Dominican Hedonism
I bought a couple of short and fat Dominican cigars -- Excaliburs -- to try out. They aren't the specific cigar that substitute recommended, but they were thick, dark, and expensive. It turns out they are also kind of finicky.
First, it's a lovely cigar. The band is very decorative and the foot is fat, tapering to a much thinner sucking bit. This baffled me and ruined the first one. It lit easily and burned evenly and prettily but for the life of me I could not get a draw through my punched hole. I then tried to clip it and mutilated then end. Despite this mutilation it never gave up any useful amount of smoke which was very frustrating. Worse, it smelled great and was gorgeous to watch burn -- the ash was a thick white pillowy affair that struck the ground with an audible clomp. Very satisfying.
The second one I figured out. I punched it and lit it and tried to get a draw from it (just in case I had one bad cigar) but still no go. I found, though, that if I squeezed and rotated the mouth end a little it loosened up hugely and suddenly the draw was quite good. Never great, mind you, and that manipulation had to be repeated a couple of times as the mouth end got moist, but satisfying finally. It was an expensive lesson, but now if I'm ever handed an Excalibur I'll know what to do with it.
My cigar shop has ordered in a raft of Hemingway Short Storys for me (the original recommendation). Looking forward to those.
First, it's a lovely cigar. The band is very decorative and the foot is fat, tapering to a much thinner sucking bit. This baffled me and ruined the first one. It lit easily and burned evenly and prettily but for the life of me I could not get a draw through my punched hole. I then tried to clip it and mutilated then end. Despite this mutilation it never gave up any useful amount of smoke which was very frustrating. Worse, it smelled great and was gorgeous to watch burn -- the ash was a thick white pillowy affair that struck the ground with an audible clomp. Very satisfying.
The second one I figured out. I punched it and lit it and tried to get a draw from it (just in case I had one bad cigar) but still no go. I found, though, that if I squeezed and rotated the mouth end a little it loosened up hugely and suddenly the draw was quite good. Never great, mind you, and that manipulation had to be repeated a couple of times as the mouth end got moist, but satisfying finally. It was an expensive lesson, but now if I'm ever handed an Excalibur I'll know what to do with it.
My cigar shop has ordered in a raft of Hemingway Short Storys for me (the original recommendation). Looking forward to those.