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.

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"...

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.

from Clyde Kilby via John Piper

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...