James Suckling |
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James Suckling
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Takin' Care of Business
Posted: 01:28 PM ET, June 25, 2009
I came across a couple of Montecristo Petit Edmundos a few weeks ago in one of my spare rooms at home. I am not sure where they came from but they were in a Ziplock bag. The three cigars were dry and needed to be rehumidified. So I stuck them in my Dunhill humidor at about 68 percent humidity and let them soften a little. (I used Humidipaks.)
About a week later, I was having dinner with a friend from Los Angeles, restaurateur David Haskell, who was hanging at my house for the week, and we decided to fire up the Petit Edmundos. From the moment I lit mine up, I knew that something was not right. I hate that!
The cigar was not the spicy, creamy Monte that I love. I know this smoke well. It gives plenty of milk chocolate, cream and light pepper character. The one I was smoking was harsh and tasteless.
“Cubans can be so inconsistent,” I thought to myself.
I was worried that David’s sucked too. But he was kicking back and enjoying the evening. He had a big smile on his face. (I was jealous!)
“Just my luck,” I thought. “Luck of the draw. I wonder what he would of thought if he got my smoke?”
So we decided to switch cigars. We were smoking outside after a barbeque in my courtyard. David’s PE was smoking like a dream. I gave it back to him. I didn’t want to ruin his night. Shame about mine.
The next day after lunch I decided to try the last PE in my humidor. I gave David a Partagas Serie D No. 4. His smoke again was a killer. Mine blew. It was harsh and flavorless, like a big fat cigarette.
I was not a happy camper. I stormed into my living room and took a closer look at my humidor. There were some Padróns and OpusX’s and a couple of Cubans. One was a big Montecristo A that had a slightly cracked wrapper. I grabbed it and smelled it. It smelled like paper and dry wood.
I remembered that the PEs had been laying ON the Montecristo A. So perhaps it had imparted its nasty, dry wood character into my lovely PEs. I immediately lit the A, and, sure enough, it was harsh and tasteless. I tried to smoke it for a few minutes but just couldn’t.
“Better not to smoke than smoke this thing,” I thought to myself.
It’s interesting how cigars can absorb character from its ambient environment – even from other cigars in the same humidor. I am going to be much more careful how I store my precious smokes in the future.
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User Name: Carl Diorio Posted: 09:09 AM ET, June 28, 2009
Here's a related question I'd love to know your thoughts on, James: Do you think there is one CC brand that is the MOST consistent for flavor? I know you'll probably be tempted to say Cohiba, which I love, but it seems to need a lot of aging and thus might not fit the bill here. Personally, I'd say Bolivars. You?