Friday, February 22, 2008

Nebraska Bans Smoking

Following Omaha's and Lincoln's smoking bans, Nebraska's unicameral (and uni-brain cell) legislature passed a ban against smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places, state-wide. If the governor signs it, the law will go into effect in June of 2009.

Really, why not just ban smoking and tobacco products altogether? If it's dangerous enough to ban in public, the State should ban it in private for the health and safety of the citizenry.

As for the bars and restaurants, the greatest health hazards in those places are on the plates...

Update 2/26/08: The Governor has signed the bill, it's law in Nebraska, and takes effect June 2009. It might take me that long to sell my house and move to northern Kentucky, where the nazis haven't completely crushed freedom.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Camacho Corojo Maduro

Camacho Corojo Maduro monarcha
$6, Size: 5", Ring: 50
Honduran Corojo wrapper, binder, and fillers

It's always a pleasant surprise to get a nice cigar in the mail, and it's better yet when the cigars are so appetizingly beautiful. TommyboyMartin, an anchor at Social Cigar, sent me a brace of these maduro lovelies, and they were a great starting point for getting acquainted with Camacho's different lines. The Camacho Corojo is a Honduran puro, stuffed, bound, and wrapped with corojo tobacco, notorious for being a feisty and tasty leaf.

A sumptuous shade of dark chocolate, the maduro corojo wrapper was mildly veined and velvety. Unprompted, my 7 year-old son remarked that it smelled like chocolate. The cigar felt moderately filled, with a draw that's free, without being loose, and the white ash held a bit over an inch beyond the burn line.

The cigar started with sweet leather and toasted nuts, with an initial tease of spice and cocoa. The flavors settled into a robust leather and nuts combo that had a peppery echo. The corojo turned on the afterburners in the last couple inches, pumping some sweet heat into the medium-bodied flavors. The body and flavors of the Corojo Maduro went great with my coffee.

The Corojo Maduro was the first Camacho cigar I've had, and it forebodes made more pleasurable experiences to come.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Rocky Patel Fusion

Rocky Patel Fusion robusto
$5, Size: 5.5", Ring: 50.
Habano wrapper, Ecuadorian Connecticut binder, with Cameroon, Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers.

As we draw near to Lent, a time of thoughtful meditation and self-sacrifice, I wanted to smoke something of repute before donning the sackcloth and ashes. Rocky Patel has been fairly prolific in recent years, and this is one of many different cigars he's blended to different concepts. The Fusion uses two wrapper tobaccos, with the Connecticut tobacco as a binder, and a Habano wrapper jacketing the entire package.

My cigar's Habano wrapper was smooth, had few veins, and was glossy. A light, almost floral aroma issued from it. The cigar felt moderately packed, with a nicely balanced draw once the cap was punched. I had no problems getting nice volumes of smoke, and a white ash stuck over an inch beyond the chronically wobbly burn line. Still, I only had to do a touch-up to the burn once.

The flavors were fairly mild to start, of lightly toasted nut and a mild wood note. There was a pepper flavor lurking, but really didn't come out to shine until after the second inch. By that time, the wood note had become more pronounced and cedar-like, blending well with the spicy white pepper flavor.

The overall flavors were between mild and medium, and the cigar had a bit of nicotine to it. Not a bad smoke, and I've got three more napping.