From the CAO website: "Inspired by hot rods and pin-up girls, CAO Flathead is a box pressed collection that hits on all cylinders. Hand-shaped to deliver a striking flat top, the cigar features a brawny Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and a blend that’s heavy on Nicaraguan leaf. Its frontmarks are named for engine parts, but the tribute to muscle cars doesn’t end there. Flathead gives a nod to the muscle car engine, with a lid that’s easily removed and used as wall art. There’s also a collectible, pin-up girl flysheet that’s enclosed in the box."
I'd sent a set to my boy some time ago when these folks had a special. (He lives in West Virginia and awesome premium cigar shops are few and far-between in the land of camouflage.) He loved them all, and I guess that means I should send more, although after this Christmas, his humidor is pretty darned full. Let me know when you have room!
While this size isn't a go-to for Valentino, the bounty of Nicaraguan filler makes it a winner!
So this was the complete haul for the day--quite small for us, if I do say so--although we'd vowed not to purchase anything, so...
To find out The Rest of the Story,*** you should go here for part two. (And here for the first part, in case you have amnesia.)
Check out Parts the First and Second of this blog post!
* Shush you. I had already committed Part the Second to another post, when I realized another part lurked in the middle, and really shouldn't be told out of turn. So I mathed it and made this 1.5.
**Because the thing is jam-packed and there is barely room for anything else.
"Try this," our friend and owner of Habanos, Bassam, said, handing Valentino a cigar. "You'll like it."
Valentino had already given two unknown cigars a try that night and his unwillingness to go for a hat trick filled the bar.*
"You have to," I said, in that low whisper with unmoving lips partners use to communicate when in a group, as if trying to use ventriloquism to slip directly into their beloved's brain.
He looked defeated. He just wanted an old friend to smoke. In his travel humidor sat a La Flor Dominicana Mystery Cigar (the event-only cigar) (by the way, Hi Johns--Gallogly and Carney!), a CAO Amazon Basin, and the ever-present Padron 64, because...Padron. The first two jumped up and down, shouting "Pick me!" while the Padron lay there calmly, saying, "I will always be here for you, friend. Until you need me, I'll be playing dominos."
The eldest Mr. Padron playing dominos,
setting a good example for the cigars--
appropriate since he is their creator.
Valentino reluctantly snipped off the head of the C&C Connecticut, still gazing longingly at the small humidor before him. He tested the draw and his head didn't explode from frustration, so that was a good sign.**
He toasted the foot, giving the cigar the stink-eye and then took a couple of inaugural puffs. His eyes lit up like they did when we first arrived at the Padron factory in October.
"This is fucking good!" he said, unable to hide the surprise from his voice.
"I told you!" Bassam said, with his big, hearty laugh.
In case you don't know, the C&C Connecticut has a Connecticut Ecuador wrapper, Dominican Olor binder, and Domnican Criollo 98 and Corojo Ligero fillers, which created a perfect balance of mild and strong, bringing the cigar smack dab in the middle of the strength-o-meter, at 5.
"Stuck in the middle with you..."
The dang thing was creamy and nutty and I would have nom-nom-nommed on it if I weren't positive I would have regretted the action once I had a mouth full of tobacco and fire.
According to Stogie Geeks, "Even Cigar Aficionado praised this cigar with a rating of 90, which is not an everyday occurrence for a Churchill-size cigar that costs less than $5 per stick."
Wait. Whaaa? The Churchill (7 x 50) was less that $5? Then what did the robusto (5 x 50) cost? (The cigar also comes in toro [6 x 54] and gigantor [6 x 60], as well as corojo and maduro.) Maybe we are a little too big for our britches (we do love the snacks--oh, different kind of "too big for your britches"), but there's no way on heaven and earth Valentino would willingly smoke a low-priced cigar. And yet...
Yes, there is a cigar in this picture.
I just asked Valentino whether Habanos was now selling these, since I saw CI was clean out of them. "No. They were samples."
Oh sheesh. I suspected I was going to have to roll up my sleeves and do that crazy-lady researching thing, whereby I can find just about any cigar, even if they are "impossible" to lay hands on. As a matter of fact, on New Year's Eve, we were chatting with a couple about how they love that Amazon Basin, but getting them was impossible. I laughed and searched. Within five minutes, I'd sent them a link for ordering. Even during the Great Opus X Lost City Lancero Drought, I had a box and a half wrapped up and under the Christmas tree. Was I going to have to dig into the internet to find these C&C Connecticuts now?
That entire thought process occurred during the pause between sentences. I should lay off the Diet Coke. My brain. She is a fast runner.*** "But he said he's going to get them in," Valentino finished.
As I finish writing and rewriting this, Valentino just said, "I hate to smoke the corojo" (that Bassam had given him). "Then I won't have any more."****
"You said they're coming," I reminded him, opening the humidor door (haha) to let the delicious scent waft over him, reminding him of other lovely sticks of pleasure.
"But when?"
Bassam, be fair-warned: We're going to pester you until they come in.
In the meantime, I handed him an LFD Mystery Cigar to smoke later and cranked up the C+C Music Factory:*****
*Of course, no one else could see his unwillingness but me. I'm a trained professional.
**Man, that would have been embarrassing.
***Unlike my actual self, which cannot understand the concept of running for fun.
****Keep in mind, he has umpity-gajillion cigars--so many that we just bought a second 2,000-count humidor.
*****C+C: Which stands for "cookies and cream"--the group's producers' favorite ice cream******
Valentino moved the cigar around the humidor, getting it out of the way as he organized and reorganized and fiddled around with his cigar collection.*
Sometimes it made its way into the travel humidor, but always also made the return trip, maybe returning to the same spot, maybe settling into a new neighborhood within this humidor:**
Tonight, I was wrapping Christmas presents during the few minutes before we left for Habanos to hang out with the fab Nathalie,*** I wasn't paying attention when he stuffed**** tonight's cigar options into the cigar caddy.
He took one out of the box. Now it's not a full box.
Time to buy more!!
Then he said he wanted something different, so he took out this:
We shrugged and said, "Why not?"
My heart sank. I wanted something familiar and delicious, not the travel companion to so many other good cigars. That's what I thought. What I said was something along the lines of, "grrrsdcjflelfk."*****
But along with the first draw and puff came a cloud of smoky deliciousness. It was like Rudolph being laughed at and then saving the day. Sure, I scoffed at the little cigar that I thought couldn't, but I'm classy enough to admit my serious wrongness.
Mea culpa, and dudes, for realz. Here's what CI said, "This is the third blend from the Sam Leccia camp, and appropriately it was released on Cinco de Mayo, a nod to the fact that “luchador” means “wrestler” in Spanish. This is Sam Leccia Luchador, and it will hit your palate like a folding chair to the dome. So much complexity is packed into every cigar it’s almost unbelievable, but once you try one, you may find yourself chanting, "Lu-cha-dor....Lu-cha-dor."
According to the Leccia website, "The Luchador is an exotic 5 country cigar blend handcrafted in Nicaragua consisting of very unique tobaccos. A San Andres Wrapper leaf surrounds the habano binder leaf grown in Ecuador. The filler uses viso from Esteli, Nicaragua with ligero From Pennsylvania-USA and Jamastran, Honduras. Centering the blend is a distinctive tobacco from Ometepe, Nicaragua.
"The Luchador blend uses 3 tobaccos grown in Volcanic soil: the Ometepe, Habano and San Andres. The soil in these regions is so rich that little to no fertilization is necessary."
El Hombre - 5x54 (the man) El Castigo - 6x60 (the punishment)
El Guapo - 6x50 (handsome) Loco Perfecto - 6x58 (crazy perfect)
So when Valentino first released the Kraken, "It was like smoking Nicaragua," he said. Some serious sweetness lasted the whole smoke, and some crazy spiciness jumped in and out of the ring.
We think this Leccia joined the household through a Cigar of the Month box of treats from CI. You know what this means...someone is going to have to buy some for Christmas. Don't tell Valentino, okay?
In other news, thirteen days and one hour from the time I'm writing this until the VBT!!!
*Because come on--when you have close to 2,000 cigars, you've become a collector-smoker, not just a smoker.
**Obviously, not this one. Ours is super full.
***And to be honest, to check on Will...
****Read: lovingly placed
*****I'm not very good with the spoken word, obvs.
The other day, when a certain someone* should have been home grading papers, she wasn't because she'd been whisked off** to a new place.***
Another new favorite place!
Hanging out in all these awesome places doesn't leave any time for work!
Hold on while I go play the lottery!! We have lots more places to visit!
Our friend Brenda, who started working at Havana Cigar Club in West Warwick, RI not too long ago, had been enticing us with promises of a place filled with unicorns and rainbows.**** Yeah, yeah, yeah we said, since the lounge is maybe 30-40 minutes away from Casa Awesome.
But her wily ways took a stronghold the other day when she announced a Kristoff event at the lounge. We'd heard nothing but amazing things about his eminency***** Glen Case and we needed to bow to him, shake his hand, and offer to wash his car. At least that was my intention. Valentino said we could just make him laugh and smoke his cigars. Whatevs, dude.
Turns out his plan really was the best one, although I'll never admit that publicly.****** (It was really cold that night so washing the car was out of the question anyway.) And we certainly made him laugh. In fact, he and Valentino may share a funny gene.******* OMG! It was like they were separated at birth! For realz!
And while all the jocularity occurred, he showed us his wares (heh heh), asking what Valentino likes to smoke and then made recommendations from favorites. That makes me happy, when a cigar rep or
owner or shopkeeper wants to match you with the perfect cigar for you, rather than pointing you in the popular direction.
These are just two of our purchases. The others disappeared magically somehow, swallowed up by the Humidor Monster perhaps?
We know what happened to this one though:
Up in flames, baby! Up! In! Flames!
And it made me have the glad, because man, oh man, was that fabuloso!!
The Kristoff GC Signature Series hit the flame first and released "rich notes of espresso, dried apricot, chocolate and a sweet-spicy finish." [source] The delicious Brazilian Maduro wrapper reminded us a teeny bit of our old friend, the CAO Amazon Basin. The binder is Cuban Seed Honduran and the filler, the filler is all the delicious things! Cuban Seed Dominican! Cuban Seed Honduran! AND Cuban Seed Nicaraguan!
Our friend Brenda, she who enticed us there in the first place, had this and raaaaaved about it. I can't possibly share a second-hand smoke story with you because she's a fast little devil, moving a zillion miles an hour:
"The maduro ligero washes your palate with notes of espresso bean,
dark chocolate, a hint of mix berry and a sweet cocoa finish."
(I'd tell you the source, but I closed the dang window and moved on with my day and then...d'oh!)
The Kristoff website says, "The Kristoff Ligero has twice the amount of Ligero leaf in the filler than the original Kristoff. It embodies incredible notes of toasted nut, caramel, undertones of cedar, spice and a sweet finish. Made with 100% Cuban Seed tobacco, this cigar leaves a clean, fresh finish on your palate."
Anyway, Glen? Glen is awesomely awesome and he would never lead you astray--unless you asked him to, but that's something else again. Want to know why he's in the cigar business? "It was one of those mid-life crisis’. I’ve always enjoyed a good cigar and decided to pursue, what was an interest at the time; but it quickly turned into a passion." Yeah, that happens to a lot of us. Oh, wait. Midlife crisis? Nope. Don't know anything about that!
"I spent nineteen years in the corporate world; all in the financial services industry. The last nine years of my career, I spent as an executive at one of the top five banks in the country. I actually started in this industry as an independent sales rep. However, it was only about six months later that I decided I wanted to come out with my own cigar line. That was over 8 years ago." [source]
Havana Cigar Club Owner Todd LaScola, our hero Valentino, and Glen Case!
So! Now we 1. Have a couple of new friends; 2. Found another cool place to hang out; 3. Have another new favorite cigar. Not a bad evening of fun, although when we finally returned home, the elves hadn't even started grading papers. It's so hard to get good help these days. Sheesh.
*Me, in case you haven't caught on to our patterns of mystery here.
**Actual conversation went something like this... Him: Ready to go? Me: Yep.
***New to me; Valentino had cased the joint previously.
When last we left our heroes,
they'd made the acquaintance of some real purdy cigars--the CAOBraziliaAmazon Basin in all its 6 x 52 sexiness.
Speaking
of sexiness, Hellloooo, you handsome devils!
And,
well, hello, you gorgeous creature! Pssst. Rumor has it you can smoke right through the band. Valentino didn't get the chance because I wanted to play with its sproinginess.
After rustling up some delish grub, thanks to our wonderful hosts and all-around good people Christine
and Anibal, this happened:
In
which the two caballeros become the three amigos!
Fire is such a transformative element, don't you think?
I crossed
everything, from fingers to signals, and held my breath, hoping this cigar
didn't wind up being unloved, especially since we had a canoe's worth coming up
the river.
They're here!!
Then I remembered that breath-holding would prove counter productive to my
ultimate goal of sucking in all the deliciousness while they did all the work.*
I waited expectantly, fingers on iPhone ready to take notes of their every
observation--just like a cub reporter following Marshall Bat Masterson around, trying to get a good
quote for the newspaper.**
I really worried*** that these cigars might be bat-shit crazy strong, but
once the fine gentlemen puffed their smoke in my direction, all worries abated.
On first blush, the Brazilia Amazon Basin punches you with strong pepperiness,
but after half an inch or so****, it started to smooth out and get creamy.
"Complex," Valentino said.
Caballero #2 nodded and said, "Leather bite."*****
There were certainly undertones of s'mores, although that may have come from
the dessert making its way up to my mouth. (I'm a good multi-tasker.)
After the first third, all three amigos agreed that the sweetness
increased. And no, this had nothing to do with the chocolately
goodness. I love these guys, but share dessert? Hahahaha.
Just...no.
Thanks a million to Rolling Stogies (Hi,
guys! See you next year!) for their travelling mercantile, which allowed us to
own and share this amazeballs cigar. Mike Strategakis, who owns this superfun business
(check it out!), reminded us only 2,000 boxes
exist in the whole entire world. This forced our usually-slow shopping-hand in
the first place.****** (Valentino likes to research before purchasing. I was
jumping up and down behind him, shrieking, "They're getting away!
Hurry!" At 2:00 a.m. Shut up. I was drunk on lobster tails.)
And then! Last night, while at Habanos, feting a friend's
21st birthday******* (Hi, Hollie!)
Wheeeeee!
..and simultaneously writing
the last blog post, our
friend Eric told Valentino that he had a couple of Brazilia Amazon Basins sitting in his humidor
at home. He, too, said he was afraid they were going to be super strong and he
should probably have an entire Thanksgiving dinner to prepare for the onslaught
of the powerful cigar. Ah, the old adage, "Fight fire with turkey..."
But that's the sneaky illusion of the Basin. Even though the Ecuador Sumatra
wrapper is darker than a thousand midnights (one of my favorite books!),
it still errs on the side of medium-to-full rather than full-frontal. So don't
be afraid, Eric et al. Light it up as you watch with a few amigos as the sun
set over the chaparral. Or we could meet somewhere air-conditioned, enjoy the
CAO Brazilia Amazon Basin, and watch a spaghetti western.
*And they work so very hard for me, these men do.
**"Never run a bluff with a six-gun." - Bat Masterson
***I'm a worrier. What can I say? It's a requirement of my birth order.
(First.)
****We're very precise here. You'll just have to deal with it.
*****Description, not command, obvs.
Not, "Leather, bite." That's a whole other kind of blog.
******Know when to hold 'em and all
that.
*******I have socks older than this girl. I'm not even kidding. But still,
Happy Birthday!
During IPCPR, the news started rolling out of the desert* about new and amazing (for the most part) smokes, stogies, tobacco tubes, whatever you want to call them, rustling up my interest somethin' fierce.
Let's talk about cowboys for a moment, shall we? When I was a kid, some of the best days were the ones I spent with my dad watching westerns on TV all Saturday afternoon. Rifleman! Alias Smith and Jones! Bonanza! The Big Valley! Oh, there was fun! Adventure! Community! All the things I love (except cupcakes; there were never any cupcakes)! Plus lots of dirt, of which I am not a fan, but will certainly overlook for fun and adventure.**
In decorating, I love the rusticness (rusticocity?) of the Old West, which does not jibe with Valentino's modern sensibilities. He does not love my four-poster bed and antique quilt. His fondness for found art is somewhere around his love for crying babies. (Nil.) The closest he's getting to swinging saloon doors is another viewing of Django Unchained.
My heart leapt. You can see the little bit of barbed-wiriness on that band, right? The band made out of tobacco leaf? The moment I saw it, a montage of happy Old West thoughts flashed through my brain***
It wasn't available for ordering yet, so I held my horses. And then! Then! We were at the St. Anthony's Feast in Boston the other day, visiting with our friends at Rolling Stogies
...and guess what they had!!! The CAO Brazilia Amazon Basin! Zomygah, you guys!! It was even better (visually) than I suspected! Who turned the Cool Factor up to 11?
Granted, these aren't actually from the Old West (bad humidity and all) but instead from...well... Read this:
"The special sauce used to create Amazon Basin is a tobacco called 'Braganca,'**** a rare tobacco harvested from a remote region in the Amazonian rainforest. It’s really crazy, actually. Everything from its taste to the way it’s cultivated. Grown in a virgin, tropical land in the rainforest and harvested only once every 3 years, Braganca may be one of the most elusive tobaccos in the world.
"After the tobacco is harvested, it’s rolled by hand into tubes and fermented for 6 months. Then, it must be transported by canoe back to the mainland. Wild in every sense. To create CAO Amazon Basin, this Braganca tobacco was blended with tobaccos from 5 different countries and finished with a dark, Ecuadorian Sumatra ligero wrapper. But despite the breadth of tobaccos contained within, you can still taste and smell the unique Amazonian tobacco almost instantly. An exotic, distinctive taste that’s bold and very unique…unlike anything you’ve ever had before.
"Additionally, each cigar is finished with a rustic, 100% twisted tobacco ‘band’ that adds another unique touch." <--shhh. That might be my favorite part!!
We bought three--one for Valentino, one for Caballero #2, and one for the humidor (which makes it sound like its a monster that needs to be fed--which I guess it kind of is.)
The Two Caballeros!! With their loot!
As we wandered around the festival some more, chatting about our exploits the next day (party!) we realized it would only be right to give the host one also. Nothing for the humidor. (Shhh. I'm writing this from an undisclosed location so it doesn't know.)
This is why if I lived in the Old West, I would need the internet. As Valentino purchased ceci and fava beans from our favorite ceci dealer***** (Whatever, dude), I went onto the CI website and bought a five-pack. I know!! While surrounded by carnie games ready to shuck you and fresh oysters just waiting to be shucked! (Again, whatever, dude.)
On the ride home, our love grew deeper****** and upon arrival of Casa Fun, we moseyed for the online mercantile and lassoed a whole box.
Maybe we could send Valentino out to check the fences and do a little redecorating while we wait...
*Yes, like tumble weeds.
**I would love to live in the Old West if there were a few changes, including indoor plumbing, online shopping, and air conditioning.
***Including the Brady Bunch episode. What can I say? I'm a child of the 70s.
Before I met Valentino, I'd seen maybe half a dozen episodes of The Sopranos, not in any kind of order.
Then somewhere along the line, after we'd begun living in sin (wheee!), HBO replayed the series every weeknight at 8:00. After the first episode, I was hooked. By the fifth episode, we made sure we were home by 8:00 or didn't go out until after 9:00 because the show was on. (Yes, we have the magical DVR; no, that wasn't good enough.) Also, yes, he'd already seen the whole series, because he was required to by law to view the entire series or lose his Italian status.
Even after the series concluded,* we started watching it again--although this time we could leave the house and watch it another day. I feel sorry for the folks who had to wait months and eons between seasons. I had a hard enough time getting through the weekends Soprano-less. Plus, James Gandolfini was my hall pass,** so, yeah...
Duuuuude... RIP
Keep in mind that even though Valentino had been smoking cigars long before I met him, and has been smoking in my vicinity lo these many years, not until recently did I realize, "Hey, this stuff is both cool and interesting! Does everyone realize how cool and interesting this is?" I know: exactly like deciding The Sopranos is the coolest new show ever--long after its conclusion. (By the way, here's an interesting article about the show from Cigar Aficionado.)
And then! One day not too long ago, the planets aligned. I was roaming around eBay trying to think of good ideas for his upcoming birthday and I saw this:
I wanted this on his behalf. Not for me. Nope. Not at all.
I got excited. I bid on it and kept it a secret, which I am very, very bad at. But we were visiting his family in Pittsburgh and family stuff means no phones and no monitoring of eBay bids and I lost out. By an effing dollar. Granted, these are obviously not for smoking, but they have an outrageous coolness factor. I had the sad.
I got over the sad, because that's how things work in Penny World. Then! Then we saw one in the Cigars International Bethlehem store and I told him about how I almost bought it and lost out and he talked me out of buying the one right before us. For some reason, he was all, "We don't really need that..."
I shall regret this until the end of time.
I'll admit I am a sucker for limited edition anything or items with a Coolness Factor of +11.*** Right after IPCPR in Las Vegas, I started drooling at all the nifty new cigars making their way into the public eye. How do you decide whether to get all the cool new stuff or get the stuff that you know you already love? I've come up with a solution:
Win the lottery.
Convert an entire room into a humidor.
I've just been told that my goals are unrealistic.****
I was thinking about getting him this, which I saw somewhere and have to start my internet search all over again because I can't remember who had it in stock:
Now he owns this, which seems like a terrible consolation prize:
My girlfriend went to the internet and all I got was this stupid hat.
I'm writing this, sitting out in the garden, where his crop of tomatoes and basil and Italian parsley are just waaaaiting to become tomato salad and tomato sauce and caprese...but not tomato soup. That comes from Campbell's. Anyway, Valentino comes out to check his bounty***** with cigar in one hand, cutter and lighter in the other.
"What do you have there?" I ask, as I frequently do.
He shows me this:
He had them all along!! ::facepalm::
I almost don't want him to light it for two reasons:
Don't waste it! Except then he quotes Tony Soprano, "What use is an unloaded gun?" Or an unlit cigar. Touche.
The smell of basil is a serious aphrodisiac. If I keep sitting here, he's going to need to leave the cigar behind, only partially smoked. I know you're dying to know how this scene ends, but I'll leave you with this:
*And I know the series ending is polarizing. you either love it or hate it. I love it, especially considering the episode title: "Made in America."
**He has not yet been replaced. Also, is it bad that I mourned him more than an acquaintance who passed at about the same time?
***Obvs out of 10. Although to be completely honest, I'd really start making choices at Coolness Factor +6.
****Not the first time I've been told that. Not even the first time this week.
