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Look at those things. I’m in love right now with all that smoking goodness! That’s 54 new cigars to add to my collection. I believe I have around 70 total right now. I think that’s probably going to be enough to hold me off for a while. Naaa, I need more!

I think I might have just spent a little too much yesterday!

Yesterday’s JoeCigar.com deal was a 2440 pack of 5 Vegas Shorty’s. The same ones I just reviewed yesterday.

JoeCigar is part of Cigar International. The daily deals always get free shipping and you can add to your order on the CI website. So long story short I broke down and decided to splurge like a crazed cigar lover. Here’s my order:

24 40 - 5 Vegas Shorty 4.25"x40
20 - Rocky Patel Vintage ‘92 Robusto 5.5"x52
10 - Indian Tabac Super Fuerte (free with the RP Vintage)
5 - Nub 464 Torpedo Habano 4"x64 (actually for a friend just piggybacking on the free shipping)
1 - a HUMI-CARE Crystals Humidity Jar
1 - CI Puck 3-Finger Ashtray (free with orders over $100)

All told I spent way to much money but I don’t regret it. I LOVE the Vintage ‘92s and since I only have 3 left I need to rebuild that stock up. I’m hoping my friend might do a trade of a 92 or a few shorty’s for one of those Nub’s. I watched him smoke one a few weeks ago at the local cigar shop and it sure looked like a fun one to puff away.

At this point I think I probabbly have a pretty good stock of cigars to last me thought the winter. That’s the one problem with living in Ohio. I can’t smoke inside and so once it gets cold out I won’t be smoking much. I’ll try to swing by the Cigar Shop as they have a smoking room but I doubt I’ll get many chances.

The 5 Vegas Shorty was actually the first cigar I have ever smoked. I was at a friends place hanging out. We were out in his backyard to drink some beers, play cornhole and just enjoy ourselves.  My friend brought out his humidor and offered everyone a smoke. Being new to cigars I didn’t want a big cigar incase I didn’t like it so I picked out one of these little ones that turned out to be the 5 Vegas Shorty.

Ok enough of my boring stories, lets get to the review!

The 5 Vegas Shorty’s are designed as a small, quick smoke. Depending on your smoking style you’re looking at getting 20 to 30 minutes of “smoke time”.  They come in tins of 8 and are 4.25”x40 Torpedoes. At first look you might be discouraged, I mean I know your feelings guys, the size of the cigar matters right? Well don’t let the size get to you.

First look you notice the clean looking Cameroon wrapper.  It’s appearance looks to be hand wrapped and there are slight inconsistencies. Not to say that that’s a bad thing, to the contrary my personal preference is that the cigar looks natural and not perfect as if machine made.

The filler is about a medium pack I would say. The cigar has a small amount of spongyness to it.

Lighting it you’ll find the draw to be very easy and no problem. That first hit you’ll get a preview of the good combo of flavors to come. You’ll taste a strong tobacco with light flirty hints of leather and coffee.

Just sit back because you’ll be enjoying the next 20 or so minutes folks!

The more time passes the leather and coffee slowing strengthens and you get some building in a peppery flavor. The flavors stay solid and I didn’t find myself being bothered by any bitterness or strong hits of flavor out of the blue. It stayed smooth and tasteful the entire time. Ash burn was good and didn’t flake. The burn was pretty straight but as it got down to the last quarter it was getting a little erratic but stayed in control.

The cigar is a medium body that builds in strength but never gets out of hand. Looking at my own cigar history I found this to honestly be a good starter cigar to share with friends and family as it was for me. It gives you a good idea of what to expect in cigars with the core flavors: tobacco, leather, coffee, chocolate and spice. It won’t bore you with blandness and just as important it won’t knock you out with too much strength.

On a scale of 5 I would give the 5 Vegas Short a solid 4.

Hello and welcome to my first cigar review! I’ll be starting with the CAO L’Anniversaire Cameroon. I picked one up on my last trip up to the local cigar store, The Cigar Affair. It was a Corona, 5.5” x 42.

Upon initial inspection the cigar had a solid feel but there were a few soft spots toward the middle. I noticed the wrapper to have a smooth feel but the visual appearance showed a lot of veins. I found the smell carry a light bit of nuttyness and a good amount of wooden scents with just a tiny hint of spice.

I cut the end and found the wrapper frayed and flaked a bit but stayed well within acceptable limits and kept itself solid. The draw was very easy and smooth.

Lighting the cigar was easy and took very little heat to get going. I could quickly catch on to a very diverse mix of flavors. I could catch tastes of the nuttyness and a little coco / coffee type. The wood and spicy tastes were very strong and pronounced.

The first bit was nice but I soon found myself getting a little irritation in the back of my throat. They best way I can describe it is to use a little history. I grew up in a woods and every fall we had to rack and pile up leaves and burn them. I was quickly reminded of the scents, tastes and throat irritation I would get being around these bonfires.

About half way I noticed the burn was not going very well. There seemed to be an issue with the filler being tightly packed in the center and becoming loose out to the wrapper. It was causing the wrapper to burn much faster than the inside. This lasted just right though the middle area of the cigar and cleared back up for the last third of the smoke.

On a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this cigar a 2. There were small hints of flavor but the woodyness with strong hits of spice in my limited experience was just too overpowering. With the irritation I found myself experiencing I found it hard to completely enjoy the cigar when I kept needing to clear my throat and get a drink of water.

I won’t write it off and perhaps I’ll pick up another to give it a second try as I continue to expand and improve my understanding and knowledge of cigars.

Wouldn’t you believe it. I’m trying real hard to raise my pretension level so I was thinking what could I do to be even more of a snob. I decided to start smoking cigars!

LOL Just kidding! I’ve actually smoked cigars a few times at friends places and I decided it was about time I just started buying my own. I enjoy the smoking surprisingly and it’s not that bad. Oh I’m sure it’s not the healthiest but then I’m not one for being a heath nut!

Two weeks ago I went up to “The Cigar Affair” in downtown Maumee, OH. I picked up a few brands to try out to learn the different flavors and tastes. I got a Rocky Patel Vintage ‘90, Rocky Patel Vintage ‘92, Perdomo Lot 23, CAO Criollo and CAO Cameroon.

So far I have only puffed away on the Rocky Patel Vintage ‘92. Let me tell you folks, that’s one top notch cigar. Smooth, great flavor, not too strong and have a great nutty hint about it. One cigar and I’m hooked. I loved it so much I had to get more! This week I ordered the “Rocky Patel Landmark Mega-Sampler” from Cigars International. It comes with 5 of the Rocky Patel Vintage ‘90 Robusto, 5 of the Rocky Patel Vintage ‘92 Robusto, 5 of the Reo Robusto by Rocky Patel and 5 of the Vibe Corojo by Rocky Patel.

I bought a new 150ct humidor off ebay to keep them. It’s a very nice humidor with wonderful decorative design and a window on the top to look into. In later posts I’ll post pictures to show it off.

So anyhoo, that’s what I’ve been up too.  Between my attempt at being a wine connoisseur and now cigars I think I’m doing pretty good at enjoying the finer things in life.