METRO DAD

La Flor De Cano Short Robusto Review

I relented today and enjoyed my most recent purchase - a petit robusto sized UK regional edition cigar called the La Flor De Cano Short Robusto. I set out to enjoy it with a simple glass of orange squash with some lime quarters squeezed into it. Not bad for a whistle wetting during a nice cigar. As I was about to start I was invited over a neighbor’s house for a bottole of Rioja. I’m afraid I can’t tell you the producer but it was a Tesco special, and not entirely unpleasant! 

I took the cap off and tested the pre-light draw; it was very airy and offered very little resistance. There was a lot of flavour there coming through the unlit cigar, and I felt like there was going to be a lot of potential in this little smoke.

Let’s talk a little bit about size: With both of those bling bling bands wrapping the cigar, it looks unimpressively short, and you do need to remove the lower of the two bands incredibly soon after lighting the cigar. My local tobacconist makes the very relevant point that people may be put off getting someone special a La Flor De Cano Short Robusto as a gift because of it’s lack of presence against some of the other limited and regional editions on the shelf. My opinion is that this would be a great shame! I personally would be incredibly impressed to receive one of these as a gift any time of the year. The cigar does look a lot less stunted when it’s been de-banded, which is a necessity before you’re bearly out of the first third.

The cigar lit beautifully, after the obligatory toasting of the foot, I achieved a complete burn with no extra attention almost instantly, using a single cigar match. The ash was light, and peppered with darkness, and this robust little cigar produced a pleasantly thick lingering smoke.

 If I were to describe this cigar in one word, that word would be subtle; there are a lot of nuances in there, but the open draw and the small size gives you a very subtle and light to medium bodied cigar, but don’t be fooled into thinking that there is any lack of flavour there: There’s very little spice to catch at the back of the throat with this cigar, and that huge flavor bomb that you get from a full strength cigar isn’t present, but there are very enjoyable hay notes and other nuances that start out very light in the first third and get ever so slightly stronger into the second and final third. The ‘thirds’ of this cigar are very small given it’s size and the progression is rather quick, with a noticeable build in flavor as you go along.

 The burn on my cigar was immaculate; even when I talked too much and smoked to little, the cigar was able to right it’s self incredibly easily, which was a very pleasant change in situations from the Bolivar Royal Corona that I enjoyed last week. Had I been giving it the full attention it deserved, I wouldn’t have had to give the burn of this cigar any attention from start to finish, and the ash was hanging on in there! It almost felt like it could have lasted the entire length had I not wanted to be the best house guest I could and minimise the chances of covering my friend’s floor in ash.

One thing that impressed me more than anything else about this cigar was the fact that it burned my fingers and nose before it burned my throat. I had far less than an inch remaining of this cigar and still it drew just like it did when it was freshly lit without any acrid overtone or hot smoke whatsoever - it was a real shame to call it a day. The last time I experienced anything like that was when I was enjoying the Cohiba Behike 52 last month.

To conclude, I would have to say that my experience of this cigar was entirely a pleasant one. it was subtle and mild with quite a lot going on, although it can be easily drowned by drinking anything too flavorful as an accompaniment. I would advise choosing something light and refreshing to go with this cigar like a G&T or possibly a lesser scotch and ginger ale. I would gladly pay the going rate for a box of 25 of these to sit alongside some more hearty smokes for those times when a cigar of a larger vitola, or bigger flavor isn’t appropriate, but when you want to enjoy a light but flavourful cigar and have a spare 45 minutes - 1 hour to yourself.

Go out and buy one! And enjoy it!

Bolivar Royal Corona Review

I’m not going to pretend to be the kind of seasoned smoker that has a lot to go on, but I’ve just smoked the life out of a Bolivar Royal Corona following high praise and recommendation from my local tobacconist Mr Paresh Patel at The Bear Shop in Cardiff.

This cigar came as a recommendation following an explanation of my penchant for Robusto size cigars, particularly the Cohiba Robusto - a firm favorite of mine.

I enjoyed this cigar alongside a good measure of Talisker Distillers Edition single malt scotch (it’s the only single malt produced on the isle of Skye you know), a long cold glass of coke (never would i put such a mix in the same glass - I do have some standards) and some pleasant company offered by my good neighbor Lu. There was quite a bit of chit chat so the cigar required a bit of help along the way as the burn wasn’t as neat as that I’ve experienced from the Cohiba line in the past and I did witness that in the last third, my particular cigar did tunnel.

I was very impressed with this smoke through the first and second thirds, despite the irregular burn, and although it was strongly flavored, it exhibited a lot of that cool-smoke pallet that I adore from Cohiba, which I continue to reference because I found the flavor profile, if i may be so bold, to be very very similar, and as previously mentioned, it was from looking for a counterpart to the Cohiba Robusto that this cigar ended up in my humidor initially.

There was no real cedar flavor in this cigar for me, as is evident from offerings within the RyJ line, but the spiciness and flavor nuances sang out throughout the entire cigar right to the bitter end (I decided to walk away with roughly an inch remaining). The last third exhibited the usual harshening of flavor as the distance between the fresh smoke and my mouth diminished, but this didn’t really provide any issue right down to the last few drags, although i will mention again the tunneling that occurred right at the end of the final few puffs.

My main criticism is that I wish this cigar was a lot longer and despite the good hour and a a half smoking time, I was left wishing that the whole experience could start over - not bad testament at all.

I look forward to trying a lot more from the Bolivar line, along with a lot more from many other lines in Habanos’ mammoth repertoire but at my beginner-to-intermediate level I feel that this is probably a smoke that stands as a fine stepping stone into greater things along with becoming a faithful friend that I can see myself revisiting from time to time with fond memories.

As crude as it may be to talk turkey on these matters, I’ll just finish by saying that this cigar scratches my Cohiba itch quite nicely without quite the impact on my finances, although it won’t stand as a replacement on the whole - if it would, it would probably be wearing a yellow, black and white checkered band.

(Pic courtesy of Simon Bolivar, member of The UK Cigar Forums) 

They Change Your Life You Know

I became a father almost 1 year ago on the 16th September 2010 and my life altered in a way that I will never be able, or indeed want to come back from.

Let me lay a little story on you:

My partner, Beth, had managed to break her leg as she entered the final stages of pregnancy, so when the day finally came to embark on the beginning of someone else’s life, and the rest of mine, I had already spent a week going back and forth the hospital to visit a heavily pregnant Beth, now with a leg full of more metal than robocop, almost every day.

During this time, the drives from the hospital in the evenings late August and early September were simply balmy; the drives were carried out with the windows down and the music up, heading into pink and orange sunsets. Radcliffe and Maconie had the Radio 2 airwaves and one evening and set the whole experience to a sublime soundtrack headlined by a track called You Wont Let Me Down Again by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan from their very little known album Hawk. To this day, that song reminds me of those evenings trailing back and forth on a newly open and smoothly surfaced link road, with the smell of the last throws of summer in the air and prospects of a new life ahead of me.

The week before the momentous day, Beth had been released from hospital and was getting around on one leg staying at her parents house because the steps at the front of ours were prohibitive. Then one night, as I was just about to turn in, the phonecall came: “I might be wrong, but i think my waters just broke”. anyone whose been through this will testify that the injection of emotions that hit your system at this time are confusing to say the least - shock, excitement, fear, happiness, worry, calm panic are all there.

I headed for the car and set off down the road to take my soon to be family to the hospital. getting a heavily pregnant, laboring woman with a broken leg up a slight hill and into the passenger seat of a car proved to be a bit of an operation, but we got there no less because of the bravery and determination of my amazing baby mamma.

On the drive in to the hospital, I was able to speak to Beth rationally for the last time as 2 uncommitted, otherwise care free and non-responsible adults that had made a decision to let life’s biggest miracle happen between them. 

Skip forward and beth is wired to a monitor watching our unborn baby’s heart. Beth contracts a few times and each time the heart rate drops, and at one stage pretty much stops. the nurse is nowhere to be seen, and Beth is in real pain. on the nurse’s return, she checks the graph and asks if Beth moved or removed the monitor at that point to which we replied no. I don’t think she believed us.

I’m not a man of faith or religion, but having observed life for the last 28 years I am a devout believer of universal karma, and that life, the universe and everything is held together by a balance of good things and bad things. what happened next, I believe, is an example of just that:

Because Beth came in on a wheelchair and getting her back home was going to be a bit of a pointless exercise, but we managed to convince a begrudging nurse that keeping Beth there was probably for the best. I on the other hand was told that because nothing was going to happen any time soon, I may as well head back. 

At this time, Beth was undergoing some pretty painful contractions but we were advised that she wasn’t in labor. Believe me she was!

I left for home, crashed face down on the bed for less than an hour and received a call to my mobile telling me that the baby was on it’s way.

Maybe I should mention that at that time, I lived a clear 25 minutes away from the hospital. I jumped up and jumped back into the car. it was about 6.00am at this time and I had had less than 1 hour’s sleep in the last 24. nevertheless I was powered by the sheer adrenaline of the fact that I was about to become a daddy, and powered it as quickly as I legally could to the hospital and shot up to the labor ward. Beth was already off her face on gas and air and pushing. I noticed a somewhat familiar process, in that every time she pushed, our baby’s heart slowed and sometimes stopped.

I was with her for no more than 10 minutes before they advised me that an emergency cesarean was the only way to bring my son into the world. I kissed Beth goodbye and watched her getting wheeled very briskly to the emergency theatre.

15 of the longest minutes of my life crawled by me as I sat close to the theatre door, listening to the din beyond waiting for it to be cut by the high piercing cry of a new born baby.

By my watch, at 7.10am 16/9/2010, the cry came and Miles John Dodd became an independently functioning, living, breathing and crying part of this big wide world.

One of the nurses showed me where I could go to change into scrubs and visit my baby boy for the first time. As that tiny little body, all red and covered in bits of goo, was placed in my arms I suddenly became aware of everything around me, i looked out of an open window and could smell the fresh morning air, the sky was pink and beautiful and the birds were singing a chorus.

Despite a broken leg, cesarean, and an umbilical cord that was wrapped once around our baby’s body and twice around his neck, my Beth had given birth, with some medical assistance, to our beautiful baby boy.

Further days in hospital followed as Beth recouped and Milo readied himself for his big entrance into our family and home and then a new life, a more responsible one, began.

Gwdihw’s Cigar, Pipe and Rum Night - Part 2 

At the bar, the mixologists dazzled and wowed with examples of the numerous and inventive things possible with a number of quite rare and quite beautiful rums, from infusing them with smoke made from cinnamon bark and black cardamom pods, to piquing the natural sweet and deep flavors with bitters produced by the mixologists themselves using orange, more black cardamom and a million other things us mere mortals would fail to recognise.

The result was simple; everyone got very drunk on some of the most interesting and weird concoctions I’d ever seen, handed out following showcases presented by the master mixologists, closer to a performance from Derren Brown than Tom Cruise in Cocktail.

I’d like to take a minute to talk about the rums on offer that evening, as they were names that didn’t previously register with me, and certainly weren’t Cuban but they blew me away on tasting them:

First and foremost there was a white and golden ‘standard’ duo by a brand called Pampero hailing all the way from Venezuela called Blanco and Especial respectively, much along the lines of my favorite, Havanah Club, only with maybe a slightly smoother finish.

This brand carried over into one of the 2 specialty rums brought to the event called Pampero Anerversario, a very dark and rich golden rum with a beautifully characterful taste that lent it’s self beautifully to the cocktails on show.

Finally, the crowning piece was a rum called Ron Zacapa Centenario Rum Sistema Solera 23, this time coming all the way from Guatemala - another rum I had never heard of before, let alone tasted. This fine bottle was being handed out in good measure to those who wanted to trade in a couple of tickets for a straight one, and having found myself in possession of a glass I can happily concur with those in the know who have ranked this bottle with very high acclaim across the pond. It’s another rich and dark rum with a really deep fruity and sweet taste, a little reminiscent of dates with some natural spice, not wanting to get too Oz Clarke about things. 

Should I be hosting a Latin American themed evening for my friends, then some of these would surely enter my shopping list, especially the Ron Zacapa, should I want to pull out a real eyebrow raiser at the end of the night. Among my work colleagues and friends who joined me for the evening, there were more than a couple of rum converts among us by the time the night was out.

Gwdihw’s Cigar, Pipe and Rum Night - Part 1

How can so many amazing things come from one solitary event?

Just ask the proprietors of the Gwdihw Café Bar in Cardiff who, one fine Tuesday evening on the 28th August 2011, brought Cuba to the shores of South Wales in league with The Bear Shop - purveyors of fine cigars to the public of Cardiff for well over 100 years.

The programme for the event promised rum, cuban cigars, pipes, live music, live cigar rolling, and cocktail mixologists - it read like cuba’s answer to Papa Lazarou’s Pandaemonium Carnival.

When we arrived at the bar for the 7.00pm opening, we were directed to a table where our pre-booked tickets had been used to build tasting packs for the evening with our choice of cigar/pipe and tobacco, some interesting reading regarding our chosen smoke, the 4 free rum based drinks tickets supplied in the main ticket price along with the all important cigar cutter and matches necessary to get your evening into full swing.

Along with the Rum and Cigars, the night’s entertainment was fantastic: flamenco guitar and percussion danced along the top of the din produced by a lot of people with a lot to talk about. The setting at the rear of Gwdihw offered plenty of roof coverage while still being exposed enough to offer ventilation, wall heaters adorned every strip of wall, and ample seating was provided. some food came and went but I’m afraid I was indulging in for too many other things to notice. 

The cost of entry was a mere £10 which included 4 free drinks as prepared by the mixologists, on top of which an extra charge was made at a discounted rate for whatever tobacco based product you decided to purchase, those who don’t indulge in that particular pastime simply paid an extra £2 for the ticket price and enjoyed the entertainment on offer under the warm glow of rum alone.

The cigars and pipe tobacco on offer were:

• 1. H.Upmann Magun 48 Limited Edition 2009. £12 + £10 drinks ticket
• Cohiba Behike 52 Rated No.1 cigar for 2010. £26 + £10 drinks ticket
• Romeo Duke Limited Edition 2009. £18 + £10 drinks ticket
• R Windsor Breeze Pipe Tobacco + Your Own Pipe. £10 + £10 drinks ticket
• Romeo y Julieta Petit Julieta. £5 + £10 drinks ticket

Along side the wonderful array of some of the most enjoyable cigars to come out of Cuba was Havanah’s own Senora Berta Corzo Thorpe, one of Habanos quality control specialists who expertly rolled very fine cigars all night long, many of which were smoked on the spot. what a luxury!

All in all, I have to take my hat off to Gwdihw and The Bear Shop for putting on such a wonderful event that opened up the doors of both establishments to new customers and old friends alike. the evening still sparks conversation among my friends to this day and will be looked back upon by many as a thoroughly bloody good night!

I will be talking at greater length about the rum aspect of the evening in Part 2 of this posting tomorrow.

Hold a True Friend with Both your Hands

In the summer of 2009 my friends got married in Tewkesbury on what proved to be the most beautiful day of the year. It was late into the summer and there was no guarantee that Britain had one more sunny day left in her (after all, we had already had the obligatory week of sunshine) but the evening before was balmy and on the day of the ceremony, the sun blazed over the picturesque brick-built farm cottage that my friends rented to house their nearest and dearest for the weekend. the Farmhouse was a big old cottage with a beautiful kitchen that took in the most amazing light from over the fields and orchards beyond the side courtyard and was flanked by outbuildings that had previously been the stables. The stables had been made into partial accommodation, a fantastic WWII style games room (complete with map of britain and pingpong table) and a small knees-up hall where a set of mixing decks and an ipod full of great music awaited the guests as the festivities commenced.

As the actual ceremony was held some distance outside Tukesbury, Beth and I decided that we would wait for the guests to arrive back to the farmhouse for the reception and congratulate our friends then. Adam and Clare both looked truly radiant on their return and Clare was an absolute picture in her incredibly elegant almost 40’s inspired wedding dress and Adam was ever the dapper mod in his hand tailored suit and awesome flowery shirt.

The remainder of the day was spent drinking, talking and eating in the fields surrounding the farm house where the kids (young and old) played football, and friends were made. Not least by me! the great thing about great people is that they attract other great people and on that one day I met more people on my level that I would gladly call friends than I ever have in any one given place.

Having worked with the groom I had heard a lot about the people who attended the wedding and on meeting them not only understood why they were his friends but also felt honoured to be classed among them.

As the night drew in, the guests were encouraged to congregate in the hall for speeches, cake cutting and a huge barrel of laughs. beautiful words were spoken by the bride and groom’s family and friends, followed by songs sung by Adam accompanied by one of his dear friends Adrian in dedication to his lovely new wife. which set the rest of the night ablaze with cheer and merriment that lasted well on into the wee hours.

The next day, slightly the worse for wear, everyone headed down to the canal to enjoy a communal sunday roast at the local carvery where friendships forged the night before were tested in the bright sobriety of a balmy sunday morning.

What an amazing time. Adam and Clare set off to Rhodes, Greece for their honeymoon shortly after and when they were there found out that they were expecting their first child who was born in 2010 - Baby Noah

Good luck and bless all three of you!!

tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

Being scared of the attic hatch in my nursery ceiling