Cigars for Your 2010 Celebrations

I’m a big cigar fan. I wouldn’t say that I’m an everyday sort of guy, but at least once a week during the colder months and more frequent in the summer when the BBQs are in full swing.

Tonight, I’ll celebrate the new year with close friends and family. The kids will be running around, high on cookies and other junk food. The moms will be playing Wii or doing some sort of karaoke while the men venture outside in the cold, outdoor man-town, i.e. the garage, to puff a stogie and enjoy some accompanying liquid of some sort.

To help bring in the new year, here are some cigar options that will challenge your taste buds, make you think that you should do this more often and avoid any interaction from the wives because you’ll stink of cigar smoke.

In this installment (I plan on writing about stogies on an ongoing basis), I’ll cover three petite coronas (small and simple) and three robustos (small in length, but thicker). Each has a short smoke time so you don’t find yourself freezing your ass off just to puff away.

PETITE CORONAS

Dunhill Signed Range: This stogie runs about nine bucks. It has a ton of flavor, ranging from cedar and leather to cocoa with a touch of licorice at the finish. It has a medium type body (the smoke pull), but can come across full as well. This is a really a pleasant stick.

Nat Sherman Gotham East Side Selection No. 175: This little guy is lightly colored and pulls evenly throughout the smoke. The ask is really flakey, but the smoke is creamy and toast with touches of leather. This stogie makes for a nice, mild to medium bodied smoke.

Davidoff 1000: This is a great looking stogie. When you think of petit coronas, you think about this stick. It has a lightly oiledwrapper and burns evenly. The draw is tight, which I normally don’t like, but the flavors make it worth the work. You get some cedar flavors with a dark hint of spices at the end.

ROBUSTOS

Rocky Patel Renaissance: This stogie drew very easy and was a full-bodied type smoke. It has balances of fruit, spices and floral scents. I really loved the spice at the end. This was one that I smoked to the knuckle and chewed on after I was done — a true sign for me that it was a winner.

Trinidad Robusto T: This cigar is a thing of beauty from a design perspective. It was rolled to perfection and had a pigtail cap. The draw was very loose and airy. The flavor I got from this stick was in the floral and cedar range. The end was toasty and finished very strong.

Arturo Fuente Rothschild: This sandy colored gem burned evenly all the way down to the ring. It was medium-bodied and had some simple wood-type undertones. It finished with a nut flavor and drew harder as you got past the ring.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with any of these cigars. The one stogie I would always have in my stable is Drew Estates, Kuba Kuba . This robusto is a perfect stogie for any BBQ, guy gathering, tailgating experience, etc. It has an even and easy draw all the way through and has a ton of flavors that range from floral, to sweet, to nutty to cinnamon. It really is a masterful smoke and one that I’m always purchasing no matter how many others I try.

With any of these cigars, especially the Kuba Kuba, grab yourself a small glass with a couple of cubes. Douse the ice with three or four mouthfuls of Johnny Walker Black and you’re living the dream. Trust me.

Happy New Years and smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!

(Disclaimer: I’m a subscriber of Cigar Aficionado and all of these cigars were, at some point, part of their bi-monthy round-up of cigar tastings. I save these editions in order to purchase and taste these cigars on my own.)

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