El Ray de los Habanos

I haven’t written in this blog in a while and I have a LOT of material. I wanted to start my postings with a review, simply because this is mainly a review site. I have mostly been (don’t die here) a CIGARETTE smoker lately, so it’s as if I have been in the back alleys getting quick fast smoking experiences … yet to have a nice quality date with a good guy who’s gonna treat me right.  Take me out dinner and dancing. The friends and conversations over cigarettes have been, nice – but sometimes, I look longingly at my husband, having a real relationship with a nice Cuban Classic or one of his Padilla Habanos, and I feel a little … well … slatternly … Because there’s times and places for things, and I know sometimes I’m smoking cigarettes when it’s time for

A DATE WITH A CIGAR

El Rey de los Habanos

by Don Pepin

(previous ratings)

Wrapper: Corojo Rosado Claro

Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan

Vitolas: 5 Natural

Value: 5.99

Size: A robusto, 5 x 50

It is a cigar of mild flavor made with Cuban seed, wrapped in “Corojo Rosado Claro”, grown in Nicaragua. This brand is available in completely new Cabinet Style cedar boxes of 23 cigars.

We’d came to the cigar shop today to bid adieu to a friend and longtime cigar shop employee. He’s moving to Oregon to be closer to his family. I was expecting to waltz into the humidor and grab my customary Cabaiguan and , failing that – at least a red Tatuaje. At the beginning of this excursion, I was disappointed because my cigars were out of stock. There was nothing to lose, so this whole review; kind of an event anyway, became a sort of blind date.

My husband kind of set us up – my smoky gentleman caller and me. The Robusto In Question seemed like a nice fellow. A pretty wrapper, an innocuous red ring, a nice sheen indicating good humidification … a normal looking good-quality robusto. I trust my husband’s judgment on these things. The cigar had the nice spongy-ness and the earthy-but-non-overpower-y aroma I associate with a Don Pepin Cuban Classic. But I’d already lowered my expectations for the morning, because I’d come in expecting a spicy smoke. I usually like a bit of a kick. So it was like going on a blind date with a good looking guy who’s not your ideal type – but you’re excited because – what the hell – he’s still pretty good looking!

Right away, I started off my “date” badly. I didn’t butcher the clip, exactly – just enough to kind of fray the cap. This could have caused the tenseness around the business end of the stick, and the bit of uneven burn I encountered. The uneven burn didn’t last very long, and I didn’t have to do any fire tricks to correct it (which I hate to do!). Mr. de los Habanos just kept right on burning for me. What a champ! At one point while I was typing, I let the cigar go out. This was hard to do, because usually it burned no matter how long it sat in the tray. I relit with a match and there was hardly any detrimental effect from the relight.

I could have used a tad more “kick” and complexity, perhaps a bit of a timbre change in flavor. Nonetheless, this robusto was hearty without kicking my ass – and I haven’t smoked a cigar in a while. It was as if he’d taken me out for a nice steak dinner and we’d finished up sharing crème brule and a nice coffee with just enough cream to get rid of the bitterness. Maybe he’d asked me upstairs for a nice brandy and a cigar. Oh wait, he is a cigar … No sweet sappiness. Just a nice grownup dinner; classy without the negative aspects of being overly fashionable.

Now, it didn’t hold an ash for very long. I picked it up and gave one a chance to develop, and the ash got everywhere. I didn’t relish being the only womb-with-a-broom-in-the-room, but I don’t think anyone noticed. Maybe I’m overly sensitive about such things. I just don’t like ash on a nice clean floor. The spongy-ness may have indicated more space in the stick, and I thought the sponginess was a good quality, so I guess ash length isn’t everything. As I said, my “date” was taking care of me in other ways.

The cigar burned well in the ashtray – without losing it’s flavor and getting ashy or muddy. But I could also hold it in my mouth without needing to constantly puff on it. When I did take a pull, the smoke didn’t hurt my eyes – at any point during the cigar’s process. The flavor didn’t change much up the stick, but it was such a consistent and reliable good experience it didn’t really matter.

I would classify this first “date” as successful. As a nice guy that gave me a great time – and no drama later. No psycho phone calls – no regrets, no longing glances, we can still be friends and he means it. We’ll definately see each other again, but I don’t think he’s my main squeeze.  He’s more of a classy day-job type of guy, maybe he is into advertising, or he imports fine art from Latin America, Africa, and various European countries. I’m more … eclectic. But we certainly didn’t leave each other with funky aftertaste; no headache, no icky reeling-feeling.

More seriously, I think the El Ray de los Habanos would make a perfect opening to an evening of cigars. It’s no silly stick, this holds its own. Any problems could have been user error, and I think it was a nice, solid smoke.

As for the whole experience, the conversation in the room got really funny about 2/3 of the way through the Robusto. I won’t get too far into it, but I will say that I’m not going to be come a “madam.” Sometimes there are hazards to being a “lady.”

OVERALL GUT FEELING ARRIVED AT CIGAR GIRL SCORE:  8.9

Cigar Cutters – Part 1

One of the most important parts in the steps of smoking a cigar is the cutting of the cigar. Obviously, if you don’t cut the cigar right, it can affect how the cigar smokes.

Their are several different methods for cutting a cigar:

The first is to use a single-bladed cutter.

The benefit of these cutters are that they are really inexpensive and are generally available anywhere. The draw-back is that since they only have one blade, the side of the cigar that the blade is not coming from will generally get messed up at the end of the cut. This type of cutter can be used on flat, rounded head, or figurado cigars.

A second method is to use a double-bladed cutter.

The benefit to using a double-bladed cutter is that you don’t get the messed-up end that you get from a sing;e-bladed cutter. Also, since their are two blades, the cutter is self-sharpening. This type of cigar cutter is also used on flat, rounded head, or figurado cigars.

A variation on the double-bladed cutter is the depth-gauged cutter:

The benefit of using this cutter is that you get the advantage of having two blades, but you also get a perfect cut. This cutter will cut the same amount of cigar off every time. However, this cutter is used primarily for flat and rounded-head cigars. They can be used for figurado cigars, but you will have to cut several times to get a big enough opening.

This is just an overview of the several ways to cut a cigar. I will be posting more methods, including some tips and tricks, soon.

Have a great day and enjoy your smoke!

Hello Fellow Smokers!

My name is Jay and as Denise has already stated I am one of her co-workers at the Habana House Cigar Shop. A little bit about me: I am 25 years old, going to be 26 at the end of October (gifts of cigars are welcome), I have been working at the cigar shop for about a year and a half. I started out here by taking the shifts of employees who needed someone to cover for them. That was then parlayed into regular shifts. Currently I am only covering the Saturday closing shift and any Sundays that need to be covered.

I started smoking cigars when I was in college at Baylor. The guys who lived across the hall from me in the dorm smoked cigars and encouraged me to try it. At that time I was so poor that I could only afford to smoke Macanudo Caviars. When I moved back to Austin, I started hanging out at the cigar lounge inside of Ruta Maya when it was located on 4th & Lavaca.

I then moved to San Marcos and was a regular at the Hill Country Humidor down there. I also helped organize and run the Texas State Cigar Club.

After I finished my schooling I returned to Austin and discovered the Habana House. I have been coming here to smoke for about 2 years now.

I generally prefer a full-bodied smoke. One of my favorites is the La Flor Dominicana DL-700.

I’ll post some of my reviews when I get them written.

Have a great day and enjoy your smoke!

Suckin the Big Stick o’ Procrastination …

I haven’t posted my reviews.

And I haven’t inserted any of my fabulous observations of scintillating amazing-ness.

But I’ve been saving all these wonderful gems up for your future enjoyment.

But until I do … I will introduce you to Jay … my fine colleague and now – a guest author on this here blog.

Enjoy yourselves

The OLD REVIEWS

On my other site, I had two cigar reviews “in the old style.” They’ll be more streamlined and less chatty from now on … and I’ll be keeping things a little briefer and separated into entries for things. But for now I’ll refer you to the two reviews:

WARNING … These reviews are in the old style … on a site where I write with more frankness – so they are rated “R”

ROCKY PATEL ITC (Chick with a Stick and a Gee-tar Pick #1)

and

Hoya de Monterey Excalibur 1066 Dark Knight (Chick with a Stick and a Gee-tar Pick #2)

Happy reads!

D

An Auspicious (and perhaps a tad racy) Introduction

Hello ladies and gentlemen …

My name is Denise – and I (sorta) work at this Humidor. I am not working during my first post right now though – it’s Mark (he’s sweeping and loading water).

It’s a humidor inside a coffee shop inside a city which is a “music” town. It’s like an enigma wrapped in a buttered tortilla which is then dipped into queso – which is qauche and nobody does this in public but me. I think it’s great, because I like to smoke cigars with my hot friend who works here (whose name might actually be spelled with a “k;” but I’m pretty sure it’s not).

We discussed over lunch once whether or not her name was sexy (we both agreed that it was) … and talked about the relative merits of starting consonnants vs. and/or including ending consonnants for the “sexiness factor” of names. My opinion is that it’s all in the shape that your mouth achieves at the end of the name – which hers has a pleasant casual soft “ca” sound which just barely shows the tongue (this makes me sound sort of … well … I don’t know … suspect). Mine, however – ends in an “e” sound. This might sound okay … if you end it softly “ssseh.” But it is all too easy to emphasize the “DDDDDEEEEEEE” aspect of things. I told her that I was an overweight woman in neon lipstick who “got the job done.” Kind of ghetto – not in a good way. But if course, I felt sort of classist as I said this. I felt like “Denise” was a “Wal-mart” name … which is terrible. No offense to the rest of the “Denise-s” in the class … who are proud of their names.

I’m being a crack smoker of course, because right now I feel very desirable. The ongoing problem discussed often in my other blog is at a high point of a wave … and I have the upper hand.

But this is not for that. This is a workplace blog, and I like to smoke cigars with my colleagues. Sometimes my boss and Mike-the-husband smoke together on Thursdays, or interrupt my practice time with television. I mostly wanted to start working here to practice writing reviews … because I have a theory that a girl could write a very different kind of cigar review.

Also because I had some opinions about how things could be organized in here. And because I needed to go back to work and make some extra money. And because Mike and I spend to much money in here and the discount is nice.

Right now, of course, the menfolk are not talking about the sexiness of female names or my little drama … which would not be off topic (as menstraution or body lotion – in anything other than a sexy masseuse context would). They’re talking about golf and the normal things that guys talk about. Making anagrams of one another’s names (Anaconda Mike = “ciao, naked man!”)

I’d talk about specifics but for now I’ll just describe my surroundings for the lady friends. “Jose Jimenez” is six feet tall, built and available … – large in many dimensions. He would like for “Jose Jimenez” to be his alias on this blog – but I am not going to incriminate people with names {sigh}

He is also quite … well groomed. You do not want to know about this conversation. Ah, the glories of cigar shop talk … You should have been there my first day, when we got to hear readings out loud of ‘Haunted’ by Chuck Palahniuk

But I digress. This introduction is about me …