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Sweet Jane at Blue Torch

I liked the Blue Torch so much that I decided to stay for another cigar and smoke it.   I didn’t want anything too heavy as I was still feeling the Fuego Verde, so I opted to browse in the humidor they have at the bar for flavored and sweeter options.  I settled on a Sweet Jane, as my friends had gotten it earlier and it smelled quite nice.  This cigar had also been recommended to me at the Heights Cigar Shop, so I figured I was due to try it.

Sweet Jane

The Sweet Jane is not a flavored or infused cigar, so I’m not sure why Blue Torch had it in that humidor.  The sweetness is somehow magically eked from the tobacco leaves themselves, so it’s not a sugary smoke in any way.  The cigar ring is reminiscent of classic tattoos, and the cigar smells of chocolate and coffee aromas with the mild tobacco.   What makes this cigar work for me is that Maduro wrapper that ads that layer of darkness that I love so much.

After being lit, the coffee and chocolate nuances are stronger, and the tobacco is nice and mellow without being too light or too dark.   At the midpoint, there’s a tiny bit of a vanilla essence going on, but the stick remains mostly mocha-like with a solid tobacco flavor.  This cigar smokes comfortably smokes in about 40 minutes, and the draw is easy and smooth.  A nice foot for the size of the cigar.

Sweet Jane foot

This was the perfect Cigar-after-a-Cigar that I needed to round out my evening.  I had this with the Merlot, and I would think that this cigar would also go well with just about any beverage.  I might get more to have for an after work smoke as this was simply a nice easy going stick.

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Light of Ybor at and by King Corona Cigars

This past Sunday, my friends and I opted to take our Cigar Sunday to the shelter of King Corona Cigars in Ybor.  As it is officially Hurricane Season, the Sunshine state has a penchant to have a thunder storm at least once a day, making smoking on a patio a risky affair.    This time around, King Corona was fully operational and complete with power for beverages and the lounge televisions showing a variety of sports shows and news.  Now I feel like I can give this cafe/lounge some justice that it has rightly deserved as a gem within Tampa for those that enjoy a good place to smoke a cigar.  This view is from the middle of the lounge area.  What sets King Corona apart from other places is that it is also a cafe.  The food is prepared in an area separate from the lounge and is really very delicious.  Another reason to try this establishment.

This time, I opted to try a cigar I hadn’t tried before.  I browsed quite a bit because the humidor has such goodies in it, but I felt that it was high time for me to try one of King Corona’s own, the Light Of Ybor.    I had this with a glass of house merlot and a cup of water.

Unwrapping this from it’s white tissue felt like unwrapping a gift.  The wrapper of this cigar is a tawny Ecuador leaf and surrounding an aromatic Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers.  The aroma of the unlit cigar had hints of vanilla, but smelled mostly of leather and coffee.    After it was lit, this had a similar creaminess to the H. Upmann, but not as heavy on the draw.  It also smoked as a coffee/leather combo with only a hint of sweetness to it.

The draw of the cigar is extremely easy, and made for developing a nice foot on the end.   While the leathery coffee smoke got heavier at the middle, it toned down at the end.  The end of this stick was more of a light vanilla with coffee and actually a refreshing way to round out the cigar.   I would recommend smoking this with a coffee, a black tea, whiskey, and it was tasty with my wine, too.   I would even go so far as to recommend this as an excellent beginner cigar for someone who wants to start down the path of the leaf.