Alien13 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Hey guys/gals! I'll be straight forward and say that this post will probably be a bit of a long one, and if you get through it all, you deserve a cigar! This will also probably be a bit of a shortened down version of my post on a /r/. So feel free to skip the "boring" parts if you want to hear about the first cigar I had from this order! (Or alternatively skip to the very bottom ) I'm 24, I live in a small city in South Australia, I enjoy software engineering, metal, craft beer and the outdoors My first "real" cigar was a Montecristo #4, which was probably more than a year ago now. Before that it was cheap cigarillos (well, not cheap) and other machine made cigars. Unfortunately that's one of the down falls of having limited availability where I live. Just recently my interest in cigars has piqued again, and I started to read. And read. And read. It got to the point where I was trying to find one site that would have all the recommended cigars so I could then make my pick, but soon decided that I would just go and have a bit of fun. Eventually I decided on the following cigars: Liga Undercrown Corona Viva Oliva Serie V Melanio Robusto (had my eye on this for a while now) Arturo Fuente Short Story H Upmann Half Corona The next part of my story begins on Saturday, 19th - The First CigarFor the first one I chose the Arturo Fuente - Short Story.Firstly, I'm no expert with tastes or anything just yet, so more than likely any cigar may as well be considered "wasted" on my taste buds hah.I put together a quick little ashtray with some hardwood I had lying around due to renos. I think when I get a bit of spare time I'll remake a copy of this one with some proper measurements so it all fits flush.1/3It started off okay, with me having to relight the end after a couple of puffs, probably due to taking a little too long between puffs, but other than that it went well for the first 1/3, with the main flavour being real woody, and a moderate draw.NOTE: The pictures aren't great quality, I used my phone for these ones, so they look kind of "off". The cigar itself changes looks between photos, so probably aren't real indicative of its condition :|You can see it starting off nicely at this point.http://imgur.com/Y68cOUfBut...I noticed almost immediately that I was running into some wrapper issues:http://imgur.com/mlJKHr6Now, I'm not sure if this is purely related to this particular cigar, or if it could have done with extra time in the tupperdor. When I took it out, it did have a bit of a sheen/shine to the wrapper, but without knowing 100% what to look for, it is definitely possible that it could have used more time.Here is another shot of the wrapper lifting up:http://imgur.com/qQEo1V5Despite this little issue, it continued to burn through nicely into the second third.2/3 Wrapper started to lift more, but still held strong; the wrapper is burning at a slower rate on one side of the cigar.The draw loosened up a bit more, and it dropped a fingers width of ash, but held strongly onto the rest as it went into the final third. The taste continued on the same as the first, with a woody/peppery flavour.You can see the wrapper burning issue I ran into a lot better in this photo:http://imgur.com/y32XMhN3/3The final third of the cigar was noticeably easier on the draw and giving off quite a bit of smoke as well.The warmth was starting to kick in a bit, and the flavour had changed as well. The woody taste was still there, but much more subtly. I got an almost sweet, charred/toasted oak taste. It was really reminiscent of a scotch whisky. I had a glass of coke during this cigar, and it actually paired quite well.I smoked through maybe another half inch or so down from the above photo before the heat was picking up more, and it started to get a bitterness to the smoke.I really enjoyed the last of this cigar, and the aftertaste it has left is even better. If it was just a little bit bigger, I would have loved to work through more of the last third.I can easily see myself getting more of these, or expanding out to more of the Arturo Fuente range. But next time I may let them rest in the tupperdor a little bit longer. I guess for me it's all just a learning experience.Feel free to chime in with any advice you may have on making my next cigar a better experience, if you have any. TL;DR; Hi, I'm Nathan, I live in SA, and I'm new here. Cheers,Nathan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habana Mike Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Greetings and welcome Nathan! How long did that Short Story last you? A slow pace is key to avoiding heat and bitterness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ars Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Welcome Nathan! I am here for the same reasons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien13 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Greetings and welcome Nathan! How long did that Short Story last you? A slow pace is key to avoiding heat and bitterness. It was around the 1 hour mark in total (taking into account lighting issues, etc), but I must admit, that during the last 1/3 I was taking puffs a bit quicker, due to the weather. So that could definitely be part of the reason for the heat/bitterness. Thanks for the welcome and for the tip! Welcome Nathan! I am here for the same reasons! Hey ars, thanks for the welcome! Hopefully we will both be able to learn a great deal from the guys/gals here and, well, just enjoy the experience of great cigars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKA27 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Hello and welcome Nathan, brilliant introduction. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien13 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Hello and welcome Nathan, brilliant introduction. Thanks MIKA27! I'm glad you thought so. I was worried it would have scared a few members off. I thought about making my "review" a separate post, but decided I'd just lump it all in one since I don't really think it deserves it's own thread. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMonk Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Welcome to FOH, Nathan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrubber Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Welcome! Great first post. Enjoy your time on here and enjoy the cigar journey! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Indeed welcome. Great introduction too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien13 Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Welcome to FOH, Nathan! Thanks TheMonk! Nice looking brush you have there! Just recently got into wet shaving myself with a Ralf Aust 5/8 Straight. Welcome! Great first post. Enjoy your time on here and enjoy the cigar journey! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Cheers Scrubber, I'm sure I'll be learning a lot from the very knowledegable people here. I think the first thing I need to do is get another order going so I can have a bigger supply on hand. Indeed welcome. Great introduction too! Thanks JohnS, appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntiVirus Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Welcome aboard Nathan! Always nice to see another South Aussie on here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMonk Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Thanks TheMonk! Nice looking brush you have there! Just recently got into wet shaving myself with a Ralf Aust 5/8 Straight. Ralf Aust are very high quality straights, if you get it properly honed you'll most likely love that razor. I'm a sucker for shaving brushes myself, have acquired more then I could possibly use in my expected lifetime. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien13 Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Welcome aboard Nathan! Always nice to see another South Aussie on here! Hey AntiVirus! Thanks for the welcome, good to see I'm not alone. Would be nice if there were some members a little more local to me, would be nice to meet up in person ya know Ralf Aust are very high quality straights, if you get it properly honed you'll most likely love that razor. I'm a sucker for shaving brushes myself, have acquired more then I could possibly use in my expected lifetime. I have only had it for the past few months now, so still learning the ins and outs so to speak, but I think I'm getting better each shave. I did get it sent out to "Oz" to get honed a few weeks back, and yeah, it definitely shaves a lot better then when I got it. It's that kind of scary sharp where you aren't sure if it wants to go over the skin or through He was of the same opinion that it was a high quality razor, so I'm glad to here you say that too. Wasn't a cheap startup investment, but definitely worth it. Right now I'm only using a Vulfix 660 Pure Badger. I'm going to look into another brush soon as, while it isn't too bad and it gets the job done, I know that there are a lot better brushes out there. I've been warned though that this little hobby can turn into an addiction and a second mortgage. (plisson brushes and what not) The Setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMonk Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Indeed it can! Everyone (including me) starts of the hobby thinking they'll be saving money down the line... WRONG, never gonna happen! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
... Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Welcome to FOH Nathan! Nothing wrong with being a tad verbose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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