June 12th, 2018

"Better late than never," I say. And in the case of this particular Father's Day Gift Guide, it was almost never. I'd committed to writing the guide. Then, one of my co-workers left the company, and I picked up some of his duties along with a big project. To say that I would end that day not wanting to get near a computer would be an understatement. But hey! I pulled myself together, and with the help of Jason and Doug (I’ll call out their sections, but you’ll notice the difference in writing styles, I’m sure...), it’s finished. So, without further delay - “Here we go!”

June 11th, 2018

Managua. We’re still only in Managua. Every time I doze off, I think I’m going to wake up in the van.

When we returned home after the IPCPR in Las Vegas, it was even worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing. All I’d do was smoke cigars, write reviews and publish them to the web. When I was in Vegas, I wanted to be home. When I was home, all I could think of was finding a way to get back to some cigar industry event.

We’ve now been in Managua overnight, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and getting antsy. Every minute we stay here, we get just a little fatter and a little more drunk on rum. And every minute, the factories are calling out to us. Each time I look around, the walls move in a little tighter.

Everyone gets everything he or she wants. We wanted a cigar tour in Nicaragua, and they gave us one. Brought it up to us like room service...

I never thought that I would be a cigar a day smoker.  I was a once-or-twice-a-week guy, not wanting to be absent from my family whilst sitting outside for two hours or so per night. Family situations change, elders need caregivers, caregivers need to get out of the house from the elders and voilá, smoking more than one cigar per day sometimes is suddenly a reality.

My good friend of nearly twenty years at Cigar Weekly sent me a bag of cigars some months back with a request that I let him know about one of them. So, Stan, this is for you, me brother. This is the Asylum 13 Oblongata made by the CLE Cigar Company, founded by Christian L. Eiroa. According to their website, this cigar, called the 60 x 6 due to its dimensions, is made of all corojo tobacco. This should be an experience no matter how it turns out. The Eiroa/CLE corojo farm is in Honduras, according to Cigar Aficionado’s Gregory Mottola, the plantation in the Jamastran Valley once known as Argelia is now called El Corojo after its namesake tobacco. (Gregory Mottola. Crop Report: El Corojo Farm, Honduras. https://www.clecigars.com/crop-report-el-corojo-farm-honduras/ February 5, 2020, accessed May 27, 2020.)

The wrapper leaf is beautiful, simply no other way to describe it, whilst the entire cigar is box-pressed. I almost ruined it clipping it with a tough guillotine cutter. However, I was able to ameliorate the damage. It lights quite nicely with one match and I was met with a strong woody character that coated the back of my tongue. A little ways in and that almost “over-flavor” due to the heat of the lighting has abated a great deal. This is now a pleasant woody cigar, with a nice tight, straight burn.