Punch Churchill’s 1997 and PL Robusto AP RE—SSR

[zeedubbya]

Since I have been going through a bit of a rough patch in my life I have been smoking a lot of my rare and hard to find cigars.  Just as others have said—a great cigar really improves things.  Also, why not—what am I waiting for?  The second part is golf.  I’ve been playing golf quite a lot so those go hand in hand.  Last couple days I’ve burned these two for this contest—and taken some brief notes.  

1997 Punch Churchill’s—Busted head, so to the course it goes!   Smooth smooth smooth.  Incredibly flavorful cigar.  Had about 6-7 transitions from sweet salty woodiness down to a powerful earthy, wood laden face smash at the end.  21 years has turned this into something special.  I know everyone said these were very mild young, but they seem to have matured into flavor bombs.  Truly an incredible smoke.  I do want to mention as an aside about a year ago I was gifted a 90s Punch Churchill from Pigfish and that one was much tastier.  That experience closed me on proper long term storage.  This one was a mid 90s experience, the properly stored one he sent was high 90s.  Both very complex and have aged a dream.  I love Churchill’s.  Also shot a 36 on front 9–couldn’t have asked for a better day!  

 

PL Robusto RE AP 2007–Picked this from a box pass.  This cigar opens extremely mild and initially made me concerned it was going to be too mild.  After about a 1/2 inch though BAM—Salted Caramel.  The entire cigar was a Carmel blast that moved down to what I would describe as a stronger burnt brown sugar.  Cream in the texture of the smoke.  A few hints of light light pepper in the nose throughout (which surprised me.).  This is a joy to smoke.  It was very windy, but my god did it smoke great.  I actually regretted smoking this on the course.  I think if I would have smoked it by myself on the porch it would have been much more enjoyable.  But.  So what.  I had a great time with a great cigar.  Smoke them if you got em!  Shot 39 today.  Damned fine day again. Thanks to El Prez for hosting this contest—very generous of you.  

 

[Derboesekoenig]

Great reviews! Wish I could try one of those churchills! Haha golf and cigars, eh? Sounds like you're either retired or in the process. 

[zeedubbya]

5 minutes ago, Derboesekoenig said:

Great reviews! Wish I could try one of those churchills! Haha golf and cigars, eh? Sounds like you're either retired or in the process. 

We went to 3 days off a week a few months ago, so yes seems like I am semi-retired!  

[Derboesekoenig]

That sounds wonderful. My goal is to half retire by 40--work 2 or 3 days a week. I just want the freedom. Right now I'm at 0 days off per week.

[Bagman]

Thanks for the review.  Care to elaborate about what you mean by "proper long term storage" vs what you were doing?

[Optic101]

Nice one, have a PL Robusto RE AP 2007 waiting, good to hear your thoughts on it.

[zeedubbya]

6 hours ago, Monterey said:

Thanks for the review.  Care to elaborate about what you mean by "proper long term storage" vs what you were doing?

Sure, no problem.  

I believed passive humidification was able to provide the proper conditions for storing my cigars.  Throw in some beads and it stays at 64-69 rH. Eh close enough. Then I realized how much I was a victim to my ambient temp and humidity.  As the humidity outside the humidor changed so did my internal humidity.  Same with temp.  I noticed my cigars smoked great after a dry box or when the humidity had been steadily low (I.e. winter, when the ambient was low).  

 I studied quite a bit on here and elsewhere and did some experiments of my own.  I talked to Pigfish a lot about storage, and he informed me of how I was like everyone else—I had just settled, because my cigars were “good enough.”  So I tried to replicate a steady 60/70, and it was tough to do.  Very hard.  Now I would say nearly impossible with just passive humdififcation.  I decided to get a system to get it down there and also make it more reliable.  Piggy was kind enough to build me a system out of stuff laying around the shop and allowed me to tinker with it myself.  Also he sent the Punch named above to demonstrate how cigars aged for a long time at the lower rH would taste.  After smoking that Punch and many dry boxed cigars I was convinced.  I think it turned out how I wanted it to.  I do have the humidity adjusted up a bit right now to compensate for the lower temperature and I’ve also noticed I personally like my cigars at just a bit more than 60 rH.  Here’s a recent data log.  Hope this will shed a bit of light on my thinking.