What do you recommend?

[Edward Hamilton]

A writer friend asked me for a couple of recommendations to smoke with a glass of La Favorite Vieux, I don't smoke as much as the rest of you so I'll ask the experts, what do you recommend that is available in the states?

[mac]

I'd suggest a CAO Brazillia #2 Excellent smoke goes well with any top shelf rum !!!! CHEERS

[Count Silvio]

If the taste of the rum is robust I'd suggest La Libertad Robusto.

[Lew Barrett]

Where will he be enjoying his rum, Ed? That will bear on the choices. I'm crazy about the recent run of Padron's cigars. An agricole would handle one of those. Any of the 1964 Anniversary vitolas are an easy recommendation; pick by size.

I smoked a Tatuaje Havana VI Noble (robusto) the other day, and if I'd closed my eyes, I would have thought it a Cuban. If he is in a place where Cuban cigars are available, then there are many other choices. For a slightly milder take, and a different flavor profile, any of the Ashton VSGs are highly regarded. I don't like the Dominicans as much, so I'd stick with the Padron or Tatuaje recommendation. For a bit less money, the Oliva Serie G line is worth exploring as a good rum cigar, with a slightly lighter flavor than the Padrons or Tatuaje line. All these are premium cigars, and nobody has recommended a bad one yet. Like rum, to taste.

[cigar-aficionado]

Just a shame he can't pair it with a fine Cuban Ed:(

[Torpnubber]

Maybe I can give you some recommendations based on styles.

Drew Estates Chateau Real, meant to mimic the age of clear Havana cigars. Connecticut-Ecaudorean wrapper is mild but the fillers have some Nicaraguan leaves to give it a little boost. I like the smaller sizes best.

Ashton San Cristobal, extremely complex with a dark choclate, cherry finish. I find these much smoother than some other Pepin Garcia smokes. Full flavor, but not overpowering.

Coronado by La Flor Dominicana, powerhouse smoke with lots of flavor and peppery spiciness. Stays strong to the finish, very robust

Liga Pivada #9 by Drew Estates, personally blended by Steve Saka. I put this on the list as a maduro offering. Medium-full in strength, extremely well balanced with mace-cardamom spice on the finish. I love these, as I prefer balance of flavor to pure power.

Illusione CG4, classic corona gordo size in a Cafe Colorado wrapper. This cigar was meant to recreate the wonderful heydays of Nicaraguan cigars in the late 70's. A boutique brand by Dion Giolito that never fails to disappoint in the flavor department.

Just some that I can think of, off the top of my head. I'm sure you'll get many more opinions.
Good luck with your selection

[Edward Hamilton]

Thank you for your recommendations. I'll forward a link to this thread. I tend to forget how nice it is to be able to get informed recommendations. Now I understand why this rum forum is becoming so popular.

[Hank Koestner]

After the suggestions of my fellow cigar smokers before me, there is not much to add. I might say a Padilla 1948 or 1968 robusto or torpedo. These cigars are on the medium side of medium to full, should stand well with the spicy finish of the La Favorite Vieux.

[Matusalem]

If it's not a "stateside" issue, I recommend the Bolivar line of the Habanos sort, particularly the Lonsdale, Royal Corona or Petit Corona.

Although pairing (in my limited experience), is always a gamble, per individual, and often each attempt / experience. Duplicating prior experiences doesn't always pan out either. You just never know until you give it try.

[Lew Barrett]

Mat raises another point about cigars, but I don't know that it makes picking them any easier. If there was ever a product that had moods and times and was affected by condition and the moment, the cigar surely must be it. You smoke a cigar from the same batch one day, and it is great, the next time it is disappointing or vice versa as the case may be. You push the box to the back of the humidor, swearing never to smoke that one again, to give them away, or simply to wait until desperation overcomes you, and move on. Curiosity forces you to smoke one a month later, and is if by magic, it tastes as good or better than the first one you enjoyed so much. I have never tasted a cigar so creamy and delicious again as my first Siglo IV, even the ones I picked from the same box at Harrods so many years ago. Cigars are fickle.

[cigar-aficionado]

Cigars often go through a "sick" period when they are quite new and what smokes well on one day will be awful while in this period. It is usually best to leave newer cigars, those that don't already have some age on them, to rest for a while before smoking them and even then try them at regular intervals oy maybe one each month. You can then compare how they improve or mellow out with some time in the humidor.
Strange thing is that most Non Cubans are ready to go straight out of the box so they are often a safer bet for a beginner smoker.
The taste of the cigar is also often greatly influenced by what you are eating or drinking and even whether you are indoors or outdoors. All part of the fun of fine cigars though:)

[Hank Koestner]

Well said, my friends. We all experience the taste flip flop, I am sure. There are so many variables as to what effects taste. The trial and error is all part of the enjoyment.

[Lew Barrett]

.
Strange thing is that most Non Cubans are ready to go straight out of the box so they are often a safer bet for a beginner smoker.

Beginners, once they actually adopt a taste for the leaf, are easily pleased in my memory. At least, this beginner was. Back then I could find the pleasure in everything.

Today I am more demanding. Or developed as the case might be. But to your comment, cigars like Cohiba, with their famed double fermentation, really shouldn't require extra age to sing. Oh, they might sing even more gloriously with additional box time, but apart from a week or two to acclimate to their new home, they should be good to go from the beginning they hit your collection. Sadly, this isn't always the case. Cuba is not beyond rushing production any more than the DR is. In fact, when it comes to QC, other producers have been whooping Cuba of late. I'm shocked myself to be saying this as I have only recently begun to explore other than Habanos again, but I believe it to be the truth. Where the Cubans can't be beat is in their tobacco. The Vuelta Abajo and Pinar del Rio exist nowhere else on the planet. But Cuban quality has not been consistent over the last 10 or 15 years. On the other hand, when was the last time you saw a tobacco beetle in a Honduran cigar? It doesn't happen. Cuban cigars set the standard, but the upstarts have much to recommend them and I believe the great new Cuban releases are at least in part being driven by the stiff competition being offered by other contenders.

Not to say I don't love the Cuban style. They still set the standard; it's just that others have stepped up to the bar.

[Hank Koestner]

Beginners, once they actually adopt a taste for the leaf, are easily pleased in my memory. At least, this beginner was. Back then I could find the pleasure in everything.

Today I am more demanding. Or developed as the case might be. But to your comment, cigars like Cohiba, with their famed double fermentation, really shouldn't require extra age to sing. Oh, they might sing even more gloriously with additional box time, but apart from a week or two to acclimate to their new home, they should be good to go from the beginning they hit your collection. Sadly, this isn't always the case. Cuba is not beyond rushing production any more than the DR is. In fact, when it comes to QC, other producers have been whooping Cuba of late. I'm shocked myself to be saying this as I have only recently begun to explore other than Habanos again, but I believe it to be the truth. Where the Cubans can't be beat is in their tobacco. The Vuelta Abajo and Pinar del Rio exist nowhere else on the planet. But Cuban quality has not been consistent over the last 10 or 15 years. On the other hand, when was the last time you saw a tobacco beetle in a Honduran cigar? It doesn't happen. Cuban cigars set the standard, but the upstarts have much to recommend them and I believe the great new Cuban releases are at least in part being driven by the stiff competition being offered by other contenders.

[Not to say I don't love the Cuban style. They still set the standard; it's just that others have stepped up to the bar.]

This is as perfectly said as it gets. I have friends who purchase boxes of cuban cigars expecting to have 3 to 5 badly constructed cigars in the box, as I have learned for the most part is true. Still, Cubanos do set the bar.

I am going to start a new thread for the discussion on Padron cigars.

[Lew Barrett]

I had been planning to swap a Punch Punch for some other cigars I had received. They are true vintage cigars, from 1996 based on my note on the box, but I'd parked them in the back of my humidor because the box had a high percentage of sticks with hard spots. Before sending one out, I decided to give them a try again. Tough draw, very uncharacteristic for this vitola, (and some loss of flavor as well, I think) so I opted to ship something else just to avoid any potential disappointment.

And that's what I'm talking about. I took out the old skewer and thrust it into the cigar, which got it back to smokable, and the entire affair ended in a one inch nub that was finally rendered delicious in the last third. But the crappy draw never completely resolved itself, and the cigar burned up the side at the nub, possibly as a result. I've had the same type of experience with many CCs, including Cohiba, Rafael Gonzales lonsdales, even the much vaunted Monte A and Hoyo and Punch doubles. And no, they weren't fakes. Usually Punch Punch are very reliable, and I can't remember ever having a bad Monte 2. But under the circumstances, how many of these do you really get to smoke? If I lived in Spain or Switzerland, I'd bag them and bring them back to the shop, but that's not a possibility here. But as I have said so often.....when they are good.....oh my!

[SuperCorona]

I've found recent production out of Cuba, since '03, to be excellent concerning construction. They also seem to be a little more ready to smoke, without laying them down for 4-5 years. I'll be interested to see how well they age. Just 2 more years to go for the '03s! :)

Back to the original question....I would think a Fuente Sungrown 858 or Anejo 46 would be a nice pairing with the La Favorite Vieux.