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Ready for my closeup
Well, Lee Warren and his crew were just in taping a segment for his show, Definitely Downtown. I think it all went well...I hope so, anyway. Lee is very natural, although the whole process of Q&A is very unnatural, and helped to put me at ease. I believe I answered everything well and am looking forward to seeing the finished product on Saturday, June 4 at noon, on WMC-TV5.
Check it out and let me know how I did. But be nice!
Posted by Richard Alley at 01:38 PM
Cigar Myths 102: Stronger Cigars Have More Flavor
Apologies to my fellow lovers of the leaf for taking last week off. I
was too busy ringing up Powerball to type this. (Insert Shameless
Plug) Don't forget to come in and buy your tickets too! If you win,
the boss wins too, and I will probably win a free Yellow Band Coheeba
or something. Gotta love the trickle down effect!
The other day a guy on vacation stumbled in the store. He wanted some
help picking out a strong cigar. He proceeded to tell me that he
likes strong cigars cause they have more flavor. Let's stop right
there.
In all cigars strength and flavor are two different things. It's
possible to make a cigar with good flavor and not have it knock you
down and stomp you. Strength pertains to the amount of ligero in the
cigar. 'Ligero' is the leaves from the top of the tobacco plant. They
receive the most sunlight and nutrients, so they contain the most
nicotine. The thing is, power can overwhelm flavor. One of my
favorite "strong" stogies is Joya de Nicarauga. It is a Nicaraugan
puro and contains a high percentage of ligero. Flavorwise, it's one
dimensional.
Let's turn to flavor. First, different countries' tobacco have their own
distinct flavor. By blending Honduran, Nicaraugan, Dominican, and
even Mexican tobacco, unique blends can be created. Taking that one
step further, a tobacco plant has three main classes of leaves.
Starting at the top of the plant is the aforementioned ligero, in
the middle is the seco and at the bottom is volado. Strength decreases
as you go down the plant. The different leaves have unique
characteristics that contribute to a blend.
As I said before, the Joya de Nicarauga is a strong cigar - 100%
Nicaraugan tobacco. Generally, Nicaraugan is strong tobacco. However,
it can be used to create a cigar that has good flavors with little
strength. The difference is in which primings of the plant are put
into the blend. Take, for example, the Perdomo Champagne. It also is a
Nicaraugan blend with a Connecticut shade wrapper. With this blend,
the Perdomo tobacco is aged for five years, which tends to mellow strength, before it is rolled into
cigars. This creates a cigar that is full of unique flavors, but is
mild to medium.
So next time you hear someone say that stronger cigars have more
flavor, you can set the record straight. Stay tuned for more exciting
cigar info from the Cigar Savant!
Next week's topic: "I don't need a humidor, I can just keep these
cigars in this plastic bag."
Posted by Richard Alley at 04:09 PM
Why I like Perdomo...by the Cigar Savant
Recently I had an opportunity to sit down with Al Argenti from
Tabacalera Perdomo and sample their new line, Perdomo Reserve
Champagne. Not being a fan of mild cigars, I cut and lit this robusto
with some trepidation. A big, fat robusto measuring in at 54 x 5, The
cigar comes in a unique yellow/orange cellophane roughly the color of
an almost ripe pumpkin.
The surface of the wrapper itself was
beautiful. A silky smooth Connecticut shade wrapper, it was well
constructed with nary a vein and no visible seems in the overlay of
the wrapper leaf. The cap was also seamless and cut easily with my
Xikar. The draw was just a hair to the loose side of perfect, and it
lit easily with my Colibri. An easy pull produced clouds of thick
white smoke, annoying a couple non-smoking lottery customers. I mean,
if you don't smoke cigars, don't buy your tickets in a cigar store!
Duh! Anyway, I digress.
This is an interesting cigar. Definitely milder than my preferred
smokes, but with a rich, full flavor that wasn't overpowering. Cigar
Aficionado says this cigar has a vanilla flavor with hints of licorice
and leather. I didn't taste any boots or Twizzlers, I mean really.
What I can attest to is that this is a creamy smooth cigar that is
easy to smoke. It never went out, and the burn was even all the way
to the end.
According to Al, the filler is Nicaraugan tobacco aged for five
years. I couldn't believe strong Nicaraguan tobacco could be so
mellow, but time had done it well.
This cigar will appeal to smokers who like a mild cigar, and I think
smokers like me who enjoy a more full-bodied stogie will find these
can fit the bill as well. Stop by soon and pick up your Perdomo
Champagne!
Do you have a cigar-related question you'd like answered? Send your
question to jb@memphistobacco.com
Posted by Richard Alley at 03:09 PM
Perdomo
We've recently stocked the Champagne line of Perdomo cigars in the humidor and it's a brand that's destined to take off for us. But just to make sure, I've got a limited-time, special introductory offer. All Perdomo Reserve Champagne are 10% off stick price and 15% off box price. This offer is only good for one week and will expire on Friday, May 13, when the prices will go back to their normal, reasonable rate. Here are the sizes followed by their normal retail price, sale price per stick and box sale price:
"F" (4 3/4 x 44/56/52) Figurado $6.00/5.40/127.50
"R" (5 x 54) Robusto $6.75/6.08/143.44
"E" (6 x 54) Epicure $7.50/6.75/159.38
"C" (7 x 54) Churchill $8.00/7.20/170.00
"X" (7 x 54) Torpedo $8.75/7.88/185.94
Posted by Richard Alley at 02:54 PM
The Savant Speaks!
This is a new feature from the Tobacco Bowl's own Cigar Savant. Sit, smoke, relax, read...and learn.
Cigar Myths 101- Dark cigars are stronger
Greetings fellow cigar nerds! Every week would-be cigar
aficionados stop by to browse and ask questions. One thing I've
noticed is that several people seem to think the darker the wrapper,
the stronger the cigar. Not true at all, and here's why:
Most cigars are marketed by their maker as Natural or Maduro. In
actuality, there are several shades of wrapper.
Candela- Also known as double claro, or American Market Selection.
Believe it or not, in the 1960s over half of the cigars sold in the
United States were candela. It's the mildest of all the wrappers and
has a slightly sweet, grassy taste. Now candela cigars have fallen
out of favor and constitute less than 5% of total U.S. cigar sales.
Claro- A very light brown. Classified as a natural wrapper.
Colorado Claro- A light brown wrapper that appears at times to have a
reddish hue. Also classified as natural.
English Market Selection (EMS)- A medium brown. This is the desired
wrapper shade for most "natural" cigars distributed in the U.S.
Rosado- A distinctly reddish wrapper seen most notably on the Partagas
Spanish Rosado. It is a rich, full-flavored wrapper that remains
smooth enough to not be overpowering. It isn't seen a lot as these
wrappers are not widely grown and are not found currently outside of
the Dominican Republic.
Dark Natural- This is a term coined by Christian Eiroa of Caribe
Tobacco. These cigars are darker than "natural" but lighter than
"maduro".
Maduro- Nearly all cigar lines are distributed with a dark brown
wrapper called maduro.
Oscuro- Also referred to as Double Maduro, these are nearly jet black
in color. El Rey del Mundo Robusto Larga is a fine examle of an oscuro
cigar.
Interestingly, the darkest of wrappers have created some controversy
and disgruntled cigar smokers recently. Over the last 10 years, two
less than desireable process have become more widely used to produce a
Maduro wrapper. A few years ago, I smoked a truly nasty cigar. I
won't name names (Victor Sinclair Series 55 Blue Label Maduro), but
after a few minutes of smoking, I noticed a sickly purplish eggplant
color on my fingertips! As I stood in front of the sink,
Listerineizing my mouth to get rid of the taste, I noticed my teeth
and lips were also stained a blue-green color! Some cigar makers, in order to produce a very dark wrapper, will stain
their cigars with foreign substances to darken the color. Nasty. If
I wanted artificial crap on my cigar, I'd smoke a Swisher. Some other
maduro brands are made by artificially "cooking" the wrapper leaves.
This process puts the tobacco through a cycle of heat and pressure to
darken the wrapper. Many times, cooked wrappers will have a sweet
taste caused by the release of sugars at the cellular level due to the
heat. While not nearly as bad as the painted dog rockets, a purist
will still remind you that this is an artificial process. That's why
Eiroa coined the term 'dark natural'. His wrappers are darkened the
natural way. The amount of sunlight a growing tobacco plant receives
will determine its color. Lighter wrappers are grown under the shade
of a cheesecloth, thus the term you've probably heard Connecticut
Shade. Wrappers darken if they are exposed to sunlight. A 'dark
natural' leaf is grown in direct sunlight, but isn't artificially altered.
Now that you have an insight into wrapper tobacco, let's debunk that
myth that darker cigars are stronger. Montesino is a top quality
product from Fuente-Newman. We carry several sizes of this cigar in
maduro. It's one of the mildest cigars in the humidor. Industry
experts generally agree that 20-30% of a cigars flavor and strength
comes from the wrapper. Thus, a cigar blended to be mild will be such
whether it has a maduro or natural wrapper. On the other end of the
spectrum, this La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero I'm smoking right now
has a natural wrapper. Still, I fully anticipate it will leave my
head spinning when I stand up. The strength lies not in the natural
wrapper, but in the strong blend of tobacco wound up inside the cigar.
If you doubt JB, the Cigar Savant, stop by sometime and I'll prove
it. We'll give you 10% off for purchasing a Montesino maduro and
either a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero or a Trinidad Belicoso,
simply by mentioning this article. Smoking is believing!
Do you have a cigar-related question you'd like answered? Send your
question to jb@memphistobacco.com
Next weeks myth: Stronger cigars have more flavor.
Posted by Richard Alley at 01:43 PM
Move 'em up, Close 'em out!
Help us make room! New cigar lines are being added this summer, and we
need your help to clear out some discontinued cigars! Grab bags of 5
cigars for 12.99 are available for a limited time. These cigars vary
in country of origin from Nicarauga to the Dominican Republic and
points beyond. All are top-quality, hand-made long-filler cigars that
we are closing out. Stop by for your grab bag today!
I'm not going to say what new cigar line will be gracing our shelves this week, but here's a hint.
Posted by Richard Alley at 03:46 PM