Wine Country Cigars

Had a wonderful road trip out to the Texas Wine Country and visited one of my favorite wineries, Siboney Cellars. Siboney is located on Highway 290 between Johnson City and Fredericksburg Texas, closer to Johnson City. They make very good wine but they also have a cigar club. One of the owners has family roots in Cuba and has contracted with A J Fernandez to put together some very nice sticks. So not only are we members of their wine club, but I am also a member of their cigar club.

They have a Maduro, a Habano and a Connecticut, and this time I got the Connecticut. I find that many Connecticut’s are a bit too mild for me and I typically like the variety referred to many times as a Habano because it is not as strong as the Maduro [which I normally find a bit strong for me]. I have recently discovered some Connecticut’s that are packed with flavor and the Siboney is one of them. I have smoked it the last couple of evenings, once with wine and once without. Both times very enjoyable.

It has an Aganorsa Leaf wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler. The stick is a Lonesdale measuring 6 inches with a 44 ring gauge. It did not require a relight and had a good even burn and a easy draw. It delivered plenty of smoke for a 44. When I asked my wife to nose it, she got Leather, good rich finely tanned leather. My response to nosing it surprised me. I often nose a cigar [see separate post to encourage you to develop the art of nosing your cigar before you light it], I often sort of default to Barn Yard or Barn or Stable Floor, all in a positive manner as these have specific childhood memories for me. But this stick threw me; I got Feed Store! You know when you are in a small country town and there is one big, old feed store where you can get most anything—they have a unique aroma and this stick took me to that kind of place! Go figure. That is why you need to learn to NOSE!

So one lesson learned here is to not be led astray by the general rule that Conneticut’s are always going to be so mild that they won’t have much flavor. I think cigar makers are getting more creative in their selection of binder and fillers and we are benefiting with some milder yet still very tasty stick.

Try it out!

Enjoy!