Tobacco, what an amazing crop. It is sun grown, shade-grown, and nurtured to be the perfect size leaf and texture as well as the appropriate stem and vein distribution. The location of the leaf on the plant also determines the taste and chemical composition of the leaf when it is tasted and smoked. The amount of shade (indoor) or outdoor (clouds) is also a factor as well as the chemical and fertilizer makeup in the soil. It seems that the same leaf even tastes differently when grown in different geographic locations.
The tobacco is fermented (two or more times) with the best tobacco being handled with the most care and the most time. One can even taste the depth of the taste associated with the care of the farmers and fermenters. Storage plays a significant role as the tobacco bales meld and blend and share a unified singularity of flavor and time adds it's hand in such a pleasant elegant way. We all know that time perfects wine, whiskey, and scotch - but it also adds depth and removes harshness from the tobacco. Some tobacco is aged in oak crates and others in more exotic containers (old whiskey barrels, for example...).
The blender is an invaluable asset to the product which is as artistic as it is tasty. Choosing the correct tobacco for the function and location within the cigar is key. Some is chosen for it's flammability and burn, others for it's specific taste.
The filler tobacco is the middle bundling, which adds some structural value and a good bit of taste, but is key in the burn and smoke provided to the connoisseur. The binder is the structural element that is key in preventing the expansion of the cigar as it heats up. Without a good binder, the cigar will not be fit to smoke. The wrapper is important to the merchant, as it is the part that the consumer will see. There are those who argue that the wrapper also provides 70% of the taste, but if it does - then it provides more to those who taste and chew on the wrapper as they smoke the stogie. Different wrappers do provide dramatically different flavors to the imbiber.
The other major role in cigar-making is the Torcedor. He constructs the cigar with such care as to mechanically make it an easily enjoyable and pleasant smoke. Too tight a cigar will draw too poorly and will make for a difficult time maintaining the combustion and lose the joy of a relaxing smoke. Too loose a cigar will smoke too quickly and as such will fail to allow one to enjoy an extended period of pleasure. Cigars crack and unravel if not roled properly, not to mention tunneling, flowering, and canoeing.
(almost) Last, but not least, is the person who is responsible to box, bundle, and store the cigars. The Spanish Cedar lined boxes are an example of a technique that adds significant flavor to, and preserves the cigars while they await the time when they will fulfill the purpose for which they were created. They wait patiently and never complain-understanding that the wait only enhances their good attributes and allows them to develop depth and uniformity in accordance with such as was desired by the Blender. They realize that their strength and flavor as well as their palatability are a function of other cigars with whom they are placed. The ones on the top of the box are smoked with a new fresh delight, the middle appreciated for the calmness and consistency of flavor, and the ones on the bottom savored slowly as the smoker looks back in fond reminiscence of an enjoyable box of stogies.
The merchant plays a role in his care of the cigars. He can baby and cherish them, and as so they will continue the aging experience in a profitable manner. His poor care can also ruin a great cigar. There is a paternal role in this endeavor. An excellent merchant may even be able to repair a damaged cigar, if it is done with a gentle and knowledgeable hand.
The cigar connoisseur is then responsible for the storage and care of his own cigars. He can treat them well and age them well and they will provide hours of pleasant enjoyment to his palate. He can combine them with spirits to enhance or tone them down and bring out other flavorful nuances. The timing of the smoke can also be key in the enjoyment of the stick. Whether it is the season, the climate, or the relationship of the timing to a meal - all these play a role in the experience. The company kept while enjoying the vice is a factor that can play a sizable role as well.
In all the process on can see the hand of The Maker as He guides the process thru crop placement, growth, harvest, fermentation, storage of bales, selection of mixes, gathering the filler, binding the filler, wrapping the outer leaf, dressing the stogie with a label, placing it with others in harmony in the situation that is specific to each, and caring for each individually from birth to finalization - when the realization of it's ultimate purpose is accomplished.
May we all come to appreciate the care of the Master Blender, Caretaker, and Nourisher of our (marathon and sometimes delayed) creation. May we value His hands and tender care, as well as His well appropriated delays, understanding that He knows the end from the beginning and has chosen us for a specific purpose, place, and time. May we palatable to those with whom we are exposed and impart the flavor that He has chosen for us to a broken weary and distracted world.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
the smell of beer reminds me of Sunday School
Alternate title: "Beer and Cigars"
When I was in Junior High my parents and some other families decided to start a new church in a nearby town. They were only able to find one inexpensive building to rent. It was an old Quonset hut (an empty USArmy Barracks) that had been turned into a meeting place for the Alvin Jaycees. The Jaycees were known for their Saturday night beer parties. The County of Brazoria was a "damp" county - which in Texas meant that they could serve and sell beer, but not liquor. The building had a concrete floor and the beer would often penetrate and envelope the perimeter of the place. It had a small narrow kitchen. The High School Sunday School class met there, where the beer keg remnants filled the back corner.
I had not been exposed to beer in any other environment despite the fact that both sets of my Wisconsin German grandparents partook. We only saw them for two weeks during the summer, and I was more effected by their cigarette chain smoking. My maternal grandfather and uncle both enjoyed pipe smoking, and that odor always carries me back to the mild cool summers that we spent with them in southern Wisconsin. It is amazing how smells are associated with events and times as well as people. Cigar smell has always been an enticing aroma to my nares.
To this day, the smell of beer still reminds me of those times in Sunday School in that cramped kitchen. It was a naive and innocent time. There was a hope even in the face of a sparse crowd that the church would grow and someday have a nicer place to meet.
"The factors reviewed here suggest that the sense of smell is more important in humans than is generally realized, which in turn suggests that it may have played a bigger role in the evolution of human diet, habitat, and social behavior than has been appreciated. All of these considerations should stimulate a greater interest in this neglected sense."
The bonds forged during those times linger long and run deep. I am reminded that both hardship and pleasant times leave marks on our souls and provide the Potter with clay that is soft and loyalty that evades even the closest familial bonds that we share.
Sitting with friends and enjoying a fine cigar adds triple enjoyment to the time...
When I was in Junior High my parents and some other families decided to start a new church in a nearby town. They were only able to find one inexpensive building to rent. It was an old Quonset hut (an empty USArmy Barracks) that had been turned into a meeting place for the Alvin Jaycees. The Jaycees were known for their Saturday night beer parties. The County of Brazoria was a "damp" county - which in Texas meant that they could serve and sell beer, but not liquor. The building had a concrete floor and the beer would often penetrate and envelope the perimeter of the place. It had a small narrow kitchen. The High School Sunday School class met there, where the beer keg remnants filled the back corner.
I had not been exposed to beer in any other environment despite the fact that both sets of my Wisconsin German grandparents partook. We only saw them for two weeks during the summer, and I was more effected by their cigarette chain smoking. My maternal grandfather and uncle both enjoyed pipe smoking, and that odor always carries me back to the mild cool summers that we spent with them in southern Wisconsin. It is amazing how smells are associated with events and times as well as people. Cigar smell has always been an enticing aroma to my nares.
To this day, the smell of beer still reminds me of those times in Sunday School in that cramped kitchen. It was a naive and innocent time. There was a hope even in the face of a sparse crowd that the church would grow and someday have a nicer place to meet.
"The factors reviewed here suggest that the sense of smell is more important in humans than is generally realized, which in turn suggests that it may have played a bigger role in the evolution of human diet, habitat, and social behavior than has been appreciated. All of these considerations should stimulate a greater interest in this neglected sense."
The bonds forged during those times linger long and run deep. I am reminded that both hardship and pleasant times leave marks on our souls and provide the Potter with clay that is soft and loyalty that evades even the closest familial bonds that we share.
Sitting with friends and enjoying a fine cigar adds triple enjoyment to the time...
Weary Rest
If there are any consistent followers of this blog, you have probably noticed that the posts have been few and far between, Some of this has been writer's cramp and some of it has been my desire to not write unless I enjoyed doing so. Blogs should be an enjoyable expression of our fancy. I have contributed more than my share to FB, and yet have not forgotten this precious forum for expression. I don't want to be a cigar review blog, as much as I want to express my thoughts and mention a cigar or two. I think I will continue to blog about such matters and cigars...your patience is appreciated.
The cigar to restart the journey is the Kristoff Maduro belicoso. It is a dark tasty wonder with a pig-tail foot. It burns well and tends to fill the taste buds with coffee flavors. It burns well. Mine came in a rough, but attractive box. The darkness of the cigar is very enticing, as is the abundant smoke. This is a good one to restart an old habit...
The cigar to restart the journey is the Kristoff Maduro belicoso. It is a dark tasty wonder with a pig-tail foot. It burns well and tends to fill the taste buds with coffee flavors. It burns well. Mine came in a rough, but attractive box. The darkness of the cigar is very enticing, as is the abundant smoke. This is a good one to restart an old habit...
Sunday, May 2, 2010
figure 8
Haven broken my collarbones on several occasions and having sprouted up to over 6 feet at the speed of light I was quite clumsy and awkward as a child. I must have stood and walked with a slump. My father was always correcting me to sit and stand up straight. I resented it a good bit. In the correction, (and even before) there was a sense of brokenness as well as a sense of being an mild anomaly that haunted my psyche...The figure 8 was a harness that pulled my shoulders back. It kept my collarbones from healing up in a contracted and overlapping way. Now looking backward at those times I am grateful for my father's correction as well as the uncomfortable figure 8. It didn't hurt much, but it reminded me that I was broken. The collarbones healed well, but deeper scars from other wounds have often taken years to heal.
Looking back again I see my Father's hand in it all. Through the broken and crushed times He provides with experience which leads us to have much more empathy that would have had without the trials. The hurts and heartbreaks, the broken relationships, the disappointments, the cancer with the loss of loved ones, the scars, and the pain - they are all there for both us and those around us. He knows what we have been through and went through so much Himself. He wants us to be His and a light to a broken world. He allows us to go through this stuff so we can be an empathetic light. Like a lighthouse on the shore in the midst of a raging sea or shelter in a warm cabin during a storm. The most empathetic physicians are those who have been through the problems we (as patients) are facing.
The trials grow our strength like gravity builds muscle. It hurts at times, but is much like the figure 8 and my father's correction- which has a purpose and an end...
Looking back again I see my Father's hand in it all. Through the broken and crushed times He provides with experience which leads us to have much more empathy that would have had without the trials. The hurts and heartbreaks, the broken relationships, the disappointments, the cancer with the loss of loved ones, the scars, and the pain - they are all there for both us and those around us. He knows what we have been through and went through so much Himself. He wants us to be His and a light to a broken world. He allows us to go through this stuff so we can be an empathetic light. Like a lighthouse on the shore in the midst of a raging sea or shelter in a warm cabin during a storm. The most empathetic physicians are those who have been through the problems we (as patients) are facing.
The trials grow our strength like gravity builds muscle. It hurts at times, but is much like the figure 8 and my father's correction- which has a purpose and an end...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Glow in the Dark
On numerous occasions at night at the ranch I have seen glow-in-the-dark "dirt" or liquid on the ground and even on my dog "Lucky" - usually it has been in the early morning after a dark night and has been damp on the ground. Not sure if it is Glow worms, Foxfire, Jack O'Lantern mushroom, Honey Fungus, or some other bio-luminescent fungus or mold. It almost seems to be in a footprint pattern at times. I usually dispose of my cigars on the ground or in a planting pot and save them for plant mulch to hold humidity in the soil. It has been unseasonably wet in the country after a significant long dry spell (almost 2 year drought).
That brings up another topic: Is it better to smoke at 70% humidity or 10-40% ? It seems that cigars last longer and do not burn as well when they fail to dry out during the smoking process. The ambient temperature seems to also have an effect on taste and enjoyment as well. There is much disappointment in smoking and expensive stogie and having it canoe or flower. The humidity does seem to weaken the binder.
The cigar I would like to review is the El Rey Del Mundo Olvidados Chateaux R Sumatra. It is a 5x54 vitola and a dense well packed and flavorful smoke as well as a "strong" one.
From "Keepers of the flame"
The phenomenon of brand extension is in evidence once again with El Rey del Mundo Olvidados. The original “King of the World” is a Cuban marca, but in the U.S. we are more familiar with the Villazon version blended by Estelo Padrón in Honduras. I don’t know how many boxes of oscuros I’ve consumed over the years, but for a long time it was my “go to” smoke.
That brings up another topic: Is it better to smoke at 70% humidity or 10-40% ? It seems that cigars last longer and do not burn as well when they fail to dry out during the smoking process. The ambient temperature seems to also have an effect on taste and enjoyment as well. There is much disappointment in smoking and expensive stogie and having it canoe or flower. The humidity does seem to weaken the binder.
The cigar I would like to review is the El Rey Del Mundo Olvidados Chateaux R Sumatra. It is a 5x54 vitola and a dense well packed and flavorful smoke as well as a "strong" one.
From "Keepers of the flame"
The phenomenon of brand extension is in evidence once again with El Rey del Mundo Olvidados. The original “King of the World” is a Cuban marca, but in the U.S. we are more familiar with the Villazon version blended by Estelo Padrón in Honduras. I don’t know how many boxes of oscuros I’ve consumed over the years, but for a long time it was my “go to” smoke.
In 2006 Padrón developed El Rey del Mundo Real with a Honduran wrapper from San Agustin, but in my opinion it fails to live up the “original” broadleaf maduro ERDM.
The newest blend was created by protegés of Estelo Padrón for Cuban Imports, who are themselves no strangers to brand extensions: in 2006 they unveiled their Por Larrañaga “Cuban Grade” and last year the H. Upmann “Signature,” both Altadis owned brands. With ERDM Olvidados they add a player from General Cigar to their team.
They came up with a diverse blend for this cigar. The filler includes ligero from Nicaragua, viso from Honduras, and seco leaf from the Dominican Republic. The binder is a Connecticut broadleaf, and the star of the show is a dark Ecuadorian grown Sumatra wrapper.
I found my cigar to have a real sweet spiciness. There was a woody taste with the hint of amaretto (much like the Gran Habano 3 Siglos) - which seemed a bit salty (I recognized this after I read the KoTF review). There was also a hint of black pepper. It turned out to be a good smoke for a cool and humid overcast winter day, but I would say that it did not glow in the dark...Maybe I was "Lucky"...Sunday, January 17, 2010
10 Resolutions for Mental Health
10 Resolutions for Mental Health
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.
I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.
I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.
from Clyde Kilby via John Piper
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Out with the new and cherish the old...
Having been privy to a 2006 box of (Cuban - Habanos) Montecristo No.2's which were stout and tasty with a sweet peppery earthy-leather flavor, I looked forward to the cigar I was given at Christmas. It was the 2009 version. I still have some of the 2006 cigars and looked forward to smoking the 2009 with anticipation - much like my children waited for Santa Claus. Previous Cuban Cohiba's had seemed to be short on the aging and my attempts to improve a classical cigar with time could be compared with the 3 years of aging with the 2006 cigar. The torpedo/belicoso shape was not my favorite, but has become much more of one since I stumbled upon the guillotine cutter with the size guard.
The 2009 was good and well made, but for unknown reason seamed to lack the leathery abundance and slight peppery sweetness of the 2006. The 2006 was also much stronger in nicotine content - gauged by my vertiginous response.
Life seems to go by so fast...FC is still alive? I met Elvis the other day and he was a bit younger than I expected...
The 2009 was good and well made, but for unknown reason seamed to lack the leathery abundance and slight peppery sweetness of the 2006. The 2006 was also much stronger in nicotine content - gauged by my vertiginous response.
Life seems to go by so fast...FC is still alive? I met Elvis the other day and he was a bit younger than I expected...
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