xsquid

Yes, I did not care for the 1914 as the rancio was too much for me. The candied fruit gave way to wood and leather so Abel was the "sweet spot" for me. I do not like Tawny Port over 20 years either. I do have some Dow Colheita Port 1975 as that is the year I graduated from high school. Just turned 65 and enjoyed a 96 Margaux to celebrate that milestone. I see you are into claret and port and now cognac and obviously cigars and you are in Boston so perhaps we can share one or many of those things at some point. Always looking for fellow aficianados of wine, cigars, and of course a fine bourbon or scotch or Irish whiskey to sip while enjoying a smoke. I am out by Worcester so if you want to join me for some libation and a good smoke just ping me.

I love Ferrand and I did a tasting of the line up many years ago including the 1914. I ended up buying the Abel (45 years old) as it had complexity, but not the real deep "rancio" that the 1914 had. I also think they had a cognac that was specifically for cigars and that was good also. Of course I do the other cognac based spirits such as Grand Marnier (I like the 100 for drinking), but the orange infusion is not one to mix with a cigar.😝

I could give up cigars and booze, but I draw the line at coffee LOL. I also have the Mochamaster and a french press. Not a roaster, but whole beans ground as I need them daily. Presently using Sumatra as Celebes is hard to find. Prefer medium (city) roast. You can keep the Starbucks burned beans which they equate with flavor. I use a local roaster called Red Barn in New England, best I have had so far. I used to get Kona, but I loved the Celebes (fuller body and flavor) and it cost 50% less so hooked on that. Sad to see what happened with the disaster for Celebes a few years back. The industry is still not fully recovered.

If your doctor says get one - get one. If the doc says no due to some issue with your medical history then don't. If employer insists well your health is priceless you can do the math.

I like em as bait LOL

I had the TI-55. Hey where is the Polaroid camera LOL

Holy impending bankruptcy Batman!

I have been thinking about this, but not dry boxing, but smoking environment. I have noted that smoking in cool/cold and low humidity conditions result in poor smoking experience. I am not sure if it is due to me puffing more to finish quicker and get inside to warm up or not, but I am not ruling it out. I have noted recently that my first cigar in some time was outside on a 60+ deg. F day and the humidity was low, but the cigar smoked well. I will note that my best experiences have been outside summer smokes in the evening with 70+ deg. F and below 70% humidity. It seems if the environment is comfortable for me (moderate temps and humidity), the cigars seem to smoke well. I do not smoke indoors so winter is a dry spell for me, nor will I smoke if it is high humidity (my comfort zone), so even if my porch has nice temps, if it is sticky I will not enjoy sitting out there. All anecdotal observations no rigor in this data set. I noted this on both CC and NC cigars.

If the winds are favorable 🤪. I did a lot of joint ops with the Canadian Navy, they were fun to hang with and they had booze on the ships. More civilized than the US Navy

Ha ha, how about 3! Marine Biologist, then Naval Officer, and now Electrical Engineer. Now if I could just merge the biology and EE together, I could study the fishes that generate electric fields 😉

I have observed this in my long wine hobby; however at a certain age, the senses dull a bit and you will find you go back to high octane wine once again, much like you may have to turn up the TV volume 😀. I loved Oz Shiraz when younger, then thought they were too much, now back to loving it (and many of the California high octane wines that seem the norm these days).

One of my favorite NC cigars. I have an NC humidor filled with Oliva, Padron, Ashton, and Illusione. Those are the ones I have found work best for me.

Tongue and cheek my man LOL

I tried the robusto and toro size by whatever goofy name they call them. I had to see what the hype was all about. Yes, well constructed, great burn, good smoke output, but very muted flavor mostly hay and grass notes. Not worth the cost. My step son had one and we both concluded just get an Ashton for 30% the price and it has some more layers of flavor. Chalk this up to cigar marketing and hype but I had to see for myself. Been through this in the wine world also, so not surprised.

Plume or Bigfoot which is real.....you decide?