Recieved my three mystery cigars today from TampaTom
Along with
Ortega serie D
EPC short run 2015
The Angel's Anvil-TAA-MMXV (never had)
crusade Illuminati cigars (hard to read the band, never heard of)
Esteban Carreras Chupa Cabra (new to me)
Wooden spliffs and matches
Thank you very much Tom=d>

Thank you Chaz....for setting up this mystery trade.

Illuminati is a Florida boutique that is out of production.......they had a hard time selling a good $5 cigar for $9! Go figure. Now, if you can find them, they are closeout dirt cheap (sub $3, last I checked). These were resting in a warehouse for 5 years. Saw it in my humi and figured I'd like your take on it but since it is not in current production, I didn't include it as one of the mystery cigars.

Edit deleted.

Thought I sent to Mandoman. I did not.

LOL. I guess I don't really like Anejos as much as I thought. Here I have a bunch stock piled and aging. I thought that UC Shade was pretty strong. I guess the big take away is that I like mild cigars. I feel like my review of the HC white was pretty close to the CI marketing blurb though.

Those were great reviews.

Cigar #1: LFD La Nox
Cigar #2: 262 Cigars Suit and Tie Lancero
Cigar #3: Rodrigo Cigars Corona Project #1

I admit, I played a little fast and loose with the rules. The La Nox is your $10 plus cigar, but you can sometimes get them for a little less. The Rodrigos are just a hair under $10, closer to $7-8 if you were on their mailing list. The 262s were just blown out on clearance for just under $5 a stick, yard gar prices, but they retailed for $12 initially.

Holy cow! That La Nox was such a different experience from the one I had at the Shpo's Cigar lounge when watching the Super Bowl. Bought it and smoked it there. I'm thinking it may have been over or under humidified. Or just needed some rest. Yours was way better. I'm definitely going to hunt down more of #1 and #3.

Thx again!

Could be age, could be humidity, could just be box by box consistency. I am finding as time goes on that I don't really know a cigar until Ive smoked a through a few different boxes. Honestly, I put the La Nox in there because I wasn't a fan and wanted to see what someone else thought since its such a well reviewed cigar.

Interesting and agreed. I wanted to like the one I had at the shpo more and assumed it was just a taste preference thing.

Had ambition earlier tonight. It faded along with me. I am determined to get back to my reviews tomorrow.

Scary blue skin when I took off my bandages......turns out it was just more bruising. Sutures looking flatter. I am feeling better having more pain with less meds. This isn't turning out too bad. Scars heal.

Tamapatammy? So forgive me for not knowing why you have stitches so until clarified I have to assume you underwent a sex change operation.

Well.....lesson learned. When falling off a dock just get wet.

I ran and tripped trying to warn a guy that he was backing his car off the seawall. Second lesson: Don't care about other people's stuff.

As i fell sideways, I grabbed a dock piling and spun around splaying my forearm open (about an inch wide by 4 inches) on a screw and then grating my left leg on barnacles as i slid down into the water anyway. 13 stitches and lots of superglue for the small stuff. Tetnus shot. Spent 5 hours in the ER then had to drive a boat at 1 AM with no lights in pitch black to get to the house. Couldnt get pain meds till next day so I used vodka.

Sounds better as a shark attack story but that didnt get me through the ER any quicker.

I decided to stay up and do my second review after all but i wont post till tomorrow. I dont want to get distracted. This one is interesting and demands my total attention. Later.

Sounds brutal. Best wishes for a fast recovery and enjoy that cigar tonight.

Dam Tom, hope you are feeling better today, hopefully the pain Ned's will get you through the worst of it.
Sometimes Superman has to take a few hits to save the world. Your a good apple🍎

Thanks Chaz. The pain med makes me feel ill and slow so the pain is preferred. Not so bad now - 3 days later. Believe it or not the scraped shin hurts the worst. Still taking the antibiotics though. So many people have to deal with worse. Cancer, heart disease,etc............heck this is only a flesh wound!

What is crazy is that I am on docks 4 or 5 times a week, in the dark, in the rain, carrying everything from boxes to lumber. Even a refrigerator once. Never have I ever fallen. Lesson 3: Stay aware of your surroundings and don't let yourself get distracted.

My second review for Cigar Labeled #1

Dark Maduro Robusto with a Double cap. Great construction, small veins wrapper is a little toothy. The cigar felt like a sponge when it came in but firmed up after sitting at 65% till today. For a dark wrapper wasn't oily and firm filler throughout the cigar.
Paired this cigar with a diet root beer. (I save liquid calories for the hard stuff) and cleansed my palate with a pair of peanut butter cups and a good nose blowing <--TMI? Cigar has a sweet odor with some hay/barnyard. Cold draw gives me nothing. If someone can reply I really don't understand the cold draw I almost never get anything. Perhaps post a name of a cigar to try so I can get used to a good cold draw.

First Puff/Third Phenomenal- Right away this is smoking like a chimney out of both ends. Easy draw heavy thick smoke. Full-Bodied, creamy and rich. I haven't had a cigar that has blown my hair back in a while because I am still a noob and I am busy try every cigar out there and tend not to go back to ones I know I love right away before I try the next big thing. Dan already gave away that my first review was the mid level cigar so I am crossing my fingers and praying that this delight is the yardgar. At this point I set down my notebook and said f$ck the notes because I want to kick back and really enjoy this. I enjoy it all the way through the 1st third until the ash fell into my lap.

1st third was everything I love in a cigar. In the 2nd third body came down to medium medium-full still heavy smoke lots of creamy and some nuttiness and hints of chocolate. At about the halfway point the cigar lost a lot of everything I was enjoying. Put it down took a rest and came back in a few minutes. Picked it back up and the flavor from the first third came back all the way to the end.

I didn't nub the cigar because towards the end I was getting lots and lots of pepper. I like some pepper but this got to much for me to handle and it got too cold outside. Smoking time 1.5 hours.

In the beginning I was hoping for the yardgar but I was getting lots of Nicaraguan flavors from cigars alike to padrons, oliva v, liga privadas. I am going to stick to my instincts and say that this is the yardgar. Also because that would mean I just learned about and amazing budget gar.

OK....here goes #1

If you remember this was the corona sized trunk press. It is so flat it looks like a pressed....i don't know what - very flat. Petite but trunk press gives it a nice handfeel. Perfectly rolled. Some minor veins visible, no imperfections in shape and no soft spots. I cut it with a v cut and it looks like the mouth of a tiny catfish. Prelight flavor is a rich coffee. Hmmmm. I could suck on this all day without lighting it. Good things can come in small packages.

Upon lighting, I get a nice draw of smoke with a strong bite of pepper up front. Bold flavor. Very nice. More coffee.

Not even 1/4" into this and I want to buy this one. I don't know what it is but I like it. Different spices - can't place them. Did I say wow? Closest thing I can relate to is Tatuaje. Pepper dying back. More flavors moving forward like a spice rack - Nutmeg, Cardamon, Parsley? Just dump the whole spice cabinet in. I am guessing this is the top shelf but if it's not that's fine with me. Then I wouldn't have to lay down the money this thing is really worth.

Pepper is back. I'm not even past the 1/2" mark yet. Have to be careful not to heat up this small RG baby. I am hoping it'd not some limited edition i won't ever see again. I want more.

Lost ash at less than 1". I don't care. burn is no maintenance.

Uh oh, I should have figured. I am starting to sense this is a full bodied cigar? I don't always do well with high nicotine blends BUT it's so good I don't care. And thats where the flavor is I guess. I grab a lemon soda in hopes it helps me keep going. It's always a crap shot depending on my energy level and the particular cigar. Some stronger sticks like Tatuaje or Padron Anni maduros are among my favorites but generally I gravitate to medium to medium/full at most.

It's 1 AM and I am tired and can't keep going. Not because of cigar strength but my fatigue, But I can't only smoke 1/2 of this! Soooo before I let it die, I cut the coal and purge it in hopes of continuing tommorow.

Yeah, letting a cigar go out and relighting the next day is a no-no, but my experience is that really great cigars jump back in the saddle better than yard gars. This one does not disappoint. Now that there is sunlight, I can see how the cigar is transforming. The last 1/2 of the stick is now mottled with dark blotches concentrated along veins. It looks like a person with blood poisoning....creepy, a natural wrapper partially transforming into an oscuro? I have seen old cigars do this with aging but never in one sitting.

Even though it appears that the residues are concentrating, I have not gotten any bitterness from the foot. No draw issues. The strong flavors are now somewhat muted but still worthy of enjoyment. I am getting a slight buzz off of this on the last 1/4 - the cigar wants to keep giving but I think I'm now done. This did not put me under the table as I was expecting. Maybe a medium/full?

Excellent. I think I would enjoy this more once I have fully recovered from my general lethargy..........also having one after a full meal wouldn't hurt. I am going to have to hurry up and do the last mystery cigar so I can find out what this one is. Thanks Abjd14.

Got home from work and decided to enjoy this wonderful weather, slight breeze and 65 degrees.
Grabbed a Dogfish Head Sea Quencher Ale, light brew with sea salt and lime taste.
Decided to stay in order so #1 from Tampatom is:
6x46, triple cap, very smooth light wrapper. Rolled in my hand and was lite but hard. V-cut
Cold draw was of hay with a lil spice. Lit the cigar with a cedar spliff that Tom sent along. First time in 30+yrs I did this.
Work out nicely, without the blast of a triple flame.
I let the cigar get cooking about a half inch before I started thinking about anything. Starts off mild spice with hints of cedar and a touch of leather. Good draw with enough smoke to enjoy. Now an inch into it it still has a nice lite spice, cedar thing going on. Body would be mild to medium. Perfect burn with a nice light grey ash that held on for almost two inches. 40 minutes in I decided to switch to a DFH Chicory Stout, love this brew.🍺
Almost half way in and little to report except maybe body picked up to medium. No correction needed and ash holds on for another two inches. Taste more leather over cedar with hint of spice. Feeling great. What a great way to whine down the work day. Well after my second Chicory Stout and an inch left it is time for din-din🍗
This was a very good medium body cigar that maintained its great taste of lite spice, cedar and leather throughout.
If I had to guess I would say it was a My Father Cedro deluxe, high end cigar.
Thanks Tom for a great smoke
Chazbo

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