Well I Feel Better! EDIT: Cigar Question

I note that most times, about halfway through a cigar it starts tasting bad. Why is this? How do I prevent this from occurring?

Anyone have an idea? Am I drawing too often? Not often enough? Tannin accumulation? Hell if I know.

It's bad enough I know I can buy the same cigar from two different places and have a vastly different smoking experience.

I'm just trying to figure this out to save dough and get better smokes. I don't smoke cigars anywhere close to often, but this is starting to frustrate me. I don't like wasting $6 for nothing. If I can figure this out, I would gladly buy a humidor.

EDIT: A pretty good explanation HERE.
"Q: How far down should you smoke a cigar?

There's no single rule here. The basic fact of cigar smoking is this: as you smoke, there is a buildup of tars and nicotine at the head of the cigar. Therefore, the more you smoke, the stronger the taste of the cigar will become.

Some people prefer that stronger taste and like to smoke the cigar to the knuckle-burning stage. Others find that the taste becomes harsh and/or bitter, and they prefer to stop smoking at about the halfway point. The only rule of thumb is to stop smoking the cigar when the taste becomes unpleasant."

I am glad to see this is a rather common thing. Although I note the editor can't count.

A Very Nice Evening...

I attended a Bourbon tasting. The amazing store Vine & Table hosted an evening of Bourbon Whiskeys crafted by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd.

For $20, I got to taste their full line of Whiskeys some munchies to go along with them. I wish I'd stopped and asked the names of some of the cheeses. There were three very good ones for sampling. A gentleman sitting at the table behind me informed me that one was a Dutch Gouda with cumin slivers mixed in. It was very tasty. There were two other very good cheeses with odd-looking rinds.

But! The Bourbons...

I arrived a bit early and sat at a table in the front. The crowd filled in the tables, more slowly than I'd have expected. A black gentleman asked if the other two seats at my table were taken. I said no and he sat down, leaving the middle seat empty.

Our presenter was Britt Chavanne, a lovely woman and granddaughter of the distillery's founder and self-proclaimed answerer-of-phones at their operation. She answered lots of questions and gave us an overview of their company. It's a very small operation, with all of 15 employees. They frequently have no stock on shelves in some parts of the country because their production numbers are so low and supply is slow to replenish.

I enjoyed Mrs. Chavanne's approach to leading the tasting. She didn't give her opinions or what she tasted when trying each Whiskey, instead letting us form our own impressions. She answered all our questions and gave us plenty of information on Bourbon in general and her company in particular.

There were six Whiskeys to sample, served in small plastic shot glasses. They gave us a sort of crystal snifter to drink from (which was nice but very spendy and a bit overdone if you ask me) and water for rinsing our glasses and palate.

Our first tasting was their Kentucky Vintage Bourbon (90 proof). It was not very flavourful and sort of peppery. Britt said it's the only one she can say is good for mixing without feeling like a crime has been committed. I can see that and it was decent, but for the price I'll be sticking with the Maker's.

The second was Rowan's Creek (100.1 proof), which I've seen and considered buying before. It's a 12 year old and was very smooth but I didn't really taste very much going on there. Glad I didn't spend my money on that one.

It was at this point that I actually started worrying about burning out my palate. I thought that maybe I couldn't really taste anything because of the relatively high alcohol content of the offerings. But somehow I found the strength to go on.

The Pure Kentucky Bourbon XO (107 proof) was next. It was very spicy, in a good way. It had a pleasant spiciness but didn't burn. But still, not quite enough in the taste department for me.

Next up was a slight departure (cuz it's not a Bourbon) ... the Vintage 21 Year Old Rye (94 proof). .... Wow. This one was amazing. It smelled just great. I had a feeling upon sniffing it that I was in for a treat and I was dead on. It was very complex and deep-flavoured. Unfortunately, it's $70 a bottle. And while I really loved this Rye Whiskey if I'm dropping that much for a bottle anytime soon I will be getting that amazing Scotch I blogged about a few weeks ago. But this one is definitely on my "must buy" list. (Which is getting far too long at this point.)

Our hostess said this one is great with a cigar. I can imagine she's so correct.

The Vintage 17 Year Old Bourbon (94 proof) was fifth in line. This one was spicy too and very good, but not nearly as pleasing as the Rye. So I really didn't pay it much attention.

Last was their Noah's Mill 15 Year Old Bourbon (114.3 proof). Another winner. This one reminded me of Maker's Mark a bit. Not better or worse, just a little similar and very good. It had a very nice burn in the finishing. Very tasty and spicy. Another for the list, dangitall...

After the formal tasting was over, my black companion and I looked at the empty middle seat and decided they weren't going to do anything with those whiskey samples except most likely toss them. So we each took our favorite. I think he took the 17 Year. I took the Rye.

So for $20 I found two or three additions for the liquor cabinet and had an interesting evening. My only regret is that I should have been more sociable and hung out for afterwards longer. There were some very knowledgeable folks there.

And there are far worse subjects to drag out than Whiskeys.

Good Smokes...

"Arturo Fuente", that is. JACIII referred me to that brand.

Nice recommendation. I cannot recall which particular one I picked, but it was quite good late this evening. Not even harsh when my tired and tipsy self inhaled a good-sized puff on the mother.

Now I'm most likely gonna wake up hacking in 6 hours, but it was still a nice, smooth and tasty cigar.

A 1/2 shot of Makers went well with the smoke. The other half of my Bourbon ended up on the ground. A damned stupid cat jumping out of a pile of leaves in my yard startled me, and my frigid fingers were already fumbling with the matches and cigar. At least I saved what I did! I hate wasted liquor. Especially GOOD liquor!

Anyway, the Makers went better with the cigar than did the Bookers, but maybe that's cuz (for me) most cigars turn a bit nasty about halfway through. I always wanna hack them in half and double my pleasure, double my fun. I guess I need to buy a good cigar cutter on my next trip...

Between that and watching "Big Jake" (John Wayne, ), it wasn't too bad an evening.

Of course - hush up, DJ - I was SUPPOSED to be painting the small bedroom. But I lazed out and relaxed.

Ehhh.... I'll paint tomorrow, er... today.

(I just thought... if I lived in the sticks, I coulda shot that damn cat and celebrated ATF four days early. Or three days late.)

Maybe I WILL Leave This Country...

...due to paternalistic BULLSHIT like this: the 20,000% tax increase on cigars.

Seriously! At what point does it stop? This tax bullshit has me furious already.

Due to some bureaucratic BULLSHIT I'm paying literally twice as much property taxes as I'm supposed to be. AND my property tax assessment nearly doubled this year.

So over 2 years, my tax burden on my house has very nearly quadrupled.

To say I'm unhappy is a bit of an understatement.

G. Gordon Liddy told a story of a visit to Appalachia. And how tax men very frequently just... disappeared from their visits to collect taxes. When asked, the mountain men said "We have no idea where they are... but they all got Christian burials."

I cannot truthfully say I'm unsympathetic to their attitude.