A Cohiba Esplendidos sits in my ashtray in front of the small TV in my garage and for the next 3 or 4 hours I have no other plans but to smoke slowly, savoring every nuance this cigar has to offer, and watch the golf on television.  Its not that I have a lot of Esplendidos in the humidor these days but this is one golf tournament that deserves the very best.  I have to admit that it was a tough decision between the Esplendidos and the Robusto, I have both, but the game of golf commands the type of elegance that an Esplendidos has to offer.

I was very excited to see Tiger finish so well yesterday and to see him win it today would make me happy.  Seeing Phil ( no last name necessary ) win it today would also give me a bit of a charge but the young guys that are on the scene today, especially Ryo Ishikawa are impressing armchair golfers all around the country.

The wind is picking up at Pebble Beach and I have to stop typing now and get down to the garage and reach for my cutter and matches.

Today’s round of golf was played at the Northlands Golf Course in North Vancouver.  Every time I play there, at least 10 times a year, I’m always amazed that this is a public course because of the impeccable fairways, greens, great club house and world class views. This course is built on the side of Mount Seymour and there are spectacular views of the city, which seems to also be the direction the palls want to roll on the greens.. Toward the city… Beware !!

I love the fact that every Fairway is isolated and you can feel alone with nature, often seeing deer and the occasional black bear amble by.. Speaking of bears, if your ball happens to end up in the thick forest that is used as the “rough”, make sure to make a lot of noise when searching for the ball.. Bears don’t like noise and will, 99 times out of 100, look for a way to get away from you.  That is if they ” don’t have cubs”.  If they do… Hmmmmmm, reach into your bag for another ball.  You may just be able to find it at a later date.

I smoked 2 Non-Cohiba Cuban robustos while out today and felt like a millionaire.  I lost a few balls which brought me back to earth and I guess that gave the day a kind of balance.

When will it stop?????

My favorite pet peeves is still the daily check on Craigslist for cigars for sale in our fair city and I can’t get over the fact that there are still folks who come back from Cuba with garbage cigars for sale on the public site.  Some of you may say, just get over it, but there are times when I guess I must get a kick out of the torture…

Why would any one want to buy a box of Esplendidos on the beach in the first place??? Why?? Because they know nothing about cigars in the first place and think they can make a quick buck.. Oh well, let the buyer beware..

I’ve been looking around at the different Craigslist sites in different cities around the world and it seems that Canadian cities have more offers than any other place in the world.  I guess thats another reason to live in this great country but don’t get me started on our SIN tax!!!!!!

I was gifted a Cohiba Coronas Especiales yesterday afternoon after a round of golf.  There is no reason to speak of how I golfed yesterday, maybe we should simply move on and speak about the cigar and not mention anything about me spending a lot of time in the trees looking for my balls and cursing my maker.

The Coronas Especiales is a 5.9 inch ( ring gauge 38 ) example of some of Cohiba’s best work and, I have to admit as far as smoking these, I haven’t had as much experience with them as I have with most other Cohibas.  Why?? I couldn’t tell you.

What impressed me with this cigar was the balance between strength and aroma.  Wow !!  Some would say that this is a good cigar for the beginner smoker but I have to argue that, because of it’s intermediate strength, it has complexity that maybe a more experienced smoker would be able to appreciate.  Subtle bean flavors mixing with wood make this one a perfect pair with either a port or fine Cuban rum and then sit back and enjoy this grand experience.

Cohiba minis are perhaps one of the most underrated cigars I know about.  Are they in the same category as the glamorous Esplendido or the mighty Robusto??  In a word no.  Very simply put they are a high quality cigar that comes in a length of 3.22 inches and a ring gauge of 7.6.  They are a very small cigar but don’t let that throw you off.

This little fellow is made with the finest tobacco that Cuba has to offer and the smoothness will be very surprising upon tasting it for the first time.  I have to admit that I always felt that the bigger the ring gauge, the smoother the smoke.  WRONG!  These are elegant and very tasty but one thing you may want to keep in mind is that you won’t be getting the complexity that the bigger brothers from this brand has to offer.  It simply can’t work that way because of the blend that the bigger cigars have.

There is just so much you can put in a cigar of this size and I felt that this fact would result in a harsh smoke but try a box and keep an open mind.  Better yet, approach the smoking experience with unusually low expectations and be prepared for the surprise of your life!!!

So the scene of the crime was in Kamloops, a few miles down the road from Merritt, same kind of golf course but maybe the Cohiba Robusto I brought along gave me the mojo I needed.  Shot an 88 instead of the terrible round I had the week-end before and it sure feels like victory.  Now let’s not get too excited, I’m not a great golfer and an 88 is still not a great score by many golfers standard, but for me it’s reason to celebrate.

We ran into punched greens and we all felt that if the balls wouldn’t have been bouncing around on their way towards the cup, our scores would probably have been lower by at least 5 strokes or more.

We had a sunny day and the wind was almost nonexistent.  That’s where the Robusto performed like a thoroughbred.  Wow, talk about an even burn and the incredible Cohiba taste I’ve come to know from that cigar.  I actuallhy brought 2 along and passed one off to one of the lads that played that day.  He is a guy that smokes almost as many cigars as I do and he really did “get it’…. you know what its like some times, you give a quality Cuban to someone who doesn’t see the difference between a Cohiba or a Guantanamera?  This guy was feeling the same bliss as I was experiencing and it made me feel great to see him having that much fun.

Sort of like the adult version of “show and tell”.

So what does a person do when either he or she gets beat up by a golf course?? Well that’s obvious, you drive back out there and try it again, which is exactly what I plan on doing once again tomorrow.

As soon as I got home from Kamloops B.C. the phone rang the next day and I was invited to go out again to that bone dry part of our province to play another round of golf.  What’s wrong with me?? Can’t I simply accept defeat and move on with my life?? I guess not.

This time we’ll be seeing another course called “Eagle Point” which is 20 minutes outside of Kamloops and another kick at the cat.  I think this time it might be time to load up the travel humidor with a few Cohiba Robustos. Those are awfully nice cigars but, from what I see on the weather network, there’ll be very little wind and that always means a great cigar smoking experience on the links..

Wish me luck!

I spent the weekend in Merritt, British Columbia and checked out their new golf course, “Sagebrush”.  Wow, what a great course for many many reasons.  This was an undertaking designed by Richard Zokol, Rod Whitman and Armen Suny and their approach was to design a minimalist playing experience all taking place on the side of a hill.  Well, there were many hills if you want to know the truth

The day started out with our group listening to one of the course managers explain the tournament to us and how we should approach our golf day.  He warned us about the incredibly treacherous greens, which were very very large, closely trimmed and undulating.  I had never golfed on larger greens in my life but at the same time I don’t believe I have ever putted on more dangerous surfaces.

I took along my usual Cohiba Siglo I’s and there were a few holes where the wind wasn’t too bad so the cigar smoking in the golf cart was just fine.  The highlight of the day was on the back nine where there was a brief stop where I walked down some wooden stairs to a dock on a stocked trout pond where 5 or 6 fly rods were sitting in holders for anyone who wanted to take a cast or two and try their luck.  At the end of our round we all went back to the pond where a barbeque was going on.  I went back out on to the dock and chose the rod loaded with a sink-tip and proceeded to land 2 small rainbows.

Remember the word “Sagebrush” if you are ever going to spend some time golfing in the Merritt area of B.C. I don’t think you can find better golf in Canada!

I have to admit that when this series came out I found the cigars to be a bit less than what I was expecting.  Yes we’re looking at tobacco that is aged for 5 years and beautiful maduro wrappers but, at the time, I was in love ( still am ) with the older cigars from Cohiba.  I have a difficult time finding cigars that I like as much as the Esplendidos or the Robustos from Cohiba.  I guess there’s something about the grassy spicy flavor of the robusto or the smooth chocolate and coffee flavors that come out in the Esplendidos.

Last night I tried the Genios from Cohiba and maybe the fact that this was a slightly older cigar or maybe my palate was ready for the experience, I’m not sure which, but I was met with a different taste altogether.  At 5 1/2 ” X 52, this isn’t a wimpy cigar.  Just the opposite, you get a bigger gauge and enough length to keep the smoke mellow and smooth.

This was a bit more of a complex smoke than I remembered, all the flavors building slightly but consistently till I set it down.  After I was done I tried to go over my “cigar notes” and try to see what all I saw the first time but this was a cigar I didn’t write about  in enough detail.  I’m thinking that it simply could have been my mood last night which tells me that every day is different!!

The more I smoke cigars in public, the more I run into people who are curious and interested in trying them..  Not sure why, but these days as I sit in smoking sections of bars ( Patios to be exact ) instead of people telling me that they find cigars offensive I keep hearing how much they like the smell.  I guess that’s not hard for cigar smokers to understand but I keep waiting for someone to tell me that I should butt out my cigar because it’s ruining everyone’s fun. I guess I shouldn’t think that that day will NOT come, there are still a lot of pain in the butt types out there that want to rain on our parades, but these days I’ve been seeing the opposite.

As the heading says, “Pass the Cohiba Around”… Well, unless you really want to start sharing body fluids with people, I’d suggest giving your friends and even strangers slightly cheaper offerings in the form of Guantanameras or something of that price ….But….. If you have a really good friend, why not offer him or her a Cohiba on a special occasion..

Take the time to walk them through the process and experience of smoking a Cigar.  Tell them about the fact that we’re looking at a hand made product that a lot of people have worked on and devoted their lives to perfecting.  Also tell them to take their time when they smoke it, keep the ash on as long as possible and never, I repeat NEVER, butt a cigar out.  I think it is a disrespectful act to the people of Cuba, like the saying says, let it die with dignity !!!