Monday, June 18, 2007

AVO L.E. 07

Strength: 5 5/8" x 48
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown
Filler: Dominican Piloto, San Vicente
Binder: Dominican Olor

The highly-anticipated Avo L.E. 07 cigars have arrived in a limited edition production of only 4,000 boxes. The cigars, which are only available in local cigar stores, are presented cabinet style (no cello) in a wooden box of 20 cigars without bands.

Appearance: Another pretty medium brown stick. With just the right amount of give to it it really did look like a well constructed cigar that just begged to be lit.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy, and pre light draw seemed good. The pre light draws yielded faint spicy and tangy notes.

Burn/Draw: The burn and draw on this cigar was flawless. Burn was razor straight the whole way down, never mind no real issues, there really wasn't any deviance from razor straight. The draw was just perfect and yielded tons of cool white, rich and round smoke. The ash was pretty bright white and held well.

Flavors: This cigar started with a band, exploding onto the palate with peppery spiciness and a rich tanginess. This tanginess was unusual, it tasted kinda like home made sweet and sour sauce. Almost. This rich tangy spiciness continued for most of the first half of the cigar, at a medium full flavor medium full bodied pace. It also had notes of woodiness and a sweet rawhide (like a baseball) quality. Then at the halfway point, POOF!. Gone. The cigar lost all of its strength. It was still rich and round in the mouth (medium full bodied), but the strength dropped away to Macanudo mild. There was still some okay noted to it, some sweet half and half creaminess, but all of the spiciness and tanginess were GONE! Also, during the last third of the cigar there was a slightly disturbing hint of a vegetal note that crept in, but nothing too bothersome. Over all this was a pretty good cigar, but the sudden drop off in strength was just weird.

TomC

Don Pepin Garcia Serie JJ Sublime

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo long-leaf tobacco
Size: Sublime, 6.0″ x 54

Appearance:
Hmmmm. . . this is one average looking stogie. Not beautiful and glistening and smooth like some of the beauts I have been smoking recently. But not rough and rustic looking either. It just looks like an average looking cigar with a pretty looking band.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy. The pre light draw is free and easy and had notes of tangyness and pepper.

Burn/Draw: This is the part where the cigar shined. Despite the rather pedestrian look of this stick, it burned near perfect the whole way down. The draw was free and easy and produced volumes of cool, white smoke. The ash was firm and white and held till I didn't want it to any longer.

Flavors: Evidently this cigar line is supposed to be the cream of the Don Pepin crop. i do not know if I agree with this assertion. It is a bit more refined than the blue & black labels, inasmuch as it is rounder in the mouth and a bit milder than those lines. The flavor profile was rather simple. Rich and peppery, with some nice spicy pepper. the problem is, is that it really didn't develop much from there. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, but not really worth the price of admission.

TomC

Jessica Biel (Redux)

Jessica Claire Biel (born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and former fashion model probably best known for her role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven and appeared in several Hollywood feature films, including Summer Catch, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Illusionist.

It wasn't until Biel attended the International Modeling & Talent Association Convention in Los Angeles in 1994 when her career started to take off as a fashion model. However, her big break came when at 14 years old she landed the role of Mary Camden on the WB TV Series 7th Heaven. The family drama from Aaron Spelling and Brenda Hampton became the most popular (and remains the longest running) series on the fledgling network. Jessica's film career also began at age 15 when she played alongside Peter Fonda in his Golden Globe winning performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). Aside from acting, Jessica became a spokesmodel for L'Oreal cosmetics in 2002.

In 2000, Biel posed topless in a layout of Gear magazine. It was controversial because she was only 17 at the time of the shoot. Her frustration and fear about being typecast was one of the reasons that led to her decision. She blamed her saintly image on 7th Heaven for limiting her film career, including losing a lead role in American Beauty, which eventually went to Thora Birch. Jessica also hoped that by posing she would get out of her 7th Heaven contract, which she accomplished. She later said she regretted posing for the magazine and regards it as a learning experience. Jessica returned to 7th Heaven full time for the 2001—2002 season and then focused her attention on her movie career and has made minimal TV appearances since then.

After her departure from 7th Heaven she accepted projects mainly geared to teens and young adults including Summer Catch (2001), The Rules of Attraction (2002) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). The movies were met with mild reaction from the box office and received mixed reviews, with at least as many negative as positive ones as well. She has also had starring roles in Blade: Trinity (2004) and Stealth (2005), the latter of which was a box-office flop, losing a significant amount of money. Biel was also rumored to be up for the part of Elizabeth in The Fog (a part originated by scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis). Later reports stated Biel did not want to do any more horror films. The part eventually went to Maggie Grace of Lost. Turning down the role proved to be a wise move: the remake was a box office flop, which had been predicted by various critics, as the film was not screened for the press prior to its release. After a nearly three year absence, Jessica surprised her fans by making one final appearance in the series finale of 7th Heaven in May 2006. The series was later renewed, at last minute, for an 11th season. Biel has not made any future appearances as of early 2007. After several indifferent feature films, her film career finally blossomed when she played a turn-of-the-century duchess in The Illusionist (2006), which received good reviews and generated a profit at the box office.

Her latest film, Home of the Brave (2006), about soldiers returning from Iraq, premiered in Los Angeles on December 5, 2006.

She'll next star opposite Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore in Next (2007), a science fiction action film based on The Golden Man, a short story by noted author Philip K. Dick. She will also star opposite Adam Sandler in the comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and in A Woman of No Importance, taking over Lindsay Lohan's part, since the latter recently dropped out of the project.

I did an older post on Ms. Biel, if you are interested, as well.


TomC