BlankMindBlog

I made sure the apartment door was locked, and began down the steps, heading for my truck that would take all of us, Patrice, Rachel and Tyler, to Lake Oneida on the UNF campus. The trail around Lake Oneida is wide, well-marked and for the most part is a wooden boardwalk around the lake. The kids think of each trip as an adventure because we are always discovering some new wildflower, snake or insect. I looked at this trip as a perfect place to smoke the Montecristo White Label Toro cigar in a lovely, serene place.

After using my large punch on the cap of this stick, I pause about halfway down to light this beautiful cigar. The wrapper is velvet smooth, slightly darker than an old worn manila folder, and springy to the touch. A deep inhale produced a slightly cedar, mild tobacco smell that just begs to be smoked. The Colibri lighter toasted the end nicely and after a couple of puffs the Montecristo White Label Toro was soon to be history.

I hear Rachel’s, highly excited but distant, voice saying, “Dad, I caught a snake!” As I looked down to see her beneath me on the stairs, I can see a snake, whose head she has tightly gripped with her index, thumb and middle finger, wrapped around her wrist.

As I descended to the ground floor, the next words out of her mouth, nearly stopped my 45 year old heart. She said, “Dad, is it poisonous?” Now I can think of a whole lot of questions I would rather hear than this one! I take a drag from the Montecristo White Label Toro and start to look for any markings that may indicate if this snake, wrapped around her forearm and wrist now, is friend or foe. The diamond shaped marks on it’s back are alarming but I notice the head is more oval than triangular, which would suggest a non-poisonous snake. Still it is very difficult to tell because it is a young snake. No rattles, that’s good. The snake is very aggressive, opening it’s mouth, posturing to warn us to leave it alone. My verdict is “not sure” if the snake is poisonous or not. Taking no chances I ask her if she can let the snake go safely, keyword here is safely.

Rachel has three older brothers so snakes, bugs, or critters from the woods do not bother her, her brothers have seen to that! She says she can let it go, “no problem“. Off she goes to the edge of the woods that border our apartment and the snake is set free. So am I in a sense because now I can breathe and smoke this, so far, fine tasting cigar.

Our trip to the lake takes all of 10 minutes, along the way I am picking up muted tones of straw and spices. The draw is perfect and the stick produces volumes of thick sweet, gray blue smoke. On the way, the main conversation revolves around identifying a snake or animal first, before picking it up or capturing it, making sure it isn’t poisonous or dangerous first and foremost.

Parked. Out of the truck and a quick walk to the picnic table that we’ll claim as our base for a few hours, the stick is mild to medium bodied and I continue to enjoy the light straw flavor. Slowly, I unwind from the snake incident and soak up the beauty of the lake and the day in general. The cigar begins to reveal a slight leathery aftertaste, mixed with a hint of a dark roasted coffee bean flavor. The last half of the cigar ended as a mixed bag of flavors ranging from the initial straw taste, intermingled with the leather and strong coffee bean zest.

I enjoyed the Montecristo White Label Toro for about an hour at the lake. It was very light on my palate and would make a great before or after dinner cigar. It would be enjoyed by anyone with a seasoned palate accustomed to a medium bodied cigar. I would reserve this cigar for only your most intimate friends. At $8.99 a stick it makes me want to re-up my monthly cigar budget to make it a regular in my humidor!