Monday, July 30, 2007

Carlos Toraño Exodus 1959 Double Corona

Origin: Honduras
Size: 7.00 x 50
Wrapper: Habano 2000

Appearance: It has been a long time since I have last smoked one of these cigars, and in that time I forgot how pretty these cigars are. Box pressed and wrapped tight in a beautiful cinnamon red smooth veinless wrapper. Tasty Looking. One thing I did notice was that this cigar was packed pretty and wrapped very firmly, and I was curious to how this would affect the smoke.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy and flush. Prelight draw was just perfect. Could not be better. The prelight notes were spicy and tangy, with a little earthiness.

Burn/Draw: The burn and draw of this cigar were indicative of how well it was made. The burn was of the razor straight "light and forget" variety. Gotta love it. The draw was just easy enough to produce the volume of smoke I enjoy, but not to free to allow the cigar to burn too hot. The ash on this cigars was bright white, and firm, and held as long as I wanted it to. Like I said, a well made cigar.

Flavors: This cigar started with a big burst of pepper. After that calmed down a bit I noticed deep rich notes like black coffee and a very pleasant tanginess. Toward the last third of the cigar the pepper kicked back into gear and an earthy undertone made itself known. Overall this is a great cigar. It burned well, was quite flavorful and was pretty to look at as well. Very much recommended.

TomC

2007 Tour de France

(American Levi Leipheimer, Who Finished Third)
(Tour de France Podium Winners)
(Final Standings)


I will admit it I guess, I secretly love watching the Tour de France. I find the whole thing fascinating. I realize that the whole thing is rife with performance enhancing drugs (but what sport isn't these days?), but the idea of people cycling OVER MOUNTAINS is astounding to me. I won't go on and on, I guess the question I want to raise is this (see standings above): Could you imagine riding a bicycle for 91 HOURS and losing the race by 31 SECONDS (as third place rider, American Levi Leipheimer did)?? Crazy, I tell you.

TomC

Jeri Ryan

Jeri Lynn Ryan (born February 22, 1968) is an American actress best known for playing the ex-Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager.Ryan was hired for a role in Planes, Trains & Automobiles during the summer prior to her freshman year at Northwestern, but was cut out of the final version due to her (in her own words) "ruining every scene I was in" by laughing. After college, she pursued acting full-time in Los Angeles. She made her acting debut in Who's the Boss? and followed that with guest-starring roles in TV shows like Melrose Place, Matlock, and The Sentinel as well as TV movies such as Co-Ed Call Girl. Her big break came when she won a regular role as an extraterrestrial investigator named Juliet Stuart on the TV show Dark Skies. The show was cancelled after one season, but the role had drawn the attention of the science-fiction community.

In 1997, Ryan was cast to play Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the collective on the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. The role drew her instant fame and her tight-fitting uniform made her a sex symbol among some science-fiction fans. It also drew criticism from some fans who felt that character was created to add sexuality to the show, and who felt that a disproportionate number of episodes focused on her character to the exclusion of others. Co-star Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Janeway, reportedly was upset at the addition of a sex icon and Seven of Nine. However, her appearance also coincided with higher ratings and more positive critical reviews of Voyager, which were partly attributed to better screenwriting and partly due to her character being both intrinsically interesting and well-acted. Seven of Nine appeared on seven TV Guide covers in the USA.

After Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan joined the cast of Boston Public in the role of Ronnie Cooke, a frustrated lawyer who quits to become a high school teacher. The show's producer, David E. Kelley, wrote the role specifically for her. The show was cancelled in 2004.

Ryan has recently appeared in films, such as Down With Love. Ryan played Lydia in the independent film Men Cry Bullets, with a rave review for her performance from Roger Ebert. Jeri then starred in her first film lead in the indie comedy "The Last Man", playing the last woman on Earth, released by Lion's Gate.

She also had a recurring role on The O.C. (as Charlotte Morgan) in the autumn of 2005 and guest-starred on David E. Kelley's Boston Legal in 2006.

Ryan stars in the new CBS legal drama Shark; she plays Los Angeles District Attorney Jessica Devlin, opposite James Woods.



TomC

Hall Of Fame 2007

In a time when we seem to be questioning the validity of our sports heroes on a daily basis, yesterdays Hall of Fame celebration showed that during the "steroid era" not everybody in MLB was tainted. The San Diego Padres Outfielder Tony Gwynn and Baltimore Orioles Shortstop/Third Baseman Cal Ripken Jr. were inducted into the Hall of fame on Sunday. Cal is best known for his consecutive games played streak of 2632, also has two MVP awards to his credit (1983, 1991). Gwynn, arguably the best pure hitter of this generation has won 8 National League Batting Titles (1984, 1987-89, 1994-97) and had hit .300 or better for 19 consecutive seasons. Both played for the same team for their entire career (and had 3,000+ hits for same team), something that is a dying breed in Major League Baseball. Both were also pillars of their teams communities, something that always deserves mention.

Congratulations to them both.

TomC

Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Smoking Lounge Review: Ramón Allones Specially Selected

Size: 4 7/8"(124 mm)

Gauge: 50
Weight: 11.66 grams
Originated: MAR 06
Vitola: Robusto
Country of Origin: Cuba


Info:

The brand was created by brothers Ramón and Antonio Allones (no relation to the Antonio Allones of El Rey del Mundo fame) in 1845 and is supposedly the first cigar brand to have utilized colorful lithographs for box art, the first brand to utilize bands on cigars, and the first to package cigars in the "8-9-8" style (though there are several rival claimants as to who first made box art and bands).

The brand went through numerous ownership changes before it was finally bought by the Cifuentes family and production was moved to the famous Partagás Factory, where Ramón Allones cigars are still made to this day.

After the Revolution, production continued uninterrupted and Ramón Allones has consistently stayed popular with cigar aficionados through the decades. In the opinions of many, it shares many similarities with its cousin Partagás as far as body, sizes, and packaging. It has always been produced in smaller quantities than Partagás, possibly to insure higher quality and raised demand for the brand.

Since 2001, when Altadis bought a controlling share of Habanos SA, the Ramón Allones marque has seen the majority of its manufactured sizes discontinued, including the much-beloved Coronas and even the 8-9-8 size it helped pioneer. Of the sizes available now, the Specially Selected, Gigantes, and Small Club Coronas are still incredibly popular among aficionados. The Bit of Havana is still listed as in production by Habanos SA, but few have seen this cigar since 2001.

In 2005, as part of Edición Regional series of new vitolas, Switzerland received a limited release of Ramón Allones Eminencias.

Appearance: An interesting looking cigar. Smooth and vein free, this cigar was wrapped in a nice light brown wrapper (though not as dark brown as a Partagas Serie D No. 4 or reddish like a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2, just a nice middle of the road tan color.). Another thing to note is this cigar is lightly box pressed, which adds a refined touch.

Pre-Light: Clip was a breeze, flush and without issue. The prelight draw was just perfect, free and easy but with just enough resistance to make sure it would not burn to hot. The initial prelight note were of that great horse barn Cuban earthiness, tempered with a great note of organic honey sweetness.

Burn/Draw: The burn on this cigar was about as good as any Cuban cigar I have tried (In my experience , Habanos often have inconsistent burn.). The burn line was straight and even the whole way down. The draw was great, producing bunches of cool, grey, smoke without burning too hot or fast. The ash held for about an inch and a half or so, and was mottled grey.

Flavors: An interesting cigar. It is a bit milder than the two other Cuban Robustos I have reviewed so far int his little mini-series. There was a nice base of that Habano earthiness, leatheriness, and cedar woodiness that stayed pretty constant throughout the smoke. Playing in an out on top of that nice base were some delicate sweet notes, like organic honey or raw sugar. This cigar was decidedly medium bodied and medium strength. It would make a wonderful earlier in the day smoke. From what I have heard, these cigars really benefit from serious aging (three years or more), and so maybe at a mere sixteen month, this cigar was just beginning to show its promise. I think they might just be worth the wait.

TomC

Friday, July 27, 2007

Angelina Jolie 3

















Better Than Chuck Norris:
  1. After consumation of the sex act, Angelina devours her mates.
  2. Angelina Jolie’s doctor takes her temperature with a Kelvin thermometer.
  3. Angelina can start brushfires by walking across grass.*
  4. Dolphins and whales frequently beach themselves in an attempt to see Angelina suntanning.
  5. Angelina Jolie is being deployed to Afghanistan. The mere sight of her will cause Al Qaida members to die from their unstoppable erections.
  6. Every poet who has tried to describe her lips has died from the impossibility of finding the proper adjectives.
  7. Global warming occurs every time Angelina Jolie does a shower scene in a movie.
  8. Old Faith isn’t a geyser; it’s the Earth ejaculating from the mere presence of Angelina Jolie.*
  9. Angelina’s thighs can squeeze coal into diamonds.*
  10. So can her lips.
  11. “Don’t rock the boat” does not apply to Angelina Jolie. She rocks every boat.
  12. Angelina Jolie’s lips can be used as a flotation device.
  13. After Angelina Jolie was born, 50% of the world’s hottest women committed suicide out of respect.
  14. Helen of Troy launched a 1,000 ships. Angelina Jolie slept with every one of the sailors.
  15. Marilyn Monroe died so Angelina could show the rest of the women how it’s done.
  16. Angelina Jolie taught Jell-O how to wiggle.
  17. Angelina Jolie’s pictures have never appeared on “Am I Hot or Not?” Their rating scale doesn’t allow exponents.
  18. Angelina once did her Kegel Exercises in the Pacific Ocean. The resulting tsunami left thousands of Sri Lankans homeless.
  19. Hard water is caused by Angelina Jolie bathing in it.
  20. Sex asks Angelina for tips.

TomC

Angelina Jolie 2
















One post just was not enough, and how bout some random facts to go with it:

  • One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the year 2000.
  • Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Cafe.
  • She is extremely close to and protective of her brother Jamie. He often accompanies her to awards shows, and she used his name, or at least his memory, as inspiration in the "Where's Jamie?!" scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999).
  • Has the letter 'H' tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, which is a reference to two people she is close to who have this letter in their names: her brother, James Haven, and Timothy Hutton. She got the tattoo when she was dating Timothy but since their break up she now says it's only for James.
  • Has a tattoo of the Tennesee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages", on her left forearm.
  • Has the Latin phrase "Quod me nutrit me destruit" (What nourishes me also destroys me) tattooed across her stomach.
  • Her other tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross.
  • Jolie is actually her middle name.
  • Was married to Jonny Lee Miller in a black leather pants and a white shirt. On the white shirt she painted her husband's name in her own blood (across the back).
  • Mother is Marcheline Bertrand.
  • Father is Jon Voight.
  • Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset.
  • Majored in film at New York University.
  • Collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.
  • Had the childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.
  • "Jolie" means "pretty" in French.
  • Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland after her visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan on 27 August 2001.
  • Is of Czechoslovakian, English, and Native American heritage.
  • Performed her own stunts in 'Tomb Raider' and received cuts from the chandelier scene as a result.


TomC