A comparison between high end cigars and daily cigars

The objective of Forum Cigar Club is to create a community where we can discuss, appreciate, explore and most importantly; enjoy the craftsmanship, quality and tradition of the world of cigars.

Last week was a bank holiday weekend so my wife and I decided that we wanted to explore some of the surroundings of London, so we had a staycation between Richmond park and the river Thames by staying in Kingston Upon Thames.

After a morning bicycle ride around Richmond park saying hi to a few herd of deer, we enjoyed a sunny day by the river with food, drinks, good conversations, live jazz music and of course a nice cigar.

Let me be controversial… what do you prefer to light up when you are in a perfect setting with people you love, a fancy high end celebratory cigar or trusted daily cigar?

Here is what I lit up! A Casa Flores maduro, tripa large 5½ x 56 box pressed from Veracruz, Mexico. With a refreshing gin and tonic as a pairing, given that it was a beautiful sunny warm day by the river.

Pre-light you get strong notes of fertile soil and cacao on the body, with some spicy notes of cinnamon on the foot. The wrapper is a beautiful dark maduro tobacco with a rough yet inviting texture with a beautiful oily finish. The construction and box pressed are impeccable, you simply have to love how a box pressed cigar feels in your fingers.

The start is easy going with heavy notes of cacao and leather together with a hint of dark fruits and an oily finish on the lips. The draw is just perfect with a very even combustion from the get go the smoke production is beautiful and plentiful. Being a maduro, it does have a full flavour profile with a medium body letting it be very easy to enjoy. 

As it progresses, there is a strong bitter flavour that lingers in your palate. I’m no expert, but I do think that this cigar needs quite a bit more agegin to get to its peak in flavour, especially to allow it to lose some of its ammonia which is producing the string bitter flavours. I got this batch freshly rolled around 11 months ago, if I’m strong enough, I’ll age these for another 12 months in my lower humidity humidor. As the wise people from Guiness say “ Good things come to those who wait”.

Around the midpoint, the bitterness reduces, leaving some space for some unexpected herbal notes to join the cinnamon spice of the cigar. Soil, leather and cacao remain the predominant notes.

I will be honest and say that my choice of pairing was not the best on this occasion. I was not expecting the strong bitterness of this cigar, so the G&T did nothing to balance it nor complement it. However, life is not always about maximising everything, it was a sunny day by the river and I fancied a G&T so I won’t regret it. 

This is why I like exploring daily cigars and not just high end celebratory cigars. It gives you  more room to make mistakes but more importantly, it gives you the chance to pay less attention and fully submerge in the moment, rather than let the smoking experience itself distract you from enjoying the bigger picture.

But now I want to hear from you, Do you agree with me? When do you light up a celebratory cigar?

Let me know in the comments section below, but for now, I will say thank you so much for being here and I hope you have a great day.