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Great stick but doesn’t beat my 2015 can of rass tbh

Evolution makes it far more interesting imho. When it suddenly changes flavors and notice new ones that’s keep you engaged and frankly don’t get bored

I too love them but they are a rare occasion anymore if at all. Good review.

Damn surprising. Who would think that skydiving in Minnesota in January could go poorly? I'm sure a "good" landing with that parachute on frozen ground would have gone much better 🙄

Monte #2 is one of my all-time favourites but is the major victim in my regular rotation following the price hikes. It has gone from regular to occasional only. In some capacity, however, it remains… unlike its cousin, CORO, which has gone from semi-regular to never, due to the extreme price hikes. A gift from @Meklown at a recent get-together in London, this was a 2015 stick and bore the loose band that confirmed its aged and ready-to-smoke status. It was relatively light in the hand and had an appealing wrapper. I easily slipped the band off and the clip unsurprisingly revealed an open draw. The flame leapt to the foot readily and immediately the aroma from both head and foot was sublime. This was a complete smoking experience: An assault on the senses in the best possible way. Initial notes were of chocolate. Little wisps of caramel or sweet spice every now and then. The burn was immaculate, rarely moving off-straight and self-correcting in that most pleasing of ways. I ashed this in 1” chunks before giving them any chance to drop in my lap. I must have timed this almost to perfection because they needed only the slightest pressure on the ash tray base to detach and come to rest. There was an occasional hazelnut or coffee bean hint at times. The chocolate core remained with a sweet and citrussy background funk. I was enjoying myself. It isn’t often I smoke much further than to around the start of the band. The band was long since off this one, but there was no doubt that this was heading for a nubbing. This was the best stick I’ve had for a few years. It didn’t transition in a big way but deftly deviated from its core flavour (does that keep both the linear and the evolution camps happy @LordAnubis ??) with some delightful nuances lilting in and out along the way. Construction and burn were nearly flawless, and the stick was rarely away from its position directly under my nose for the 1h40 smoking time. It was a different Monte #2 smoked around 15 years ago that showed me what an outrageously good cigar this can be. This one was just as good as that. A magical couple of hours.

Oh, we all know what they should do. It's a different matter with this team on what they will do. Younger fans are saying that Johnson is going to do this and going to do that while older fans like me are in "wait and see" mode. I don't believe one word of their collective nonsense anymore. I need to see the team get better - period

You beat me to the punch. We all saw what happens to a 14-2 team when the O line collapses. 👿

First order of business should be to improve their O line so Caleb isnt running for his life

Let's start with last year's decision to retain Matt Eberflus and hire Shane Waldron as OC. Every Bears fan knew that retaining Eberflus was a mistake. He was hired as a cheap placeholder which the Bears have always done since no decision is a guarantee of success, so they have always favored risking less money and hoping for a gem in the rocks. Fans were thinking Ryan Poles was behaving differently by seeking out value in player picks and taking advantage of other team's greed. At least that's how his behavior appeared. When he extended Eberflus I thought we were back to the same old Bears - cheapskates. Now on to last year's draft. We all knew the Bears were going to draft Williams mostly because he looked like and was talked about like he had potential to be the next Mahomes and after the Trubisky disaster, they couldn't risk missing that magic again. It wouldn't matter if JD looked like an NFL ready QB, they were never going to skip over Caleb. Lots of fans clamored that JD was a better and more "ready to play" choice. It would have been interesting to see if Washington would have agreed to trade up with the Bears if the Bears said they were looking to take JD number one but would be ok with CW at 2. I'd love to know if that poker game was actually played between the 2 GMs, but I doubt the Bears ever even made a phone call to test the waters. I also think Washington was in a pretty sweet spot to have either QB fall into their lap. I don't know if I believe that Quinn coveted JD so much that he would have made a move if the Bears threatened to take JD 1st. 2024 season proved out that the decisions to retain the head coach and to hire Shane Waldron were disasters. An entire waste of a year to help develop CW, and worse, the locker room was a mess since the head coach held nobody accountable for anything. He was busy reading self help and motivational books and asking other coaches how to do his job while his players begged for the coaching staff to "coach them up". Both fired mid-season. The GM should have been tossed out the door too but I suspect that upper management (cheapskates) had a big hand in those decisions and so they really couldn't blame the GM. QB play was predictable according to the noise we heard in the 2024 off season. JD was ready to play in the NFL and Caleb needed guidance and experience which he didn't get. As fans, we were ok with a losing season as long as Caleb got the uplift he was going to need to have NFL success. Instead, disaster season, undisciplined and unmotivated players, no positive growth for Williams except to learn how to get hit. That takes us to 2025 and where I think we are. The GM was finally let off his leash by upper management to get the coach he wanted. We are hopeful based on our history that Johnson can teach Caleb the skills and the playbook to be a successful NFL QB and can lead a team whose players are begging for discipline and accountability. The new coach, the QB, the GM, and the owner all say the right things right now about how great the future is and how much fans should be excited. It looks like a move in the right direction, but that's this team's M.O., keep hope alive in a city of 6 million people so they buy enough tickets to fill the seats. That's always been the low hanging fruit. The Bears GM, new coach, and QB need to prove that they were ALL the correct choice, or this fan will remain eternally pessimistic. My hope for a playoff appearance within the next 2 years, 15% right now. Final thoughts on JD if he were a Bear and Caleb a Commander last year...Bears might have won a couple more games and Washington might have lost a couple more. JD certainly looks like the better player by far right now but that wouldn't have overcome the mess that the Bears were and still are until further notice.

Cuban cigars become so expensive that NBA stars can no longer afford to buy them.

Probable concussion skydiving in January. Poor landing on a frozen grass runway. Below zero cold as my ex-wife’s heart Minnesota day. My feet were numb from hanging out the door in the 90 knot slipstream at -10°F and I landed like a sack of spuds. I recall a little kid running up to ask “mister, did you just land in a parachute?” I was seeing stars and growled “What the f*ck do you think!” I think he pissed himself. I actually have a photo…

No I think I read that Winston Churchill smoke 25 cigars a day. He would pitch any cigar that went out and light a fresh one, which added to his daily number of smokes coonsiderably.

Dear Sir, I am very interested in being a service provider for your organization. I believe that I can be a great asset to your already strongly positioned company, and would like to arrange a lunch meeting with you at your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance

This is the correct answer.

I tore ligaments skiing in my right knee when I was in second grade. That knee will ache when I stress it . there is no cartilage in either of my knee joints and replacements are inevitable when the pain gets too bad to live with. I’m ok for now. I have a probable type three shoulder separation. Skiing, what else? The right one hangs about 2” lower than the left and I have a serious lump that counts as a minor disfigurement. My wife calls it Alli because it looks a bit like an alien is about to pop out of it. When I exercise hard the shoulder can ache something awful. I may get a nipple tattoo on my bump, just for fun.😃

Yesterday: Ambar JL2 Today: CoRo HDM Epi 2

Never got the whole “Big Four” First, Andy Murray isn’t remotely close to Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. Secondly, Wawrinka was (is) arguably better than Murray. They both have 3 majors.

If it's for a group of true BOTLs, I almost always pull out cubans. I think the last two times it's been a HU2 from a 22 box. I love them so I want my close friends or family, who indulge, to try them too. If it's for a group of others who typically don't smoke cigars then I'll pull something out from the NC tupper. Typically fuente or a nudie.

Stan the man...one of the few.

I’ve had similar thought about this as well. Following this conversation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They don’t show anything online or in the web shop. If you go to the shop or Casa you could be lucky. Mostly it’s reserved for the locals and customers who are buying there for ages. That’s fair imho. Passing by customers-> no chance. Reservation from unknown customers-> no chance. May one or two Germans here in FOH could help you out. I gave up chasing RE and Limit. Or special cigars. I am happy if I could drag down some normal unfancy cigars.

Agreed. This scale Shows the kind of medium doneness I prefer. Bone-in ribeye is my go-to. Cast iron pan seared > grilled. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I prefer this doneness scale...

It was good, I’m not usually a big ring gauge person but I liked it. Even if it was an option I’m not sure I’d buy a box though. More to do with the size than the flavour on my part.