Been away a while

gettin audited by our Quality system registrar.....quite stressful having all your stuff looked over across 3 states over a 3 year period....but its done and all went well.:smiley20:

To celebrate this splendid event, I chose a Cusano 18 paired maduro churchill as my smoke and accompanied it with a nice cold bottle of h2o.

Description from the web:
Size: 7x50
wrappers: Double cured connecticut broadleaf maduro / Brazilian Mata Fina
binder: San Vincente Dominican Olor
Filler: 18 yr old Dominican Olor blended with Dominican Piloto Cubano

I have had this particular cigar resting in my humidor for about 2 months now, bought a couple of singles from my local b/m. It is very nice in appearance, not many veins and those that are present are very small. No soft spots were felt the entire length of the stick. Pretty dark cigar and the color is consistent with no blemishes or "spots".

Pre-light draw was just fine, easy but not too easy. Light was easy, and the burn was great, no runs during the whole smoke. It produced quite a bit of smoke, and the aroma was very nice. Easy to blow good full smoke rings with it, on the draw, my mouth was full of smoke and I could let it waft out of my mouth, blow some rings and enjoy the aroma as it collected around me.

Imho, this smoke starts off in the mild-medium range, similar to the Cusano 18 double connecticut, with the obvious differences in the more robust maduro flavor, but it quickly moves to medium, and even towards the medium-full category when passing through the 1/2 way point and beyond. By the time I nubbed this smoke, it was earthy-sweet-some chocolate flavor-and maybe some spiciness (?) but I'm not sure....there was some after-taste that I just couldn't quite put my finger on.......but then again I am pretty new at this and since I have another one in the humi I might try again in a few weeks to identify it.....unless it finds it's way into the last newbie standing pass as I would not be ashamed to share this cigar with anyone or suggest it as a nice smoke.:smiley41:

I would have to say this is one of my favorites so far!!:smiley32:

Overall, this is a fantastic smoke for the $$, imho. At about $4-5 bucks a stick locally this might find its way into my weekly rotation, a good Saturday morning cigar....I think I'll try it with a good robust coffee next time.