Extraordinary Especiales Tasting In Cologne

It was time again to meet up with Frank at the LCDH in Cologne and he invited Jan who invited Michel and I took Andreas along to make it a round-table affair.

Of course each of us took cigars to share with the others – I knew Michel was having a good surprise in store for us but didn’t know the extent of the surprise … it was a truly sensational selection he brought with him.

Andreas and I arrived early after a relaxed 1h45 drive and while waiting for our friends I smoked a Partagas from the Book while Andreas failed with a plugged Cuaba and went for the RA 898 ER Alemania – good choice.

The others arrived on time and the serious smoking began.

Michel had vintage sticks of Davidoff Laguito Nr 1 from ’91, Cohiba Lancero from ’07, Veguero Especiales Nr 1 from ’99 and ERM Grandes de España from ’92.
Had I known in advance that it was going to be a Especiales tasting I’d have brought the Bolivar Especiales Nr 2 as well …. well, next time 🙂

The cigars were exceptional, all of them, incl. the ERM which had a bit of a tight draw.
Most intriguing and elegant tasting. A real pleasure for us all to share these cigars and truly overwhelmed by the aromas and taste of these cigars.

My personal rating would be :

1) Davidoff
2) Veguero
3) Cohiba
4) ERM

After this “special” Especiales tasting I passed MC 520 around. A really good cigar and after all the previous elegance it was a bit like a streetfighter kicking ass.

It was time for a bit of food and in order to keep smoking we just picked up some very good Turkish fare next door and brought it down to the lounge.

Last cigar for me was the ERM ER España Short Robusto passed around by Jan which left a very good impression. Jan also passed around some older Opus X while Andreas gifted us 98′ Bolivar Lonsdales and Frank threw in the RA 898 ER Alemania for good measure.

It was an excellent no BS smoking session among good friends with good cigar talk and good fun. I even received an empty Noellas glass jar that came out of the blue. Merci Marc and Jan !

Had Pitter Heinrichs not closed the door at 8 pm we’d most probably be still there …

Thanks guys – it was a real pleasure !

Nino