ChanceSchmerr

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Everything posted by ChanceSchmerr

  1. MontrealRon, I think I will give the JL Corona another shot if I should find one from a different source, if only because it was so titanically bad that it can't speak for the rest of Coronas. In the meantime, today I tried #3 of my Coronas - the Hoyo Corona. Plagued by burn issues, my reaction towards it was mixed. It was somewhat aged (I can't remember the cab date, but it was at least 5 years old if I remember right) and though I frequently got many hints of the characteristic (to me) Hoyo smoothness and creamy flavour, it just never burned right or evenly. I would rate it a solid 8.5/10, but not spectacular. Worth another shot from a different source, anyway. I'm going to hold off for a bit on the other Coronas, that Punch Black Prince is my Duty Watch Cigar when I am Officer of the Day on my ship monday, and I can't wait to try it!
  2. Rum was my first favorite liquour, before I moved on to Tequila, but it still holds a place in my heart! My top 5 1. Angostura 1919 - I find it better than the 1824, actually! 2. Havana Club Barrel Proof - Marvelous, only reason it's not #1 was an oddly off-tasting bottle i had once 3. Captain Morgan's Private Reserve - tastes of Chocolate in every sip 4. Appleton's Master Blender Reserve 5. Sailor Jerry's - it's just that good Worst Rums? 1. Bacardi White - I can taste the steel in every sip 2. Bacardi 8 yr - probably the worst amber rum I've ever had, IMO 3. Pyrat - I Can't see what the big deal is? I'll keep trying though...at least I only paid 25$ for it in Hawaii instead of 90$ for it here in BC!
  3. I know Toronto quite well, as my Fiancee hails from there, my favorite baseball team plays there, and I went to college 3 hours away. Problem is, I havn't known it long as a Cigar fan. I think you are indeed out of luck, as I don't recall many places left to enjoy cigars indoors, last winter I had a conversation with a tobacconist owner in Toronto who told me he rarely stocks/offers cigars larger than a robusto in the winter because "all his customers have to smoke outdoors, and no one is brave enough to last out in the cold longer than the time it takes to enjoy a robusto". I know the LCDH in Yorkville that was mentioned - there is indeed no smoking inside, but on the cordoned off 'patio' immediately outside, there is always someone there enjoying a fine smoke whenever i go there........except in the winter! LCDH has the best selection, but Thomas Hinds tobacconist two blocks away has a little better customer service.
  4. Nice! I can say Yes. Buddy of mine had a 6 day Bachelor party in Vegas in May. It was truly ridiculously fantastic. I'm honestly astonished we all got out alive and well haha!
  5. After a 5 day purgatory at sea with No internet, I'm back with my first Corona report. My first Corona to try was the Diplomaticos #3. wow. Let me say again. WOW!!!! It was...legendary. Brimming with flavour, the first third gave me roasted nuts and oak, followed by coffee and cocoa hints in the middle third and leather overtones in the finale. I actually burned my fingers smoking this one down to the nub! I enjoyed it for around 90 minutes, magnificent cigar, and I got comments from lots of shipmates who liked the smell coming off it (exact quote - "thats not quite as crappy as the usual cigars you got there, sir!"....cigarette smokers, what can you say?) Corona, you're off to a hell of a start! Mid-week I tried an El Rey del Mundo Lunch Club, another recent discontinued cigar. I'm not missing much there, it tasted fine, but too light for me now I think. A light cigar like that, I'd like to be a little longer, like a Grandes de Espana maybe. Finally, my 2nd corona I tried was last night, a Juan Lopez Corona from a 2000 box. ugh. Night and Day, and this was definitly night - terrible/uneven burn despite a couple of attempts to correct it, just a basic tobacco taste with no evolution of flavour or anything. That's two JPs in a row that have not been up to par for me (tried a Petit Corona a month ago, the first half was wonderful and then it just died on me, quite peculiar). So far, Coronas are batting .500 for me. Tampa1257, you were dead on with the greater intensity and more complex flavours with the smaller ring gauge Diplo, but the JP was just strong tobacco. We'll see how the others fare! In the meantime - Diplo #3 has made my call-back list!
  6. I would agree - the Don Pepin Garcia Lancero is fantastic, and the best lancero I've EVER had was the Fuente Don Carlos Lancero, that you can only get at the Casa Fuente in Las Vegas. My Ship's Captain is heading to Vegas next month, I've already got my request in with him for more Very possible that Altadis applied lessons learned with what NCs sell to its Habanos production. Fatter cigars do sell very well compared to the thin smokes, from what everyone says, but surely historical significance will ensure that coronas never disappear althogether! Also, it seems to me that the anti-corona feeling has been growing for a while.... I rarely watch Seinfeld (one has to only look at my signature to tell what show I love) but one of the few episodes I've seen, I remember Kramer scoffing loudly at an offer of a box of Coronas for the big Cigar Indian Statue (or was it the coffee table book about coffee tables? can't remember). That was in the mid-90s! The store where I got the Black Prince had a few left in the box. I will be back for the rest if it's as good as they say!
  7. I will say that although I like large smokes in general, some of my favorite smokes I've had so far have been lanceros - about the only one that I havn't really enjoyed was the ERDM Grandes de Espana (and I chalk that up to not having an experienced enoughj palate). And I really enjoyed the few Lonsdales I've been able to find as well (SLR Lonsdales I found in Toronto especially) so those RG Lonsdales I don't think will last too long in my humi before i smoke them! Very tempting to go back and buy the box in Vancouver, but they wanted $575 CAD for it...don't get me started on Canadian tobacco taxes! I think it's very possible that I will end up enjoying at least many of the thin-ring gauge cigars out there, and its good to know that there are still proponents of it out there. So why have they seemingly gone by the wayside? I will try to pick up a Party and Boli Corona if I can find them after I get back from sea in a week. I have a few Cohiba Lanceros, as well as a Trinidad Fundadore in my humi already, havn't tried them yet, and if I can track down a P Series du Connausseur No. 3, Cohiba Corona Especial and the Montecristo Especial, I will try those too. Better yet - I should just order them when I go to make my first Czar purchase!
  8. I was scanning a cigar info website today after finally having internet access for the first time in days.....and it occured to me that....habanos has discontinued a heck of a lot of coronas! What happened to this (apparently) ubiquitious cigar vitola? In my travels around Vancouver today, I decided to see what I would be losing once all these discontinued coronas are gone, so today my purchases included... Diplomaticos #3 Hoyo de Roi Hoyo Corona Punch Corona Punch Petit Corona H Upmann Corona Juan Lopez Corona all discontinued, from what I can tell..... I also found a Punch Black Prince from 2000 that I can't wait to try, and 2 Rafael Gonzalez Lonsdales from a full box (never been able to find RG Lonsdales before!)... As I've noted, I'm a larger cigar-type guy, normally, so this is really to see if I enjoy the coronas size as well... I hope to discover either a new vitola to enjoy regularily, or a definitive answer to my question - "Because they aren't as good as bigger ring cigars!"
  9. I sure hope not, DCs are among my favorite smokes! And am I the only fool on here who loves the "A" Size? Sanchos, Monte As, Cuaba Diademas....the more the better! I do agree with the ideal that boxes of 10 would be much more cost effective and popular with the consumer, if only because the one-time investment wouldn't be such a shocker... I know the one reason I havn't gotten a box of 25 or a cab of 50 DCs yet is because the big cost.....Thank God Sanchos come in boxes of 10!
  10. Really? I've always avoided it because of the fact it was a Cuervo tequila. Do they actually make drinkable tequila?
  11. I think may be part of my problem, I keep buying new cigars and adding them in - I think once I've stopped loading up and allow it to settle out, that may bring them right to where they should be. I am going to try some of those beads when I get back from sea soon though. 5000+ FOH site users can't be wrong!
  12. Wow, what an odyssey to get there! First, my navy ship was scheduled to come to Vancouver on Friday. That got canned when we got called out on a priority mission....anyone who's interested in what we ended up doing, this news link pretty much sums it up - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/...ed-bc-rcmp.html Anyway, the original word was that we weren't going to Vancouver at all as a result of our intervention mission. Needless to say, i wasn't too happy, nor could I tell anyone because of a necessary security lockdown! Calmer heads prevailed, and we arrived in Vancouver for an abbreviated visit last night, and this morning I headed to City Cigar in Vancouver to meet Hamlet! I got there just as he was setting up for the day. What a fantastic guy! Down to earth, a pleasant guy to chat with, and answered every question I had with a well-considered response, all while seamlessly crafting Torpedo cigars! I was spellbound for around an hour, watching him work. Fantastic! Rob, I passed on your message. I also asked a spanish-speaking shipmate of mine to translate it for me......nice man, nice....haha. Hamlet had a good chuckle when I said the message was from you, he had nothing but good things to say about your store, and told me a little bit about all the touring he's done....then he gave me a nice message to pass back to you! I havn't gotten my shipmate to translate it yet, but here it is.... "No Estoy (Esto Y?) Muy Gordo Pero Trabajando Mucho Nos Vemos En Cuba Cuidate" I can't tell if he meant Estoy or Esto Y....the letters are close together. A wonderful experience all around, I'm so glad I was able to meet Hamlet and I'm excited to try some of his work! I will be tasting one of my torpedos on Thursday before my ship returns home. I also asked him about the small ring gauge cigars. haha I guess I could have guessed his response to that! I was also pleased to know that he prefers longer, bigger smokes like Double Coronas...Very few of my cigar-smoking friends have the patience that I have for DCs and Churchills, and I love a nice long smoke - who cares if it takes 90 mins to smoke? Time Well Spent. I took a picture of Hamlet at work, but its a cell-phone pic - my camera is on the fritz! Also got a picture of me with him.....but of course it's blurry as all heck. Damn! I will post the one good one after I get home in a week He mentioned one guy on here by name beside Rob - Punch Joe, Hamlet says hello! Finally, I picked up one of those RA Celestiales Finos RE Asia Pacific 2009s....anyone else try one yet? Back out to sea on Monday!
  13. According to the citycigarcompany.com website, it is Hamlet Paredes who is the Master Roller! I'll try to take some pictures, if I can! I'm also happy to pass on your message, Rob....Just hope I don't get punched in the junk for it, because I don't know what it means ! Haha
  14. This weekend my ship is stopping in Vancouver, and my favorite cigar store is hosting a Cuban Master Roller all weekend, I'm so stoked to finally see a real Cuban Cigar Roller perform his magic in front of me! This should be awesome!!
  15. Let's see if I can bring this thread back to life! I love tequila, I've been building a home bar for a few years now, and Anejo Tequila has been my favorite spirit since I was introduced to it in a Miami Beach Bar in 2007. My absolute favorite is Orgullo Pueblo Viejo Anejo. Not expensive, say around 40$ US in San Francisco where i picked it up, and just a marvelous, complex tasting experience. I would pay anything if the booze barons that run Canada's liquour stores would actually cave in and bring it up here! Other favorites include Don Julio 1942 (spicy and smooth....if that makes sense!) Chamucos Reposado Especial (A little lighter than Anejos - but still bursting with flavour!) Partida Anejo (just a good all-around anejo) and my first anejo from that bar in Miami Beach - Don Julio Anejo. Pairing with a Cigar? I like the Orgullo with a Bolivar, Sancho Panza or even Cohiba. Grassy taste blends with agave....
  16. Thanks for the input, fellas! I think the way I will go is to use a coolidor for my non-CCs until I can spring for a smaller humidor especially for them....which shouldn't take too long. I am going to sea for a week and a half, so I have to wait until after then anyway! Also, I'm going to invest in these beads and see how they work for me. I'm thinking using the 65% beads for the CCs and the 70% beads for the non-CCs. As for the mites - I did look at old posts and found a few mite-related threads, so I will endeavour to go about the vacuum/sun route....BUT because we are in the Pacific Northwest fall (read :WET), I will have to wait for either a sunny cold day in winter or a warm spring day + freezing my humidor in my freezer before I can get the buggers. A temporary reprieve that won't last! In the meantime, since last night, the humi has remained at 18C...and climbed from 63 to 64RH. Close, but the beads will get their shot! Thanks again for the info everyone!
  17. Hey Everyone, I've read some of the topics in the Humi tutorial but none seem to deal quite with my dual issue, so here we go.... The Particulars - I have a 300 ct. humidor that recently I've been able to fill to near capacity. I have about 40-50 single Habanos (as I continue to try as many different Habanos as I can!), 2 full boxes of Monte Sublimes, 1 box of SC Murallas, a box of SP Sanchos, and about 60 single non-Cubans (CAO, LGC Artesanos de Miami and others, again I'm trying different smokes). The humidor until recently has been about 2/3 full, the recent addition of about 50 non-cuban cigars from a recent trip to Seattle has filled it up to near capacity. My first problem, that I initially encountered a number of months back, was a number of small white, almost translucent insects crawling on my cigars. Initially I thought, whoa, tobacco beetles! and froze all my cigars for 3 days, following that up with a few days in the fridge, meanwhile wiping out the humidor, airing it out and re-priming it. Doing more research, looking at photos of tobacco beetles, I realized these were actually wood mites, and supposedly harmless to cigars. Relieved somewhat, I loaded my humidor back up and after another few weeks, I noticed again that the tiny white bugs were back, albeit in fewer numbers. My humidity was around 70-72% and the temperature around 20C. I then noticed that they were congregating around my two large rectangular sponge pucks, the ones that came with the humidor (I noticed this because I lay them flat in the humidor, and one day a Cohiba Genios rolled against it when i was replacing the shelf tray into the humidor. The next day, instead of the usual 0-1 bugs, there was 6 of them crawling around the cigar!) I promptly tossed the 2 large sponges away, and decided to use Ci-Gel (http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-CIGEL has the best picture and info if no one here has heard of these things) pots instead to keep my humidor huidified, on the advice of my local tobacconist. I placed 2 large pots and a small pot in the humidor, and thought that should be enough to keep it at the usual 70%, as well as to remove the save-haven for these annoying wood mites. I have had temperature problems recently this year, as an un-seasonable heat wave for the west coast of Canada, combined with a rented suite in a house without Air Conditioning meant my humidor was getting up to 24C in temp, but I fixed that by bringing the humidor on board my Air Conditioned ship, and I was able to keep the temperature down to about 18-19C. Now that I've brought it home, the temperature is up to about 21C again, and I can't get it any lower without leaving windows open at night. The second overall problem, is that now that I've filled the humidor right up with all those cigars from Seattle, my humidity won't stay high enough, I had 67% and 21C. (I thought 70% was the best % to keep it at), I left the window open last night in the suite to bring the temp down, and this morning i looked in to find 18C...and 63% (!). Help! So my two problems are - Humidor isn't keeping humidity since i filled it up, despite two large pots and 1 small pot of Ci-Gel, and those annoying but apparently harmless wood mites won't quite go away, as I still find 1-2 of them on about half of my cigars. Should I re-prime my humidor? Should I go back to using a sponge brick? Should I use these beads everyone is talking about? How do I get rid of these wood mites that won't quite go away! Sorry for the long read - I just wanted to get out all the pertinent info. I appreciate any and all advice! Thanks everyone!
  18. Thanks Everybody, this site is great! The more I read, the more I like. If I wasn't in training on the boat, I would be all over the Blind tasting challenge....next year! I like the idea of the Online Cigar Locker. There's some really nice stuff on this site, very impressive! Now I just need to keep trying more Habanos so I can speak more from experience and less from wide-eyed newbie wonder! For anybody that did check out the photo I attached to my first post in this thread...... The story is explained in my first ever post here, That's me on the right with my first ever Habano, a Sancho Panza Sanchos. My buddy on the right is trying his best to enjoy a Canadian machine-made Tueros.
  19. I tried the Petit Robaina early last week while on ship. I bought it in Vancouver (my local Victoria stores don't carry it yet) a few weeks ago because I like to try ELs and REs when I get the chance. VR isn't normally a favorite of mine anyway, so I wasn't expecting much......but wow, this little smoke impressed the hell outta me! A complex smoke that evolved throughout the (short) length of it - best VR i've ever had, by far! Give it a try if you can find it! I am going back to Vancouver this coming weekend to stock up!
  20. Thanks dude, glad to be here, good to find a decent cigars forum that's not directly CA-related! Any other West Coasters on here?
  21. Hey Everyone, My second post, I already introduced my story in a thread about Sancho Panza cigars....didn't know about this intro section haha Anyone else online from the Canadian Navy, or am I the only guy on here from Her Majesty's Canadian Fleet? Looking forward to posting on here a bunch! PS how do i post a photo of me on here? I'm new with forums! untitled.bmp
  22. Hey everyone, This will be my first post on this site - just discovered it and I like what I see thus far! I've only been smoking cigars for about 2+ years now, a box of (now I realize) lousy Tueros cigars purchased duty free from my Canadian Navy ship the first cigar I ever had. My First Cuban cigar was a Sancho Panza Sanchos, purchased in the fall of 2007 in Victoria, BC, Canada. I actually bought it because it was the biggest cigar in the tobacconist, and I wanted to joke with a buddy about our respective cigar sizes (knowing he was smoking tueros at a beach bonfire we were both going to that night). It was......a revelation. Creamy, not too bold or punchy, and with a hint of saltiness - I was hooked! The result has been an ever-growing fascination and some would say obsession with Cuban cigars, and I have been trying different vitolas ever since. I have found some real favorites in the time since then (SLR DC, PL Asian Regional Belicoso, SC Murallas, HDM DC), but havn't yet found one that tastes as fine to me as the SP Sanchos, and I try to buy as many reasonably-stored ones as I can now (had some draw issues with a couple from a Vancouver cigar store). I can think of nothing better than enjoying a 2 hr. Sanchos break on the top deck of my ship, with various crew members coming by to talk cigars throughout (I would never call myself an expert, but I have a reputation as the 'cigar guy' on my ship now!) I have been wanting to try the Sancho Panza CG for a while but have yet to find one in my Navy travels so far (I didn't know Hong Kong was such a cigar mecca when my ship was there last year - next time I go I'll be much more well-informed!) The SP Belicoso I found to be quite nice as well. My opinion as a relative Newbie to Cigars notwithstanding, (as well as the apparent discontinuation of my favorite all-time cigar!), I would be very disappointed should Habanos discontinue the entire Sancho Panza line. With every historical niche brand that is pushed to the side for sub-par efforts like the Monte Open series, the lesser off we all are. Viva Sancho Panza!

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