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Well everybody, I have officially made it a whole year. Today is my one year anniversary of being married to my wonderful wife. To make it even better, I should have my first child in the next 2 weeks or so. Thanks to some magic in the FoH logistics department, my box of Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona's from my wedding month showed up yesterday. I have never received a box that fast before. So tonight, I will be smoking one of these beauties with a good drink...

Medaille D'or 4...think I'm beggining to get LGC

San Christobal de la Habana El Principe from 2014. How good are these little wonders?

Ooooh... stunning BBF from Rob. UPA NOV 14

Met the man, myth, and legend today where I work at Riverside Cigars in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He was promoting his HR cigars by Cubanacan blended by himself. He says the crop in Cuba was good and for those interested he planted the Corojo 2012 seed variety. Truly a class act. Probably a once in a lifetime event for me. Hope your day is going as well as mine.

Mons Piramides rolled 3/14 courtesy of Ryan Thanks bro!

Any fans of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre foods. I've seriously watched every episode of both shows.

Romeo y Julieta Exhibicion Number 4 POU JUN 13. Only PE but they look good to me!

To my knowledge and experience people who say so are olfactory blind and refuse to admit it, or are incapable/unwilling to concentrate on the smoking experience. Explain me why I can name a Montecristo, a Hoyo, a Partagas, a Upmann as soon as the cigar has reached its "cruising" temperature? I can make a confusion between young Hoyo and Upmann, young Punch/ SLR/ RA, but if you can't tell a Monte 4 or 5, a Partagas Short or D4 compared to cigars of the same size, after X years of smoking, well, I wonder what you expect from a forum dedicated to habanos… Rob (our host) has initiated a number of threads and polls about flavor profiles, difference between marcas, etc. According to you he's crazy and an elitist?

Enjoying a '12 QdO Corona while strolling with the pup.

Beautiful afternoon with a RUE SEP 11 Siglo IV.

I think Guy is adding that he just had a custom he also held onto for many years.

This morning's smoke before work

A paradox to end all paradoxes.

It's a little rough, but the construction and burn is spot on. Flavors aren't quite there right now. I bought them to smoke on my anniversaries though, so I am okay with it. Not a bad smoke by any means, just needs some rest to see its potential.

First Sobresalientes. Moments of absolute brilliance filled with decent to great stuff in between. Waiting game with these I suppose.

An awesome box of HQ Montecristo No. 4!

Montecristo 520 tonight.

If he smokes it after the anniversary "celebration" it will be a top 3 no matter it being ROTT

2010 Mons Robusto

Are you looking to see how those Hoyo's age?

Bolivar Oryx '11. Could use a bit more rest, but nonetheless, is a nice, complex cigar.

Got this in today. PSP/HQ Dip 2 EML MAY 14.

Present from the other half. Visol carbon fiber and titanium weave Exceptionally happy with it. Bonus is that it is very light and strong, perfect for throwing in her purse or a suit coat pocket.

Some lovely Regios from our host. ELG JUN 14

love these,seldom get a bad one,and then it is one of 25........24 chances to love them.... will look forward to later when you have tried a few more...........hope things improve for you......

It's just the thrill of the hunt for some cigar lovers. I have seen it over the years, that sometimes certain cigars from certain factories during a specific year are just above average. The Cuban cigar industry is veiled in mystery to most cigar smokers because the factory codes are designed to eliminate exactly what we are trying to achieve, which is identifying the best of the best and cull out the rest. It's a difficult job, but if you had the choice between buying a Cohiba Robusto rolled at El Laguito or some regional factory which would you prefer to spend your hard earned money on? That's the point of this whole exercise. To address the "Best Current...." I tend to take those opinions with a grain of salt because everyone has different tastes. It's a good way to keep members active in the forum and be able to give their opinions on their current purchases. Some trends may be discovered, but mostly I see 50 posts with varying opinions. My advice would be to do samplers from Rob to discover what types of cigars you enjoy, then have your favorites hand picked to increase the likelihood of getting great boxes.

It's that easy Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First impression: Very good construction, smooth nice wrapper, slightly oily, good cold draw. Not so good, wrapper spilt. Upon lighting a smooth creamy sweet start. Low medium strength During the first 3rd getting, barn, grass with sweet undertone. A bit worried about the crack, try to cover it and hold it down as good as possible. Good thing is, feels like it is only the wrapper, no hole, doesn't influence the smoking (technically). Very lucky as I can smoke through the damage without problems. 2nd third is giving me some perfume, flower hints and chocolate. Moving into the last 3rd there is a citrus flavor with sweet grass. Strength is moving up quite a bit now with a Nicotin kick at the end. Feels like a fresh one, not ready for my taste but would expect to become a good smoke down the road Paring with water

Congrats D! Not to spoil the moment, but every fresh cigar I get from Oz takes months of adjusting before they are any good. Hope you have better luck!

Leftover Jambalaya with scrambled eggs is a phenomenal breakfast Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BBF Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's been a very busy week. Winding down with a Connie A, it is off to a great start. Looking forward to taking next week off.

Great - but check in after another 5

If you'd like fun, light action I would recommend: "Van Helsing" with Hugh Jackman. I LOVE the approach that was made toward all these famous monsters of yesteryear in this film. It was fun, it was good, it was respectful and insightful...it wasn't self-righteous or too dead serious. There was humor, humor, humor! VERY formidable Dracula brides; these dames weren't just huddled in a corner and hissing through long teeth like in Hammer films. Oh, no! Just one of Drac's brides was formidable enough and able enough to handle Van Helsing, the mighty Romania heroine, the villagers, AND bull farm animals single handed! So you KNOW what Drac, himself, was like in this! And, El Pres, this is an almost all Australian actor cast. I think you'll have a lot of fun with it. Next: 1955's Humphrey Bogart/Fredrick March vehicle, "The Desperate Hours". MAN, what a movie! Bogie's got Fredrick's helpless family held hostage by his newly escaped prison gang. The family has to strainedly pretend that all is well to the public while they're being held at gunpoint by Bogie and his big, bad psychopathic partner and his own little brother. DON'T BOTHER with the remake from the 1990's. THIS one will be edge of your seat excellent, and very, very, VERY well made. Finally: Frank Miller's (Robert Rodriguez's) Sin City, either one or two or BOTH. EXCELLENT excitement and adventure. I LOVE MARVIN (effectively played by Mickey Rourke), Miho and Dwight. Part two, "Sin City, A Dame to Kill For" (Eva Green), is just as enjoyable. I just can't watch that enough! Dennis Haysbert (the Allstate spokesman) has taken the place of the one golden eyed henchman from the late Michael Clarke Duncan. These films truly are a Man's man's film - and very appealing to us women folk too. I hope these suggestions will be of some use for you as far as "wet restrained" entertainment sought! Take care, El Presidente`! J.G. (aka Cigcars)

Same as my winter drink diet root beer

Goyard....on the hunt for one of these currently

PSP Monte 4 and BPC Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ryj reserva great cigar reminded me of a cross of a ryj churchill and an ed 54 when it was on. There was 3/4 of an inch that was the best cigar I have every had. It was just a little too tame in other spots But because of the price point I'll buy a psp box of churchills instead. 93 points Sent by telepathic super powers -Stogie Boy

Here are a few from the last couple weeks.

Well, had mine on Sunday, it became my birthday morning cigar and I smoked it in the patio as my wife was graciously enough to give me the morning free to dedicate it to my passion Didn't forget to take pictures this time. Cold draw was really good, hay, has a cereal quality to it also. At light up it was quite strong, but I quickly mellowed down and became quite the elegant cigar. Some bran and sweet flavors, but there was something of for me. This cigar needs age. The sweetness that I was getting gave more artificial sweetener flavor like Splenda than sugar cane. Then it became kind of muted... In no way a bad cigar, just kept thinking that it needed time and evolution to get its act together. After the middle point the cigar started to become stronger and shared better qualities than in the first third, it became more defined but it still wasn't perfect. I was paring the cigar with an espresso at first and then with just water. The sweetness mellowed and almost went away and a more dark quality came to it. A little bit stronger but also an acidic flavour much like sucking a penny. At then end I thought that it was a good cigar with great potential, but it's not even close to being ready. I think I know what this is because I've had the same experience with other young ones, but who really knows hahaha After all is said and done I'm having lots of fun with this tastings and also had a great birthday Good luck to all!

A good ray of sunshine hit the mailbox today. Almost made me forget about the one that hasn't arrived yet lol.

The famous POU JUN 13 box from our host.

Beautiful Monte 2...

This question has made me consider if we're not collectively engaging in Dicto Spimpliciter (aka the hasty argument fallacy in formal logic). That is, we want to believe that box codes, or a particular cigar is worth "chasing." Of course, a good cigar is subjective stuff, not anything we can work out logically, however are we really getting the "best" out there today when we seek a group answer? Curiouser and curiouser...

I chase codes to a certain degree. Mainly based on others experiences. It's no guarantee but I believe it betters my chances. As to the question of best smoking robusto, DC, etc... Pres uses a great analogy; cigars are like produce. Buy what's in season. Sometimes factories/blenders are on top of their game. When they are consistently putting our great boxes buy what's in season.