New Batch of Cigars

Today on a whim I decided to make the trek to Zigarren and load up my humidor with cigars. It’s a thought I have several times a year, but alas — cigars are expensive, and Zigarren is 40 minutes away. I spent a bit of time on Reddit’s /r/cigars IRC channel talking to people who hopefully know their stuff, but it seems whoever I talk to about this, I can’t get a satisfactory response.

Are cigars and wine/tea/whiskey really so different? If all comes down to flavor and olfactory aromatics, then why can’t I go into a store and say I want a fruity cigar? a floral cigar? Now, truth be told, Zigarren could do that for me with a disclaimer (“taste is personal, our interpretation of fruit might not be fruity for you”) which is totally fair. It’s what I would mention to someone who started this line of questioning with me regarding wine or tea, but where I feel it gets to be drastically different is there is no ‘why’, there is only ‘what’ — how do you learn something without ‘why’!?

“you get floral notes from aged cuban cigars, but you have to pay for age if you don’t do it yourself”

I’m drunk — getting drunk. Refusing to use backspace. I feel something might get lost if I try and tidy this up.

If someone asked me for a tea that tasted like oranges, I would recommend them our Darjeeling. To me it has a hint of an orange juice-thing going on. I would say, from personal experience, I don’t encounter that flavor in tea very often, and this tea is the only one I’ve ever found it in. I could extrapolate that and say you wont find the flavor of orange in Japanese green tea, because they’re almost always vegetal/herbal/seaweedy” but you may find lime. If you wanted those herbal flavors, Japanese green teas are ideal because the leaves are steamed rather than pan-fried like Chinese teas. The ‘why’

I went in with the following criteria.

“I have $200, I want to get as diverse as possible, with as many cigars as possible”
“I’d like a floral cigar”
“I’d like a fruity cigar”

I think I left with 10 sticks? I don’t remember which was which, but what I have written down on my paper at home is: (edit: I’m going to update this post with tasting notes and stuff as they come)

Hmm… a cigar that comes out only once every 3 years, but the band is a string? – ???
Stick aroma: cocoa, dark chocolate, dried mint, candycane, guava? green/orange fruit underripe cantaloupe, salted caramel

Cuesta-Rey Vintage Centro Fino Captiva – Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown, Binder: Dominican, Filler: Dominican
Stick aromas: (dusty, grandmas living room Switzerland, clean linen), aquarium, cedar, tree bark (fresh), green lively, refreshing, hiking, wilderness, eucalyptus

Leon Jimenes – Wrapper: Conneticut, Binder: Dominican, Filler: Dominican
Stick aroma: subtle, trading cards, salted fruit? white –> raisins? sweet –> neutral grape, dried pear?

Quorum Maduro Corona – Nicaragua
Stick aroma: antique wood, slight marine seaweed, hazelnut, medicinal green, slight spice –> salt

Quorum Classic Corona – Wrapper: Ecuador Sungrown, Binder: Nicaragua, Filler: Nicaragua
Stick aroma: cigar, cedar, composite wood (Ikea), hair oil, subtle kindle

CAO – Colombia (Magdalena?) Wrapper: Jamastran, Binder: Cameroon, Filler: Brazilian, Colombian
Stick aroma: mild spice –> green peppercorns, salted cured beef

2x CAO Gold – Wrapper: Ecuadoran Connecticut, Binder: Nicaraguan, Filler: Nicaraguan
Stick aroma: cigar, subtle, light brown, slight white wood, slight stale urine, salted pork, slight bacon?

2x CAO Gold Maduro – Wrapper: Brazil (Maduro), Binder: Nicaraguan, Filler: Nicaraguan
Stick aroma: gentle green-brown –> slight hay/animal(horse) mild, refreshing –> morning dew

Joya Red Toro – Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habana, Binder: Nicaragua, Filler: Nicaragua (Jalapa, Condega, Esteli)
Stick aroma: hamster wood shavings, hamster cage, walnut, stables, hay, agrium, horses, antique wood furniture

Looking everything up after the fact, I’m getting kind of depressed. The prices online are sooooooo cheap in comparison to what I paid… ;-;

Edit: It’s probably going to be 2-3 months before I can smoke any of these, but after smelling all of the sticks I am definitely most excited about the one I know nothing about, followed by the Cuesta-Rey, the Leon Jimenes, and the CAO Gold Maduro in that order.