Big Smokes in the Big Apple

[mrretrohale]

This is my first trip report and review, it is a bit long but the TL:DR of what we smoked and notable eating spots of the trip is at the bottom.

I've always looked forward to my trips to the big Apple, the food is great, the buzz gets me going and most importantly getting to meet up with friend and BOTL @torsion. There have been a couple trips previously but this was to be the final meet up in NYC (also, his wife was away?) as his time in the city is done. This meant a celebration like no other, cigars, food, drinks, in that order. The goal was not to smoke as much as possible but to smoke as well as we could. The final total was 22 cigars in a week, although we had planned to sample some NCs we never got round to them. The rules were laid out, we would smoke the same cigars and compare notes and experiences. 

On arriving, I was greeted with a bag of choice sticks, ranging from Por Larranaga to custom Canonazo. We started the evening with ramen and sake on the Upper East Side before heading to Cigar Inn. We started our first night with a Trinidad Fundadores, the lounge was pretty crowded and smoky which may have affected our smoking experience. The fundy was my first and I was greeted with what everyone raves about. Following that we sparked a custom canonazo doble. At this point the room was pretty smoky, I had a pretty plugged draw and we were not getting the full flavours. But day 1 was in the bag and the question what are we smoking next” became the recurring question throughout the trip.

Saturday/ Day 2 to a headed to Nat Shermans Town House on to visit our favourite salesman Adam and smoke. The Nat Shermans team have always been hospitable and have no airs,  they make anyone feel welcome and never scoff at your budget, but Adam is the main man. We were invited to the Johnson Club Room and we knew we were going to be there all day. The day started with a connie B which was another first, mid to full body throughout, big flavours which made the big ring gauge a bit more tolerable. A quick lunch at Chipotle before getting back to business and starting a Romeo Y Juiletta Churchill. This has been one of my favourite cigars because of the sweetness and format, this did not disappoint. Dinner was going to be phenomenal as we were booked for Cote, korean BBQ place, @torsion had hyped this up to me well before the trip. The pictures don’t do any justice to the food, we had the butcher block, an additional steak and a bottle of wine before proceeding to the courtyard of the the Lotte Palace Hotel. This time we sparked a Custom Behike 54 and were let down as the cigar seemed to have no oomph, the flavours were mild, muted and had no evolution. Granted it was an easy smoke but would be the last boring cigar of the 22. We wrapped up the day with a Club Allones which was a stark contrast from the custom Behike, both in format and flavour. 

We started Sunday/ Day 3 at Davidoffs kicking things of with a custom double robusto monster although we had a bottle of Iwai Mars blended Japanese whisky I didn’t want any of that. This cigar raised my expectations of what a cigar could be, this was followed by a Bolivar Royal Corona from 2014. We had a brief intermission and acid trip at Mission Chinese before heading back up to Lotte Palace for a PLPC, which amidst all these insane cigars really held it’s weight.  

On Monday/ Day 4 we started late after @torsion was done with work. We headed straight for Club Macanudo where I was treated to a custom double perfecto. This cigar was complex and had great evolution throughout, a real treat. Despite the format it smoked with little issues and was really quite different throughout. This was followed by a custom Alex lancero before finally wrapping the night up with a Ramon Allones Hermitage RE Rusia. Both of which paled in comparison to the custom. 

Christmas Day/Day 5 this was going to be our rest day as all the lounges were closed. we started the day slow with a bottle of Pierre Jouet and smoked salmon and capers before getting bundled up with our thermals and hand warmers in tote to sit outside of Central Park west to smoke a custom robusto extra. After a brief lunch of scallop linguine we continued with a pleasantly complex Des Dieux before calling it a day to make way for more drinking and eating. 

Wednesday/ Day 6 straight to Davidoffs where we started with a custom lancero from a BOTL, this was followed by a Siglo iv at this point we were joined by a friend who wanted to be introduced to the world of cigars. @torsion set her up with a SCDLH el Principe which she enjoyed as her first ever cuban. From there we moved on to a Partagas 2017 LE which seemed rather uncharacteristic of a Partagas and imo a little underwhelming. We adjourned for dinner at Nom Wah, egg tarts from a bakery (it’s a little tradition that we have) before heading to Existing Conditions for drinks. The Toki Lowball was totally unassuming, it was made with a variety of teas and Suntory Toki but it drank like a heavily peated whisky. i had the Saratoga Paloma and Waffle Turkey 101, the Saratoga Paloma was light and very refreshing and the salinity of the Saratoga springs water really stood out, the Waffle Turkey was a waffle infused bourbon with maple syrup and not only does it taste like waffles it had a rich buttery mouthfeel as well. After this brief intermission, we headed back to Macanudo where I had a ’18 Lusi while torsion had a Don Alejandro. Lusis, to me always paled in comparison to the 898 which I think has more punch and flavour and this was no exception. On the other hand the Don Alejandro was a complete let down, poor draw, moderately interesting and overall mediocre cigar. 

Thursday/ Day 7 was slated to be a big day (yes after smoking all those amazing cigars torsion somehow managed to top it). We had intended to head to Nat Shermans and pick up an order for a BOTL and had hoped to be invited to the Johnson Club Room to spend the day. However, plans had changed and we were denied access so we started our day with a CoRo and boy was I pleased we started with that. This was the ultimate morning smoke, paired with our dark roast Dunkin’ Donuts coffee I could not ask for more. We moved on to Davidoff to start on a Vintage H.upmann from 1960s which was wildly different from anything else we’ve had. Although medium body the flavours were clearly from a different time, the construction was phenomenal not needing any touchups or relights the entire time. As my first vintage this really blew me away. This was followed by an El Rey Tainos. Before we headed back to grab another bottle of Pierre Jouet, some halal and a custom Canonazo. This was also a doozy as on the cold draw it tasted nothing like how it smoked but once it got going I could not put it down, finishing it in 45 mins. There was not a better way to wrap this absolutely bonkers trip and I am glad that this was how we were going to remember our meet ups in the big apple. As I write this in the Canadian winter I think to myself, wtf am I going to smoke next

 

Cigar rankings 

1. (Tied) Custom double robusto, Custom Lancero 

3. Custom Canonazo 

4. CoRo

5. 1960s Upmann 

6. Custom Double Perfecto  

7. H. Upmann Connie B  

8. Trini Fundy 

9. RyJ Churchill

10. Custom robusto extra 

11. HDM De Dieux 

12. Boli Royal Corona

13. Custom canonazo doble 

14. RA Club Allones 

15. PLPC

16. ERDM Tainos

17. SIglo IV

18. RA Hermitage RE Rusia

19. Custom Alex Lancero 

20. Partagas Lusi

21. Partagas LE 2017 

22. Custom Behike

Notable places we ate and drank at

1. Cote Korean BBQ 
2. Mission Chinese
3. Nom Wah
4. Existing Conditions 

Places we smoked at 

1. Nat Shermans
2. Davidoff 
3. Club Macanudo 
4. Cigar Inn 
5. Bench outside of Central Park 

[Derboesekoenig]

Great read. Thanks for sharing. I love how the two tied customs wound up on top. I've never been to NY, but my god that food looks amazing.

[torsion]

I had to turn my head 90 degs to look at those photos. Got to hate trying to upload photos via the website, rotational issues happen to me all the time so I prefer using Tapatalk

Thanks @mrretrohale Mark for writing up and posting, at least helps keep track of what we smoked  

Obviously you understood that this was a mandatory attendance event

Glad you enjoyed this as I did, a herf that will be hard to beat! Thanks to several BOTL who helped make this possible.

[99call]

  On 1/7/2019 at 4:56 AM, mrretrohale said:

16. ERDM Tainos

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Love you post, looks like an epic smoke-a-thon. 

I think this is a "ERDM Grandes De Espana" and not a Tainos. (unless theres some sort of perspective thing going on).

Hats off to you two. Awesome mission

[mrretrohale]

  On 1/7/2019 at 7:37 PM, 99call said:

Love you post, looks like an epic smoke-a-thon. 

I think this is a "ERDM Grandes De Espana" and not a Tainos. (unless theres some sort of perspective thing going on).

Hats off to you two. Awesome mission

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You are right, Good eye Sir! and thank you very much, one of us is currently nursing a bad throat which may or may not have been brought on by this excess ?

[mrretrohale]

  On 1/7/2019 at 4:44 PM, Derboesekoenig said:

Great read. Thanks for sharing. I love how the two tied customs wound up on top. I've never been to NY, but my god that food looks amazing.

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They were honestly the most interesting smokes. And yes the food is pretty awesome, i usually have 3 sets of each meal when I go but this time smoking was the priority. 

[99call]

  On 1/7/2019 at 7:52 PM, mrretrohale said:

You are right, Good eye Sir! and thank you very much one of us is currently nursing a bad throat which may or may not have been brought on by this excess ?

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Get some rest guys, I love your commitment!. 

[mrretrohale]

  On 1/7/2019 at 6:10 PM, torsion said:

I had to turn my head 90 degs to look at those photos. Got to hate trying to upload photos via the website, rotational issues happen to me all the time so I prefer using Tapatalk

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Was pretty sure in the 21st century there would be something that could rotate the photos. Really needed to log this as I struggle to recall most of what we did

[torsion]

  On 1/7/2019 at 7:52 PM, mrretrohale said:

You are right, Good eye Sir! and thank you very much, one of us is currently nursing a bad throat which may or may not have been brought on by this excess ?

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Where I'm from it's called man flu - felt rough since Jan 1st. Over the hump but a little way to go. Next herf starting this Friday in Kuala Lumpur with my cousin, will meet up with @Wilzc at some point and anyone else wanting to join

[1fastmach1]

Nice write up.  Looks like a good time was had.  Spent a NYE in downtown New York a few years back and it was an amazing time.  

[Wilzc]

Wait you're back this Friday? @torsion

[blakeLA]

Great post and great list of smokes!  

[Lomey]

Looked like an awesome time!  I would need quite a bit of rest after that type of week.  Thanks for sharing.

[hedgeybaby]

I was in NYC back in November and had planned to visit some of the joints that you fellas did. Unfortunately, due to time constraints imposed by "Her Indoors," I was unable to. Therefore I just puffed away on the street whilst waiting outside various shops. I got a few "Hey Rich Man.." comments and a few stares. 

[mrretrohale]

  On 1/8/2019 at 2:05 PM, hedgeybaby said:

I was in NYC back in November and had planned to visit some of the joints that you fellas did. Unfortunately, due to time constraints imposed by "Her Indoors," I was unable to. Therefore I just puffed away on the street whilst waiting outside various shops. I got a few "Hey Rich Man.." comments and a few stares. 

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Outdoors in November can get pretty brisk, at least you don't run the risk of smoking someone elses NC ?

[mrretrohale]

  On 1/8/2019 at 2:46 AM, KKFF said:

Nice write up.  Looks like a good time was had.  Spent a NYE in downtown New York a few years back and it was an amazing time.  

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Thanks! Yeah nothing but good problems trying to figure out what to smoke next. Yeah the festivities across christmas and NYE are great in NYC although I had different priorities than other visitors.