So here we are, it is officially Fall. As a cigar smoker I couldnt be more pumped. I have enjoyed my cigars over the summer, sitting in the sun, at times enjoying the beach and a puff, but there is something so much more satisfying to me about being bundled up in a hoodie, with a crisp breeze blowing by, the leaves on the trees slowly starting to change their color to reds, yellows, and orange. Fall is def my favorite time of year.
The last three weeks have been seriously flat out. So it was nice to get the chance to smoke and drink something new. My wife and former sweetheart was in Halifax last week doing her Sheriff thing, but was able to slip away to visit like, the only cigar store in Halifax. Sieverts on Barrington street is the only place I have found in Halifax that has anything different then the few CAO, Don Thomas, R&J etc. I am not complaining about that, and have enjoyed the ones I could get my hands on, but when given the opportunity to get some that I would never find here in Antigonish, you have to take that and run with it.
The staff at Sieverts are always awesome to deal with, yes they know their prices are up there, welcome to Nova Scotia, yes they know they dont have most of the new boutique brands, but they do have a couple that I have been wanting to get for some time. So I created a list of wants, including pictures and descriptions. I was very happy with what was selected for me, 2 Drew Estates Undercrown, 1 Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva, 1 El Centurian from My Fathers Cigars, and 1 Comacho triple maduro. 
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Arnt they purrrtty!
On the drink pairing side I went with a local spirit, from just down the road in Guysborough NS called Sea Fever Rum. I picked the amber, because well, that was all the liquor store had, but they do make other flavors as well. Regardless of lack of selection, I was very happy getting the amber. I prefer Amber rums, to their white or dark counterparts. Amber' s usually provide a good hit of the sweet, with a balanced boozyness. 
For the cigar I decided to go with the My Fathers Cigars - El Centurion. Here are some notes from the website
Staying true to the original blend, Pepin packs the El Centurion with all well-aged Nicaraguan tobaccos. The kicker here is he incorporates the super-unique Sancti Spiritus leaf which morphs this blend into a spicy-sweet beast with notes of pepper and leather. Medium to full in body, El Centurion is tasty right out of the box and after a few months of diligent aging, the real fireworks begin!
So onto the back deck for my first of fall pairing. 
My first thoughts of the cigar were, that it felt like I was smoking a cigarette the draw was so airy. I thought for sure I was going to burn through it in about 5 minutes. It lit well, and immediately had a sweet peppery thing going on. The rum would be great with just about anything, but was incredibly nice with this cigar. Flavor bites of vanilla, caramel and even a touch of salt. This rum is aged in casks by the sea, so not sure if that will actually do anything, but this is a sipping rum, no mix required. Maybe a quick squeeze of lemon or lime to really bring out the citrus but nothing more then that.
The first third of the cigar burned fairly quickly, but it slowed up on the second third. It was almost impossible to keep any ash on it as that crisp new fall wind kept knocking it off, but it did hold on for an inch, inch and half at a time.  The flavor kept getting more robust as I smoked up to the band and the there was almost no acrid taste until almost the end. It was a true knuckle burner. 
I was enjoying the rum so much, i needed a refresher about 2/3 of the way through the cigar. I dont normally do that, so that is a testament to the great taste of the product.
I have two more trips to Halifax in the next month, and one to Hamilton, and yes I already have a cigar shop picked out for that visit. I made contact with Village Cigar Co. over the weekend as they have 2 locations, one in Burlington and one in Oakville. I wanted to know if both stores kept identical inventory or if one was bigger then the other. I am glad i asked because the Oakville location carries 520 types and the Burlington store only 380. So Oakville it will be when I visit in early November.
I am still hesitant to pull the trigger with a US online store again after the fiasco my first purchase turned out to be, but there is one online store in the running. The customer service has been outstanding since I started contacting them a couple of weeks ago.
Its homecoming weekend this week, so going to be a game time decision on if I get a #cigarSaturday or #cigarSunday this week.
Fingers crossed
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

That. Was. A. Week.
So last week was orientation week here at work. A week of events, information sessions, food, and little sleep for those of us dedicated to put on an amazing week for our first year students. This year, like most was very well executed, and the little bumps along the way were only noticed by those of us behind the scenes that would have known there was a bump, so high fives to all involved, none of which will most likely read this haha.
After a long week, no real work outs but many many steps according to my phone, almost 17,000 a day for 4 days in a row, it was time to sit back, start to let the dust settle and finally have a cigar........or two.
On a posting maybe a month or so ago, a high school chum Justin Beaton indicated a fondness for gin, to which I also exclaimed that I had a fondness for gin. There were various posts all subject of our gin enjoyment and discussion around the various local providers of the that spirit in our various geographical regions. He in New Brunswick and I in the Scotia. 
We settled on a gin exchange to which I would send along a bottle from the Pictou County distillery, Nova Scotia Spirit Co. out of Trenton, and he would send me a bottle from NB ( pictured above on the right) Gin Thuya. Luckily for me this bottle found its way to me on the Saturday, so what better way to kick off the end of oweek then a shaken gin martini and a cigar.
The cigar was a CAO Flathead 642. Regular readers will note that I have tried 3 other CAO Flatheads over the course of this blog and have always enjoyed them. This one is similar in shape and design as the others that I have tried and boasts a high content of Nicaraguan leaf, which I also enjoy, but there was something about this cigar that I didnt really like. It lit well, but the draw was very poor. It was like smoking a cigar cigarette. Maybe its the lonsdale style I dont like to be fair it is one of the skinniest cigars I have ever had, but I couldnt help think back to when the gals at my high school in ontario would be out on a smoke break between classes smoking these extra long cigarettes. I am ashamed to say at the time we called them slut sticks, i know, i know, wildly inappropriate, but that is what we called those cigarettes.
The flavour was not really there either, it is a maduro so I guess I expected something more on the stronger side, but I really didnt get that good lip tingle you get from a nice peppery maduro. It also burned quite quickly. For what I paid for it in Canada, it really wasnt worth it, and I will probably stick to the other cigars in the flathead line as I do like those quite a bit. Hey cant win them all.
So the gin was the star of the show for this first round. It has a very smooth flavour and the botenicals that can sometimes overpower in a locally made gin, were in perfect harmony with the alcohol percentage. I hope JB enjoys the gin I sent his way, because the bottle he sent me was spot on, and perfect for a straight up martini.
After a quick supper break it was on to Round 2.
Featured in this round was another new to me beverage the Suntory Whisky Hibiki and a Don Thomas Maduro Presidente. I have had this cigar many times before and it pairs very well with whiskey so I thought I wanted to go with something tried and true with this new whisky. 
The Hibiki Harmony is a blend of 3 different whisky's, the Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita.  I have a bottle of the Yamazaki that my brother bought me a couple of years ago and really enjoy it. I have not yet tried the Hakushu or the Chita. This blend makes for an extremely smooth whisky. It has notes of orange peel and white chocolate, I am not sure if I got the chocolate hit, but I did get the orange. It is strange but it has a great calmness to it. It was a nice mellow whisky, wasnt all in your face with crazy flavors, harmony is a great word for it.
The Don Thomas cigar was as per usual full of all the spice, and leather that I expect when puffing on a maduro cigar. The presidente length is always a fun smoke when you dont have anywhere to be, and I didnt so it was perfect for round 2. The cello was nice and yellow so you know that flavour has had time to mature a bit and I was glad I let this sit for a while before smoking it.
Still not sure of the all the debate around aging cigars, i am way too much of a newb on the subject, but some of the #BOTL and #SOTL on Cigar Noise have some great thoughts on the subject from time to time. If you are a cigar smoker, you really should check out this app. It continues to help me in my search for cigar knowledge. Only drawback is the cigars posted on there will seriously make you consider moving to the states for the availability and pricing. 
Any day you get to have a smoke and a drink, make some clouds and watch some clouds at the end of the a long hard week is a good thing.
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan