Who enjoys 60 ring gauge cigars?
- Thread starter Pipefighter572
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I finished smoking the Alec Bradley 1995 in Gordo and quite frankly it was delicious.
There is an initial discomfort with the size but you quickly adapt. It was slightly uncomfortable taking draws since it was so much larger than a 54 or 56 ring gauge but once you get it dialed in you completely get over it. The Gordo truly dwarfs even large 54 and 56 ring gauge cigars.
Here's it next to a Ghurka War pig Toro (6 x 54), Torano loyal robusto (5 x 56), AB Black market robusto (5.25 x 52), and a Nica Puro that is a normal sized Robusto (5 x 50).
It dwarfs the very large Torano loyal robusto.
And even the chunky Gurkha War Pig looks slim next to it. The picture doesn't do it justice.
Holding it was never uncomfortable and over time you would forget that you even had it in your hand.
There is also a learning curve to figuring out how best to smoke the cigar to get the best flavor. It took me 30 minutes or so but once i got the draw length, puff and purge rate down it was a great smoking experience.
I hate to break it to the purist but smoking a Gordo is very much akin to smoking a small ring gauge cigar. Purging is essential and you have to get the temperature of the burn correct to get the best flavor. Once you get the hang of it, wow Gordo's are quite complex depending on how you choose to smoke it (i.e. temperature control). Its like smoking completely different cigars depending on how cool or hot you smoke it. You have to very the amount of draws, how quickly you take puffs, the length of the draw and purge purge purge. Once you get right it's yummy.
I smoked it down to a nub and the 2 hours and 13 minutes were well worth it.
There is an initial discomfort with the size but you quickly adapt. It was slightly uncomfortable taking draws since it was so much larger than a 54 or 56 ring gauge but once you get it dialed in you completely get over it. The Gordo truly dwarfs even large 54 and 56 ring gauge cigars.
Here's it next to a Ghurka War pig Toro (6 x 54), Torano loyal robusto (5 x 56), AB Black market robusto (5.25 x 52), and a Nica Puro that is a normal sized Robusto (5 x 50).
It dwarfs the very large Torano loyal robusto.
And even the chunky Gurkha War Pig looks slim next to it. The picture doesn't do it justice.
Holding it was never uncomfortable and over time you would forget that you even had it in your hand.
There is also a learning curve to figuring out how best to smoke the cigar to get the best flavor. It took me 30 minutes or so but once i got the draw length, puff and purge rate down it was a great smoking experience.
I hate to break it to the purist but smoking a Gordo is very much akin to smoking a small ring gauge cigar. Purging is essential and you have to get the temperature of the burn correct to get the best flavor. Once you get the hang of it, wow Gordo's are quite complex depending on how you choose to smoke it (i.e. temperature control). Its like smoking completely different cigars depending on how cool or hot you smoke it. You have to very the amount of draws, how quickly you take puffs, the length of the draw and purge purge purge. Once you get right it's yummy.
I smoked it down to a nub and the 2 hours and 13 minutes were well worth it.
Haha! I understand. I don't smoke Gurkha's regularly...but I do enjoy the Warpig and Ghost on occasion. And with all this big rg talk - it put them front of mind and I knew I had some in storage somewhere!#ghurkahaters
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#hatersneedtaspellcheck
Us Jodys have to stick together, lol. Just finished one of these fatties myself. I really like the taste of these and the smoke they put off smells really good to me. Kind of like a dark fried tobacco barn on a fall morning. Reminds me of when I was a kid riding the bus to school and we would pass several barns firing tobacco on the way to school.
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Kids today probably don't get that in Kentucky anymore do they - subsidies took care of that when they dried up... What the hell are people doing in Eastern Kentucky these days for work anyway. No tobacco, no coal... pretty hard hit area.
Meth
I live in western KY and there are a few dark fire barns still around here that fire up every fall but what has happened around here is that most all of the smaller farmers have sold their tobacco base to the bigger farmers. So, instead of hundreds of barns in each county firing tobacco every fall you only have a small fraction of that amount doing it now. When I was a kid you couldn't go two miles down any country road without seeing a barn with smoke rolling out of it and smelling that great smell in the fall.
As far as eastern KY @xjsnake has it about right! Meth! Lol
As far as eastern KY @xjsnake has it about right! Meth! Lol
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You may be right. I hope @NPLopez don't mind if I post his response when I asked him the same thing. It is a good detailed response and it just wouldn't be right for me to keep it all to myself. So, without further ado here it is......
"Purging is basically when you lightly blow out any residual smoke, soot, and tar build up. Its the reverse of taking a draw. Instead of pulling smoke through from the cherry to your mouth you reverse the flow and instead force out the soot and tar build up through the foot.
It's best to point the cigar upwards at an angle while you do it so that you don't get a face full of the expelled foot smoke. i.e. your face and the cigar should be angle upwards at a 45 degree angle or so. Gently but consistently blow through the cigar for 3-5 seconds. You can purge however many times you wish or feel necessary to improve the finish; multiple purges won't cause any problem unless you have a hurricane force purge that disintegrates the cherry.
Purging can be necessary when you smoke a cigar at a high temperature like when you smoke too fast or its a small ring gauge where its extremely easy to over heat it. Usually during smoking the first third doesn't require any purging but the second third and especially the last third it can be necessary. The tell-tale sign of when you should purge is when you start to get an ashy flavor in your mouth.
I hope that is understandable and answers your question."
Thanks again @NPLopez
So, without further ado here it is......"Purging is basically when you lightly blow out any residual smoke, soot, and tar build up. Its the reverse of taking a draw. Instead of pulling smoke through from the cherry to your mouth you reverse the flow and instead force out the soot and tar build up through the foot.
It's best to point the cigar upwards at an angle while you do it so that you don't get a face full of the expelled foot smoke. i.e. your face and the cigar should be angle upwards at a 45 degree angle or so. Gently but consistently blow through the cigar for 3-5 seconds. You can purge however many times you wish or feel necessary to improve the finish; multiple purges won't cause any problem unless you have a hurricane force purge that disintegrates the cherry.
Purging can be necessary when you smoke a cigar at a high temperature like when you smoke too fast or its a small ring gauge where its extremely easy to over heat it. Usually during smoking the first third doesn't require any purging but the second third and especially the last third it can be necessary. The tell-tale sign of when you should purge is when you start to get an ashy flavor in your mouth.
I hope that is understandable and answers your question."
Thanks again @NPLopez
Use the search bar at the top and type purging. Then Google it. I am not a scientist, and definitely not an expert, but I think the whole conversation is about as fruitful as whether the 9mm, .40 and .45acp is the best caliber to use for self-defense.You may be right. I hope @NPLopez don't mind if I post his response when I asked him the same thing. It is a good detailed response and it just wouldn't be right for me to keep it all to myself.
"Purging is basically when you lightly blow out any residual smoke, soot, and tar build up. Its the reverse of taking a draw. Instead of pulling smoke through from the cherry to your mouth you reverse the flow and instead force out the soot and tar build up through the foot.
It's best to point the cigar upwards at an angle while you do it so that you don't get a face full of the expelled foot smoke. i.e. your face and the cigar should be angle upwards at a 45 degree angle or so. Gently but consistently blow through the cigar for 3-5 seconds. You can purge however many times you wish or feel necessary to improve the finish; multiple purges won't cause any problem unless you have a hurricane force purge that disintegrates the cherry.
Purging can be necessary when you smoke a cigar at a high temperature like when you smoke too fast or its a small ring gauge where its extremely easy to over heat it. Usually during smoking the first third doesn't require any purging but the second third and especially the last third it can be necessary. The tell-tale sign of when you should purge is when you start to get an ashy flavor in your mouth.
I hope that is understandable and answers your question."
Thanks again @NPLopez
I have some Caldwell Murcias in two different vitolas, a 52rg torpedo and a 60rg gordo. I've smoked a few of the torpedoes, and just finished my first of the gordos just now. The gordo got off to a much slower start (and the torpedo is a slow starter itself). Then after an inch or so i couldn't differentiate the flavors between the two. Getting into the second half, I noticed a little more strength compared to the thinner torpedo. The gordo was more medium+ compared to the light medium torpedo. Similar flavor profile, but with a little more body. The torpedo I'd describe as hot chocolate with melted marshmallow, and the gordo was more dark chocolate cake. I like them both, but prefer the richer flavors in the gordo in this particular blend. However, I didn't care for the last third as much, as the finish just want as clean. Could've been that I want smoking it properly, or maybe just more tar build up or something. Overall I like them both equally, though.
Hell, everyone knows the .45 rules!! Haha!
Here's my thoughts on how to get the best flavor out of a cigar and why purging is a useful technique to know:
The most important thing in enjoying a cigar is figuring out the perfect draw pull and puff rate to reach the optimum burn temperature to generate large amounts of smoke. In my experience, more smoke equals more flavor. For that to happen the tobacco has to reach a sufficiently high combustion temperature that burns enough tobacco to generate a large amount of smoke to fill your mouth. That's why i believe small ring gauges are so popular. Its incredibly easy to produce billows of smoke due to how well they burn. All that smoke equals tons of flavor.
In my opinion, the amount of smoke generated is really the only thing that can dramatically increase the flavors produced. Lots of people blab about retro haling but that is akin to missing the forest for the trees. When you eat food or drink liquids you don't retro hale consciously yet aromas still reach your sinus cavity. The same thing happens when you smoke a cigar (small amounts of the smoke reach your sinus cavity without you even being aware of it). Its ridiculous how people are told that if you retro hale you will enjoy a cigar more. I find that it only dries out and destroy your sinus. i.e too much smoke in the sinus is counter productive. You can never have too much smoke in your mouth on the other hand. I would love to see someone try retro haling their morning coffee to try and improve the flavor experience.
Purging is only a relatively minor technique in comparison to increasing smoke production. Its basically a minor way of counteracting the negative impact of your cigar overheating (i.e. it can help cure a minor amount of over heating). Sometimes, its not possible to smoke a cigar in a way that prevents over heating while still generating large amounts of smoke. Purging is only really useful if the overheating is minor and unavoidable. If your cigar taste like an ashtray, its pretty much always excessive overheating of your cigar. It pretty much only happens in the last two thirds of the cigar unless you're smoking in a sauna or you're a mad puffer. Slowing down your puff rate or resting you cigar longer can sometimes fix the decline of the flavors due to overheating. Sometimes that's just not possible and purging is a useful technique that can alleviate that problem to a certain point. If it doesn't help then its either toss the cigar at that point or start messing with the RH that you store your cigars at...
I could go on and speculate about how RH and ambient temperature impacts the smoke production but then i'd be entering into essay territory and no one wants to read more than a 1-2 paragraphs
.Thanks again for taking the time and going into such detail and explaining this for those of us that didn't know what purging was. Now go smoke a good cigar, you've earned it.Here's my thoughts on how to get the best flavor out of a cigar and why purging is a useful technique to know:
The most important thing in enjoying a cigar is figuring out the perfect draw pull and puff rate to reach the optimum burn temperature to generate large amounts of smoke. In my experience, more smoke equals more flavor. For that to happen the tobacco has to reach a sufficiently high combustion temperature that burns enough tobacco to generate a large amount of smoke to fill your mouth. That's why i believe small ring gauges are so popular. Its incredibly easy to produce billows of smoke due to how well they burn. All that smoke equals tons of flavor.
In my opinion, the amount of smoke generated is really the only thing that can dramatically increase the flavors produced. Lots of people blab about retro haling but that is akin to missing the forest for the trees. When you eat food or drink liquids you don't retro hale consciously yet aromas still reach your sinus cavity. The same thing happens when you smoke a cigar (small amounts of the smoke reach your sinus cavity without you even being aware of it). Its ridiculous how people are told that if you retro hale you will enjoy a cigar more. I find that it only dries out and destroy your sinus. i.e too much smoke in the sinus is counter productive. You can never have too much smoke in your mouth on the other hand. I would love to see someone try retro haling their morning coffee to try and improve the flavor experience.
Purging is only a relatively minor technique in comparison to increasing smoke production. Its basically a minor way of counteracting the negative impact of your cigar overheating (i.e. it can help cure a minor amount of over heating). Sometimes, its not possible to smoke a cigar in a way that prevents over heating while still generating large amounts of smoke. Purging is only really useful if the overheating is minor and unavoidable. If your cigar taste like an ashtray, its pretty much always excessive overheating of your cigar. It pretty much only happens in the last two thirds of the cigar unless you're smoking in a sauna or you're a mad puffer. Slowing down your puff rate or resting you cigar longer can sometimes fix the decline of the flavors due to overheating. Sometimes that's just not possible and purging is a useful technique that can alleviate that problem to a certain point. If it doesn't help then its either toss the cigar at that point or start messing with the RH that you store your cigars at...
I could go on and speculate about how RH and ambient temperature impacts the smoke production but then i'd be entering into essay territory and no one wants to read more than a 1-2 paragraphs
Jody