Way out here in Oregon, at the end of the Oregon Trail, we are a long way from the mythical Opusland, but we still get some good smokes! With the help of many friends I have made across this land, I have managed to try many, many fine cigars. My thanks to all of you.
The first link is a new one, and the most important one to me. It is a link to my tattoo artist, a man that has definitely left a big mark in my life. Three pictures of me are on his site, maybe more. See if you can find me!
Trevor Marshall's Oceanic Tatou. The best Pacific/Polynesian influenced tattoo artist I have ever seen. God Trev's work is beautiful!
Casa de Malahato is in Victoria, Canada. A nice place to visit, and run by nice people too.
Cigar Connoisseurs is in Vancouver, Canada. This site is not quite fully operational yet either, so just check it once in a while.
CigarFamily.com has lots of great information on the Fuente and Newman family's cigars. They have the bulletin board called The Cigar Lounge where I hang out ALOT! There are some great folks here just chock full of useful information. Join in on the fun.
Cigar Nexus Information, contests, museums, interviews, news, games... This site has alot of information.
FORCES. Protect your right of choice to smoke.
Holts. A good place to mail order from, but like everywhere, they don't always have everything at any one time.
Humidors by Arlin Liss. Arlin makes some of the most beautiful humidors to your specifications that I have ever seen! Check it out.
Internet Cigar Group has more information on all aspects of cigars that you can "shake a stick" at!
La Casa del Habano. More pictures of Cuban Cigars than I have found anywhere else on the Web!
Premium Cigar Trader. If you don't find that cigar that you want here at some time, it probably doesn't exist! You must have references to be included in the "Good Traders" area, but hey. That can be done with a couple of good trades with the fine people at Cigar Family!
Specialty Cigars International is run by Cigar Family member Cigar Dave, a.k.a. Dave Hodgert. I have visited with Dave a time or two at smokers in Eugene, but never made it all the way over to Bend Oregon to visit his shop. Hey, that might take a couple of hours to drive there! OK, I'm lazy. Visit his web site, and whan you are done on the slopes for the day, stop by for a smoke.
Yesterday I did something I have never done before. I decided that I needed to try these three wonderful cigars back to back, so I could solidify in my own mind the differences between the three, and to decide which I liked best. Thanks to GCARL, I was able to do this. Forgive my descriptions...I never get some of those flavors that CA gets. They all taste like tobacco to me!
I chose a Hemingway Signature, a Don Carlos Double Robusto and an Opus-X Fuente-Fuente because they are all of a similar size. I smoked them in that order too.
The Hemingway was a very tight draw, kinda plugged in fact. Never had that problem before, but it tasted like the medium bodied cigar that I remembered. The flavors developed nicely to a spicy finish. The Hemingway has always been my favorite Fuente, although I prefer the Short Story.
The Don Carlos started off very flavorful, with a flavor profile very similar to the Hemingway, but perhaps a little fuller bodied and a pleasant yet firm draw. Less than half way through, it had a "blow-out" the side, splitting the wrapper. Never had this problem with a Don Carlos either! Bad luck of the draw I guess... The flavors intensified to a fuller body and a very long, but not too spicy, delicious finish. One step above the Hemingway in my opinion.
The Opus-X had the prettiest wrapper, and a very loose draw. It smoked itself. I thought it was a little bit milder than the Don Carlos, but was so similar in flavor that I don't know if I could tell the difference in a blind taste. It too had a very nice long finish. This is a great cigar, but being a left coaster, I don't know if it is worth trying to break the Fuente imposed embargo to get them. Don Carlos is just as good IMHO.
Which do I like best? The Don Carlos, which surprises me because I am a huge Hemingway fan.
Which will I buy first? The Hemingway, because I can get them considerably cheaper than the Don Carlos.
Final thought. The Opus-X is a great cigar, and I would buy and smoke them as a treat (in fact, I've been hunting for an affordable box of the #5 for a loooong time), but if you fellow left coasters can't get them, don't sweat it! Buy a Don Carlos and change the band to fake your friends out. Great cigar, and great hype too.
I have held off reviewing this cigar for some time now. I actually smoked it on New Years Eve, and didn't know exactly what to say about it to be fair. I am a die-hard Hemingway and Fuente fan, so I wanted to do the cigar justice, but I must say that I was less than amazed by the cigar. Here is how I would place it numerically, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.
Construction - 10
Burn - 10
Draw - 10
Flavor - 7
Pure beauty - 11 (Prettiest damn cigar I've ever seen!)
Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love the flavor nuances that a good Cameroon wrapper gives, and am not in general a maduro or Connecticut shade wrapper fan. This beautiful little cigar smoked beautifully, and had that typical Hemingway flavor that seems to defy duplication by other manufacturers. Strength was about medium, and it produced prodigious amounts of smoke. It also had some of the flavor of a maduro, and some of the Connecticut shade wrappers. The subtle nuances of the cigar were curious to taste, but seemed confused to me. I can not say that I hated it, and it was a nice change of pace, but give me a Cameroon wrapped Hemingway to smoke over this one any day!
If these were commonly available, I would certainly smoke them as a change of pace from the regular Hemingway line. Being as rare as they are, and being the collector that I am, I would personally rather look at it than smoke it. I am sad that one of mine is gone, but I have another. Should you smoke yours, if you have one? Well, you will have to make that decision, but if you are a collector and have only one, then save it and look at it once in a while. It is about the most beautiful cigar ever made. If you have more than one, satisfy your curiosity and enjoy smoking one.
