Tailgate Cigars

It was a beautiful fall Saturday, perfect for tailgating before a college football game. While the games are generally exciting, I look forward to the tailgate beforehand, mostly because it means time spent enjoying a cigar. While at home, I generally prefer bourbon as the accompanying beverage, but beer is always suitable for the pre-football festivities. For this occasion I had the Fightin' Hokies Lager from Hardywood Park Craft Brewing in the cooler. For my smoke I selected the Tobacco Tactical Dead Conqueror Alexander the Great Corojo. This was a selection in the June My Cigar Pack shipment, and a cigar I was unfamiliar with. The 6 x 54 Toro features a very dark chocolate Corojo wrapper with Dominican binder and fillers. I reviewed the Maduro version previously.

Like many large ring gauge cigars, the draw was open and airy. It took a while to get the cigar really going  before I started getting a good smoke production going. After 15 or 20 minutes, I was still double and triple puffing to get a good amount of smoke on the draw. Despite the moderately increased smoke production, I was getting more disappointed with each passing minute. I found the cigar to be quite devoid of flavor. "Sucking on a wooden toothpick" was the descriptor that came to mind. Reviewing my comments regarding the Maduro version, I noted muted but present flavors with that version, and it was an enjoyable smoke. Dominican tobaccos are generally mild, though still flavorful but this one I found exceptionally uninteresting. I took a break and I decided to eat my sandwich and set the cigar down with about one half smoked.

After the main eating was done, though snacking was ongoing, I decided to abandon the Dead Conqueror and light up a cigar I knew to be very flavorful.

The Olmec is a newer release from Foundation Cigars that I've smoked previously. This is a 5 x 50 Robusto with a dark San Andrés maduro wrapper covering binder and aged fillers from Nicaragua. Now we were getting somewhere - espresso, charred meat, molasses, and dark chocolate notes are all detected. This one I enjoyed thoroughly and smoked it down until there was nothing left to hold on to. 

Despite the slow start, the afternoon of enjoying good food, drink, and smoke was a blast. The day only got better as our team went on to victory in the late night game.

Cheers!