Cigar Musings

Musings of a Cigar Smoker

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  • Jaegerschnitzel = Delicious

    Today is the 13th day of the Month and even though it is a Sunday not a Friday, I decided to finally light up my Tatuaje JV13 (Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Movie) cigar. It is a beautiful 7 1/2 x 52 stick with a nice medium spicy, sweet cocoa flavor. After all, isn’t a special occasion with a Germany World Cup Championship?!

    To mark this special occasion I made schnitzel for the first time, served with sauerkraut and my lovely wife’s famous potato salad. I remember eating quite a bit of jaegerschnitzel while stationed in Germany many decades ago. I remember ordering half chicken, which is the English translation since I don’t recall the German term, in a little restaurant located in Oppenheim. That was best chicken I ever had, service with pommes frites. Boy, is that bringing back a ton of memories. Any, making the jaegerschnitzel was quite simple due to the fact I found the recipe on-line by doing a Google search. Isn’t technology great?
     

    Due to the fact it was a very hot day here in Sunny California, I cooked the breaded pork and the sauce outside on my grill, next time I will do indoor on my stove. Due to the fact the single little “stove” feature on my grill doesn’t seem to cook the meat evenly. Naturally, I love cooking outside so, I can enjoy a smoke and good conversation with my brothers. We drank several types of beers during the cooking process; however, for dinner we cracked opened the Spaten Ocktoberfest beer, which I really enjoyed. The other day, I was trying to find the beer I used to always drink while stationed over in Germany, Romer Pils but, I was unsuccessful. I don’t know why but, I really wanted to get my hands on some Romer Pils and Asbach Uralt. My local BeMov was out of stock on the Asbach. All and all, it was a good day today. Until next World Cup, crack open an ice cold bottle of beer and light up that stogie, sit back and enjoy.

  • Spice and Nice

    Tatuaje_Fausto_CigarAnother cold California morning so, I decided to light up the Tatuaje Fausto FT140 Robusto Extra cigar. It is a Nicaraguan cigar with a Habano Ecuador wrapper and a Nicaraguan Binder and Filler. Measures in at 5 and half inches with a 52 ring gauge. It starts off right away with an overpowering spiciness. Is that even a word? Well, it is now. The first initial taste I wasn’t expecting it to be so spicy and I loved it. I couldn’t put this cigar down. It does seem to mellow out as I kept smoking it. The only bad thing about his cigar is when I finished it. Seriously, I highly recommend this cigar. I enjoyed it with a fresh cup of Mission Roaster’s coffee this morning.

    If you tried this cigar, let me know what you think.

    In the meantime, light’em up!

  • Happy Free Comic Book Day

    Free Comic Book DayOkay, okay… I admit it, I am still a big geek, dork or whatever over comic books and now my two little ones are as well. I can’t believe it was a year ago already the last time I took them to a store to get our free comics and of course to make a purchase of some of our favorite titles as well. I will never forget the very first comic books my Mom gave me when I was around 8 or 9 years old. She had given me a bunch of brand new Batman and Superman books, I remember trying to keep them nice and neat so, that I could read them over and over again. I remember just staring at each panel admiring the artwork that went into creating the books. To me it is just more than a comic book, they are works of art. Today, grab your little  ones and go to your local comic book store and pick up an issue or two to enjoy the day with. 

    Until next time, Light’em Up!

  • Wrath of the WHAT?!

    What an awesome day!!! Gorgeous outside, feels more like a Summer’s day as opposed to a Spring day and what did I decide to do this morning at about 9:30 am? I went to our local theater, paid $5.50 to see John Carter. That’s right… I could have stayed home while the wife is at work, kids are at school to take the time to work on my To Do List but, why bother it will always be there. I have been a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs ever since I was a little kid. I believe I read every Tarzan, John Carter and Land That Time Forgot book that he wrote. Oh, I can’t forget to mention Robert E. Howard’s books. I don’t think I have been able to ready everything Mr. Howard wrote but, I do believe I read most of his works. I always wanted to see a kick ass Tarzan and John Carter story to be brought to the big screen as long as I can remember and finally, my wish came true. I loved the movie, they tried to get as close to the book as possible, granted I haven’t read the book in a very long time but, I loved the movie anyway. Now, the movie isn’t going to be for everyone, I believe that is why it didn’t do so well at the box office.

    Later this evening, I took my 9 year old son to see Wrath of the Titans and as you can see from my picture, the name the theater had up in lights was, Wrath of the Tit. I believe my son and I were the only the ones who noticed it and we were cracking up. Now, the Titans movie I felt was much better than the first one. The first one I found boring then, again I am comparing it to the original, classic Clash of the Titans of 1981. How can you compare CGI graphics to the artistry of Harryhausen. The film of 1981 felt more like mythology and not some cheap imitation. If you like lots of action, practically nonstop, then you will enjoy Wrath of the Tit. I mean Titans. Right now, I am looking forward to the Avengers. Love the trailer and hope it becomes a blockbuster. Til next time, Light’em Up!

  • Dodgers, Driver and The Doctor

    What does the Dodgers, Donald Driver and Doctor Who have in common? Beats me but, last night they all seemed to tie together in some weird way… In my mind they did. Keep in mind, I love the Green Bay Packers and Donald Driver is one of my favorite Packer Players who is currently on Dancing with the Stars thus, I am sucked in to watch the show. While watching Dancing with the Stars, a very pretty blonde who happens to be a classical singer from across the ocean appears and for some reason, my brain begins to think that  I recognize her from somewhere… While I am watching the show I decide to go to one of my favorite sites, IMDB.com and discovered she, Katherine Jenkins,  was on the Doctor Who Christmas Special of 2010. My search completed, I decided to check out Los Angeles Times website to get the day’s sports scores and what to find? A front page article on Magic Johnson the new owner (partial owner) of the LA Dodgers. Today, on the local sports station 570 AM, all they could talk about is how excited and extremely happy we Dodger fans are about the new owners. The only person, who doesn’t appear to be overly excited is TJ Simers, sports columnist with the LA Times and after reading his column I can see where he is coming from. If memory serves me correctly, he was the only one who seemed to know how bad of an owner McCourt really was from the get got. I am happy Johnson and his group are now the owners of the Dodgers but, I am not too overly excited like other Dodger Fans just yet. I remain a Dodger Fan with some of my love going towards the Milwaukee Brewers as well. Anyway, I hope the Dodgers do get back to the greatness that they once were so long ago.

    Now, back to Doctor Who… The Christmas Special with Katherine Jenkins is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes or, should I say Specials? I loved it due to the fact the story came from the Christmas Carol and most especially the  flying fish.  I mean… Come on, flying Sharks are cool! And, I really love that song at the end of the show. Anyway…  In the meantime, Go Dodgers! Love the Brew Crew and looking forward to the next season of Doctor Who.

  • End of Days?!

    I know most of you have already heard and not surprised that the world didn’t end on May 21st like good ol’ Harold Camping predicted. In my belief we will not know the day or the hour as to when this beautiful planet will expire, it could have happened last Saturday or it could happen later today, who knows. I was kind of disappointed, only in the fact I had a really nice cigar and a chilled martini waiting for me just in case and now, he is predicting October 21st, 2011 and some people believe the Mayan’s calendar, prediction or whatever… is on December 21st 2012? If my old memory serves me correctly. I may have the date in December wrong but, all I know is they are predicting 2012. I only remember the year because, of the lousy movie that came out a couple of years ago.

    My prediction as to when the world is going to end? I believe it is many centuries from now, I truly don’t think it is going to happen in my life time. If I got a penny for every time I heard someone predict when the world is going to end, I would be the richest man on Earth. Anyway, in the meantime, light’em up and just enjoy life as opposed to worrying about when the sky is going to fall.

  • Happy April Fool’s Day

    April Fools Day and amazingly I didn’t prank anyone and I wasn’t pranked. To be honest, I forgot it was April Fool’s Day until this evening and by then, I was too tired to care. What a rough week and a great way to end it is with a La Gloria Cubana Serie N. I was at the Barn earlier today and decided to give this cigar a try and I decided on enjoying it with an ice cold Coke on this hot California day, it up into the 90’s.

    I have a strange ritual I perform before cutting my cigars, I like to place the tip of the cigar in my mouth before cutting, I read somewhere this is the best thing to do to ensure a good cut. Whether that is true or not, don’t know and really don’t care. I love the taste of tobacco so much, I just have to have that precut/prelit taste. First, the wrapper to this cigar is a gorgeous black color and stamped within the cigar’s wrapper leaf below the band is the letter N. The cigar looked delicious and when I had my first taste of the La Gloria Cubana Serie N, it was amazingly sweet. I couldn’t believe my taste buds…. I searched my memory banks to reference this sweet flavor but, for some reason I can’t describe what this sweetness tasted like. Nevertheless, I clipped the cap off and fired it up. At first the taste is sweet; however, as I kept smoking the flavor seemed to give way to a more peppery taste. The length of the cigar I smoked was 5.75 with a 49 ring gauge. The ash held onto the cigar up to just over an inch and I removed it from the cigar into a nice tight clump in the ash tray. Do I recommend this cigar? Yes.

    Later this evening I decided to share a bottle of wine, BV Chardonnay and a cigar with my wife, I am slowly working on getting her to enjoy a cigar from time to time. She had the Tatiana Vanilla cigar and I enjoyed the Habano 601 Red Label Robusto. It was a beautiful warm spring night and we could smell the scent of jasmine in the air from our garden. Heard a choir of frogs serenading us as well. Seriously, there had to be thousands of frogs out last night.

    The 601 Habano I had in my humidor for quite awhile now and I don’t recall where I picked it up from. Most of my cigars I get from the Tobacco Barn but, at times during my travels if I happen upon a cigar shop I like to stop in, check it out and buy a cigar… Well, to be honest I always get more than one. So many decisions when in a cigar shop, I can never make up my mind so, I grab a handful of different ones just in case. The 601 Habano had a dark brown, veiny wrapper and after the first few smokes it starts off with a very woodsy with a small hint of spicy flavor. It seemed to have a lot of flavor at the beginning but, then it tapered off and was consistent and very smooth all the way through to the end. Just like with the La Gloria Serie N the ash held onto the cigar up to just over an inch and I removed it from the cigar into a nice tight clump in the ash tray. As I kept smoking I noticed the ash was building up at the end into a nice tight ash, a little flaky but other than that it was holding on and would have for another inch or so, if I didn’t remove it. I make a big deal out of this because, I have had cigars that don’t do this and make a huge mess. I am not nitpicking just taking notes on which cigars to do this or don’t. Another good cigar from Don Pepin.

    If you ever have a chance to try or pick up a La Goria Serie N or a 601 Habano, don’t hesitate, grab them, try them and let me know what you think. Until next time, Light’em Up!

  • J. Fuego Sangre de Toro Cigars

    Today, I stopped by the Tobacco Barn and I was fortunate enough to run intoJesus Fuego introducing his new line of cigars and one in particular is the J. Fuego Sangre de Toro. Jesus handed me the belicoso size, (5.5 x 52). This is a Nicaraguan cigar made with dark Nicaraguan Colorado wrapper and blended with aged Nicaraguan Criollo and Corojo fillers binded with a Nicaraguan Criollo binder. When he told me it consisted of Corojo, I knew it was going to be a good cigar. He told me it is a full body cigar and had given him a buzz. After I lit this cigar and took my first smoke, I could taste the Corojo. The flavor was smooth and consistent… It was a woodsy, nutty flavor with a hint of chocolate.

    I noticed the ash to this cigar was clinging on really well with this cigar, it didn’t leave a messy pile of ashes behind, the ash would just break off in nice little clumps.

    I didn’t notice a powerful flavor until I got towards the end and it picked up quite a bit. I have to admit, this cigar started giving me a buzz as well which doesn’t happen to me very often. I know Tobacco Barn is going to start carrying this cigar and I can’t wait for the first shipment to come in.

    I was fortunate enough to also be given the 777 Corojo cigar which I haven’t smoked yet but, once I do, I will add my review to this blog.

    Thank you for the great smoke, Mr. Fuego.

  • My Father Cigars and An Airshow

    Sitting outside in my back patio grilling some steak on a very cloudy Sunday afternoon here in the Southern portion of the IE. This weekend sucks… I mean weather wise… I took the family to the Riverside Airshow yesterday and we had fun but, it was extremely cloudy and kept looking like we were going to get drenched with rain but, the rain never hit where we were. It was amazing what these stunt planes can do, I have been to other air shows in the past but, I never get tried of seeing stunt planes and the old war planes they had display. Below are pictures of Jacob and Emily sitting in the Cobra.

    Anyway, while I am here grilling I am enjoying a My Father No. 1 cigar, released by El Rey de los Habanos (Jose “Pepin” Garcia) and considered a medium-bodied smoke.

    After the first light and smoke, this little cigar hit me with a lot of flavor and it is delicious but, as I kept smoking it the flavor smoothed out and it is consistent. The taste is earthy with a little spice to it. I noticed this cigar’s ashes didn’t leave a messy pile of ashes in my tray, the ash stayed together very nicely. I don’t know why I am starting to notice those kinds of things with cigars but, thought I will add that to my notes in the future. The size of the No. 1 is 5×52, robusto. I highly recommend this smoke. So, why not stop by your favorite tobacco shop like I did and light’em up! Until next time…

    The Pilot Princess
    Pilot Jacob

  • Happy Birthday Harry!

    I just realized today is Harry Houdini’s Birthday. Back when I was a young lad I remember all of us kids would tell stories and read any book that we could find about Houdini. He was… Ahem… Still a legend. Anyway, I thought this was cool when I went to Google up some information and they have a picture of Houdini. Today, why we don’t try to work on those magic tricks or escape acts.