Sunday, June 3, 2007

Duck In The Road!

I know this is random and kind of dumb, but hell this is my blog and I can post whatever I want! Carrie and I took a drive to Maumee Bay (along Lake Erie) this afternoon. In one of the little boat dock alcove, there was a duck sitting in the middle of the road. It would not move! It was not hurt, or unhappy, it just seemed incredulous that there were cars driving around on it sitting space. Well we found this so amusing that we decided to drive back by and I took this pic with my cellphone to immortalize the stubborn waterfowl. So I present to you, The Mallard that loves concrete!

La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Chiselito Maduro

5" X 44, Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

This is one of my favorite cigars. I am not going to beat around the bush. Kind of like my review of the Cuban Hoyo Epicure # 2, if you are looking for something unbiased, you might want to go elsewhere. If you would like to see why I like this great little stick, please, continue on! There is a story regarding this one before I get on to the review.

A couple of years ago, I went back to college at OSU, living on the main campus in Columbus Ohio, at age 25. I had a great experience doing it and made many great friends, most of them quite a bit younger than me. Well, even though they were the source of lots of fun, there are just sometimes when you need some time to yourself to contemplate life and such. Well there happened to be a Smoker's Haven Tobacco Shop on High Street. the main drag in CBus that runs right parallel to the school campus. At the time I was going there their biggest sellers seemed to be cigars for beginners, Macanudos and the like. Well hidden back in the corner of their humidor was some of these lovely Chiselito Maduros, that the could not seem to give away. When the owner saw I had interest in them he offered them to me at $3 a piece, which is a great price. for the next three months, whenever I was in the mood for contemplation, I would stop by the shop and buy a couple, and then wander the campus, taking in the scenery of the North Oval during bright spring days, or Mirror Lake at night, and contemplate my place in the universe. This was some of the finest moments I had while back in college, and the Chiselito was there to share it with me.

Appearance: This is one funky looking cool little cigar. Shaped like a mini belicoso, but the head looks like it was mashed with a hammer to flatten it out. This really creates a neat effect as the cigar concentrates the smoke on your palate, condensing the flavors. Also in my experience with this cigar, this odd shape has never negatively affected my smoking experience. This particular cigar that I am reviewing is a beaut. It is small and dark and firm, evenly packed. The wrapper was a bit rustic looking and toothy, and had a nice oily sheen to it. Very tasty looking and inviting.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy, and you only have to take a very minimal amount of cigar off this stick to smoke it easily. The pre light draw was free and easy, and had notes of sweet tobacco, deep earthiness, and notes of nice tasnginess.

Burn/Draw: Flawless. this was not an issue at any point with this cigar. Clearly these are wonderfully constructed stogies, especially considering the strange shape of this vitola. The burn was long and slow and cool, and razor straight the whole way down. the coolness of the burn on these cigars never ceases to amaze me, you can smoke these bad boys down to almost completely ash, and not have an issue with it being too hot to be comfortable. the only reason I have ever stopped smoking this cigar is because I could not hold it anymore. The ash was mostly white and firm and held for well over an inch and a half. I think I only knocked ash once before putting this cigar to its final rest. Despite the small smoking surface to draw from, the draw was free and easy and produced volumes of tasty light grey smoke.Flavors: Flavor is something this cigar has no shortage of. Upon lighting there is a very intense burst of peppery spice. About a quarter of the way in, the sweet tobacco notes, as well as the earthy undertones of the prelight creep in. At the halfway point the tanginess drops away, revealing dry notes of cedar and leather. Over the last third of the cigar the madruo wrapper seems to temper the more powerful notes of this cigar, and you get notes of coffee, and dark, baker's chocolate riding you off into the night.

Like I said. I REALLY enjoy this cigar a whole lot. In many cases, the other vitolas in the LFD Double Ligero line are powerful to the point of excluding most other flavors.
It seems to me that the unique shape and diminutive size of this cigar help reign in and focus that strength into something quite flavorful. that said, this is a strong cigar. It is not for people who are new to stogie smoking and it should not be smoked on an empty stomach, for dire results will occur. If you are an experience smoker looking for an intense experience, this may be the cigar for you. Heartily Recommended.

TomC