2012 Partagas P2 (CM)

[Wailbait]

This cigar has great memories attached to it.  It was my first box split from FOH.  It also marked when I got more serious about Cuban cigars in general.  Prior to that, I had been reluctant and I had seen friends smoking so many fakes that I figured I would just stay out of it.  But my friend @leepers “knew a guy.”  So I met @SenorPerfecto and the rest is, as they say, history.  So it was great to sit (socially distanced) with @SenorPerfecto and smoke the last one from this original box.  Cigars are fun and all but it’s the friendships that truly get better with time.  

You’d think that given it being the last stick of my first real box, I would have documented the occasion better but such is life.  It’s a BEAUTUFUL stick.  Weight, color, pack and draw.  All superb.  2012 seems so recent in many ways but the fact is that it’s now an 8 year old stick.  
 

First half.  
All the construction aspects of the cigar are impeccable but it’s sort of flat and one note.  This wasn’t the first cigar from this box to display this characteristic (perhaps the fourth actually) and while slightly disappointing, not totally surprising.  Smoke quality was superb.  I got a lot of the elements I associate with “vintage” cigars - leather, cedar, roundness - and was surprised to find it in an 8 year old stick.  
 

Second half 

Much better.  It managed to become stronger yet actually more balanced.  Had I stopped at the first half, at best an 87.  Now, with some more coffee and cinnamon flavors, it’s a very good stick.  Likely a 90 or even a 91.  Paired with a splash of Knob Creek Rye and Knob Creek bourbon.  This cigar was far more congruent with the rye if that is an indicator of its overall flavor.  For whatever reason, over the years I have gravitated more the the Diplo 2 than the P2.  Somehow I feel they have better legs for aging and I have found the 13-15 Dip 2 to be more consistent than the P2.

One nice thing about when I started to stock the humidor is that while quite a few of my 2012 boxes are only “meh” the 2013-2015 stock (when I really got going) are FANTASTIC.  This is a fun hobby and I’ve meet some fabulous folks on the road. 
 

I hope everyone out there is staying safe.  I think there will likely be some “new normals” out there in the next year or so.  I’m curious to see what they will be.

[leepers]

Such a great memory; that box split was our first. Not to be our last. Yeah, sometime in the future, we will smoke together again.