Hey look at me getting my blog posts done in the timeframe that I should be, yes VerSEANica there is a Santa Claus.
So what a great week or in regards to the ying/yang style that I lead my life. On the goodness/angel shoulder - getting some great fitness in; on the Sithside/devil shoulder - getting some great cigars in the mail and getting the chance to share one with my bro.
So lets start with the snow storm herf!
My brother and I both subscribe to the same mail order cigar service, and it being my brothers first package decided it would be cool if we smoked the first one together on skype or FB chat. He lives in Japan so we were already challenged with the 13 hour time difference, but undaunted we scheduled a time on the weekend to smoke.
What I didnt take into consideration were two things. One its Nova Scotia in the winter time. So all bets are off when it comes to the weather, really minute to minute it can change, and usually never for the good. The other thing was that I dont smoke cigars in the house. It is a house rule, but more for me its my rule. Smoking a cigar every now and again is something I as an adult is choosing to do. My kids dont need to suffer those choices.  Many of us growing up in the 80s lived in houses with smoking parents, I did, and I was not a fan of the cigarette smoke back then. Trying to get homework assistance through clouds of smoke was a particular hatered of mine. So its outside for each one. 
So that being said, that means that I would have to be outside and close enough to the house to get our wifi signal. So that means no cigar nook as it probably the furthest point from the house. SO that means that I would have to sit out on the desk at the closest point to the house in the unprotected elements. No problem.
Okay, small problem. It was snowing like a bastard out the morning we planned on going online.
Hmmmm okay, time to click on the MacGuyver side of my brain and figure this out. Okay so my ipad has a stand to prob itself up, and if I fold a chair cushion over top of it, it would hold it up and the cushion would act like a roof for the ipad. 
Yeah this will totally work.
So about an hour before we planned our online herf, I got all bundled up, shoveled myself out of the house, cleaned up the stairs, around the cars and of course the cigar nook and then started setting my little herf station ( pictured in the middle above), and away we went.
We choose the Casa Magna from the cigar saveur box to start. I thought it was a good medium flavored cigar that really pairs nicely with anything that my brother might be having, for me, at 830am it was coffee in a thermal mug....i swear it was! 
We got online and lit up. It was pretty hilarious and it reminded me of the time we recently had in the summer when he was home and at the cottage. We got to catch up and have a laugh, strangely we did have some tech issues and the call was dropped occasionally. But I guess using house wifi outside in a snow storm will do that haha. Regardless it was a great smoke, made a million times better because I got to share it with my brother. 
In terms of the cigar, it lit well, it did burn fast through the first third, but my brother pointed out something that I kind of knew, I am a fast smoker. I burned through mine at a lot faster rate then he did. It makes sense, because when I was scuba diving, I would tend to suck through my air tank alot faster then my friends, air pig I believe they affectionately reffered to me haha.
But it did slow down throught the rest of it. I enjoy Casa Magna line alot, regardless of vitole they are well constructed and burn nicely.
We have decided to try this again when ever we get a new box, to smoke the first one together online. Sounds good now, see how I am digging that in January/February hahaha.
Next up was a Rocky Patel 20th Anniversary Natural and a Bah Humbug Christmas Ale from Wychwood Brewery. Holy crap did i enjoy this combo. I have not had many Rocky Patel cigars, you can get them in most shops that I have been in, in Canada, so the hunger to buy them isnt there because of the availability, so I usually look to buy the hard to find when I am purchasing. 
But this one was suggested to me when I was at Village Cigar Co. in November so I thought what the hay, lets try er out.
Happy I made the buy. It is a box press so I expected it to be a bit longer smoke and it really held up on the time. Really great hits of oaky wood, dark roast coffee and soft spices throughout, went right to the knucks on it, seem to do that alot haha, but really didnt want to put it down.
The Bah Humbug was amazing also. I have never had anything from wychwood before so wasnt sure what to expect, but it was a slightly sweet dark amber beer. It has such a balance of sweet and bitter flavor that it went perfectly with the cigar. It being in a larger bottle didnt hurt either as I tend to run out of the beverage before the cigar most times, but these started and ended at the same time. Easily drinkable on its own, but a great companion for this slightly above medium cigar.
Lastly just wanted to celebrate finally getting and online cigar order to me. Summit Cigars did a killer job in customer service, attention to detail in the shipping and considering customes had my order to me in under 20 days, which is the typical amount of time an online order from Canada will take.
All of the cigars that I ordered, I have never seen in Canada, or at least my part of Canada. Really happy about the whole process, and considering what a fiasco the first 2 attempts were like, this was a real treat. If the constant battering of storms subsides I might actually get to try one haha. Maybe the weekend will give us a break, until then they will have a good little sleep and rest up until called into action.
In case I dont get another post in before Christmas, happy holidays one and all, keep your lighters ready and your cutters sharp.
​Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

So a few pairings in the last couple of weeks. So something mentioned to me by friend of the show Candice Heigh, is that it apprears that it is no longer apt to call this #cigarSunday, more like #cigarEveryday. *Sigh* if only that were true, but sadly I cant afford that. But there is something to the fact that I have been having more then one cigar a week, and most of the time not on Sunday. I guess I have no rebuttal to that save that the further I get into this cigar smoking hobby the more I want to try. I will also say that regardless of weather, it provides me with a moment ( 40-70 min) to sit outside and enjoy the quiet, or a couple of tunes and through technology share the experience with other cigar smokers through the cigarnoise app or the Instagram. So holding myself to one cigar a week is most likely not going to happen anymore. 
Can I justify this change, probably not, but trying to keep it to a mid week smoke and a weekend smoke. Weekday smoke is only available if a 10km run has been accomplished - so could be more then one midweek if I am giving er or none if I am off, weekend smoke is available if target km's have been run for the whole week. Happy to say things are looking good this week!
The pairings the last couple of weeks include:

EP Carrillo Limited Edition 2015 with a Propeller Revolution Stout
So this was a mighty fine pairing. I am getting tired of saying new to me, it will be easier from this point forward I will say if I have had it before, prettly much every cigar is new to me haha. This EP Carrillo came in the November CigarSaveur box. I picked the stout because I thought given the research on the cigar, the stout would not over power the chocolate notes of the cigar and would work well together. Happy to say that was the case. The cigar was very full bodied, and had those great grassy notes of the foot and moved through that to leather and chocolate once lit. It burned really well and the draw was that great middle line of having to pull, but not forcing the smoke through the cigar. Hints of pepper hit in the second third really giving the stout a chance to shine. Very enjoyable outing for these two.

Comacho Conneticut with a Propeller Coffee Porter
As much as the last cigar was great with the stout, the porter on this one stole the show. I should have know better to pair a porter with a great hit of coffee flavor with a conneticut wrapped cigar, but that is why this is fun, the trial and error. I have had this cigar before, and enjoyed it, but I paired it with a very hoppy ale and that worked much better then the porter on this occasion. The porter will be a continued buy for me, I really liked the flavor, and complexity it provided, and I think i may have a better smoking companion for it in the wings, so there may be a take two for this beer pairing. The cigar was okay and just okay. I found this one had a very weezy draw, burned very fast on the first third and really didnt offer up much in comparitive flavor for the porter. Again on its own or with an IPA might be a more successful match. But then I tried to take the band off, ugh not impressed. The wrapper pretty much disintegrated in my hand and could only get a puff or two out of it after that. Really disappointed in the construction, and have not seen that before with any of the Comacho products I have smoked. Curious to know if this has happened to anyone taking a cigar out of a humidified environment fairing quickly into a below zero celcius environment? 
​
Diamond Crown Julius Caesar with 16yr old Lagavulin
So this pairing was the bombdotcom! I dont know if I have hit a pairing this on the money in a while. The JC was so amazing start to finish and Lagavulin, well you really cant go wrong with this dram.
I would call this cigar just over the medium line on its way to full bodied, and was an incredibly smooth smoke throughout. It had a great smoke, draw, and was constructed extremely well. Had it lit for over an hour for sure. Little coffee, some balanced sweet and spice notes, cant say enough about this cigar. In terms of the lagavulin, if you havent had some before, try it, now, run, faster! It has received a lot of noteriety and hype over the last number of years, and as much as you want discount that, it is deserved, I am not a overly smokey scotch lover, but this has just the right amount to add to any cigar experience without overpowering a medium to full cigar. Happy to continue to have this in my cabinet, and at its price point, you better have done something really remarkable for me to share it haha.

Arturo Fuente Grand Reserva with Hibiki Suntory
Have had both of these before, and you really cant ask for a smoother pairing. The blend on the Suntory and the mid bodied flavor of the AFGR was incredible. I wanted to just keep this party going for a while, this is becoming one of my goto pairings for sure. If you havent tried either, get after it, really really good.

Shorty Corojo #3 Gran Habano with a Cappacino from McD's
This was a flyer. I think I got this when my aunt and uncle went to the US a month or so ago, it was not on my list to get, but arrived back just the same. I wanted a quick smoke the other day so when I found this, I thought it was just the right size for what I was looking for and took it out to the cigar nook for a try. For knowing nothing about it, and usually not going for cigars in the shorty or petite sizes I was pleasently suprised. It lit incredibly well, had nice construction great flavor off the hop. A little coffee and leather and a light spice featured throughout. I dont know I would be in a rush to find more, but if they were brought out at a party I would be pretty happy also.

CigarSaveur December Box
OMG!! The box this month is all money. Not only was there a bonus cigar from Alpha Cigar Co. ( almost impossible to find in Canada) there were two other cigars I have really wanted to try, one from Caldwell and one from Drew Estates, plus an Aging Room and a Casa Magna. So pumped to get these lit, but waiting for my brother to get his first ever box/first ever purchased cigars. Its so nice to know my bad habbits are now inspiring others muhuhahahaha!

CigarNoise Coins and App
Okay so this online cigar community that i participte in called Cigar Noise is now producing swag. They have had a notification about this swag for weeks. I have relentlessly been checking the app for the notification to see when the coins and other items would be available. They teased me with 'check back soon' for about two weeks and they finally went live on Wednesday while I was on the radio for our weekly radio show. Panic!!!! After many failed attempts because of my Canadianess, a few emails, I successfully got one purchased. So be prepared in the coming months to see this coin prominately featured in my pairing photos. If you want to join the CigarNoise network - google the website and download the app. Lots of great folks just looking to share thier hobby experiences and a little chirping from time to time. But this has really helped me understand more about cigars, types, vitols, how to keep them fresh, and everything inbetween. There are videos, online cigar smoking video herfs and meet and greets with cigar makers and companies. Very cool. Check it out.

Woah that was long, happy smoking!
​Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan