Monday 20 April 2020

Just Checking in!

Hi There! Anyone still reading these old posts? If you are, toss me a message!

Mikko

Wednesday 29 March 2017

Happy Birthday

I started this blog 10 years ago. Although now silent - Happy birthday to Worldofcigarblog.com!

Thursday 8 January 2015

the Past, the Present and the Future - recap 2014

2014 - A year of mixed feelings revolving around the WorldofCigarsBlog.com.

In the beginning of the year all the way up to end of summer I had time and energy to write reviews, do postings and share knowledge about cigars. Visitors to the site kept on coming and I reached the same level of interest I had back in pre-2012.

Then came August and i had to focus my energy to other things in life, leaving WoCB.com live on its own. Posting only random informational writings until the end of the year. Visitor levels started decreasing and now, at the end of the year, we are back on the level we started 2014.

Some new supporters and sponsors were introduced, some were lost.

Nevertheless, some great cigars were reviewed during the year, i.e.:
  • Cohiba Behike BHK56 - 99 points
  • Cohiba Piramides Extra - 94 points
  • PadrĂ³n 1964 Diplomatico Natural - 96 points
  • Tatuaje Cojonu 2009 - 93 points
  • Partagas Serie E2 - 93 points
  • My Father le Bijou 1922 Gran Robusto - 92 points
I also managed to visualize my reviews and start creating a visualization of the tasting notes (personally thrilled about this!).

2015 - A year of possibilities and uncertainty

As the new year is a few days old i still do not have a clear picture what WoCB.com will be in 2015. I still have tons of other things to manage and trying to balance my time between work and play, passion and mundane (was going to write passion and pain but that is not really how it is).

I cannot promise anything but to keep trying my best to be active with the site and share my passion for cigars. All ideas are welcome and I would love to hear what you would like to see on the site!

Keep on rollin' !

Mikko



Thursday 4 December 2014

Sincere apologies!

Hello all,

i would like to present my sincere apologies to all of you for not being able to post here more often in the past few months. There simply has not been enough hours in a day to allocate any to write here. my job and family are keeping me extremely busy, and as i do not have any extra sleeping hours to sacrifice, i have had to put writing aside for a while.

Please, be assured, that i am not going to stop writing completely and will take a more active approach whenever i again have the time to do that. Please, visit my site time to time to see if any new content has appeared or follow me in facebook to keep updated.




Friday 31 October 2014

Cigars on the go - About travel humidors

 
Traveling with cigars can be a challenge. How do you keep them humidified? How do you protect them from damage? Common methods used in the past included wrapping the cigars in bubble wrap, newspaper, or even socks. Luckily, cigar smokers now have better options with near indestructible travel cases.

The best cigar cases, commonly known as 'travel humidors' are made out of ABS plastic. ABS plastic is an excellent material for protecting cigars due to multiple properties:

  • Heat Resistance: ABS plastic can withstand lasting temperatures up to 100 degrees Celsius.
  • Impact Resistance and Toughness: ABS Plastic is one of the toughest plastics on the market, and twice as strong as the common plastic polypropylene.
  • Odor-Free: ABS Plastic is odor-free, and will not affect the quality of the cigars.
  • Buoyancy: ABS Plastic will float, making it great for trips to the lake or ocean.


When choosing a travel humidor, it is best to choose one made from ABS plastic and has a tight seal, which is necessary to ensure proper humidity. Often times, the cases will come with a built in foam humidifier, although you can always add your own humidification as well. This tight seal can also cause some difficulty when traveling via airplane, as the pressurization can make the case difficult to open. Look for travel cases that have a pressure release valve which will counteract this problem, or simply leave a piece of the cigar's cellophane sticking out of the case when you latch it shut. Both of these methods will promise that you can still access your cigars after you have arrived to your destination.


Tuesday 30 September 2014

Flame on! Choosing the Right Butane



Before lighting  your cigar, before even choosing how to light your cigar, you first make a very important decision; what kind of fuel to use in your cigar lighter. The choice seems simple, but further investigation shows just how much choosing the right fuel can affect your cigar smoking experience.

If you light  your cigar with a torch or a soft flame lighter, chances are that you are fueling your lighter with butane. This odorless, pressurized gas is perfect for lighting cigars due to its relatively inexpensive cost and ability to have no affect on the taste of the cigar, but while there are many choices of butane in the market, not all are the same. In fact, making the wrong choice can severely hamper your ability to light a cigar in the future!

When browsing butane choices, you will notice that many claim to be refined two, three, or even five times. Refining is an industrial process of removing impurities from a material, in this case removing the impurities from the butane gas. It makes logical sense that the more you refine a material, the cleaner, or more pure, that material gets.  However this is not the whole story, although many producers will try to sell it to you as such. The refinement is only as good as its end result, the amount of impurities left after the refinement process. This number is usually expressed as PPM or Parts Per Million. This final number is the one you want to look for. For example, a butane with impurities of 15 PPM is cleaner than a butane with impurities of 30 PPM.

You may ask yourself, "Does 15 PPM more of impurities really make a difference? Especially if I can save some money?!" The answer is a resounding yes. The problem with a cheap and impure butane comes after filling your cigar lighter, some of which are quite expensive. An impure butane will, over time, leave residue and particulate within your cigar lighter. Many of the mechanisms within a quality cigar lighter are small and very liable to get clogged with this residue, causing the lighter to cease operation. The most likely place for the impurities to cause problems is within the burner, which is responsible for transporting the butane to its ignition point. Without a steady, regular flow of butane gas to the ignition, you will have very little chance of a consistent flame!

magnified look at impurities

more magnified impurities

It is easy to see how choosing a cheap, impure butane can actually cost you more money over time. In summary, when choosing a butane to fuel your lighter, look for the number of impurities per million on the can and avoid being trapped by the marketing gimmick of "Refined 5 Times!".
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Friday 22 August 2014

Cigar tasting @ KirjaClub - Bespoke Cigars


The largest cigar club/private lounge in Helsinki, the KirjaClub, was honored to host a cigar tasting presented by Jeremy Casdagli from Bespoke Cigars. During the event, we received a great brief on the history and philosophy behind the brand and the Casdagli family.


The cigars sampled at the event were of a great blend of tobacco from various sources blended together by no one else than  Hendrik Kelner Jr of the famous Kelner family of Master blenders at the KBF factory, Santiago, Dominican Republic. We had the pleasure to smoke the Bespoke Grand Cafe and Cotton tail. Both very good cigars. 



I intent to write more about the brand and the cigars in the future, so this is just a little teaser of the upcoming. Good things are worth the wait. Meanwhile visit www.bespokecigar.com for more info.






Thursday 21 August 2014

Review - Toscano Classico - 90/100

 
It is time for my first review of the Toscano cigars - one of many more to come. Previously i released a post on the Toscano cigars and their history. If you missed it, here is a link:

http://www.worldofcigarsblog.com/2014/06/toscano-tradition-and-history-since-1818.html

Now, to the review: Toscano Classico

The Toscano cigars (including Classico) are a tradition by itself. The cigar is a slim, uniquely shaped perfecto (open from both ends). and has a dark, rustic wrapper filled with lumps and veins. It has been hand rolled to the same shape for nearly two centuries and i don't even start comparing it to any other cigars reviewed here so far.

The cigar is completely made of Kentucky fire cured tobacco and gives out a musty, earthy and sweet tobacco fragrance when unlit. When lit, the first draws (although very tight) reveal a flavor profile matching the initial fragrance - musty, sweet tobacco with some spice and pepper on the tongue.

The draw quickly opens up after just a few draws and reveals the full nature of the cigar. With a great consistency throughout the cigar, the flavor profile is that of mentioned above, slightly developing in body and strength towards the end (medium to full). The finish is peppery.

The bottom line? Absolutely a cigar worth experiencing. A great reminder of the old world, where cigars were a bit more unique and did not have that shiny, immaculately smooth looks.

The rating here is a bit tricky. Parts to the cigar, parts to the experience - just because i feel like i have to rate it to fit the form of the previous reviews. Not to mention, that i felt like Clint Eastwood in one of his spaghetti western movies. Yep, he smoked Toscano Cigars.


Origin : Italy

Wrapper : Italian fire cured Kentucky
Binder : No binder
Filler : Italian and american fire cured Kentucky

Points: 90/100