them!
Posted by Plains Sailor at 8:13 PM 0 comments
Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - The Oliva Master Blend 3
Randy and I are in the Man Shed enjoying a lovely cool evening (9-25-09). Tonight we are joined by Randy's son-in-law Brett and our pal Justin Sherfick. Randy and I are both smoking the Oliva Master Blend 3. Neither of us have smoked this cigar before, but we both enjoy many of the cigars produced by Oliva.Here is what the Oliva website says about this cigar - Master Blends 3 is the third offering in a series of limited artisanal blends. Liga Maestra is specifically blended to deliver the richest characteristics of Nicaraguan ligero fillers and Broadleaf sun-grown wrappers. It is a complex cigar crafted for the most developed palette. Wrapper: Broadleaf Sun-Grown; Binder: Nicaraguan Habano; Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero. It sells for between $8 and $12/cigar. But, we got ours as part of a sampler and paid much less than that.Tonight we are pairing these cigars with the award winning Oatmeal Stout from Liquid Bread brewery in Hays. We are still waiting for the Porter to come back in season.We both felt that the cigar was well constructed but not particularly firmly packed. It was mostly solid to the touch but there were a couple of spongy sections. After clipping the cigars we both felt that it had a good draw and the initial taste was a strong spicy flavor but not bitter or harsh. The cigar burned well in the beginning and produced voluminous smoke. The flavor mellowed considerably but continued to be moderately strong and enjoyable. We decided it had a spicyness with an earthy quality to it. It had a bitterness reminiscent of a strong cup of coffee so it was very enjoyable.For the first half of the cigar it burned perfectly, creating a solid ash that when it fell off I was able to pick up without it falling part. There was also no tunneling or blooming evident in the ash. The ash was mostly white and very compact. All of these are signs of how well constructed the cigars is.We both experienced burn problems in almost exactly the same place. Just above the band the cigar seemed to have a soft spot and both of us experienced our cigars going out. I had a burn problem after relighting that required a touch up. After that the cigar again burned perfectly.Overall we liked this cigar but did not love it. We thought this cigar was reminiscent of a Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 or 1992. Both of these are also strong and flavorful cigars but not at all harsh or acrid. We could both think of a number of cigars we enjoyed more that cost much less than this one, but we would not turn it down if it were offered to us.Our scores:Randy - 3Dave - 3With that the band was ceremoniously placed on the Wall-of-Fame.Next up for us the Alec Bradley Tempus.
Posted by Plains Sailor at 10:44 AM 0 comments
Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your Mind and Spirit
As Randy Gibbs and I spend many evenings in his Man Shed enjoying cigars we decided to also start doing reviews of the cigars so we could remember which ones we liked. We developed the following rating scale:4 - Great Cigar - one we will definitely smoke again, would not hesitate to recommend to a friend and that we would keep in our humidor.3 - Good Smoke - Cigars we enjoyed and would definitely smoke again but have some area of weakness.2 - Okay Smoke - a Cigar that was not terrible but had a number of areas of weakness - we probably wouldn't go out of our way to smoke, but might lite it up when we were golfing or doing yard work.1- Never Again - a bad smoke that we probably did not finish and would not smoke again.We have vowed to force ourselves to put the cigars we rate in one of the above categories so as to avoid the 2.25, 3.5 or 1.75 scores.In making our judgments we will look at these areas: Construction, Burn, Draw, Flavor and Cost.In future postings Randy and I will smoke the same Cigar, but tonight (9-19-09) we are going to be reviewing two different Padilla cigars. Randy and I both enjoy some of the Padilla brand cigars - especially the Padilla 1968. Which has made the Cigar Wall of Fame in the Man Shed.Randy is smoking the Padilla Achilles Corojo Edicion Especial 2006 - Toro size. He has paired his smoke with a bottle of Guinness Extra Stout. Randy indicates that the cigar is a light Coco brown color and is spongy to the touch. After clipping and lighting this cigar Randy reports that it has a mellow flavor and that it has a good draw. Although early on it burned fairly evenly it did develop some problems later and required relighting. Randy believes this was probably due to the loose construction of the cigar. He found that the cigar needed a lot of tending or it would tend to go out. Randy smoked the entire cigar and gave it a rating of 3.The taste was consistent and enjoyable, but the construction and subsequent burn issues did hurt its overall score.I had the Padilla Obsidian Limitatdo Edicion Especial - 2006, Belicoso size. I paired it with an O'Fallon, 5 Day IPA, given to me by my brother Rob. This cigar has a Maduro wrapper and is quite attractive, very dark in color almost black. It has a dark label as well which is unusual. This cigar is well constructed and very firm to the touch. After clipping the cigar the first thing I notice is that the draw is very tight, which makes the cigar somewhat difficult to lite. I'm hoping that the draw will loosen up as I get further into this cigar.The cigar starts with a very bold and spicy flavor and I'm a little worried that it will be to strong for my taste. The cigar initially burns well and the few minor burn problems that occur are generally self-correcting. As I get into the second third the cigar's flavor mellows out and is quite enjoyable, but the draw continues to be very tight.I ended up abandoning this cigar after smoking about two-thirds of it. The draw was just to tight, causing me to have to work to hard and significantly reducing my enjoyment. The cigar was also becoming a little bitter toward the end.I'm giving this cigar a score of 2.At our next get together Randy and I will be reviewing the Oliva Master Blend 3.Until next time - Smoke em if you got them!

This is why we wait and pray.

Our son Zac got home from his year in Iraq today. It was good to be able to see him face to face. There wasn't much of a ceremony like they had when he left, I guess it's hard to hold the troops in order when their families are shouting at them from behind the ropes a few feet away. I took a few pics to share with all who are interested.

Facebook | Your Photos - cool stuff to look at

I downloaded some cool pictures that are fun to look at over and over. At least for me. I just thought I'd share them with you.

Facebook Your Photos - cool stuff to look at

Facebook | Sarah Hille's Photos - Weekend @ Grandpas

I am trying to post a picture album of our last visit from the grand daughters. Here it is.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Randy-Gibbs/1212527574#/photo.php?pid=30716592&id=1194557911&ref=mf

Lauren and Madigan spent from Thursday evening to Sunday evening with Amy and I. It was a good weekend, but I understand why it is good to have small children when you are younger. So much energy! So much curiosity! So little time! These pictures are some that Sarah took of the cousins enjoying time together. Amy found it just the ticket to try the two story water slide! Since she rode on the back of Ben's harley from Hays (in a rain storm) this must have been next on her list of post-stroke things to do.

This has been such a great summer weather wise that I have had a chance to enjoy a few cigars. I have done so with friends and by myself with a good book or two. Of course, it is made enjoyable with a good stout beer or perhaps a good single malt scotch.


I have enjoyed any Rocky Patel product but the Conneticut Wrapper is a great, smooth smoke. One of my favorites. A new favorite is the Man O War. Good, full bodied smoke. Then you can't go wrong with a Monti Cristo White. The other picture is of a Cuba Libre. Not bad at all.