Blue Moon Cocktail

Historic Cigar Factory Closing

Another victim of the recession:

Hav-A-Tampa

The Dry Martini – Live !

My first endeavour with video…..

Rocky Patel Vintage 1992

Rocky Patel Vintage 1992

• Length:  5.5 inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Wrapper: Ecudorian Sumatra
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan

The construction and look of this cigar was excellent. It felt firm to the touch and had a good pre-light draw.

The cigar burned well and had a slightly spicy flavor. In genreral, it had a good earthy flavor with spice in the background. There was a medium amount of smoke and the cigar smoked cool for the entire session.

The 1992 is one of Rocky’s better cigars and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rocky Patel Juniors

Rocky Patel Juniors

I’m always on the lookout for good “lunch break” smokes. There are some days when I would like to enjoy a cigar but, I don’t have 45 minutes to an hour to dedicate to a normal sized cigar.

I saw these RP Juniors at a local shop and decided to give them a try.

Of course these are short filler cigars. They were constructed well had good looking  wrappers.

They are reasonably priced and packaged very nicely. The five cigars all looked very good and seemed to keep well in the tin box.

For a twenty minute smoke, these were not bad. They gave off a lot of smoke, burned well and had a good medium bodied flavor.

I will keep these in mind the next time I am looking for a short cigar.

Free Instant Coffee Samples from Starbucks

Via Instant Coffee

Several weeks ago Starbucks ran a promotion for their new instant coffee. Since I really hate to turn anything free down, I had to sign up.

The samples above arrived quickly. I was impressed since freebies like this normallytake forever to be shipped.

I tried the Columbian roast first. My first impression with this sample is that I am amazed that Starbucks could capture their over-roasted, burned flavor in a crystallized instant form. I must give them kudos for that. I did not like this blend.

A few days later, I tried the Italian Roast. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. This sample was robust, strong and made a decent cup of coffee for instant.

Neither of these samples are a good alternative to ground whole bean roasts but, I think they would work well for camping or unexpected visitors in your home.

nub Habano 464T

nub torpedo

• Length: 4 inches
• Ring Gauge: 64
• Wrapper: Habano
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan

This cigar came to me courtesy of Cigars Direct. I would like to thank them personally for their kindness and generosity.

The idea behind the nub line is that these cigars have a larger ring gauge while being much shorter than your average cigar. Instead of smoking a cigar and waiting to hit the “sweet spot”, this line is supposed to be all “sweet spot”.

I like this torpedo shape because it is more comfortable to smoke. I am not a big fan of large guage cigars and these nubs are some of the widest. The taper on the cap of the torpedo helps greatly.

After clipping the cap the pre-light draw was very easy. I toasted the foot and began the smoke. After a few minutes I needed to perform a touch up on the burn.

This cigar burned slowly, stayed cool to the touch and had a very smooth, medium bodied flavor. About halfway through I had to touch up the burn again. I noticed that this cigar wanted to go out quickly if I did not continuously puff on it. Perhaps the filler was a bit too dense on this cigar.

Towards the end, the band came off smoothly and cleanly. There’s nothing worse than tearing the wrapper towards the end of a good smoke to ruin it.

Smoke time was about an hour. Not bad for a short cigar.  I enjoyed it and would recommend this blend to anyone.

The Delmonico Cocktail

* 1 ounce gin
* 1/2 ounce brandy
* 1/2 ounce dry vermouth
* 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
* 1 dash orange bitters

Garnish: Lemon twist
Stir with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

While I could not find any historical evidence, I believe this cocktail was created to honor the original Delmonico Restaurant founded in New York City in the year 1830.  John and Peter Delmonico created the very first restaurant in America where people could come in for lunch or dinner and choose their meals from a “bill of fare”. This was an entirely new concept and was met with great enthusiasm.

The Delmonico family ran their restaurants in various incarnations until 1923. Prohibition was the main reason this restaurant and many others like it had to close its doors. Without the markup in liquor, the business could not turn a profit.

The Delmonico name has been resurrected by several restaurants around the country but none of them have any connection to the Delmonico family.

The cocktail itself is very smooth and a little on the sweet side. It has a pleasant golden hue. The predominant flavor comes from a blending of the brandy and sweet vermouth. The flavor of gin, dry vermouth and a hint of bitters blossom at the finish.

I enjoyed this cocktail very much. I like that it uses both dry and sweet vermouth. I feel vermouth has an undeserved bad reputation with the general drinking public. Of course, any cocktail that includes gin is an almost guaranteed winner in my book.

Try your hand at one of these and enjoy!

nub Habano 460

• Length: 4 inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Wrapper: Habano

This started out very mild and worked its way into a medium to strong smoke.

Since this cigar has such a large ring gauge, the pre-light draw was very easy. I tasted a very earthy tobacco taste that carried over into the first few puffs.

About halfway through, the cigar picked up speed. I was getting a stronger flavor and full blue smoke on the exhale.

The cigar had great construction, lit easily and only required one or two touch ups.

I would easily recommend this cigar to anyone who enjoys a cigar of this profile.  I’m not a fan of the larger ring gauges so I don’t smoke them that often.  I certainly would not turn this cigar down though.

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. CNN Interview

Here’s a video about one of the cigar industy’s greatest families:

J.C. Newman on CNN