The dreaded first post… I will not drag this long. I am a passionate cigar smoker. I love cigars, and I consider them as one of the most captivating expressions of flavour. There is something special when smoking a 15-20 year old, well preserved cigar. With this blog, my aim to to review vintage cigars. Generally, cigars are considered as vintage, once they have passed the 10 year mark. Then they gain a musty, cheesy, earthy flavour, that can elevate a cigar to an almost mystical experience.
I am a tough critic though… but I am not tough just for the shake of it. I am tough because I steer away (or at least I try...) from emotional biases. My background in science kinda taught me that. I don’t care who made the cigar. I don’t care if it comes from Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Spain, France, Holland, Italy, Greece. I don’t care how nice was the person who sold me the cigar. I don’t care if it was the last cigar ever made by the most famous cigar roller. There is only one thing I care about:
ITS FLAVOUR!
Nothing more.
I buy my cigars from well established London merchants, which are famous that store such cigars. I will let you know where each cigar was bought.
I will score a cigar with a scale from 1 (being the lowest score) to 5 (highest). no 4.5 scores, not 4+, just a simple 1-5. I think that is enough to convey the general quality of the cigar. I do not like those 100 point scales, I find the information they offer redundant. What is the real difference between a 92 and a 93 cigar?? In fact, implicitly those 100 point scales are 5 point scales… I will concentrate more on the flavours of each cigar, but don’t expect long, poetic, complicated descriptions. I will try to keep everything succinct and to the point. I know that sometimes this might sound as exciting as listing the ingredients of a detergent, but I think it is the only way to convey what I want: the true essence of the cigar flavour.
I admit, smoking a cigar 30-40 years old does induce strong emotions, especially if the cigar tastes amazing! But I strongly believe that describing emotions, along with flavours, actually robs the reader from developing freely their own emotions. It happens to me when I read reviews. It is an interesting read, but I feel this emotional priming affects the way I feel about a cigar when I smoke it.
Check back tomorrow for my first review. It is going to be a really special one!
