They keep telling us that we're experiencing an "extreme heat advisory." My response is, we're in Virginia, and it's July. Not to be daunted, we still headed out to the deck on Sunday afternoon, as we often do, for cocktails, snacks, and for me, a cigar.
During our recent travels we had picked up a bottle of Benedictine. For some reason it's harder to get in our area, most of the ABC stores stocking only the Benedictine & Brandy DOM. So we looked for a suitable cocktail to make use of it. The Paper Plane came immediately to mind.
The Paper Plane is a classic and easy to make drink, just four ingredient in equal parts. Add 0.75 oz. of bourbon, 0.75 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice, 0.75 oz. Amaro Nonino, and 0.75 oz. Aperol to a shaker and shake briefly over ice. The drink is strained and poured (typically) into a coupe glass. We prefer the rocks glass for most of pour drinks, so that's what we used. An orange peel is added for a garnish. Another advantage of the Paper Plane as a summer drink is that it's chilled, but not served ice. That minimizes dilution and the amount of condensation on the glass. And it's amazingly refreshing! Random meats, crackers, and nuts made up the hors d’oeuvres part of the table.
The Noble Cigars is a relatively new cigar maker, founded in 2022 and based in Florida. They currently have two cigars, both rolled in Dominican Republic. The Noble Cigars Act Two has been in my humidor about 5 weeks before smoking. Would that be enough time? Let's see . . .
The 6 x 52 Toro is cloaked in a smooth, dark brown Mexican San Andrés wrapper. The innards are listed as simply Dominican. The Noble website describes the cigar as a full-bodied “Doble Ligero." Upon lighting, I get a warm black and chili pepper note right out of the gate. I can feel it on the retrohale as well. The poignant point is it's not harsh, just flavorful. As the cigar warmed, dark fruit, caramel, and chocolate all join the party. All the while, a fun chili note lingers in the background. Chili pepper and chocolate anyone?
The burn on the Noble Cigars Act Two is near perfect, "stacking dimes" is how I've heard this performance described. Even with a break to make another batch of drinks, and long breaks to snack, the cigar never went out.
It's a pleasant experience when I try a totally unknown cigar, and get blown away. I got an enjoyable 90+ minute smoke from the cigar. That was just the right amount of time in the still, humid mid-day heat of the deck. Not even a breeze stirred to carry away the copious smoke.
I purchased a 5-pack of these smokes from Luxury Cigar Club, the only online retailer I've found. There are no listed retailers within 300 miles. At this writing, LCC is out of stock, but I have put in my address to be notified when that changes.
Cheers!
