UFO Cigars

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                                      UFO Cigars

I had selected a cigar and a rum for this month’s pairing, what I was missing was a name and an approach.  The cigar is a “Double Figurado,” also known as “Perfecto” from Alec Bradley Vandal (5.8” x 60) from Honduras.  It is a format defined by having both ends of the cigar rolled to points, it is said that it is of great difficulty for cigar rollers to make.  What is funny about this is that I remember my early years visiting Cuba for the Havano Festival, I attended a cigar-rolling workshop, where all participants were given their own table, complete with materials and tools.  We were tasked with making a regular Habano, I think it was a Julieta N°2, better known as Churchill.  While trying to make it, however, I ended up producing a Double Figurado, something that was supposed to be hard to achieve, yet that’s how it came out on my first attempt, obviously full of imperfections, but a Perfecto to the untrained eye.

Here is some advice for those about to smoke a cigar like this one.  First of all, you may or may not want to make a cut on the foot (the part of the cigar you light up).  If you cut it, you’ll enjoy a better draw from the beginning, but if you don’t cut it you’ll have a more even burn from the start.  On the opposite side of the cigar, the head (the part that touches your mouth), you can also make a cut to improve the draw, or you can leave it intact.  If you don’t cut it from the start, wait until you get to the second third and cut it then: you’ll notice the change in the draw, along with the notes from the cigar, which normally go up in intensity.  These are just a couple of tips that I wanted to share with you, they worked very well for me in this pairing.

Playing with the idea for this pairing, normally when people spot UFOs, some accounts describe the objects as “cigar shaped,” so I thought that if an alien wanted to smoke a cigar, it would be a Perfecto from Alec Bradley.

I had smoked an Alec Bradley cigar before, and it had an intensity close to high.  I then did some reading about this particular cigar and learned that its intensity was between medium and high and while these descriptions can be subjective once we start smoking, I wanted to be prepared and then confirm how close reality is to my expectation.

The cocktail I prepared is a variant of the Manhattan, which I’ve made before with rum.  For this occasion I increased the proportion of Vermouth Rosso, skipped the Angostura Bitters and used Rhum Trois Rivières VSOP from Martinique.  Here is the recipe:

  • 3 oz Trois Rivières VSOP
  • 2 oz Vermouth Rosso

The preparation is simple, it is ideal to have a cocktail shaker but it can also be prepared with a large glass and a lot of ice.  You can garnish the cocktail with orange peel or, in my case, with dehydrated oranges, which I was able to find nearby, both of these options are perfectly acceptable.

Once I started smoking the cigar, I found the first third to be enjoyable, a bit tight, but this was due to the physical shape of the cigar.  The intensity was clearly medium and the notes were characteristic of the geographical origin of the tobacco leaves, which in this case is Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.  The Maduro wrapper had typical tobacco notes, but the intensity was relatively low compared to what I was expecting.  To sum up, the combination of the cocktail, with a well-balanced combination of red and dark fruits paired very well with the tobacco notes at the beginning.

As I got to the second third of the cigar, I made a cut in the “Perilla” (the head of the cigar), increasing the draw and intensifying its notes against those from the cocktail, which come from having a bigger puff.  The key when getting to this stage of the cigar is to maintain the temperature of the cocktail.  If the temperature of your cocktail gets too warm, try drinking it from a Rocks glass, with ice, instead of from a Martini glass.  Use whichever approach works best for your pairing, but keep in mind that if you drink it on the rocks, the cocktail will be more watered-down by the time you get to the last third of the cigar, which can affect the pairing.

It is a simple pairing with a few potential complications.  My cigar was well-rolled and the intensity remained at a medium level during most of the smoking, resulting in a very pleasant session with lingering tobacco notes.  The cocktail can be adjusted, by lowering the volume of Vermouth or by adding a few drops of Bitters at the end, these are all based on personal preference and are at the core of creating a good pairing.

Cheers!

Philip Ili Barake

#GRCigarPairing