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This is likely a stretch as well, but artistic none the less. Spent my life around drums and drumming, and the coolest recover I've seen is still this kit done by a fellow in Connecticut. I'd seen it at the Deep River fife and drum corps muster (Hey! That's coming up again next weekend!!) but had a great look at the Chicago Drum Show in 2015. As far as cigar bands go I've always liked the San Cristobal with the parrot on it. Not too big. Not too gaudy... Just about right IMO

Special treat this afternoon... Cheers! Bill

After a week away from my smokes. Back with a vengeance yesterday Hoyo Grand Epicure PSE2 Partagas Serie C No. 3 EL 2012 Todays been a good day too Punch Super Robusto Asia Pacific RE 2006 Punch Serie D'Oro No. 2 EL 2013 - just started and it's the pick of the bunch I think. Special

Post-vacation 24:24 haul. Four gorgeous-looking boxes from our host, PSP all. Bound for a long slumber... Cohiba Robustos PET ENE 16 x2 H. Upmann Connoisseur No. 1 MEG FEB 16 H. Upmann Magnum 56 TOS NOV 15

A few from the last weeks.

R&J Churchills : MUL OCT14 (1), PLA JUL15 (4) These 5 boxes are all just glorious examples of my all-time favorite cigar. I've amassed these over the past 4 weeks with some welcome help from our host. These will be going to sleep for quite a few years as I feel Churchills of this quality deserve the time to develop. Needless to say I will dip into a box every 3 months or so. Cheers.

Richly oiled and mottled PSD4 from last year's PCC vintage offerings, OPA AUG 09. The box is stunning and I'm rationing them. I didn't get to smoking this while away, but I did find some time today. One of my top smokes of the year, right up there with the two otherworldly Connie A's I've enjoyed. What I love about this box, with this amount of age, is that the blend is fully realized, perhaps at the height of its powers -- the cigar is exactly what it wants to be. And I have decided what so many of you know so well: that bell pepper, though it sounds a bit strange for a cigar, is actually a wonderful flavor when done right.

Like most of us, I am not sure where the first half of 2016 has gone We finsihed June with a record 6 months thanks to you However, overall it has been a tough 6 months for the retail industry in terms of supply. You are all aware of how thin on the ground premiums such as Cohiba, Winston, SLRDC are ....let alone the dearth of BBF, 898, Dieux (not since 2014). Cohiba in particular represents some 25-30% of profits for not only HSA but also retailers. Take them out of the mix and it is a hard road. Looking forward, I can't see to much change over the coming year. Supplies will be tight across many lines. Lack of appropriate leaf is the issue and a good growing season this year really won't change too much until 2019. That is frightening in itself. Crikey...imagine if the embargo was lifted now!.....I would be peddling PSP Guantanameras Still I am a glass half full type of person. Actually the glass is generally more like a bucket and close to spilling While the bad news is almost all down to production and the resultant undersupply, the good news is in relation to quality. The best cigars of 2016 to date? Bolivar Corona Gigantes Diplomatico Number 2's H. Upmann Magnum 56 San Cristobal La Fuerza Not a struck match between them. I love the consistency in flavour and quality across those four and consistency is a feature that gets you into the top four. Each of them brings a ton of flavour and a great smoking experience to the table. The most consistent factory to date in 2016 la Corona is producing some stunning stuff from Dip 2's to Monte Edmundos/petit edmundos/magicos/Cuaba/898/Fuerza and a hell of a lot in between. TOS is the most consistent code coming out of Cuba today. The Comeback Cigar of 2016 to date Diplomatico Number 2. From the outhouse to the penthouse. The Fall From Grace cigar of 2016 to date Por larranaga Petit Corona. In terms of quality the PLPC has taken a few steps backwards. Don't get me wrong, still smoking well but I am not finding those stunning silky cabs like I was in 2015. Just a perceivable drop of in quality. The "Darwin Award" of 2016 to date PCC and the pricing of the La Gloria Cubana Revolution Regional 2015. Excellent cigar. Dumb packaging and pricing. Mind you it is selling well so what the hell do I know. The Worst Cigar Release of 2016 to date. Hoyo De Monterrey Hermoso Number 4 Anejado Who knows what they were thinking. What flavour free zone this cigar is. The "nail in the coffin" for any credibility in this questionable program. The best "Bang for Buck" cigar of 2016 to date Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo Du Prince. What a pearler of a cigar. Balance, flavour and complexity in a cigar so young. The Most Inconsistent Cigar of 2016 to date Montecristo Number 2 It must be envious of the Dip 2 right now. A victim of multi factory copious production. Get a great box and you are in heaven. You have also just won lotto. Never a buy blind choice. The "No One Loves Me"...Slowest selling Cigar of 2016 to date Tight field ....but the winner has to be the Partagas Serie D Number 6. Let's make an expensive cigar wedged in between the D4 and the D 5...and then put them in timber boxes of 20 so that they are also expensive to ship. Brilliant marketing!.....morons. All in all I am looking forward to the second half of the year. God knows we are due for the new releases but more importantly...Havana in November where I am looking forward ot catching up with old friends and meeting new ones! This is my 20th year in the industry and I look around to find that almost everything I adore has been a product of it. Friends close and far, my team who are family, Di who is my best friend and partner. Blessed. A cigar is but a cigar be it a "Cohiba Reserve Maximus Dinero" or a Monte 4. Their real value is in who they bring you together with. Nothing else really matters at the end of the day. Have a cracker weekend! Rob

Tonight's smokes Bolivar corona extra from @dicko and a 1966 from @maverickdrinker Thanks fellas!! ???

P-r-r-e-e-e-t-t-t-y close. My little guy's a crazy Jack Russell, I let my niece name him - Ricky Bobby. I call him Doctor Destructo; Captain Crazy; etc.

MUR 2013 RASS

A glorious Piramides Extra ULA AUG 14 on Kauai. Dripping in honey flavor. A couple hours of heightened relaxation in paradise.

HU Sir Winston : LST ABR09 Received this box of awesomeness from our host recently. Love to see PCC Vintage Stock in the 24:24.

2011 QdO Corona and some espresso.

Quai D'Orsay Coronas from recent 24:24 ETP NOV 2015

RyJ Churchill had been in the gutter for over a decade until recently. Rob and many others have some pretty high praise for 13 and 14 production, but my personal experience runs counter--an OPG JUL 14 10 box I purchased pretty much stunk, and the blind tasting example we got wasn't any better--for me at least. I think it's safe to say the RyJ Churchill is a mild/medium smoke that can be a bit hit or miss. Light rosewater with some cream & cherry is about the best description I can give you for it. On the other hand, there's some serious positive feedback on 15 Boli CG right now, as in absolutely incredible. It's going to be much more full-flavored than the RyJ, without a doubt. I can tell you that if I was purchasing a box of Churchills today, 15 Boli CG would be the one.

Onslaught continues this month Sons birth month NOV 15 box, Hdm sj

Partagas 898 from '06 Gesendet von meinem D6603 mit Tapatalk

Beutifull Belicosos from 08

Oficios, starting to like San Critobals profile!!! Really enjoyable brand... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if LEs are in the mix, but might be worth picking up a box of the RA Club Allones. They come in 10s so the price point is a little more palatable.

Tres Petit Corona! had this little guy with a coffee this morning

In terms of variety and quality (both Cuban and non-Cuban), we have certainly never seen better, IMHO. But is that sufficient to call it a boom? Regulation and taxation makes purchases ever more difficult and expensive. Availability in meatspace, too, is becoming increasingly constricted: time was when there were plenty of tobacconists in every city, when bars and restaurants routinely kept a stocked humidor for patrons to enjoy a post-dinner smoke. And while I do get plenty of positive comments from people along the lines of "this smells good, not like cigarettes", the general climate is such that Soviet-style censorship such as airbrushing cigars out of photographs of Winston Churchill is enacted without a murmur. The propaganda has been successful that I have to regularly engage in the tedious job of explaining to people that cigars are NOT cigarettes in substance, consumption or health effects. Legal changes now threaten to make smoking illegal not only in public places but even in the privacy of our own homes (note the incoming changes to strata laws in NSW). All this leads me to think that we may be living in the last great flowering before the curtain descends. And on that note, I shall now go off and perform a private act of social disobedience: I will make myself a bacon buttie (cholesterol!), wash it down with a beer and two fingers of Bushmills single malt (alcohol!), and fire up a Connoisseur A (tobacco!) while digging up my old recipe for Death By Chocolate (the sugar!). And tonight I will kill the planet by taking my V8 for a spin to have a steak dinner before enjoying unprotected sex. And another cigar.

Following up with a 2012 RASCC and some Glenfiddich 18. These are SO wonderful. I dread the day when they're gone. Sent from AOL in 1999

Discontinued ERDM petit corona circa 2012:

Luke my long haired standard red dachshund. He is a grand champion. A big bold beautiful buddy. 37 pounds of rock. Just as beautiful on the inside. A very sweet, gentle happy go lucky buddy.

Sancho Panza Molinos '02

Sancho Panza Molinos '02

Format: Grand Corona (Factory viola: Hermosos No.3) Dimensions: 48 ring gauge x 140 mm Date: Tuesday 12th of July, 2016 Cold Draw: Wonderfully refined barnyard with a hint of earthiness and mocha coffee. Lit: 1:45 p.m. Initial Draw: Again, I used my 3-in-1 Credo Punch Cutter, but this time I used the largest 10 mm cut, to make another perfect punch (The 10 mm punch cut is for cigars up to 48 ring gauge). I really like the size of this Limited Edition cigar, at 48 ring gauge by 140 mm, it's very close to my favoured corona-size, which I find ideal. The draw is excellent. The mocha and chocolate and espresso flavours make me look forward to how this cigar will progress. Through the nose I get a decent amount of spice, not too over-powering or too little, and the cigar is around medium in strength. First Third: As per usual, I've paired this with a nice black espresso. Spice has picked up through the middle of the first third. Combined with chocolate, these are the two flavours dominating. Construction is spot on for a Limited Edition. The burn is even and ash is a consistent grey/light-grey. Towards the end of the first third the spice has settled, both through the draw and the nose. Second Third: Still medium in strength, the flavour has changed somewhat. No longer chocolate-y and spicy, instead I'm picking up a dull earthiness, like mushroom, which comes through every draw. The spice is still there in the aftertaste. Construction and smoke output continues to excel. As the cigar progresses through to the middle of the second third, the spiciness re-appears, making this Bolivar EL, in my opinion, pleasantly complex (but not as complex as say, a H.Upmann Noella). Final Third: At the beginning of the final third, I'm still getting a combination of very mild earthy/leather and spicy flavour at medium strength. There's only a hint of chocolate per draw now. It's been a quality smoke so far, the only criticism I have is that I can't get the ash-length past half an inch (1.25 cm), but this is only a minor regret, as there are no signs of over-heating. Towards the end of the cigar, the spiciness comes back, I'd describe it like a Partagas Serie D No.4 without the sourdough/creamy edge to it. Completed: 3:05 p.m. Conclusion: If you are a Bolivar fan, I'd say you'd find this a little milder than what you're used to. My palate does not gravitate to 'earthy' cigars, so Bolivar is a marca I tend to look over, however, I'd even admit that this cigar was a quality smoke and a success as a Limited Edition release. If you like milder spice, chocolate and leather in your cigars, then this is the right cigar for you. It's a shame that Habanos S.A. could not release this in a 10-count box, otherwise I'd imagine they'd have been the 2014 equivalent of the Ramon Allones Club Allones in regards to popularity and appeal amongst Habanos enthusiasts. No matter, if you have a box, rest assured that these are smoking well now, and in my view, have the potential to age nicely at the 3 to 5 year mark.

As far as quality of tobacco is concerned I think it's been banner years from '13-15. I've been most impressed. Unfortunately successive 12.5% tax increases have dampened my buying power locally and pushed most of us Aussies into buying overseas and chancing the taxman. Culturally, I find it relatively difficult to find places to publicly indulge here in Sydney and only light up at one or two places. Myself and a few blokes were unceremoniously booted from the smoking section at an Eastern suburbs hotel just last year, amazingly at a place that prides themselves on being a whisky joint. Much easier to get some friends together and light up at home. The interesting thing is that after regularly travelling to the Middle East, my own coworkers who poo poo cigar smoking and called it horrid actually commented how great my cigar smelt and asked to try it while indoor smoking at a bar.

A very good BBF from our host. I can see why so many people are saying good things about these Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

what, is he playing a violent, racist, misogynistic anti-semetic?

decoupage cigar bands in xikar cutter

Fabulous stick... H. Upmann Magnum 56. Gesendet von meinem D6603 mit Tapatalk

My first go with Johnny-O. Ordered a 25 count sampling and revived 2 bonus sticks! Thanks John, top notch. Dry boxing a couple to try fresh. Freezer and nap time for the rest.

No no Thank You Sir @torsion cant wait to tuck into this kind selection!

During my stopover in Frankfurt a RA Perfecto Suiza. It will never be a RACF but it's decent and each one I smoke was better than the last. Then a really nice 2013 BBF.

Few new additions since my last post: I'm sure there's a few more, but they'll be at the back of the humi. Thanks P

BTO 13 VI

AF Hemingway Short Story:

Sancho Panza NP from '13. Loving this box.

Capped off a beautiful Saturday night with a wonderful ERDM Tainos 1997. Almost twenty years on these and still very discernible flavors of wood, pepper and now I am starting to pick up notes of mint. Cuban cigars can age so well. Paired nicely with the champagne [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lady Piggy asked me to unreal the hose this morning so she could water the plants. And... she watered the plants! In her typical fashion, everything got watered! The patio, the pots, all the leaves in the pots, etc... Can't have dusty patio plants you know!!! Unknowingly she hosed off all our little pets on the milkweed. This is the plant that feed the monarch butterfly. When I went out to check the progress on the plant, and the little fellows were all crawling around on the patio! So Mr. Piggy (friend of the earth) went into a rather silly, save the monarch mode! All of them seem to have survived and are doing quite well. This afternoon they were all working on getting plump for a new butterfly or the local bird population! Cheers! -Piggy

So far this year Ferrari and Red Bull have had some seriously bad strategy. Ferrari also seems to be way less reliable leading to a double whammy of them under performing Williams is also way off the pace too and that's really surprising. I don't miss some of the team chat about lift now blah blah blah, but I'd like the engineers to be able to tell the driver to switch to x or y because your gearbox is stuck. Not sure who's going to win the driver's championship. Nico was back to his pouty self that he was most of last year. If he can get that swagger back Lewis has a hard time matching him,

If you like the VR Unicos, why not give the Famosos a try?

Congrats to RickHendeson and DrunkenMonkey for getting 3 out of 4. Very impressive!

The last movie I watched that felt 80's was SUPER 8, was pretty good.