My 2009 Habanos Cigar of the Year Award

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My cigar moment, book, film etc. of the year tends to be the last semi-decent one I can remember…so when I sat down on new year’s eve (mid morning) for a much needed cigar it was one of those rare moments when all the stars are aligned…house quiet for the first time in a week, good book lined up, an espresso or two on the side, snow outside and an hour or two with nothing to do but chill…

The cigar was a RyJ ‘Duke’ 2009 LE, not the greatest cigar I have had but very good nonetheless, shows great promise and the overall experience was greater than the sum of the parts and reminded me of why I enjoy a good smoke so much. This was my first from the box (MSO JUN-09) and one of the few 09 cigars in my stash:

Aroma at cold: light peppercorn and rich sweet tobacco.

Draw: Perfect, on the right side of firm, nice hint of dried fruit

Construction: a beauty to behold, lightly oiled dark wrapper

Started off mild and continued on the mild side throughout with some strength developing in the last 3rd. Volumes of light grey smoke and a beautiful white and grey striped / ringed ash.

What struck me about this cigar was a recurring sense of great complexity trying to get out, maybe a little age will do wonders for a very tasty but somewhat muted flavour profile. Another appealing characteristic was a recurring hit of very pleasant, mild sweetness almost like the aroma of pipe tobacco or a whiskey/caramel type sweetness. V. nice. Will pair the next one with a good Irish whiskey and see what happens…

Following a mild and un remarkable start this cigar grabbed my attention and had that unputdownable quality which makes you want to strike up another one as soon as you are finished…very little of the book was read….If this was a general production rather than a LE cigar I would perhaps be more gushing in my praise – LEs tend to get my expectations up – sometimes to unreachable levels…it was the overall experience that made it memorable to me – hope there will be more like it in 2010….

Apologies for the crap photos – took them on my crap phone…