Here Comes the Change-Up!

Changes are afoot at The Cohiba Club.  We're in the process of changing things around a bit; different reporting priorities, new herf organization responsibilities, and more flexibility in format.

As a result, we are suspending our club's blog.  In the mean time, continue to watch for us on Twitter:  @TheCohibaClub

Thank you,

--co-founders Fernand, Robert, and John

Herf 59 – Mike’s Treat

January 6th, 2013 –Snoqualmie, WA

In attendance were co-founders Fernand & Robert, charter member Joe, members Chris & Dan, and guest Michael.

Following a superb meal at Jak’s in Issaquah, courtesy of guest Michael (we’ll get you back for that) we arrived at Lit Lounge inside the Snoqualmie Casino ready for another great herf.

Our selection for this herf was the:  J. Fuego Edición de Familia Robusto.

We followed our usual 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression).

The wrapper was very toothy as you can see in the photo (click to enlarge).

Some of us found the flavors to be of mild, pleasant spices with some sweetness, and just a generally positive tobacco flavor.

Co-founder Robert said, “Consistent good flavor, dark chocolate changed to more nutty notes. So nice being back at Lit. Need to get back here more often.”

Chris seemed to have a bum stick as he wasn’t seeing a lot of smoke out put and found the flavor profile a bit dry; mostly toasty or woody.

Category I.  Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)
Category II.  Flavor: 22 pts (88% of the points possible)
Category III.  Smoking Characteristics: 22 pts (88% of the points possible)
Category IV.  Overall Impression: 31 pts (89% of the points possible)

After throwing out the highest and lowest (Michael’s ‘90’ and Chris’s ‘77’) then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the J. Fuego Edición de Familia Robusto is 89.

All in all, we found this to be a very nice cigar, not overpowering, with a sweet aftertaste.

We’ll see you at the next herf, March 3rd.

© 2013 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 58 – Lechon Cubano

November 4th, 2012 –Woodway, WA

In attendance were:  Robert, John L, Joe, John D, Bruce, Eric, Jim, Mark L

Back by popular demand, John treated us to his famous roasted Cuban pork (lechon asado). It doesn’t get much better than this and always leaves the guys shouting, “God Bless the Pig!” Without haste, we headed out to the garage, uh ‘cigar lounge’.

Our selection for this herf was the El Triunfador No. 3 by Tatuaje. It features an Ecuadorian wrapper and Nicaraguan binder & filler. Measuring in at 5 5/8” by 46, the price was around $7. The current Cigar Aficionado rating for it is 91 (Mar, 2010).

We began the tasting session following our usual 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression).

The El Triunfador has a nice slight box press. It’s wrapper is smooth, rich, and chocolate-colored. A few of the samples were a little veiney, but nonetheless attractive. The simple gold & red band offer a nice elegant appearance.

Flavor: A little pepper at the beginning, but mostly mild thereafter, consisting of leather and cedar. It was also sweet on the palate and consistent throughout without much changing throughout.

Smoking characteristics were great; a smooth draw with big volumes of rich, cool smoke. The burn was even, with a long ash.

After throwing out the highest and lowest then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the El Triunfador No. 3 is 90.

We enjoyed this one and scored it relatively highly, as follows:

Category I.  Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93 of the points possible)
Category II.  Flavor: 21 pts (84% of the points possible)
Category III.  Smoking Characteristics: 23 pts (92% of the points possible)
Category IV.  Overall Impression: 32 pts (91% of the points possible)

Overall a really enjoyable medium body cigar with great construction and smoking characteristics. A good smooth, stable, sweet taste.

We’ll see you at the next herf, January 6th.

© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 57 – La Casa del Chris

October 7th, 2012 – Everett, WA

This herf was held (for the first time) at Chris’s new house.  We were very happy for him to finally get to host, along with his brother Dan.

Twitter Transcript:

Herf 57 about to begin with @JannyGarcia My Father Cigars La Reloba Sumatra Torpedo. pic.twitter.com/rtxViG5d

Our hosts for the evening, Dan & Chris. pic.twitter.com/ACE92wm9

Charter member Joe and newest member Jim. pic.twitter.com/FxebsCz3

Herf #57, Location: Everett, WA is underway!

In attendance are: Fernand, Robert, Joe, Chris, Dan, Jim, and Patrick in AZ @PHXCigarGuy.

Chris served up some amazing Italian Beef. Dan assisted with assorted Italian sliced meats & cheeses. Joe added meatballs for good measure. ^Fernand

We're following our usual 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression).

After an opening surge of peppers, this torpedo has quickly mellowed. ^Fernand

Photo courtesy of @PHXCigarGuy. Nice ash! pic.twitter.com/1NugWuQD

@phxcigarguy. Yeah, it does add to a good experience when there's no flakes or unexpected ash dropping off. ^Robert

Jim is seeing the pepper come back, while Joe is getting more sweetness, like cinnamon. ^Fernand

The smoke output of mine is nothing short of impressive!  ^Fernand

Category I.
Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)

Category II.
Flavor: 23 pts (92% of the points possible)

Category III.
Smoking Characteristics: 23 pts (92% of the points possible)

Category IV.
Overall Impression: 30 pts (86% of the points possible)

After throwing out the highest and lowest (Joe’s ‘82’ and Dan’s ‘94’) then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the La Reloba Sumatra Torpedo is 87.

This was a very enjoyable cigar but no particular flavor ever seemed to come out for me. ^Robert

We’ll see you at the next herf, November 4th. ^Fernand

© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 56 – Caution Before Lighting

August 5th – Edmonds, WA

(the shipment)

Twitter Transcript:

Club Herf starting.
Berger & Argenti Quad-Maduro Torpedo!

First impressions;  good start, ‘oaky’, leather, and a little sweet.

Jim likes.

Yum!

Category I:  Average score for appearance and texture is
12 pts out of 15 for the six of us present this evening. 
A couple of of isolated issues.

Not an oily looking wrapper, but toothy.

Category II:  Flavor category for the Berger & Argenti is
22 pts out of 25.
So far so good.

Tasting sweet wood flavors, relatively mild.

Sun, BBQ pork loin, nice cigar.....this doesn't suck!

Category III:  Smoking Characteristics – 20 pts out of 25 possible points.

Category IV:  Overall Impression - for the six of us, we gave it 
29 pts out of 35 points available.

Ok, after tossing the highest and lowest total scores we give the Berger Argenti Quad Maduro Torpedo an 83, Very Good.

Final Comments:
"A very good smoking cigar."
“We enjoyed the sweet earthy flavors.”

See you  at the next herf, October 7th.

© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 55 – That ‘IS’ a Tasty Burger!

July 1^st, 2012 – Sammamish, WA

Twitter Transcript: Herf 55 meal in the works. Burgers!

Now that's a pre-cigar dinner!

Herf 55 underway!  
Our selection for this herf is the  Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Robusto.

Toothy wrapper,very firm roll, but perfect prelight draw. ^robert
In attendance are: Fernand, Robert, Joe, Chris, and Dan.
That's a tight ash.

We're following our usual 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression).
Great draw & smoke at the start. ^Joe
Tasting chocolate and dark roasted coffee. ^robert
Photo of ash close-up.

Category I. Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (95% of the points possible).
Right on, Josh. Glad to have you with us. ^Fernand
Tenacious ash. ^robert

Still holding strong. ^Chris

I've had some flavors of sweet hickory wood. ^Fernand
Light sweet taste through the first half. One relight.
Strong ash ^Chris

Sweetness fading at 2/3 done. ^robert
Category II. Flavor: 23 pts (92% of the points possible).
Category III. Smoking Characteristics: 23 pts (92% of the points possible).
That IS a tasty cigar ^robert
Category IV. Overall Impression: 30 pts (86% of the points possible).
[After adding in the scoring by @PHXCigarGuy] we then threw-out the highest and lowest (Joe’s 87 and Patrick’s 93).  Upon averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Robusto is 90.
We’ll see you at the next herf, August 5^th.
© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 54–Beer Brat Bounty

June 3^rd, 2012 – Edmonds, WA
 

Twitter Transcript: Herf 54 underway!  First some appetizers…

In attendance are Fernand, Robert, Joe, John L, John D, Chris, and Jim.
The meal for this herf: Brats & beer!

Our selection for this herf is the San Lotano Maduro Robusto.
First Impressions:  The guys are really liking the @AJFcigars San Lotano Maduro Robusto so far.
Robert & John-D agree:  So far so good, mellowing into rich dark chocolate and apple wood flavors. http://twitpic.com/9sm2rg
Fernand:  It started out peppery, then went to dark chocolate through the first third, and now pleasant wood into the middle third.
John-L says the flavors mellow while remaining vibrant heading into the final third.  Like a cayenne pepper chocolate bar!
The following is the results of our usual 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression)...
Category I. Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)
Category II. Flavor: 23 pts (92 % of the points possible)
Category III. Smoking Characteristics: 21 pts (84 % of the points possible)
Category IV. Overall Impression: 32 pts (91 % of the points possible)
After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the San Lotano Maduro Robusto is 90.
Conclusion:  This is a nice, rich smoke.  We really enjoyed the spicy-to-chocolate-to-coffee & wood transition.
We’ll see you at the next herf, July 1^st.
© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

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

Herf 51 – Jak’s Back

March 4^th, 2012 – Snoqualmie, WA
by club co-founder John


In attendance were Robert, Joe, John, Patrick (in AZ), Bruce, and Erik. As usual, we gathered to enjoy a recently recommended cigar and give our opinion on it by holding a 'group-tasting' following dinner.

The March herf found us at Jak’s Grill in Issaquah, the site of our obligatory pre-herf steak dinner on the way our annual Cohiba Club visit to the Lit Cigar Lounge in Snoqualmie. Jak’s, as usual, met our high expectations with good drinks and succulent steaks. I have to mention one of the special menu items, a mouth watering Beef Wellington made with prosciutto and gruyere… it was out of this world and the perfect intro to the upcoming cigar.

After dinner we headed down the road to the nearby Snoqulamie Casino, home of Lit Cigar Lounge. As a group, we make an annual pilgrimage to Lit, shortly after the New Year, and have never been disappointed with their great cigar selection, friendly hosts, nice bar, and comfortable, relaxed, but nicely appointed lounge. We met our friend Narong there, the manager that night, who we knew from previous herfs, both at Lit and The Vertigo Club. Narong, always a font of information about any cigar you could imagine, set us up with our selection of the month, the Padron 1964 Anniversary Series Exclusivo Maduro.

Origin: Nicaraua
Shape: Robusto
Size: 5/12 x 50
Price: ~11.00

Following CA's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression) we gathered in Fernand’s outdoor smoking room for this long awaited, special herf.

Appearance: This was a well built cigar: smooth, slightly oily, rich, dark , and box pressed, no defects.

Flavor: Strong start, pepper at the beginning, later leather and molasses, mellowing soon, but remaining a flavorful full-bodied smoke.

Smoking Characteristics: Perfect draw, consistent burn with only two relights among the group of us, good volume of smooth rich smoke.

Overall Impression: All in all, we all thought this was a great cigar, well built with good smoking characteristics, strong start and mellowing nicely later, rich and flavorful. This was one of the best cigars we have sampled this year.

After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Padron 1964 Anniiversary Series Exclusivo Maduro is 94. An ‘outstanding’ cigar.

Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 15 pts (100% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 24 pts (96% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 23 pts (92% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 33 pts (94% of the points possible)

See you at the next herf, April 1st.


© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved

Herf 50 – Let’s Celebrate!

December 4th, 2011 – Shoreline, WA

In attendance were Fernand, Robert, Joe, John L., Patrick (in AZ via Skype), John D., Chris, and Dan. As usual, we gathered to enjoy a recently recommended cigar and give our opinion on it by holding a 'group-tasting' following dinner.

We took this opportunity to thank our families for supporting the previous 49 herfs by making this a ‘family’-herf.   Wives, kids (about 33 of us in total) had a great time mingling, snacking, and toasting before the big meal.  Now we’ve had some great feasts at herfs before, but nothing like this!  There were braised shortribs, meatballs, spareribs, chicken, rice, pasta, salad, veggies, olive bread, much more, and a myriad of desserts.  It goes on and on!

Our selection for this herf was the Montecristo Petit Edmundo.  Yes, ‘the’ Petit Edmundo.  It’s true that we departed from our usual herf selection process to choose something extra special for this milestone herf. This short robusto is a straightforward parejo shape with that familiar, understated Montecristo band, but what lies beneath is something very special indeed.  It’s one of those sticks that many seek and few have tried.  It’s worth noting that our anticipation was pretty high going into this herf. What a great size too, not intimidating, just enough for a cold winter night.  A special treat, to say the least.  The current Cigar Aficionado rating for the ‘tubo’ version is 89 (Feb, 2011). Prior to that it has enjoyed ratings from them of: 90, 89, 94, 93, and 91.

Here’s what CA said about it back in 2007 when it scored a 92 and ranked No. 11 in their annual Top 25:

“This is one hell of a rich smoke for such a small package. Only 4 1/3 inches by 52 ring in size, this little blockbuster delivers an opulent palate full of rich cocoa bean, sweet earth and pleasant floral notes that crescendo to a long, nutty finish. Smoking it is almost like drinking a rich, decadent Chinese tea. This cigar was created in the new H. Upmann factory in Nuevo Vedado in 2006 following the success of the Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robusto. The Petit Edmundo is essentially a shortened version of the highly successful Montecristo Edmundo, which is 52 ring by 5 1/3 inches. The petit is actually stronger and more flavorful than the original. In fact, it’s hard to think of a cigar from Cuba that packs so much flavor in such a little format.“

Following CA's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression) we gathered in Fernand’s outdoor smoking room for this long awaited, special herf.

For some of the guys, this was their first cigar from Cuba. Right away, everyone was impressed with the quality of appearance, including the simple of beauty of it’s shape and band. It scored almost perfectly across the board for texture, appearance, and roll quality. There just really weren’t any take-aways. About the only comment we had for Category I was that one of the guys would have like his to have been a little more tightly packed.

The lowest scoring category was Smoking Characteristics. This could be because of several re-lights that took place across our eight samples. The draw through the cigar was just fine for most of us, but one was a little tight, and one was a little loose. A few of us observed uneven burning along with those pesky re-lights. For those whose cigar did go out, the re-lighting was not a deal-breaker, but a minor nuisance, at least. The smoke quality was smooth and creamy. The ash was stable for some, but a little fragile for most of us.

The flavor was so pleasant. This is not a strong cigar. The flavors we detected were of mild spices, wood, and nuts. Everyone commented on how easy and smooth the taste was; not bold, but still flavorful in an easy-going sort of way. There were notes of honey or brown sugar, vanilla, and walnut. There was a pretty-well established consensus among our eight tasters that the flavor profile was consistent all the way through; and we mean all the way through, to the end, because some of these sticks got down to very short little nubs. The only comment, not much of a complaint really, was that some of the guys would have liked a tad more intensity of flavors, and more variation along the way, but none of that could exactly be considered detrimental to anyone’s favorable impression of this cigar. We got precisely what we expected and hoped for from one of Cuba’s more noteworthy creations.

After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Montecristo Petit Edmundo is 91. An ‘outstanding’ cigar.

Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 14 pts (93% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 23 pts (92% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 21 pts (84% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 33 pts (94% of the points possible)

While the Petit Edmundo is a great compact size, we selfishly would’ve liked this special experience to have gone on just a bit longer.  Perhaps that’s the best endorsement we can give.

A big Thank You goes out to Denis and Frédéric for helping to make this herf a little more special.

See you at the next herf, February 5th.

© 2012 The Cohiba Club – All rights reserved