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 House
Toro - 6 x 52
J.C. Newman
$ 6.00+ The Cigar Chateau


Wrapper: 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

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.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your mind and spirit - John Bull

2-22-2010

John Bull
The Man Shed
Dave and Randy
Robusto - $4.00

This 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.

The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar Reviews for your Mind and Spirit - The Perdomo Lot No. 826 Slow Aged

Perdomo Lot No. 826 – Slow Aged
Randy and Dave
The Man Shed
Robusto $2.50/stick

Randy 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.

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 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 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.