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Punch 48

2424 BUP JUL 17 Lusi Box of 10 First one, off to a good start.

Got my 50 cab today! Going to have to try a few this winter.

Lons

Weekend smokes DD and JL2, both ‘13. Like me a bit of age.

P Lusi (MAS June 08):

Partagas D #4

C&C Time! Maduro 5 (Aged Sampler) - 24:24 Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Latest purchase was from a few weeks back on 24:24. Grabbed some sampler's / 1/4 box options which just arrived in the post.

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Maduro Monday. AFR-75

Lovely HQ Partagas Shorts 50 cab from our host...

First thing that came to mind

Over a cigar and conversation that would violate just about every sanctified rule in the forum (yes, yes.. even @Ken Gargett‘s historically succinct thoughts on personal firearms were mentioned....briefly) (we love ya Kenny!) @El Presidente asked that I do a little update post... A couple days under the belt now and the wear is already starting to show. If you’ve never been with this crew in Cuba, they sprint like a pack of 16-year-olds at a co-ed lock-in. You cannot keep up.. What you’re young you say? ..And partied at a fraternity that over imbibed sometimes? You’re still too old. They’re professionals. What? Go to bed at 4am? Hell no.. just stay up.. and. Keep. Rolling. Yesterday a late lunch meal at La Terraza @ Prado 309, great conversation, and better cigars with some of Havana’s own elite persona’s present, the sprinters relaxed, some with dead eyes and placid faces, nourishing from the previous night on a diet of pork, fish, lamb, seafood, wine, and mainlined nicotine represented by a mish mash / ramshackle display of some of the best cigars on the planet. The coup de gras finishing move? An amazing Muscat.. That was HoLeeCrap good. Liquid raisins for days with a finish as long as flight from Brizzy to L.A.. A good time to be had by all and to next the quality cigar bar a few blocks down the waddling began. Now at the Hotel Packard for cervesa and habanos.. (my 5th habano of the day) The forum violating covo began as we solved the earths cultural and ideological differences. Somewhere between proposed solutions for nanny states and the natural core differences between father and son (experience vs inexperience - for you Ben) on topics of the artistic freedom, water polo, horses swimming and photographic consent, we managed to confuse our waitress holding a tray of 3 beers and fancy beer glasses who tripped sending the whole lot to the tile faux-wood floor.. cause and effect. What happened? As my Dad would say, a melluva hess. Just about the time the small army of hotel workers sopped up the glass bits and beer, we were able to muster this photo.. what a bunch of tossers.... All is well with the Lads. Love specifically sent to @WarriorPrincess and Lisa from Rob. ...from Havana..

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San Cristobal La Puntas and Upmann Regalias. Those Regalias are supposed to be cheapies... they don’t look like it! And Mar 17 so nearly two years old. Thank you FOH crew.

Smooth colorado wrapper, nice even draw from a punch cut. Sparks up well, although the burn is slightly wonky and requires the occasional touch of flame. Flaky ash. Maybe due to smoking outside in a cool breeze. At two years of age this is still a medium to full-flavoured smoke with appreciable spice and some bite. It’s starting to develop sweet richness, more like apple skin now rather than full-on stewed fruit. But it’s definitely in that more vegetal zone of flavour rather than cocoa, earth or leather. Good smoke production and a pleasure right down to the last inch. The evolution was steady rather than sudden: I’ve had RASS that abruptly change profile after the first third or so. This was more of a gentle building in body. Reliably good smoke this, from a PE box, just over an hour on this occasion. Paired with... a glass of full fat milk. And right after a little run, so it’s a healthy day, right? The creamy milk worked well, smoothing out the smoke nicely. (cross posted to store reviews)

Cigar: Bolivar Royal Corona Drink Pair: Noah's Mill Bourbon. Going into this BRC so young, I knew it might be a rough go unless paired with an equally heavyweight drink. At 57.15% alc./vol. (114.3 proof) this bourbon fit the bill. First third: Right off the bat there is a bit of mongrel on the tongue, strong coffee and cake sweetness fight to come to the foreground. The complexity is muddled but it's there. Second Third: I take my first sip of bourbon. Incredible balance. An often fiery sip at first, the Noah's Mill has actually seemed to roll in smoothly after the Bolivar. I draw some smoke, and the real bout has begun. All the coffee flavor and sweetness fighting to show up has done so. The bourbon, normally on the sweet and syrupy side, has toned down and let it's cinnamon-like spices shine like a bouquet of fresh flowers. Wonderful. Final Third: The interplay of flavors continued until the last inch or so, when the cigar's youth began to show. I often find there is a loss of complexity when pairing with a strong drink and can be quite a one-dimensional experience. However, in this case it provided a peek at the potential of this young cigar. Not to mention it brought out subtleties not seen before in the bourbon itself. I give it an 89 as-is with plenty of room to grow.

C&C Time! Connie A (2016) - 24:24 Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' Real-Life Superhero, Dies at 95 Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics whose fantabulous but flawed creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere, has died. He was 95. Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Ant-Man, among countless other characters, died early Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a family representative told The Hollywood Reporter. Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee's daughter, J.C. Lee, also confirmed his death. Lee's final few years were tumultuous. After Joan, his wife of 69 years, died in July 2017, he sued executives at POW! Entertainment — a company he founded in 2001 to develop film, TV and video game properties — for $1 billion alleging fraud, then abruptly dropped the suit weeks later. He also sued his ex-business manager and filed for a restraining order against a man who had been handling his affairs. (Lee's estate is estimated to be worth as much as $70 million.) And in June 2018, it was revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department had been investigating reports of elder abuse against him. On his own and through his work with frequent artist-writer collaborators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others, Lee catapulted Marvel from a tiny venture into the world's No. 1 publisher of comic books and, later, a multimedia giant. In 2009, The Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, and most of the top-grossing superhero films of all time — led by Avengers: Infinity War's $2.05 billion worldwide take earlier this year — have featured Marvel characters. "I used to think what I did was not very important," he told the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. "People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed." Lee's fame and influence as the face and figurehead of Marvel, even in his nonagenarian years, remained considerable. “Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created," Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. "A superhero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart." Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also paid tribute. “No one has had more of an impact on my career and everything we do at Marvel Studios than Stan Lee," Feige said. "Stan leaves an extraordinary legacy that will outlive us all. Our thoughts are with his daughter, his family and the millions of fans who have been forever touched by Stan’s genius, charisma and heart.” Beginning in the 1960s, the irrepressible and feisty Lee punched up his Marvel superheroes with personality, not just power. Until then, comic book headliners like those of DC Comics were square and well-adjusted, but his heroes had human foibles and hang-ups; Peter Parker/Spider-Man, for example, fretted about his dandruff and was confused about dating. The evildoers were a mess of psychological complexity. "His stories taught me that even superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk have ego deficiencies and girl problems and do not live in their macho fantasies 24 hours a day," Gene Simmons of Kiss said in a 1979 interview. "Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, I learned about the shades of gray in human nature." (Kiss made it to the Marvel pages, and Lee had Simmons bleed into a vat of ink so the publisher could say the issues were printed with his blood.) The Manhattan-born Lee wrote, art-directed and edited most of Marvel's series and newspaper strips. He also penned a monthly comics column, “Stan's Soapbox,” signing off with his signature phrase, “Excelsior!” His way of doing things at Marvel was to brainstorm a story with an artist, then write a synopsis. After the artist drew the story panels, Lee filled in the word balloons and captions. The process became known as “The Marvel Method.” Lee collaborated with artist-writer Kirby on the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Silver Surfer and X-Men. With artist-writer Ditko he created Spider-Man and the surgeon Doctor Strange, and with artist Bill Everett came up with the blind superhero Daredevil. Such collaborations sometimes led to credit disputes: Lee and Ditko reportedly engaged in bitter fights, and both receive writing credit on the Spider-Man movies and TV shows. "I don't want anyone to think I treated Kirby or Ditko unfairly," he told Playboy magazine in April 2014. "I think we had a wonderful relationship. Their talent was incredible. But the things they wanted weren't in my power to give them." Like any Marvel employee, Lee had no rights to the characters he helped create and received no royalties. In the 1970s, Lee importantly helped push the boundaries on censorship in comics, delving into serious and topical subject matter in a medium that had become mindless, kid-friendly entertainment. In 1954, the publication of psychologist Frederic Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent had spurred calls for the government to regulate violence, sex, drug use, questioning of public authority figures, etc., in the comics as a way to curtail "juvenile delinquency." Wary publishers headed that off by forming the Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body that while avoiding the heavy hand of Washington still wound up neutering adult interest in comics and stereotyping the medium as one only kids would enjoy. Lee scripted banal scenarios with characters like Nellie the Nurse and Tessie the Typist, but in 1971, he inserted an anti-drug storyline into "The Amazing Spider-Man” in which Peter Parker's best friend Harry Osborn popped pills. Those issues, which did not carry the CCA "seal of approval" on the covers, became extremely popular, and later, the organization relaxed some of its guidelines. Born Stanley Martin Lieber on Dec. 28, 1922, he grew up poor in Washington Heights, where his father, a Romanian immigrant, was a dress-cutter. A lover of adventure books and Errol Flynn movies, Lee graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project, where he appeared in a few stage shows, and wrote obituaries. In 1939, Lee got a job as a gofer for $8 a week at Marvel predecessor Timely Comics. Two years later, for Kirby and Joe Simon's Captain America No. 3, he wrote a two-page story titled "The Traitor's Revenge!" that was used as text filler to qualify the company for the inexpensive magazine mailing rate. He used the pen name Stan Lee. He was named interim editor at 19 by publisher Martin Goodman when the previous editor quit. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Signal Corps, where he wrote manuals and training films with a group that included Oscar-winner Frank Capra, Pulitzer-winner William Saroyan and Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). After the war, he returned to the publisher and served as the editor for decades. Following DC Comics' lead with the Justice League, Lee and Kirby in November 1961 launched their own superhero team, the Fantastic Four, for the newly renamed Marvel Comics, and Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil and X-Men soon followed. The Avengers launched as its own title in September 1963. Perhaps not surprisingly, Manhattan's high-literary culture vultures did not bestow its approval on how Lee was making a living. People would “avoid me like I had the plague. … Today, it's so different,” he once told The Washington Post. Not everyone felt the same way, though. Lee recalled once being visiting in his New York office by Federico Fellini, who wanted to talk about nothing but Spider-Man. In 1972, Lee was named publisher and relinquished the Marvel editorial reins to spend all his time promoting the company. He moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to set up an animation studio and to build relationships in Hollywood. Lee purchased a home overlooking the Sunset Strip that was once owned by Jack Benny's announcer, Don Wilson. Long before his Marvel characters made it to the movies, they appeared on television. An animated Spider-Man show (with a memorable theme song composed by Oscar winner Paul Francis Webster, of "The Shadow of Your Smile" fame, and Bob Harris) ran on ABC from 1967 to 1970. Bill Bixby played Dr. David Banner, who turns into a green monster (Lou Ferrigno) when he gets agitated, in the 1977-82 CBS drama The Incredible Hulk. And Pamela Anderson provided the voice of Stripperella, a risque animated Spike TV series that Lee wrote for in 2003-04. Lee launched the internet-based Stan Lee Media in 1998, and the superhero creation, production and marketing studio went public a year later. However, when investigators uncovered illegal stock manipulation by his partners, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001. (Lee was never charged.) In 2002, Lee published an autobiography, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. Survivors include his daughter and younger brother Larry Lieber, a writer and artist for Marvel. Another daughter, Jan, died in infancy. His wife, Joan, was a hat model whom he married in 1947. "J.C. Lee and all of Stan Lee's friends and colleagues want to thank all of his fans and well-wishers for their kind words and condolences," a family statement read. "Stan was an icon in his field. His fans loved him and his desire to interact with them. He loved his fans and treated them with the same respect and love they gave him." "He worked tirelessly his whole life creating great characters for the world to enjoy. He wanted to inspire our imagination and for us to all use it to make the world a better place. His legacy will live on forever." Like Alfred Hitchcock before him, the never-bashful Lee appeared in cameos in the Marvel movies, shown avoiding falling concrete, watering his lawn, delivering the mail, crashing a wedding, playing a security guard, etc. In Spider-Man 3 (2007), he chats with Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker as they stop on a Times Square street to read news that the web-slinger will soon receive the key to the city. “You know," he says, "I guess one person can make a difference … 'nuff said.”

1. Montecristo Especial (circa 2003 - thanks @jay8354!) Gifted by my dear friend Jason, this 15 year old Montecristo Especial was all smooth and refined. There was very little cream and coffee here, but Montecristo cocoa and nut was abundant, together with a floral aftertaste from beginning to end. 2. Montecristo No.2 UTL Mar 2018 Flavour-wise, this was your standard Montecristo cocoa, milk coffee, nut and toasted tobacco fare, but the bunched leaves along one side on the binder made this require a few touch-ups to burn evenly and spoilt an otherwise fine cigar.

Fresh from my locker. I was a tad bummed when I finally realized that the LAU DIC 16 especiales #2 advertised were actually LMB OCT 17. Oh well, they look good and I'm sure they will be great. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

RyJ Mille Fleurs and a 6 pack of Epi 2's from a recent 24:24. Looking forward to trying the MF's, not had one before but if El Pres likes them then they can't be bad!

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If ever there was a cigar designed to go with a straight black coffee it's the Party Short. In this case the cigar is a PSP with three and a half years on it and the coffee is a Nespresso Ristretto decaf lungo. The Short is as good as ever - this box has been stellar and I've only got a couple left. Fortunately I bought two boxes of this code so there's plenty waiting for me still. Coffee and sourdough bread are the descriptions given by Rob and unsurprisingly he's bang on the money. Black coffee at the forefront with a more subtle doughy backnote lilting in and out. The coffee's good for a decaf (too close to bedtime for full fat) and the only decaf we'll have in the house. It matches the cigar perfectly with a strong smooth flavour and a sharp finish. As the cigar smokes down a sweetness develops, like a small spoon of molasses added to a much needed Joe on a cold day. And it is cold tonight, but my Contigo mug keeps the decaf hot for the required 40 minutes. There was a thread doing the rounds not so long back on the best cigar accessory and I think I nominated the Contigo, it's that good. Not a lot more to say - coffee and cigars for the non-drinkers among us, it's a winner every time. [emoji477] Sent from my ActionMan walkie-talkie

I have an old Camus Napoleon Cognac ashtray I got off of eBay a while back. It’s a little beat up, but I love the shape, size, colors and art. The rests are also a great size and shape, hold my stogies in place even in a breeze!

Great JL in the garage playing with the new toy

Well, this was supposed to go up tomorrow, but I guess no need since I won a box in the drink and cigar review. I love this place! (even if my fiance and credit card don't lol) A tasty H Upmann Number 2 that I brought back from Morocco, along with a Stone Fence (2 oz bourbon - I used Elijah Craig small batch, couple ice cubes and fll glass with apple cider. Highly recommend for a fall drink). Been awhile since I smoked such a big cigar, maybe an hour and a half outside when it's in the high 40's should wait until summer lol

After several years out of it, got back into sledding. Picked up my 19 Ski-Doo XRS Renegade 850....Bring on the snow!!!

2424 2017 VIGIA 2424 Por Larranaga Picadores EOT MAY 2017. Way underrated

These ain’t bad These have serious potential! But unfortunately this one is too wet still. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Smoking my first Connie #1. Love the Upmann profile.

CoLa (MEL November 08), it doesn’t get much better for me:

Partagas Maduro No1 courtesy of@ritch in the the UK Box Pass. Great smoke for the camp fire on a wet and windy night. Chocolate and toast, moving into leather and cooking spices and back to dark chocolate again. Very good indeed. Sent from my ActionMan walkie-talkie

The work travels continue, Mallorca for the next two weeks. Yesterday we watched the All Blacks, I sat outside and enjoyed an ERDM, idiot me forgot my cutter knife and lighter on the table. Got back three hours later when I realized but apparently nobody found them. Yeah right! Today a laid back day at the Marina, started off with a Punch LE and now a PLPC. There’s definitely room for more, could turn into a four cigar Sunday - love it! Weather couldn’t be better for early November, wearing shorts and T-shirt today! Enjoy your Sunday gents! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2 boxes arrived today from the canary islands. Bolivar soberanos were already posted. On top of that my friend also foubd Behike 52

2008 fundi

Start of the week and some chill out time is already required!! So reach out for one of my favourite sticks and drink, HU Conni No1 paired with a Negroni Nice uniform wrapper and slight resistance in prelight draw 1/3: Initial flavours of roasted peanuts with slight spice, with good volume of smoke. I find the sweet / sour citrus flavour (akin to a Chinotto) of the Negroni goes well with most cigars. Drawing nicely with consistent flavour profile. 2/3: The roasted nuts have come to the fore, with spice subsiding a little. Smooth medium strength cigar. Not overly complex, a smoke that you lets your mind wonder and chill. 3/3: Nut profile has seemed to have dropped off, and more toasted bread flavours coming through. Overall an enjoyable smoke to relax with for an hour or so. May need another Negroni!

What an amazing legacy. He had positive impact on millions of people around the world, including myself. Rest in peace, good sir. You will be missed.

Rest In Peace, "Smilin" Stan Lee. You entertained me with The Hulk, Machine Man, Etc., Etc., Etc. ad infinitum when I was in my '20's and on up to the present day with those wonderful Marvel Comics thrill-a-minute special effects laden delights! Love you and will miss you, man!

Wanted to share some snapshots from Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival this year. Pretty happy with the quality of the camera on my phone! Anyone wondering, the sets below are Rex Orange County, A$AP Rocky, Post Malone and Kids See Ghosts. Good luck to those in the comp!

Ireland v Argentina We’ll need to hit the ground running a lot harder next week. Bring on the All Blacks ?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Has been a great time ...now off to Havana.. Special thanks to all at the Panama cigar club , very special

Couple of sampler packs have come in from our wonderful host. #1 I'm itching to try the CoRo, the JL#2 and the P2 #2 Good lord look how big those Lusis are, and want to try the Boli's.