stevehawk
'Member? C'mon you 'member!
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2004
- Messages
- 4,113
First a little background: As some of you may know, I live in Boise, Idaho. And one of the (many) great things about Boise is our football team, the Boise State Broncos. Well, to make a long story short they played in the Liberty Bowl against the Univ. of Louisville this afternoon and I’ve been waiting for this game for a couple of weeks. After a back and forth nail-biter of a game, they fell just short of a win. As the final play of the game played itself out (an intercepted Hail Mary for the win), I was down… really down… Goodbye bowl win, goodbye NCAA-leading win streak (which now belongs to USC) and goodbye to a perfect 2004 season. 
Right after the game, my wife packed up our youngest (11) and headed off to the store. My son hates my smoking even more than the wife, so I figured “what the hell”, it’s a perfect time for a smoke. I headed to the humi (I’m a newb and I’ve only got one) and plucked out the RASS Small Club Corona that Kingpin, my very generous SS, had gifted me. It’s small and I hoped to be finished by the time my wife and son returned.
As some of you may also know, my cigar smoking has been restricted to the porch or the garage, so I headed outside. The weather was not bad – a balmy 42 with no wind -- hell, damn near a warm spell for this time of year. I checked my watch (5:40pm), and inspected the goods.
The stick is smaller than I usually smoke, but the wrapper was a nice dark brown, with a few small veins. The construction seemed good, and had no noticeable flaws. I wet the end in preparation for the punch and right away thought, “hey, that wrapper’s got some powerful flavor.” Because of the smaller ring size, I was somewhat hesitant with the punch, but the stick took it without any problem. I inspected the cap and it looked perfect – another indication of excellent construction. I took a preliminary draw prior to torching it and was rewarded with excellent flow. Not too tight, not too loose. “So far, so good,” I thought.
I lit the foot and took several draws to get the end completely red. Again, no problems, so I sat back and replayed the game in my head. So close…
I’ve been smoking cigars for almost a year now, but this was only my third ISOM. The first two, a Partagas and a RyJ Churchill had been somewhat disappointing – they certainly had not been the “peak of enjoyment” that I had been led to expect, and I was wondering what this one would be like.
Right away, I noticed that the RASS was putting out a lot of smoke and after about 3 minutes, I began concentrating on the taste and tried to decipher the flavors of the stick. It had a nutty flavor, and loaded with a spiciness that had my lips began tingling in no time. Again I thought, “so far, so good,” and settled back for a nice smoke.
Within minutes, I had revised my opinion from “so far, so good” to “hey, this is pretty good.” I inspected the smoke between drags and notice a pleasing curl of smoke pouring from the cap with each taste – another good sign. Being a smaller ring size than I normally smoke, the stick seemed to shrink before my eyes. Before I knew it, the ash was an inch long and, as I usually do, I gave a light tap to see if it was ready to fall. Nothing doing, so I kept on… By now, my entire mouth was tingling and I was thinking, “This cigar is damn good.”
After 20 minutes, the ash, which was a layered dark- and light-gray, was nearly two inches long (almost half the length of the cigar). I gave the stick another light tap (my fourth) and finally sent it tumbling. At this point, I knew I was onto something and was beginning to (at last) have a good appreciation for the ISOM experience. I was also coming to the realization that was probably the best damn cigar I had ever tasted.
With two inches of stick left to go, I was hoping the end would never come and wondering why I had thrown away all my roach clips 20 years ago – hell I was gonna need one now. Needless to say, I had forgotten about the game and was completely into the taste of that powerful little mofo.
As they say, all good things must come to an end and this cigar was no different. After 45 minutes, my lips and my fingers were fighting for space on what was left of the stick when my wife and son pulled into the drive. I gave them a wave and waited for the inevitable reproach of my 11 year old son. Sure enough, as he got out of the car he yelled over at me, “Dad, put it out.” Well, good timing can be a wonderful thing. Having fought the good fight for as long as I could, I had to acknowledge that the cigar was dead. I waved to him, nodded, and said, “Just for you, Son,” and tossed the tiny nub into the shrubbery where it would decompose next to several of its lesser-tasting cousins.
As we entered the house together I couldn’t help but tell my wife, “That’s the best cigar I’ve ever had.” She just shook her head and told me to wash my hands and brush my teeth… which I dutifully did. :love:
It’s been a few hours now and I can still taste it, though. :thumbs:
Right after the game, my wife packed up our youngest (11) and headed off to the store. My son hates my smoking even more than the wife, so I figured “what the hell”, it’s a perfect time for a smoke. I headed to the humi (I’m a newb and I’ve only got one) and plucked out the RASS Small Club Corona that Kingpin, my very generous SS, had gifted me. It’s small and I hoped to be finished by the time my wife and son returned.
As some of you may also know, my cigar smoking has been restricted to the porch or the garage, so I headed outside. The weather was not bad – a balmy 42 with no wind -- hell, damn near a warm spell for this time of year. I checked my watch (5:40pm), and inspected the goods.
The stick is smaller than I usually smoke, but the wrapper was a nice dark brown, with a few small veins. The construction seemed good, and had no noticeable flaws. I wet the end in preparation for the punch and right away thought, “hey, that wrapper’s got some powerful flavor.” Because of the smaller ring size, I was somewhat hesitant with the punch, but the stick took it without any problem. I inspected the cap and it looked perfect – another indication of excellent construction. I took a preliminary draw prior to torching it and was rewarded with excellent flow. Not too tight, not too loose. “So far, so good,” I thought.
I lit the foot and took several draws to get the end completely red. Again, no problems, so I sat back and replayed the game in my head. So close…
I’ve been smoking cigars for almost a year now, but this was only my third ISOM. The first two, a Partagas and a RyJ Churchill had been somewhat disappointing – they certainly had not been the “peak of enjoyment” that I had been led to expect, and I was wondering what this one would be like.
Right away, I noticed that the RASS was putting out a lot of smoke and after about 3 minutes, I began concentrating on the taste and tried to decipher the flavors of the stick. It had a nutty flavor, and loaded with a spiciness that had my lips began tingling in no time. Again I thought, “so far, so good,” and settled back for a nice smoke.
Within minutes, I had revised my opinion from “so far, so good” to “hey, this is pretty good.” I inspected the smoke between drags and notice a pleasing curl of smoke pouring from the cap with each taste – another good sign. Being a smaller ring size than I normally smoke, the stick seemed to shrink before my eyes. Before I knew it, the ash was an inch long and, as I usually do, I gave a light tap to see if it was ready to fall. Nothing doing, so I kept on… By now, my entire mouth was tingling and I was thinking, “This cigar is damn good.”
After 20 minutes, the ash, which was a layered dark- and light-gray, was nearly two inches long (almost half the length of the cigar). I gave the stick another light tap (my fourth) and finally sent it tumbling. At this point, I knew I was onto something and was beginning to (at last) have a good appreciation for the ISOM experience. I was also coming to the realization that was probably the best damn cigar I had ever tasted.
With two inches of stick left to go, I was hoping the end would never come and wondering why I had thrown away all my roach clips 20 years ago – hell I was gonna need one now. Needless to say, I had forgotten about the game and was completely into the taste of that powerful little mofo.
As they say, all good things must come to an end and this cigar was no different. After 45 minutes, my lips and my fingers were fighting for space on what was left of the stick when my wife and son pulled into the drive. I gave them a wave and waited for the inevitable reproach of my 11 year old son. Sure enough, as he got out of the car he yelled over at me, “Dad, put it out.” Well, good timing can be a wonderful thing. Having fought the good fight for as long as I could, I had to acknowledge that the cigar was dead. I waved to him, nodded, and said, “Just for you, Son,” and tossed the tiny nub into the shrubbery where it would decompose next to several of its lesser-tasting cousins.
As we entered the house together I couldn’t help but tell my wife, “That’s the best cigar I’ve ever had.” She just shook her head and told me to wash my hands and brush my teeth… which I dutifully did. :love:
It’s been a few hours now and I can still taste it, though. :thumbs:
