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Monte 2 last night and HU2 today.

Mag 46.

Alex La Puntilla

Maltes last evening

from our Hosts. these look and smell outstanding RyJ 4 HQ OER MAY 20 & PSE 2 MAR JUL 20 hand picked

C&C time. VR Unicos (2018) - 24:24 Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

Por Larrañaga Petit Coronas LGR Oct 18

AF Short story Maduro.. always a class act!

Opened up with amazing floral notes. Interesting ? MSU NOV 18 These are just getting better and better. MSU was a great box code from my experience. These are some of the lighter wrapper P2s I have seen over past 3 years.

RASCC during morning conference calls.

The Pres and crew are on fire this week! Thanks FoH.

C&C time. Monte PE (2017) - 24:24 Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

2018 Epi 2 Doble Sies UMR-May-20 EE Yummy 50th FOH Pigtail Robusto

Bolivar CJ, MSU Dec 18, hanging with Vera.

Enjoyed these two beauties last night.Lovely +3 hours spent. No time like the present for sure.

C&C with a Perla procured from our host

These don’t suck. And Partagas factory too. Sure wish there was more appetite for this vitola in the CC world. Another one showed up this afternoon. Have a lot showing up over the next couple weeks. These Shorts are just how they ought to be.

Late but very welcome arrival from Italy ...

Qual D’Orsay- No 50 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A qb of BFF from our host, along with a Connie As and JL1s to round out the shipment. Will give them some rest after their long transpacific voyages.

Middle of the week smoke

My first Esplendido (GEL JUL 20). Arrived to me Dec 18. Couldn’t wait any longer. So far so good. A tad tight on the draw and had to mend a bit of the wrapper. Thankful to have this one with more to spare. Also thankful for the San Diego weather despite CA politics. I see some some of you wearing gloves and heaters 2 ft away and admire your perseverance and thick blood! Cheers

My palette was shot last night due to lack of sleep this week. The Monte 2 is a jun 20 and the hu2 is a may 18, the last examples I’ve had recently of the hu2 have been phenomenal while the Monte 2’s havnt had quite enough rest to be honest. I just snagged a box of Monte 2’s today so I’ll smoke another Monte 2 soon to pass better judgement since I have heavy reinforcements coming! I like lighter wrapper monte’s better as I think there’s more of that citrus twang, nuts and biscuit. I’m not a huge chocolate/coffee guy but when monte’s get that lighter flavor combo with the chocolate/coffee they’re freaking amazing. So far I’d say I like them equally. The ‘18 HU2 really needed 2 years. They were 85 point cigars before 2 years and now 92-93 pointers. But I think that’s indicative of much of the ‘18 production I’ve smoked through, they need more time than the 19-20 stock. HU2 is BRE MAY 18 and Monte 2 I believe is RAT JUN 20 quick funny story: I kinda gave up on my box of HU2’s and didn’t smoke one for awhile. I gave one to one of my buddies who sent me a picture smoking it in Guy Fieri’s backyard (he’s very good family friends with them) and said it was the best cigar he’s ever had. I didn’t believe him until I smoked another after almost a year hiatus and he was right, absolutely fantastic!

From my locker, Asia-Pacifico Regional Edition ROL Oct 13 La Flor de Cano Grandiosos courtesy of our host...

@JohnS has known all along that true flavour is in the aroma!

Corner mounted garage heater/furnace and a ceiling exhaust fan - best cigar investment I've made. It's a little noisy but I'll take that for the heat it produces. I've got a floor fan that points up to the ceiling fan to boost smoke up and out and I need the garage door opened a crack to let in just enough fresh air to cycle. I can keep the temp above 65 no matter how cold it is outside and zero smoke smell inside.

Like many wines, I've found the sweet spot for aging CCs (for my tastes) falls b/w 3-12 years past box date. Much beyond that & you get into quieter, more demure flavors. I like cigars when they've lost some of their 'baby fat', but still have some generous flavors & punch. To each their own though. I know cigars will age well when there's a rambunctious mix of flavors & no off-putting edges (not that modern CCs have many). As in wine (I know I make this comparison a lot but it's apt in many ways), if a cigar seems off balance young, chances are it won't be great in the future. Wine's aging potential comes from a balance of 3 things: fruit, tannin & acid. Cigars don't have the same chemical components of that 3-legged chair, but they do seem to rely on quality of vintage, and the skills of the blender (i.e. winemaker) to achieve greatness. Anywhoooo, I age marcas with profiles I like...mainly Cohiba, Upmann, Partagas & LGC. Even within my fave vitolas I still run into boxes where I say to myself 'I just don't like this effort'. One example is some boxes of mid-to-late 18 Connie 1s- I don't know why, but just didn't like their balance so I traded them away. I had smoked enough of that vitola to know what I expect/want. It's all in what YOU like & want to see evolve. I am really intrigued by Cohiba in particular, as they take a good long time to come around (4+ years min). So much fun to age boxes & see where they go. Based on what I experienced from 2019 coded boxes, I think they will age a long long time. Have gone deep for sure. I hope 2020 is as good...

I’m loving both of those nowadays. Got 1 box of 2015 montes that are perfect right now and I love the newer HU 2s

Turn an outdoor space into an indoor space.

Just came today, they look great! Will need a short rest then will give one a try, should be a nice short winter smoke. GOS OCT 19

2019 Famosos

First Punch Short de Punch. SEP 19. Thanks @lovethehaze.

C&C time... Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

Hello all, I’m an avid cuban smoker but in my college days I was obsessed with woodworking. Naturally, elaborate wood humidors are exciting to me, I love marquetry and anything made out of a nice walnut or other hardwood. The below is my current smoking humidor. Side note, the monte especial 2’s seem to be great in recent years. Anyways, I hunted down some other humidors and boxes that looked interesting and was wondering if anyone would be able to find a bit more context than I could. The first humidor looked similar to the discontinued “Assorted Humidor”: The construction is solid, and truthfully my hope is to refinish this as it looks like someone started that but didn’t bother to remove the hardware. Then I’m aiming to fill it with some comparable current production partagas vitolas, mirroring whatever was in here originally as much as possible. This might not be the assorted humidor though, so correct me if I’m wrong. The second nature box that I recently found seems much earlier and I couldn’t find anything about it online. The text is a bit faded but the one that is most difficult to make out seemed like the vitola: "50 portuondos". Any information or guesses would be great, appreciate the knowledge you all bring to the table.

This is the ideal fo R&J EX4 right here, Rosado in spades, oily glistening wrappers. picture perfect

Which was better ? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If nothing else, you could tell just from the look on @JohnS 's face.

1998 Partagas SdC3

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This particular petit royale was awful. I’ve had some decent ones so obviously it’s one of those “well it’s Cuba” cigars. Replaced with a lovely little Demi Tassi

D4 BUP ABR 19 Wind tunnel, but still a nice smoke. RASCC, box code unknown. Another meh example for me. Short... And a BRC MSU ABR 19 this afternoon, from a PSP 1/4 box. Fan-forking-tastic in the second half, lots of malt and floral notes, unexpectedly good.

Edmundo

Monte Media Corona Edit: Edmundo and Belicosos.