Herf 53 –A New Format

May 6th – Edmonds, WA
The following is a trial of our new format for posting herf reports.  As we are switching over to live-blogging during herfs, the contents posted here will be the result of that activity.

After each gathering, we will post here a transcript of the ‘tweets’ copied from the club’s Twitter account (@TheCohibaClub).

Attendance:  Fernand, Robert, Joe, John L., Patrick (in AZ), Bruce, Jim, and John S.

FR Note:  We recognize that the below layout is a little unorganized and possibly even incoherent.  Please bear with us as we draft our approach for how to get our tweets to flow better at upcoming herfs.  Thanks for reading and thanks for your understanding.

Twitter Transcript:
Herf 53 underway.
http://pic.twitter.com/Y9K4qQeX


Scoring the Torano Master Series Robusto...


Category 1, Appearance & Construction:  12 points out of 15 available (80%).

Got some nice long ashes going here. http://pic.twitter.com/iALeeVDV

Category 3, Smoking Characteristics:  22 points out of 25 (88%).

Everyone is very pleased so far. Good smoke production, nice draw, mild sweetness.

Lit Cigar Lounge ‏ (@litcigar):  @TheCohibaClub “Love the live tweets of your herf!  At Lit we're big fans of the @ToranoFamCigars Master too.”
Thanks @litcigar this is a trial for our new live blogging format.

Retrohale by club co-founder Robert gave him impressions of bread or toast.

Category 2, Flavor:  22 points out of 25 (88%).

Several of the guys in tonight's tasting group are admittedly surprised at how short their nubs are getting.

Category 4, Overall:  31 points out of 35 (89%).

The Cohiba Club’s Official Rating for the Torano Master Series Robusto is 89.  An excellent cigar.
http://pic.twitter.com/pH9Sn3dz





See you at the next herf, June 3rd.


© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 52 – Who’s Got Big Balls

April 1^st, 2012 – Sammamish, WA
by club co-founder Robert
In attendance were Robert, Joe, John L., Patrick (in AZ), Bruce, John D., and Eric. As usual, we gathered to enjoy a recently recommended cigar and give our opinion on it by holding a 'group-tasting' following dinner. Our usual online attendee Patick wasn’t available but sent his score separately.

This time we were hosted by Eric at his home. For dinner we had homemade spaghetti and meat balls made from wild venison blended with pork, alongside fresh salad and bread. An absolutely superb beginning to the herf. After dinner we headed outside, ducked a little rain, and began the tasting.

Our selection for this herf was the Rocky Patel 15^th Anniversary Torpedo. A beautiful, trunk-pressed cigar with a medium-dark nearly flawless wrapper. Reported to be bunched in the Cuban way (read up on entubado style), with two binder leaves.

Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Ecuadoran Habaño
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Shape: Torpedo
Size: 6 x 52

Following CA's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression).

Appearance: Very good scores here, 4’s and 5’s out of 5. Comments included firm feel and a great press, with one mentioning perhaps “too hard”. An improvement over Patrick’s first impression.

Flavor: We noticed a strong start that mellowed, with a bold spice taste without a particular dominate note. I in particular love the strong flavors found in the Nicaraguan grown tobaccos.

Smoking Characteristics: Although not dinged severely, it was mentioned that second and even third cuts were required to get a good draw before lighting. We had good and even burns with only 2 mentions of a relight.

Smoke volume was listed mostly in the “pretty good” range of 5 out of 6 points. The ash was nice and white with very few flakes. I didn’t notice anyone trying for a record length of ash but it was strong and didn’t depart expectedly.

After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Rocky Patel 15^th Anniversary Torpedo is 88.  An ‘Excellent’ cigar.

Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 22 pts (81% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 20 pts (92% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 32 pts (90% of the points possible)

For another take on this cigar, here is a link to Patrick’s Cigar Examiner article featuring his first impression of this cigar back in June of 2010.
http://www.examiner.com/article/first-taste-cigar-review-rocky-patel-15th-anniversary-torpedo-1


© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved