Pics of your sticks!!

[deluxestogie]

Mayorga get out of the business

JR Cigars still offers Mayorga. Prices range from $62 to over $81.

Bob

 

[rainmax]

I see. Nestor Plasencia...

 

[deluxestogie]

In the past, I purchased a lot of Mayorga cigars, mostly EMS, mostly corona and gordito torpedo. But those are perfect boxes for passing over to grandkids--filled with fossils or rock specimens or assorted other treasures. I have this one empty box left.

I just don't purchase commercial cigars for my own use any more.

Bob

 

[Vanerpaddel]

Some cigars made with my "new" mold, 42 rg (along with my pipe tobacco flakes from 2017)

 

[col555]

Smoked this today, WLT CV fillers and @BigBonner PA binder, CT wrapper from @webmost

 

[col555]

Wrapped a few 48's today, same fillers as the conni 52's but this time wrapped with Larry's PA wrapper

 

[deluxestogie]

This plump stogie began as 100% pure home-grown 2017 Corojo 99 tip leaf. In using no binder, and a "sort of in case enough" wrapper of that same leaf, I ended up with a lovely, oily, lumpy bumpy puro--with a couple of small tears in the wrapper. The filler had such thick veins, that I was afraid to smooth the cigar under my palm. The first in-case wrapper available was the pretty WLT Ecuador Habano. Since the wrapper was quite thin, I chose not to worry about the lumps.

The super thick filler leaf made it difficult to light, but once it got going evenly, it continued to burn nicely, almost like a stick of incense. Draw is good. The aroma and taste are smooth, rich and complex, as one might expect from its being all aged tip leaf. The filler is right at the 18 month post-harvest age, and was kilned for 5 weeks along the way. Nicotine is full, but not an overdose.

Ecuador Habano offers a richer flavor than Ecuador Sumatra, thought its tensile strength is lower than the Ecuador Sumatra.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Now that’s a stogie!!

 

[deluxestogie]

A Better Effort

My cigar rolling is intuitive (i.e. I always fly by the seat of my pants). No particular plan, no particular size, no pre-planned blend. I just grab some stuff, and roll a cigar.

During the winter, I roll very few cigars. This lack of practice is exacerbated by Christmas, which always results in my having store-bought, factory cigars (gifts) in my humidor for those rare warmer days. So each year, when the time comes to start seriously rolling some smokes, I'm always impressed with how much my cigar rolling intuition has slipped. That inate notion of how much to grab and how well that assemblage will burn has faded like off-season muscles.

My initial springtime cigars tend to be way too fat, or like yesterday's tip leaf stogie, an inadequate burner. (The final 1/4 of that cigar would not burn for love or money.)

The photo above is my second cigar of today. The yummy, poor-burning Corojo 99 tip leaf is limited to 1/3 of the filler. WLT's Vuelta Abajo binder does not need to be doubled like Sumatra binder, but I wanted that extra punch. I'll also have to work on making them not so fat. But this one burns like a champ, and is not as lumpy.

I've also apparently lost the knack of shooting a well focused close up of a hand held cigar.

Bob

 

[MarcL]

5.6ish X 46 .. From the center. Cibao Vuelta Abajo Ligero, Cibao Criollo 98 Ligero, Criollo Viso, and Nicaragua Habano Seco fillers. Pa and Vuelta Abajo binders, criollo 98 wrappers.

 

[GreenDragon]

As always, beautiful work Marc!

 

[waikikigun]

A Better Effort

My cigar rolling is intuitive (i.e. I always fly by the seat of my pants). No particular plan, no particular size, no pre-planned blend. I just grab some stuff, and roll a cigar.

During the winter, I roll very few cigars. This lack of practice is exacerbated by Christmas, which always results in my having store-bought, factory cigars (gifts) in my humidor for those rare warmer days. So each year, when the time comes to start seriously rolling some smokes, I'm always impressed with how much my cigar rolling intuition has slipped. That inate notion of how much to grab and how well that assemblage will burn has faded like off-season muscles.

My initial springtime cigars tend to be way too fat, or like yesterday's tip leaf stogie, an inadequate burner. (The final 1/4 of that cigar would not burn for love or money.)

The photo above is my second cigar of today. The yummy, poor-burning Corojo 99 tip leaf is limited to 1/3 of the filler. WLT's Vuelta Abajo binder does not need to be doubled like Sumatra binder, but I wanted that extra punch. I'll also have to work on making them not so fat. But this one burns like a champ, and is not as lumpy.

I've also apparently lost the knack of shooting a well focused close up of a hand held cigar.

Bob

Lock focus on your hand.

 

[deluxestogie]

At that distance (camera about 6 inches from the cigar, macro mode), there is a substantial difference between the focal plane of my hand and the focal plane of the cigar, especially without a flash. It's really easy if the cigar has big, ugly veins, or when using a flash.

Bob

 

[waikikigun]

At that distance (camera about 6 inches from the cigar, macro mode), there is a substantial difference between the focal plane of my hand and the focal plane of the cigar, especially without a flash. It's really easy if the cigar has big, ugly veins, or when using a flash.

Bob

Why not rotate your hand so they are in the same focal plane?

 

[deluxestogie]

What am I smoking? Who cares? [WLT Corojo 99 ligero + home-grown Corojo 99 tip, all wrapped in random binder and wrapper scraps.] But notice the short sleeves! That makes any stogie better.

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

You seem happy and your rolling skill is a lot increased from the last stogie you show us

 

[col555]

This PA wrapper (@BigBonner ) looks and tastes goood, fillers are WLT CV

 

[GreenDragon]

Very nice roll! Toothy

 

[nict]

42x5.x - various LO Nicaraguan seco, WLT Olor Ligero (donated by @webmost), LO Nicaraguan CT shade & Ecuadorian Corojo wrappers. My 40 ring mold is my work horse, easily 90% of what I roll comes out of that mold.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

My 40 ring mold is my work horse, easily 90% of what I roll comes out of that mold.

That's cool to hear. I've been thinking of going a big step down from the 50 which I rarely use. My freehands, ie, what I tend to roll when not restricted by a mold, are probably closer to 40