El Rey del Mundo Demi-Tasse BM-OLSO

Measures: 99 mm x 13 mm

Age: The cigar came from a recently bought box dating from May 1990.

Setting: This is my last week of holiday. The entire time has been blessed by (for Finland) uncharacteristically nice summer weather, with sunny skies and hardly any rain. Today I played a nice afternoon round of gold with two colleagues, and came home at 9 PM. After shower and a snack I desired a good cigar, but did not feel like smoking a big one. So I decided to try one of the tiny El Rey del Mundos that I had spent three weeks in my humidor.

This is indeed a small cigar: just 10 centimetres long and with tiny ring size 33. But make no mistake: the Demi-Tasse is still a hand-made, long-filler cigar just intended for a brief enjoyment. Hence the official vitola name Entreacto fits the cigar very well. If smoked slowly (as it should), the cigar will last some 20 minutes.

And these are very well spent minutes indeed. The long sleep has smoothed any sharp corners that the cigar may have had in its childhood and early teens. I have some difficulty to describe the experience: there is fairly strong, pure tobacco taste that blends with very pleasant flavour that reminds me of some rich sauce seasoned with Provencal herbs and tamed with cream. The small ring size probably contributed to the intensity and richness of the flavour. If this is what happens to ERdM in 16 years, then the long wait is surely highly rewarded.

I nubbed the cigar, of course. A small cigar, but a big experience. Smoking it while witnessing the sunset and enjoying the after-effects of physical exercise (I carried the bag, and walked) was just what I needed this evening.