wkoti

Slivered almonds? That sounds mighty tasty, make sure you toast the foot, bring out the oils in the almonds! WKOTI

I agree that a cutter will do must every job, but I prefer a punch, and I have about 10 different sizes of punches, from petite corona up to a punch that will open up a 120 ring gauge. I always start small and work my way up until I have the perfect amount of resistance. But I have noticed a increased amount of tar build up with punched cigars verses cut cigars. Just my $0.02 WKOTI

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDD! My favorite Cohiba of all time!

Thanks You were correct, availability was a better word!

Sorry guys, I don't do many reviews and this is my first on here, please feel free to comment with suggestions or criticism. It's a little long winded and I apologize in advance. Ramon Allones Celestiales Fino RE Asia Pacifico Size – 5 1/3” x 46 Vitola – Perfecto Quantity/Availability – 4,000 boxes of 25 cigars, total quantity released - 100,000 Lighter – Blazer Little Buddy Cutter – Xikar MTX Scissors Ashtray – Mini-Hex Single Stogie Ashtray by Mike Asel Paired drink – None Meal before smoking – A marvelously marbled 16oz piece of prime rib, lightly smoked and then seared until a perfect medium-rare temperature, topped with freshly fried shoestring onions, alongside a bed of fresh garlic mashed yellow potatoes with horseradish sour cream. Appearance and construction – Very smooth brown wrapper rolled expertly into the classic perfecto size. The cigar is very soft to the touch with spongy areas throughout the length. This cigar has a small amount of foot damage, and shaped very odd, almost like a box press, but with rounded edges. Something tells me this cigar was vacuumed sealed and frozen to prevent beetles, not by the factory, but by the BoTL I purchased this from. Prelight – After clipping the cap I noticed a resistance free draw, not what I normally enjoy, but pleasant and manageable. After the third prelight draw, I noticed strong flavors of cinnamon and earth tobacco with a very faint hint of nutmeg. First third – I immediately noticed this cigar had plentiful amounts of white smoke, I’m guessing due to the loser draw. This smoke paired brilliantly with hints of leather, tobacco, along with very pronounced flavors of cinnamon, followed by something that reminded me of paper, maybe even cardboard. After my second retrohale in a row, I noticed a strong pepper presence combined with a bitter after tone which reminded me very much of a strong coffees aftertaste. The next few minutes of smoking had consistent flavors of sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg as well as tobacco and very subtle hints of indistinguishable wood. At this point I noticed a gray ash of medium color, marbled with swirls of dark gray and black. Upon placing the cigar back on the rest the ash fell into the bowl with no added agitation, confirming my original thoughts of slight under filling throughout the cigar. Second third – As the second third started the cigar had been resting for a moment as I jotting down my thoughts, and as I resumed smoking I noticed a very cool draw paired with a large volume of smoke filled with heavy flavors of fresh warm cream and small hints of cinnamon. After retrohaling again I noticed another strong amount of pepper, which vanished the next few minutes of smoking, but quickly returned as a predominate flavor along with cinnamon and those subtle hints of wood, which I am slowly beginning to recognize as oak and Spanish cedar. As I continue to enjoy this cigar, the cinnamon is being overwhelmed with strong flavors of fresh ground black pepper and wood. Finishing the last bit of this second third, I was pleasantly rewarded with those delicious hints of cinnamon returning and overtaking the strong flavors of black pepper which attacked my taste buds for the last 15 to 20 minutes Final third – This cigar began to mellow from overpowering flavors of cinnamon, pepper and wood and was replaced by that fresh warm cream flavor that I’ve enjoyed several times with my trips to dairy processing facilities, where I had the pleasure of trying natural unprocessed dairy like our forefathers enjoyed. After removing the bands I noticed a decently sized tear and gash in the wrapper, hiding behind the silver, white and red Regional Edition band, now acting like a carburetor. The ash is barely holding together, with minimal amounts of effort needed for the ash to fall off and into the bowl of the ashtray. After burning passed the small canyon, I noticed the plentiful amounts of smoke returning, along with the original flavors of cinnamon, tobacco and cream. Stopping for just a few moments to feed the dogs, I returned to the cigar and welcomed back by creamy flavored cool smoke, more mild and smooth than I had experienced thus far. Not taking much to heat up, I’m smoking this final third slowly in order not to ruin the flavors and enjoyment I’ve been accustomed to throughout this cigar. I then noticed small hints of tar flavor sneaking its way into my mouth, as well as a small drop of tar forming on the head of the cigar. It’s about time to purge and hopefully burn off this new unwelcome flavor of tar. But not even several purges got rid of the tar, so I clipped off a tiny amount of head and continued smoking. The draw is now more open and free, which produces huge amounts of smoke, to the point of being too overwhelming. After about another 10 minutes of smoking the flavors went downhill being overtaken by hints of charcoal and smolder, this cigar has reached its life expectancy and was laid to rest on a bed of ashes.

That's exactly what I was thinking of, drawers for a crap ton of singles and boxes for aging...

I was going off by what I heard and read, but I've been wrong many times before, this wouldn't be the first if I am. Thanks for the information, I was encouraged to use MDF, maybe because both places I live have less than 12% humidity max, and not many climate issues. But I don't know the best option, just the one presented to me. Have any tips or comments to add, I would hate to spend all this making it, and it being useless a year later

John, buddy ole' friend, how are you?

Thank you everyone for the warm wishes, oh and Jason You're not exactly making it difficult for me to leave

I'll veneer the outside of the cabinet so it's not hideous. From what I've heard MDF is the ideal wood to use for humidor because it won't warp and is very forgiving and absorbent of moisture, I also hear it doesn't mold easily. So I wasn't going to seal or veneer the inside, I would just veneer the outside, line the inside with 3/16" spanish cedar, install the drawers and shelves and call it good. Also what I heard is Aristocrats are made from furniture grade MDF, that is veneered, unless otherwise requested. It's not going to be a overly cheap project, but far cheaper the the best stuff out there. The project will be expensive, just because of the spanish cedar, sapele, and mahogany. The drawers will be 18 1/4" deep, 5 1/4" tall, 22" wide x 8. That's not going to be pleasant on the wallet, but I have more expensive options.

So getting back to Vegas, I'll have a place to work again, and because my father and I have outgrown 4 28 bottle Vinotemps, and then a Aristocrat M+ 25D, it's time for something bigger. But I don't feel like paying Bob Staebell pricing again, so he's what I have in the works. I have a considerable amount of singles and boxes, and need plenty of places to keep them both of them. It's a dual zone humidor, the right side being controlled by it's own active humidifier and it's own peltier, so I can age boxes at ideal conditions for long periods of time, without constantly changing their atmosphere by opening the door, rummaging through my singles, and closing it again. The left will be it's own conditions, slightly lower RH (65% instead of 71% for the aging side) so I can just grab and go without effecting the aging boxes. I know that keeping the door open for a couple of minutes to find the cigar I want to smoke won't do much, because being bundled together and inside of a cedar box makes for a good buffer, but leaving boxes in unchanged conditions for long periods of time will make it even easier to have solid aged smokes for later. It will be about 32 cubic feet, made from 3/4" furniture grade MDF that I will veneer. I'll line it with sapele or spanish cedar, and make the drawers out of a combination of mahogany and spanish cedar. Outside dimensions are 48" wide x 48" tall x 24" deep. Let's hope this will sustain the collection for a little while.

Thank you all for the warm welcome!!! If you want a cool lounge, Casa Fuente inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace is the place to be. Amazing mojitos with tobacco infused rum, good looking cigar women, fantastic cigars, and not to mention it's the only Fuente shop in the world. If you want a nice shop to visit, Pheasant Cigars on Sahara, just south of the I-15 is the best cigar shop in town. It's boutique, so no cheap stuff there, just a large walk in humidor filled with Illusione, Tatuaje, Padron, and Ashtons... Send me a message if you would like more information, or possibly would like to get together for a cigar. WKOTI

Hey everyone, I'm new member here, but a aged member on a couple different boards, was told about this site from Backslide, so I figured why not stop by and make a couple of new friends. I'm a 21 year old private chef (21 as of June), currently residing in Colorado, just finished my degree in Culinary Arts, and will be back home in a couple of weeks. I'm a huge cigar fan, and I am huge supporter of pairing fine cigars, with exceptional food and fine spirits. I'm a huge H. Upmann fan, the Mag 48 EL 2009 being my absolute favorite, and I'm still in the hunt for Half Coronas and when they come out Mag 50 EL 2012. I'm excited to meet new friends and mingle with fellow cigar lovers. I'm known on other boards for helping with recipes and health care. I diddle a little with custom computers, and love salt water fish tanks as well as my two kids, a 9 month old Rottweiler/Pitbull and a 5 month old Black Lab/Boxer. If you have any questions or feel like saying hi, feel free, I welcome it. Thank you everyone, WKOTI