If they could only always be like this.......

[El Presidente]

Had a busy week as most of us do. This one was busier than normal and so I only got to the deck at 3pm yesterday and ....a little bit of bliss....there was no one there

I picked a 14 coded Hoyo De Monterrey Petit Robusto from the walk in humidor. Looked great, felt great and so upstairs I went.

Fired the Hoyo up and almost from the get go there was a cavalcade of flavours. Cream, fig, touch of cedar, fig again, marsala. One of those times when you have a cigar that the earth stops and its sheer brilliance demands you give it your total focus. It was a 99 point cigar as the journey lasted to the end before Artie Kassos joined me to go over some accounting work briefly.

I was going to get another but Mark, Stan, Wazza turned up.....just before ken and his eight heavily pissed mates from a long lunch. That is another story in itself

i was working on the boat in the warehouse with my son Tom this morning and I picked another HDM PR from the same box. Excellent but no where near the experience of yesterday.

Your last "If they could only always be like this" Cigar.

It doesent happen often I know but when it does....you are in heaven.

[Jeremy Festa]

Know that feeling. Nice post mate. Must have just missed you. Swung past around 2pm and saw Di and Smithy and the grommets.

My last similar experience was with a Partagas Corona. Just a freak from the box.

Sent from my iPhone

[PigFish]

By accident or design, you just defined the Cuban cigar...!

It is interesting how the best cigar you ever smoked, could come in any size, any year and out of any box. TIC (this is Cuba).

-Piggy

[garbandz]

I have a box from OZ of Monte 4 that have been absolutely amazing.

In the excellent weather the last three weeks,I have been enjoying my Man Cave (storage shed) with a cigar and a good book.

The first time I noticed anything,I had picked up a Quay corona,changed my mind, and grabbed a Monte 4.

During my retreat,I noticed how full and tasty my cigar had become,and told myself that this was indeed one fine Quay d'Orsay.

Then I looked down and noticed it was a Monte.

I put the book down and simply basked in the glory of the Montecristo,and when I finished it,I was totally fulfilled.

I figured it was one of those superior moments when the stars and planets aligned,and I was in the right place at the right time with the right cigar.

A couple days later I was back with a book and a cigar,another Monte 4. The same thing happened,I got caught up in the cigar,and figured this was very good luck,indeed.

Since then I have had two more cigars from this OZ box,and both were stellar smokes.

Now I am stuck,between keeping these back,or finishing them off........

[RijkdeGooier]

For me it is in part about the ritual as much as it is about the cigar.

Quit Sunday mornings, some classical music and it seems to concentrate the ability to extract every ounce of flavor from each cigar.

[NSXCIGAR]

Happened with one out of a 2013 HQ box of Monte 4 earlier this year. Only one out of the entire box. Stellar--a 97 pointer in a box of all 91s. Transported me back to 1996. Perfect burn, draw, rich bean and cocoa flavors every puff and the great tangy flavors kept building. Just kept shaking my head at how remarkably good it was. Smoked it down to about 1cm. Best Monte 4 I've had in over a decade.

[Ken Gargett]

I was going to get another but Mark, Stan, Wazza turned up.....just before ken and his eight heavily pissed mates from a long lunch. That is another story in itself

yeah, about that...

only 8? seriously? that means i lost 6 between the restaurant and your place. all of 5 minutes. i may not have been at my scintillating best but always very grateful for the extremely tolerant hospitality.

yesterday was a very slow and unproductive day, but at least i found my jacket - draped over the car outside all evening.

[Warren]

And it was a hoot of an afternoon as usual. There is nothing like hanging around with bunch of mates smoking some of the best on the planet and listening to our Greek mates reminisce about all the great funerals they have been to and bumped into so and so while wearing leather hot pants.

Honestly you just can't write this stuff, where do they get it from.

[Ken Gargett]

And it was a hoot of an afternoon as usual. There is nothing like hanging around with bunch of mates smoking some of the best on the planet and listening to our Greek mates reminisce about all the great funerals they have been to and bumped into so and so while wearing leather hot pants.

Honestly you just can't write this stuff, where do they get it from.

never seen leather hot pants at a funeral before but i did go to the wrong funeral once. seriously embarrassing (and it just got worse and worse).

[ElPuro]

never seen leather hot pants at a funeral before but i did go to the wrong funeral once. seriously embarrassing (and it just got worse and worse).

Do you leave or stay? Rock and hard place on that one.

[Ken Gargett]

Do you leave or stay? Rock and hard place on that one.

as we walked in, obviously very late, my mate announced, in a seriously loud voice (the funeral we were going to was for one of our best mate's father-in-law - the thing was that nobody, including his own family liked the guy - he'd managed to electrocute himself in his workshop. it was at another church in the same long street), as we entered, that he could not believe that X (the deceased) had owed so many people money. why else would people have come. talk about your proverbial ton of bricks.

we then had to push and shove our way along a row to get to seats (place was packed - which really was a surprise). my mate then told a joke mid-sermon - will try and remember it for a video as it does not work on paper but it is very loud - which pissed off even more people (which we could not understand as we thought everyone would be delighted the bloke had moved to the next world). we both got the giggles. it was then we started to realise something was badly wrong and we were at the wrong place. we thought it best to leave. so had to push our way out again - we were young, immature uni students, which is our only possible defence.

when we got to the next one, we'd basically missed it. arrived in time to see our mate greeting people as they left the church, telling them all that "it was shocking, shocking", while his wife, the deceased daughter, was trying not to laugh (in her defence, the bloke had been known to chase her around the yard with an axe - he was not much loved, i assure you). i think he came up with every known pun on electricity. all terribly inappropriate but at the time, very funny. you have to understand, he was a really awful bloke. had treated his family very badly.

but even so, not my finest moment (actually, i'm not sure i have a finest moment).

it was a very weird day.

[garbandz]

Threadjacked..................

Ken Gargett,the Ned Kelley of the internet................

[Ken Gargett]

Threadjacked..................

Ken Gargett,the Ned Kelley of the internet................

he is welcome to have it back.

[MC4]

Do you think what you did or didn't eat/drink before smoking has any effect on the cigar taste or experience?

[ElAbogado]

14 Mag 46. Straight cream and honey sweetness all the way. One of the best I've ever smoked.

[JohnS]

My last similar experience was with a Partagas Corona. Just a freak from the box.

Same. I had one last week (thanks Will) and unfortunately, can't reach for another. (Alas, that's okay, there's plenty of other great choice Habano cigars to sample!) Why oh why did Habanos S.A delete these (and the Serie du Connaisseur No. 1, No.2 and No. 3)? I guess that's a conversation starter for another thread!

[Jeremy Festa]

Same. I had one last week (thanks Will) and unfortunately, can't reach for another. (Alas, that's okay, there's plenty of other great choice Habano cigars to sample!) Why oh why did Habanos S.A delete these (and the Serie du Connaisseur No. 1, No.2 and No. 3)? I guess that's a conversation starter for another thread!

Indeed mate! Deplorable

Sent from my iPhone

[Fugu]

Yes – those unexpected memorable moments!

But if they really all “would be like this” it would be less memorable and the whole CC-game so much less fun!

Wish you all a Merry Christmas (p.c. caveat: to those who won’t be offended….) and a lot of those moments in the new year!

All the best for 2016!

Paul

[UnofficialGhost]

I had a similar experience with a PSD4 just a few weeks ago. Just a touch over 2 years old (BAM JUN 13) and I completely lost myself for 1 & 1/2 hours. Made me wonder why I had forgotten about them and when I could smoke the next one. Absolutely sublime.

[danny]

My first Cohiba Siglo VI GR (Jan. '14), RA Celestiales Finos (in 2011), and BCG '05 (this year). Absolutely beautiful smokes. The CGR was the best cigar I have ever had at that point, hands down. The next two were still amazing, but not nearly as epic.

[Shrody234]

On a perfect summer day of this year I went to my back yard with a Monte no 2 in hand. In 2011 I had purchased a 3 pack at the duty-free on my way home from Jamaica, long before I was really into CCs. The first one I smoked young and I wasn't capable of appreciating it as I was a young smoker. The second was plugged and quickly tossed. I wasn't expecting much at all from the third, in fact I was expecting it to be a waste of time. Quite the opposite.

Upon lighting it I was blown away. Thick creamy smoke, beautiful cocoa/mocha flavors and balanced. All around perfect cigar. I loved every minute of it and wanted it to last longer. This was unlike anything I had ever smoked. Possibly the best cigar I ever had.

And of course when they showed up on a 24:24, it was a wrap!