Pairing the Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars of 2017

Did I mention, gentlepersons, that I will be pairing these fine cigars with other fine cigars? So tired is the usual libation counter-balance. Also, that I'll be doing this with just the Top 10? Oh, and 'Merican market availability only. House-rules: established, yes? Good.

YOU: Pairing cigars with cigars, Kap?
ME: Yeah.
YOU: Should I take this any particular way?
ME: Nah.
YOU: Think the Russians did it?
ME: 93.

Now, without any further ado, adon't, or amaybe -- shall we? Lettuce...

10. New World Puro Especial Toro
Espinosa Murcielago 2017

09. Villiger La Flor de Ynclan Robusto

Macanudo Inspirado Orange

08. Plasencia Alma Fuerte Generacion V
Man O' War Special Edition Figurado

07. Guardian Of The Farm Apollo Seleccion de Warped
Illusione Cruzado

06. My Father The Judge Grand Robusto
Jeremy Jack El Chapo

05. Ashton Symmetry Belicoso
Pappy Van Winkle Tradition

04. Alec Bradley Tempus Natural Centuria
Cornelius & Anthony Venganza

03. Oliva Serie V Belicoso
Romeo y Julieta Viejo B

02. Padrón Serie 1926 No. 2 (Natural)
My Father La Opulencia 

01. Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye of the Shark

Martinez Cigars Don Antonio

I believe my reasonings here are abundantly obvious.

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"Selling the Dolls" Kaplowitz Radio: January 3, 2018 

"Selling the Dolls" Kaplowitz Radio: January 3, 2018

We embark upon Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law, recap the 2017 Kappy Awards, and read my reviews of: Isabela, Montecristo, San Cristobal, Gispert, and Rocky Patel offerings. Also, we look at my social media accounts and share a great Reader's Digest joke. All while smoking a C&C Corojo stogie and offering up some notes on it. Happy 2018, Gentlepersons!!!

Rocky Patel Vintage 2003 Cameroon - Cigar Review

Long story short, I spat the sparkling cider back into the glass and went to bed, having successfully avoided both Steve Harvey and Jenny McCarthy. Huzzah.

NOTES:
This RP Vintage 2003 is a Churchill which performs on an even and well-paced burn. Nada retouches/relights. The ash grows long and toothy with silver flecks on a medium/dark grey canvas. Draw begins workably stiff then loosens by opening act's end to a lower-medium+ tension. Seams hold well, as does the shoulder, delivering cool smoke from gate-to-wire.

Piquant meanderings are a driving but gently-so black pepper and baking spice, with some sweet attachments via thin molasses and shaved dark chocolate. Bitter notes of espresso bean get salted-some and play well with sour bits featuring tannic tendencies with acidic lilts. Smooth in a talc manner, no bite by a mile. Interesting nuance smatterings but lacking in complexities. Rounded richly 'nuff and finishing cleanly with pleasant sweetly spiced wood notes. Balanced well and delivered in an unerring straight-forward manner. The whole thing, performance, and delivery -- speaks to a certain refined precision.

WRAPPER: Cameroon
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Dominican

STRENGTH: Medium-Full
FORMAT: Churchill
ORIGIN: El Paraiso, Honduras

FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59

This RP is the Cigar Aficionado sweet sixteenth ranked stick for 2017. Sez they: "There aren’t too many cigar brands left made with Cameroon wrapper. It’s become quite pricey, difficult to get and most of the high-quality Cameroon grown today is bought before it’s even planted. These hurdles have not stopped Rocky Patel from creating his namesake brand: the Rocky Patel Vintage 2003 Cameroon. According to Patel, it’s wrapped in a Cameroon cover leaf harvested from a 2003 crop, so stocks of raw materials are limited, but he was sure to blend the cigar properly."

Get this (yer own) Rocky Patel Vintage '03 Cameroon Churchill from my pals over at Cigars City. From the site: "The lush Cameroon wrapper leaf is the star of the show and surrounds an 8 year aged Nicaraguan binder leaf that shelters a blend of 8 year aged Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. The resulting 7” x 48 Churchill is the perfect stick to soak up about more than hour and half of your leisure time."

Cheers to the (still rather) New Years.

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"(Pardon My) French Toast" Kaplowitz Radio: December 27, 2017

Isabela StarDust - Cigar Review

Happy New Year, gentlepersons!

Please allow me to begin both the year and this post on a thankful note. It has not been but a couple weeks or-so that I've embarked upon my #cigarmodel #cigarmodels cigar modeling career journey. Already: success. As of this QWERTYing, I stand numero uno in the aforementioned pluralized hashtag and numero tres in its singular iteration. I also appear rather high-up elsewheres in each list. I am humbled. I am hot. Put a gun to my head and ask if I'm more humbled or hot? The gun would MELT.

Thanks again.

Now lettuce shift our gaze away from me (sorry, I know it's hard/sad) and toward the cigar at hand -- the Isabela Cigar Co. StarDust. This offering is somewhat a by-product or cousin-kin-folk to the Time Traveler. Like the TT, it promises more transitions than Cher's kid and Bruce Jenner put together.

"So three, Kap?"
"Stop being so literal."

KVELL

• Draws is a smooth medium+ tension, gate-to-wire.
• Holds form well 'nuff throughout.
• Burn-line is even, nigh as a razor.
• Ash holds firm, dense.
• Pacing is excellent to the tune of a nigh 90 min. Corona
• Voluminous smoke out-put.
• Room-note: an enticing sweet-spice w/ citrus-clean lilt.
• Peppers are poppin', kindly-so and all a' them.
• Lovely sour notes, never overly-acidic.
• Salt is a lovely lip-smacking addition.
• Bitter balances sweet, supremely-so.
• It's all A-level balanced.
• Bupkis bite.
• Finish is of lengthy & sweet complexities. Clean.
• Rich as in a decadent fruit and cream dessert.
• Smooth as Billy Dee Williams selling malt liquor.
• Trust me: retro-hale OFTEN.

KVETCH

• There are small soft-spots near foot & cap.
• As to cap, there is slight degradation there.
• Some dampening of draw leading to a slight hesitancy in the 3/3.

KIBBITZ

Sometimes... OK many-times, I ask myself while smoking a new cigar (and this 'un just dropped in Nov.) "Why'd someone come out with something that's already been done a million times?" I have NEVER queried that re: any Isabela release. While their portfolio differs from almost all else out there, and each particular offering from the others -- still each has a reason for being intro'd as well as a common link in delivery of experience. A brilliant brand you've got here/there, Mr. Piette. Here are the flavor notes (it'll be a lengthy list, but I feces ya not):

• Peppers, jalapeno, black, cayenne, white, bell
• Citrus, lemonade & lime wedge & grapefruit
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Wasabi
• Clove
• Wood, cedar & wine cask
• Chocolate, Swiss Miss & malt
• Honey, orange blossom & malt
• Fruit, pale syrupy melange
• Coffee, cream & sugar
• Cream, whipping & sour
• Nuts, praline (sugary almonds), peanut brittle&butter
• Car-a-mel
• Cardamom
• Anise (builds)
• Avacado
• Herbal (dillweed & lemongrass)
• Floral, chamomile
• Leather (brushed suede)
• Graham cracker pie crust
• Hay, sweet
• Dirt, sunlit

Sweet Tip was the name I worked under in... another project. Never mind the particulars, rent was due and I'd just been laid-off. I'm reminded of that former although short and ultimately regrettable alias here because every time I review an Isabela offering, I note their sweet tip. The cap is affixed with a sugar-based glue. This is not infused, nor flavored. This too, is a perfectly acceptable method clear on back to the mother country, Cuba. It diminishes here, as per brand usual, coming outta the 1/3.

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Des Florada, Nicaraguan Habano
BINDER: Nicaraguan Media Tiempo
FILLER: Nicaraguan Media Tiempo & Ligero

STRENGTH: Medium
FORMAT: Corona Barber Pole
ORIGIN: Nicaragua

FINAL GRADE: A+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59

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"(Pardon My) French Toast" Kaplowitz Radio: December 27, 2017