February gifts
We sure are having an unusual winter this year! Just a few days ago winter’s cold winds and snow howled through the river valley only to have flirting spring air and temperatures near 50 degrees turn our winter-white back to muted brown and orange of the once buried forest floor. If this keeps up, the first spring birds will soon follow.
The early flirt with spring was well timed with the arrival of a second shipment of Macanudo 1968′s, a cigar that in my opinion is best enjoyed from our lower deck as the cold waters of the Muskegon River peacefully pass-by.
Cigar Stats:
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Honduran San Agustin Havana Seed
Binder: Connecticut Habano
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Ometepe
Smoking Time: 1 3/4 hours
The Flavor
Is this really a full bodied smoke? Is it rich, dark and unexpected?
The cigar started off with a surprisingly sweet, syprupy cocoa flavor. This quickly developed into a great caramel flavor with some coffee, and creamy sweet nuttiness that tasted like the center of a Reeses Peanut Butter cup. But the caramel really sticks around in the finish. In one of the cigars I also noticed a tiny bit of pepper here as well.
The caramel flavor continued into the second third, but kind of evolved into a rich coffee flavor as the burn progressed. Chocolate flavors also began to appear in this third. And pepper started to pick up just before the end of the third.
The final third was all about the pepper. Pepper and chocolate, pepper and coffee, and even pepper and cedar.
Stogie Review*
If you are considering a trip to the lodge this February, I can’t say how the weather will play out, but I can show you a great spot to enjoy a good cigar.
Cheers, Steve