NAT SHERMAN TIMELESS COLLECTION NO. 2 (@Nat42nd)

If you read the article on the Cohiba Siglo VI then you now know what a celebration cigar is!  Well how do you follow up an excellent celebration cigar?  You follow it up with a gloating cigar!  The art of the gloat cigar is something I came up with last summer when we celebrated Turbo finally settling up with his crazy X!  The gloat is when you basically celebrate the fact you celebrated!  So I decided to get on Emerson’s Cigars and buy a 5 pack of Cigar Aficionado’s No. 10 on their 2013 Top 25 Cigar list…The Nat Sherman No. 2 from their Timeless Collection!

Country: Various

Wrapper: Honduran

Strength: Medium

Length: 6.25

Gauge: 52

Price: $8.00

The newest of the Nat Sherman cigars, the Dominican Timeless Collection No. 2 is a wonderfully unique blend of aged Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, held with a Dominican binder, and finished with a gorgeous Honduran wrapper. 

It would seem that every cigar I’ve smoked recently has been damn good….that trend is holding steady especially after smoking the Nat Sherman Timeless No. 2!  To be blunt this cigar had some balls.  The medium strength is misleading in my opinion.  The draw was excellent and smooth with a dry taste of earth with a hint of sweetness!  The burn was true and the ash was very nice and strong.  Right off the bat I got hints of wood and cedar as well as notes of coffee and caramel.  Towards the middle the cigar became slightly spicy with more earth notes giving way to a silky smooth strong finish. This was a well balanced cigar with a full flavor profile!  I absolutely loved this thing!  I would even consider a box purchase at some point to age these because I’m sure they’ll only get better with age!  I should note that I paired the Timeless No. 2 with a glass of Ymazaki 12 year Single Malt Whiskey.  I’m starting to dip my toes into Japanese spirits and the Yamazaki 12 was a great jumping off point.  It was great with this cigar! 

Cheers!

LAGUNITA'S HOP STOOPID IPA @LagunitasBrewCo

Another offering from California’s Lagunitas Brewing Company!  Saw this sexy bomber of Hop Stoopid IPA at Friar Tuck a few months back when GQB7 and I were road trippin!  This is the third offering from Lagunitas I’ve had with the previous being their IPA and Brown Sugah Substitute.  I’m steadily becoming a big fan of this brewery and they’ve even managed to sneak into the cooler at one of the package liquor stores in my home town! 

Style: American Double/ Imperial IPA

%ABV: 8.20

IBU: 102

Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company

Price: $10.99

Beer Advocate: 94 Outstanding...truly! 

This was a true west coast IPA.  Hop Stoopid is basically a smooth, heavily hoped masterpiece.  To date I’d say this is one of my favorite double IPAs.  The beer poured smooth with a decent foamy head.  The color was a light to orange amber color.  Right out of the bottle the hop aroma was strong and floral.  Hop Stoopid had a lot of body for a beer boasting a whopping 102 IBUs.  The high hop content masked the strong taste which is common in most double IPAs.  The finish was a pretty bitter dry hop taste and that was awesome!  This beer is sneaky too.  it drinks so smoothly that one could realistically drink a couple bombers before either blacking out or wetting themselves.  Those are the type of things that happen with double IPAs!

Cheers!

H. UPMAN VINTAGE CAMEROON

A few months back Glacier and I went to a cigar tasting at the WabashValley Cigar store.  We were lucky enough to get a free sample of The Legacy by H. Upman.  It was a very tasty cigar and strong too because at some point I started to get the cold sweats along with the rubber legs!  Now if you’ve read my Partagas Serie D post then you know what usually happens when I get a little too cavalier with a smoke!  Anyways I ended up buying a 5 pack of the Legacy but the best thing  was I met some cool dudes and became a member of the Facial Hair Club of Terre Haute!   But this post ain’t about that or the Legacy!  I was searching through the Ark the other day looking for something to smoke I hadn’t tried yet…the H. Upman Vintage Cameroon was there just minding its own business so I snapped it up and got down to business at the Ginger Ninja’s house warming party!

Country: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Natural

Strength: Medium

Length: 5

Ring Gauge: 52

Price: $6.00

The H. Upman Vintage Cameroon is a throwback to the early days when all H. Upman cigars in this legendary line were wrapped with Cameroon leaves.  Boasting the very best Cameroon wrapper that lends this exemplary cigar a light and complex aroma and filler blend of Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian, this incredible cigar provides unique essence that’s slightly sweet and very flavorful.  It’s a must have in any humidor.

The cigar was very well constructed coming in a nice cedar sleeve.  I know I basically creamed my pants over the Don Carlos, but lemme tell ya...this H. Upman Vintage Cameroon was excellent!  The draw was near perfect!  A few puffs indicated to me this was going to be an enjoyable and silky smooth smoke!  Most cigars I smoke start off pretty good and then change for the better only to have a disappointing finish much like me in bed!  This was not the case with this cigar!  The Vintage Cameroon got better with each puff.  I definitely detected sweet notes with ever so subtle hints of spice. The smoke was rich and flavorful.  I love the Dominican tobaccos.  They’re so smooth as was the case with the Vintage Cameroon!  This was one of the most pleasant smokes I’ve had and I could definitely see myself buying a few more of these for the Ark!  Don't hesitate to pick one up and see for yourself!

Cheers!