Ho! Ho! Holy shit! It’s the Tuesday after Christmas and your inebriated friends in the TNCC have a very special present for you. Forget family, forget taking stock of your blessings, forget EVERYTHING that you thought would bring you happiness this holiday season. If you were genuinely happy, you wouldn’t be here now, with us, and we both know it. Having said that, prepare yourself for one hell of a good time.
“I can’t decide if I just peed myself out of fear or laughter…”
Tut
I’m not going to guarantee that you’ll piss yourself over the next 3 hours but it’s highly possible. So press “PLAY” at the bottom of this page and lose yourself in this sweat-soaked tidal wave of hardbodied insanity that we like to call The Tuesday Night Cigar Club.
THE CIGARS – DUNBARTON TOBACCO & TRUST
UMBAGOG BRONZEBACK
TNCC Final Score = 91
Size: 5 x 48 (rothschild)
Wrapper: Connecticut broadleaf
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $9.75 (while all of tonight’s samples were submitted for review, please remember when purchasing your Dunbarton cigars from Famous Smoke Shop to use your new favorite promo code TNCC20 at checkout where it will knock $20 off your purchase of $100 or more)
From Dunbarton’s Steve Saka, we get this background information on this cigar:
“This is a long filler Umbagog liga, but with a “2LS” Connecticut Broadleaf capa. “2LS” is a designation for the leaves typically situated between the 1/3 to 1/2 mark on the stalk, they sit beneath what is called the “Mediums”. This section of the plant produces wrapper with a different hue and flavor profile. Their color will vary from a paler brown to that classic maduro hue, but there is really no way to know until you bulk in the pilones. Whether lighter or darker, the flavor is the key difference – rather than be that those classic sweet, earthy and cocoa notes exhibited by broadleaf, the 2LS leaves typically give the smoker a slightly less sweet, but significantly more peppery smoking experience. There was a brand from 80’s & 90’s (Henry Clay) that used this 2LS capa exclusively and it was one of my favs. So I am excited to bring this alternative broadleaf flavor profile back to the market.”
Tonight, Tut will be the ultimate judge who either validates Saka’s excitement and enthusiasm for this new cigar or he’ll be the one who drops the truth hammer and shatters all of Steve’s aspirations and demolishes the poor guy’s nostalgic wet dreams of Henry Clay’s glory days… no pressure, Tutster, you got this! Tut immediately picked up on a smell of “tobacco” after sliding the toothy Bronzeback from its cello, quickly followed by aromas of hay and a “lovely tea note”. (Editor’s Note: My experience with the Bronzeback was that it delivered a “lovely pepper blast up my fucking nose” before I even lit the damn thing on fire). Upon ignition, Tut described the rustic cigar as pepper forward but not “a pepper bomb” that he couldn’t handle. As the smoking experience continued, Tut also detected nuts in his nose. Nothing new there, am I right? Actually he described a nutty “cashew but not hard cashews” note developing under the spice via the retrohale. I predicted 10 years ago that our last show would somehow involve nuts in Tut’s mouth, not his nose, so it looks like I was wrong. He also revealed a “leather but not Indiana Jones jacket leather rather more of a hard, vegan, heavily dyed leather” flavor on the draw that would later be joined by a piney woodsiness. Full body, full strength, full awesomeness.
STILLWELL STAR AROMATIC NO. 22
TNCC Final Score = 91
Size: 6 x 52 (toro)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian habano
Binder: Mexican San Andrés negro
Filler: Cavendish burley & Virginia pipe tobaccos, Nicaraguan
Price: $15.95
Pipe tobacco blended in a cigar? Whaaaat? The StillWell Star Aromatic No. 22 was originally released two years ago as Dunbarton’s limited holiday offering, then called the StillWell Star LE Holiday Y2022. The blend was so successful that it has now been rebranded as the Aromatic No. 22. The only StillWell stick that we’ve officially covered is the Aromatic No. 1 which was memorable for its Vanilla Coke and dark chocolate notes. So, was Yak Boy in for a similar treat tonight? The answer is yes. After describing an incredibly sweet, chocolate-heavy cold draw, the Aromatic No. 22 treated Yaks to a warm inviting spice joined by vanilla through the nose, while sweet milk chocolate and soft leather headlined the draw. This new addition to the StillWell Star line left Yak’s palate a bit dry throughout the smoking experience but luckily he was able to find an entire cooler filled with beers nearby. Problem solved!
SIN COMPROMISO SELECCIÓN NO. 4
TNCC Final Score = 93
Size: 5 x 54 (box-pressed robusto extra)
Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés negro Cultivo Tonto
Binder: Ecuadorian habano-seed
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $17.95
Way back in late 2018 when Dunbarton first released the Sin Compromiso brand, Steve Saka wasn’t happy with any of the test blends he had cooked up in the always-popular robusto size so he just left that vitola out of the brand’s portfolio for the time being while vowing not to release a robusto in the Sin Compromiso blend until he was happy with it. Skip ahead to 2024 and he’s finally happy with it. Here’s what we had to say about the No. 5 when we first reviewed it back in 2018:
“Full bodied while never teetering beyond the low side of medium strength, the Sin Compromiso is just a smooth, lushy, silky, unique motherfucker.”
With A+ tobacco analysis like that, it’s no wonder our expert opinions are held in such high regard. Well, back to reality, the cream dream that’s Sin Compromiso No. 5 was our #4 cigar of 2018 so the No. 4 has some big shoes to fill for sure…
The Sin Compromiso Selección No. 4 featured prelight aromas of both cedar (yes, smartass, I took the cedar sleeve off the cigar) and a leather couch (real leather not vegan). After experiencing a cold draw comprised of a combination of floral and dry hay, it was time to light up. Dark chocolate medium roast coffee, and heavy whipping cream all present themselves immediately via the draw. The cigar features very little in the way of peppery spice through the nose which is refreshing, although a mild white pepper accompanied by dried flowers and green tea does drop into the Sin Compromiso Selección No. 4’s profile around the halfway mark. I say a lot more about this smooth, elegant cigar but you’ll have to tune in to the show below to get the full picture…
It’s worth mentioning that all 3 Dunbarton cigars featured excellent construction from start to finish
THE BOOZE
Seeing as how tonight was a very special occasion, I took the leashes off the boys and told them to not be concerned with making thematic film/cigar pairings when selecting their booze for the show. My only directive was for them to pick something that would make them happy. So above is a visual representation of what we all drank and if you want to learn our thoughts on any of the hootch, well, you’re going to have to watch or listen to the show below. It’s about time you started doing some of the work around here.
THE FIRE PIT
We cover a wide array of topics during tonight’s Fire Pit session including but not limited to:
Larping
“Jaws 2” (novelization)
“The Future Was Now” (nonfiction)
“Below” (film, 2023)
“Shark Island” (film, 2024)
“Bull Shark 2” (film, 2024)
“Longlegs” (film, 2024)
“Stewardess School” (film, 1986)
“Paradise Motel” (film, 1985)
“Tracker” (TV series)
“High Potential” (TV series)
THE FILM – EXPEND4BLES (2024)
The “film’s” “screenplay” was written by a bunch of dudes, the one guy who will give you an idea of what you’re in store for here is Kurt Wimmer who wrote both the useless Total Recall and Point Break remakes. Expend4bles was directed by someone named Scott Waugh who’s only directorial credit I recognized was 2014’s video game adaption Need For Speed which was about street racing not Tut’s brutal amphetamine addiction while out on the Travis Tritt tour in the 90s. All of this shows you – with this stellar creative team – just how much pride and care they were willing to put in to the Expendables franchise for the 4th entry… that is – none, no care or pride whatsoever. Talk about “The Unreliables”, these guys are it!
If you told me back in 2010 that we would get a new Expendables movie that put me to literal sleep, I’d tell you to fuck off with all that negative noise. But here we are 14 years later and I literally passed out unconscious while watching Expendables 4. Cartoony action sequences, video game quality (and that’s being generous) visual effects… this sucker sucked on every level. I watched a “Making Of” featurette on YouTube where the director is bragging about how he likes to shoot everything practical, keep things on set as real as possible, and I’m thinking to myself “WHAT FUCKING GODDAMN BIZARRO WORLD AM I LIVING IN? The whole thing looked more artificial than that long-haired wig Dolph Lundgren wore the entire movie.
THE NUB
Y’all need to remember that real gangsta-ass podcasters don’t flex nuts ‘cause real gangsta-ass podcasters know they got ’em. Having said that, please leave us comments on the YouTube episode page and subscribe while you’re there, provide us with a review on iTunes, or be a real stud and do both! French composer Philippe Leroux has said that every great, memorable piece of music needs that one “moment of madness” and I think it’s safe to say that we’ve had at least 169 of those moments over the last ten years… if not ten times that many. It’s been a fun ride for sure.
Below is tonight’s full episode for both your viewing and listening pleasure. Thank you for checking out The Tuesday Night Cigar Club. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather, sayonara motherfuckers, the end.
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