I love a good cigar or a bowl of pipe tobacco. Even though my hobbies seem to conflict (scuba diving, biking and smoking), I am able to do all of them without sacrifice.
A good bowl of tobacco after a long day of diving or work is the perfect way to end the day or to end dinner. My favorite pipe tobacco is Mac Baren's Navy Flake. It has a rich, full flavor that isn't too strong and never bites. I'm not a big fan of cased pipe tobacco, but I will have a small amount of Cavendish blend once in a while. As for cigars, I have many favorites, but my all-time favorite is a La Aurora Exquisito #2. This short "cuban perfecto" is very strong with a complex flavor. Unfortunately, this is a rather expensive cigar ($12.00 in California [2/2000]).
The measure by which all good cigars are compared to is the Cuban. How cigars are rated depends on how close they come to being a Cuban. I had the opportunity to try a Cuban cigar while in Scotland. It fell way short of the expectations I had. But, I made a poor selection--after smoking half, I cut the cigar in half and noticed that it had green leaves inside the wrapper (yuck). This is not what a fine cigar should look like on the inside nor should it have tasted that bad. However, after arriving back in the States, I check on Cigar Aficionado's "Fakes" page where I realized that I had been sold a fake. No wonder it was a bad smoke. The lesson to be learned is "If the store sells porn magazines and cigars, the cigars won't be real Cubans".
Cuban Update: I finally had a real Cuban Cigar. I was so lucky to be in London in October (2003). My friend Dave and I made our way over to London's famous smoke shop -- Davidoff of London. Davidoff's can be found right near Saint James Palace. I grabbed a Partagas and a Hoyo de Monterey. The wrapper leaf had nice flecks of green in it. The smoke was beyond compare. The ash was fine and white, the touch was firm and the draw was excellent. Strong is the word when it comes to flavor. I have been waiting a long time for this, and I was not dissapointed.
Early (2002), I traveled to my parent's house where I purchased a couple of nice cigars to share with my dad and brother. I picked out two La Gloria Cubana maduros, one for my dad and the other for my brother and Hoja Cubana (pyrimid shape) XXO for me. They were all very good.
I was introduced to my latest favorite cigar about Sept 2005. I went to Mission Pipe and Tobacco in Pleasanton during one of the cigar tasting nights. The fieatured cigar was the Avo Signature series. What an excellent cigar. In Dec 2005, I was also introduced to Cuesta Rey Sun Grown wrapper cigars. These are also favorites.
So far in 2006, I have been introduced to two new cigars. I got to try each of these at the Mission Pipe and Tobacco's cigar tasting nights. In March, they had Ancient Warrior which is a fairly good smoke. In April, it was Gran Habano. This is a better smoke and cheaper too. I bought four of each and placed them into my Humi. My favorite is still the Avo Signature series.
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