Sometimes being patient and sending the right thoughts into the universe will pay off in spades.  Yesterday morning I received a call from a guy saying that he had gotten my number from a mutual friend after he had heard that I was in the market for a Cohiba Piramides LE 2001.  This was what I have been waiting for and I didn’t hesitate to pick up 5, even though with our “through the roof” sin tax in Canada meant that I’d be spending more than I wanted.  Oh well !

Last night after dinner I went out to the deck and armed with only a glass of cold water I wanted to see if all of my expectations of this 9 year old cigar would be met.  The 2006 and the 2001, although having a lot of similarities, showed that they are different in a few different ways.  The one thing that I think I know about Cohiba is that their tenacity for consistency would probably dictate that the same kind of blend would be used for the 2 different vintages, at least I’m hoping thats the case and I would think that they would do their best to put out the same cigar for both years.

One thing that I noticed right away was that the defining characteristics really had smoother edges and I’m guessing that spending 4 more years in the humidor contributed to how the cigar behaved.  Any of the bean flavors I tasted were certainly creamier and so much more smooth than the ‘06.  Did I like it better than the ‘06??  I don’t think so, since they are 2 different cigars and the comparison would be totally unfair.  They are both magnificent and I’m very grateful to be able to look forward to smoking them again down the road!

I have a question for anyone reading this post.. I have a friend who is going to Cuba in the next few weeks and I was wondering if any of you have been in Havana lately, in particular, I am wondering if anyone has been to the cigar shop in the Hostal Conde di villanueva in the last little while.  This is a beautiful hotel at Calle Mercaderes 202 in old Havana.  If you’ve been there you’ll probably always remember it as being the hotel that has the peacock wandering around the inner courtyard.

Upstairs on the second floor you can see their cigar shop that has a walk in humidor with some wonderful aged Cuban cigars for sale.  This may be one of the better cigar shops in Havana and my question is…. Has anyone seen Cohiba Piramides LE 2001 still for sale.. They are now 9 years old and the possibility of this particular vintage still for sale in that shop could be questionable..

In Canada these cigars go for over $50 a stick but Cuban prices will be a LOT better than that.. Will they be cheap??  I’d say no.. Will they be an outstanding cigar?? By all means!!!

Please let me know if you’ve seen these for sale there in the last few months..

Thanks a lot!!!!

Spent the day helping out a friend paint his new house and a very long, hard day it was.  As I sit here I’m seeing that I need to shower and scrub all of this tan-gray paint off my hands, out of my hair and off my face but before I do I had to run up to the computer to rant and rave about the cigar I just finished..

For the last hour and a half I’ve been sitting on my couch and smoking a Limited Edition Piramides 2006.  I smoked a few last year and they were great but tonight as I watched Donald Trump and the Celebrity Apprentice, ( I’m a sucker for his show ) I was dumfounded with the quality and smoothness of this cigar.  I think I had forgotten how good this cigar was.  This one had the most stubborn whitest ash I had ever run into in a Cuban cigar and the flavors were sweet, round and very very smooth.  I kept thinking that I couldn’t remember the last time I had tasted such incredible smooth edged round milk chocolate in a Cuban.  This might have been the best Cuban cigar I have ever smoked

I paired this cigar with 2 shots of Oban Scotch and I think it was the perfect marriage.  This cigar was an hour and a half of complete perfection.. I have a few more and I’m thinking that I’m going to wait another year to smoke the next and another year for that last.  Wow !!!!  If you have a few of these, smoke one now and wait a wile for the next….. I feel very very lucky that I was able to experience what I just smoked!!!!! Incredible!!!!

The Vancouver Cigar Company has produced a straight forward (and more importantly free) e-book called Cohiba 101 (Cohiba 101 Download).  I downloaded it tonight and gave it a bit of a look over and was surprised about two things: #1) It was relatively pitch free (just good information) #2) I learned a couple of things about the Cohiba.  Also it seems that they actually used some of my reviews that I sent them (Bonus!).

This 101 e-book thing would have been great when I first started smoking cigars.

Cohiba Cigar Blog Entry By Shane

Another great stogie.  The Cohiba Maduro Piramides are similar in taste to the Genios.  The smaller ring gauge makes it a little more of a tight draw.  With that said the Piramide also seemed to be a bit smoother, some of the more subtle flavors in the cigar seemed to have been more evident than in the larger Cohiba Maduro.

I got them from a shop other than my regular hang-out and they were a little less humidified than I prefer.  I have laid down a couple in my humidor for a couple of weeks and will let you know how those smoke at that time.  Overall this is a great 35-40 minute smoke.  It is smooth, subtly spicy yet a bit stronger than some of the other Cohiba’s.

As a side note I noticed that there are some great deals on boxes of Cohiba Robustos and Cohiba Esplendidos ($450.00) online at Vancouver Cigar… I have verified the authenticity with a visit to their storehouse last week.

I attended a cigar club reception recently hosted by the Vancouver Cigar Company.  They had a few of these in stock and I have ordered them online from elsewhere but these were fresh out of the humidor.  The Piramide also referred to as a torpedo  is something new to Cohiba (last 3 years)

This is another great addition to the Cohiba family.  This was a complex smoke.  Rich and spicy, and noticeably consistent right until the end.  These are a classic smoke, and meet up to the Cohiba brand.  Like the Maduro 5 they are also great value per dollar overall.

I like an easy draw so that would have to be the only thing that I didn’t find totally satisfying about this one.