As mentioned a while back, I've been working on reviving the Smokey Kisses Website, and, of course, the biggest thing with that, besides the new posts here and on the Facebook page, is the photo sets!
So, I've been working on a new gallery that, after the initial time in getting it all set up, will make adding entire new sets, no matter how big or small, a breeze!
That means there will be far fewer batches of photos just sitting and waiting to be added until I have time to create the gallery itself, and the separate page for each and EVERY photo! Nope! Now, once any needed edits are done (crops, reducing file size, lighting/balance fixes, etc), I just have to click a button to add an album, name it, describe it, and then upload the whole lot of pics in one go, and that's it!
The new album software doesn't yet handle videos, so those will still be available separately for the time being, but I'm working on finding something better for that too.
What it DOES have though, in addition to lots of other features, like comments, rating, favourites, and the like, is the ability to register and, if you are a Smokey Kisses Supporter, you'll have access to the Members Only albums and features!
All my regular and member only sets are up on the new gallery page, along with a new, not yet seen set from 2012.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be adding new albums for photo sets over the last few years that have just been sitting there, waiting to be added, so keep an eye out for new, old sets, as well as some upcoming new, new sets!
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These were a limited run, Famous Smoke exclusive in 2010.
Here is the official description:
Final Blend cigars are the result of a marathon cigar sampling session held in Nicaragua, and as so often happens, the very last blend is what earned these uber-flavorful, medium-bodied cigars their name. The 'final blend' is...a core of Dominican, Colombian and Indonesian tobaccos rolled in dark, oily Brazilian Mata Fina Oscuro wrappers. Earthy, sweet, and spicy flavors weave in and out as notes of cocoa and coffee bean surface for a deliciously complex, MUST-TRY cigar.
At some point that year I ended up with one in one of their samplers, but it wasn't really on my radar at the time. Since then, it's been hanging around in my humidors, getting shifted from one to the other in my various re-organising as my collection has expanded, and I never got round to smoking it, as I never really read or heard much of anything about them and it wasn't high on my list to try.
Well, today, it just sorta jumped out at me, and I picked it up. Initially, I thought maybe my hygrometer was out of whack, because the thing was rock hard, and pretty lightweight, so I thought it was too dry, but all other sticks in that humi were as expected, and, on closer inspection, it didn't look dried out, cracked, or in any other way compromised. It was smooth, dark, with a nice sheen, lightly veined, and almost velvety to the touch and on the lips. Smelled wonderfully rich and just a little sweet, giving me hope that it would be a worthwhile smoke.
As always, I employed the "light and cut"
method, though, in this case, it was light and punch. It took a little
while to light all the way to the centre, as the thing is really
incredibly packed, but it was easy to light evenly, and the pre-smoke
aroma was pleasantly earthy and dark.
The first couple puffs gave a hit of "crisp" (not sure how else to describe it), dry leather, moving
quickly to a rich, deep, oily leather with thick, dense, chewy smoke
that totally coated my mouth. Midway through second third, hints of
espresso started creeping in, with slight chocolate in the aftertaste.
Strong espresso on the retrohale, and increasingly more creamy chocolate
notes adding to leather and coffee toward end of second third.
Into the last third, it had morphed into a warm, mocha latte, with a
slight, mellow, almost nutty nuance, though the leather notes were still
peeking through on the back of the tongue.
Perfect draw throughout, very slightly uneven burn, but nothing a couple
touch-ups couldn't fix, white/grey semi-solid, slightly flaky ash.
All in all a very nice, medium strength smoke, and I'll be on the lookout should they ever return! I give it a solid 8/10.
