I live in the PNW. Although it's not hurricane Matthew blowing through here right now, it is one of our larger storms that we've had in a long time.
Came home from work on Thursday to a dark house. Power lines went down about a half-mile from where I live.
No worries. I live outside of town and am used to this. SIL (not SIR for those who caught my mistake in the picture posts) will be arriving shortly to stay with us for 4 days while she attends a seminar. Wife just finishing up some late nursing rounds and will also be home soon. Dinner needs to be made.
Headlamp on. Ice transferred from garage freezer to fridge to protect the food. (Not sure how long the power outage will be. It's been out for 6 days in the past. I have enough ice to keep the fridge good for a week, if needed.) Fire started in the fireplace. LED lanterns brought into the house. Food prep begins. Range is electric, so I fire up my grill with a side burner. (Outside, under a portico.) Fresh ground pork, fresh rosemary, garlic and a shredded apple make up the burgers. Potatoes are parboiled on the burner, then diced and then fried with more rosemary and garlic. Burgers are grilled to perfection. I even make coffee.
Wife and SIL come home, wet and cold to a warm house, hot food and coffee. Life is good. We eat a great meal while the rain is blown sideways into the windows. We are warm. And we are well fed. Since I cooked, wife does dishes. The girls get to visitin' and you know what that means:
Time to put my feet up on the front porch, watch the storm in the dark, relax and have a cigar.
I pull my last La Gloria Cubana Serie R outta the humidor. I'm going to enjoy this. I've had 'em in the humi for 75 days or so and thoroughly enjoyed the others that I smoked from the fiver. Last one I smoked was about 3 weeks ago.
But from cold draw to first and second thirds, it just didn't taste right. And the burn was way off. Canoeing up the wazoo and like a teenaged girlfriend, it needed constant attention. Despite my best efforts, it went out several times. By the third third, I admitted my insanity and let it go out for good. Instead of a great capper to the end of a perfect evening, it was a let-down.
Based on the unusual burn, I wondered if it was a little too hydrated. Or perhaps it was just a bad stick. I checked my multiple hygros in my humi and they were reading a little high at 68-69. Typically my humi is rock solid at 65. Beads look OK, with a 50/50 clear to opaque ratio. Temp was down to 60 with the power outage. I did get a little mist from the storm blowing in on me on the porch, but it wasn't much. Very high humidity here during the storm.
For purely scientific research, the next day, I smoked one of SmokeYou's excellent assortment that he sent me in the newb pib. The Room 101 San Andres (taken from the same humidor) that I had today was a rock star. Excellent burn, taste, and everything else. I smoked it in the same location, in similar weather, mist and humidity.
What do you think? Bum stick? Operator error? Something else?
