ROCKY PATEL DECADE

ROCKY PATEL DECADE

Well, I didn’t take any notes while smoking this cigar, but I did decide to take a picture and do a little write up.  I don’t want to forget my impressions of this cigar, and accidentally buy more of them in the future.  Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t terrible, but they’re not my cup of tea.  The construction was nice and it burned very well.  I just found it to be lacking in flavor, and there was an underlying “medicinal” taste, almost like a menthol cigarette. 

When it come to Rockys, I think I’ll stick to the Vintage 1990s or the Old World Reserves.

OLIVA SERIES V

OLIVA SERIES V

I think this was a double robusto, since I guessed its dimensions at 5 x 50 or 52.  This came with a few other Olivas in a sampler pack.  It’s probably been in the humidor for a few m0nths.  This cigar had a beautiful, medium brown wrapper and fantastic construction.  Looking at the foot, I could see a darker colored filler leaf folded into the surrounding lighter filler leaves.  Pre-light, it smelled of sweet tobacco, caramel and spice.  I paired this beauty with some 15 year Glendiddich.

Check out the darker filler leaf!

I used a punch on this cigar and it proved adequatefor drawing lots of medium bodied, sweet smoke into my mouth.  Right off the bat, this cigar reminded me of a La Flor Dominicana Ligero, although it was slightly sweeter and less powerful than the La Flor.  It was not too sweet though, it had a nice balance between sweet and spicy.  Flavors of peppercorns and chocolate dominated the first third of this smoke.  The stick burned great and had a nice draw with a fine, light gray ash. 

The flavor builds as you get to the second half, becoming nicely richer.  I detected notes of coffee and flowers before the last third brought a little bit of harshness with flavors of leather and bitter coffee.

Overall, I really liked this cigar and look forward to trying some more!  Great construction, burn and draw with nice, rich flavors for most of its length.

YOSEMITE VALLEY

View from Glacier Point

Beth and I just got back from Yosemite.  It was the first time I had been there and I must say, I was impressed!  We stayed down in the valley at Curry Village in a tent cabin.  Sure, it wasn’t exactly the Ahwahnee Hotel, but it was nice to stay right in the shadow of Glacier Point.  Looking up at the sheer granite walls is awe-inspiring, but looking down from Glacier Point, straight down at the Curry Village parking lot, is stomach turning! 

According to Wikipedia, it’s only about 3200 feet from the valley floor to Glacier Point, but the drop looks a lot more than that!  Now, I admit to having a slight fear of heights.  Actually, I think it is more of a strong commitment to self-preservation, but it’s all semantics, right?  Anyway, one of the viewing areas at Glacier Point has metal railings to keep people from slipping off the edge to their doom.  I could barely make myself hold onto the rail and look down at the valley floor.  Beth and her Mom seemed to have little trouble gazing down for minutes at a time while I moved a few yards back to happily snap photos of Half Dome.  Now, maybe it would be easier for me if there weren’t dozens of strangers behind me and around me while I was close to the edge.  Unfortunately, there were people.  All kinds of people from all around the world.  In fact, there were a couple young European boys, maybe in their late teens or so.  They seemed to have no fear of height.  Or falling.  Or dying.  They jumped up and the flat boulder that served as the corner piece of the safety railing.  One guy pretended to slip.  I was sure that he was going over the edge.  He didn’t.  Then his friend came up behind him and gave him a playful nudge, like he was going to push him over.  He didn’t.  I, however, nearly had a heart attack.  I couldn’t watch them anymore, as they jumped down, ran to the next area, jumping up on the railings and boulders along the way.  Although Darwin’s theories weren’t proved yesterday at Glacier Point, I was sad to see in the news last night that a hiker was killed falling off of Half Dome yesterday.  After seeing the sheer drop from Glacier Point, I had already decided I would never be climbing to the top of Half Dome.

We spent two days and nights in Yosemite Valley, and although we didn’t have the time to do a day hike (we were there for a Memorial service at the Chapel in Yosemite)  Joan led us around using the shuttle buses, and showed us the best sights.  I took over 250 photos of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, climbers on El Capitan, and assorted wildlife including a bear.  I can’t wait for my next trip there and some real hikes.

BEST OIL FILTERS

Having recently changed the oil in Beth’s Xterra and in the Z06, I am familiar with the dilemma faced by the do-it-yourselfer in the filter aisle at the local parts store.  My old BMW M3 was nice because it utilized a nice aluminum canister on the front of the engine and all you had to do was remove the cover and take out the old filter cartridge and slip in the new one.  This made changing the filter without changing the oil very easy.  (I would change the filter once between oil changes, since the Mobil 1 oil I used was good for 15,000 miles between changes.)  I would order the German cartridges in bulk from an online parts vendor.  With the Chevy and the Nissan, however, I figured I’d just pick up a filter when needed at the local Kragens.

The main problem I had at the last two Kragens I went to was the lack of books to tell you which filter fits your application.  They had half a dozen brands of filters, but only had reference books for two brands.  I’m sure the parts jockeys behind the counter could look it up on the computer, but really, who has time to wait for one of those guy/gals to finish up with their long-winded customer?  Besides, how do you tell the difference between all those different brands of filters?  Are the $8 filters that much better than the $3 filters? 

Well, I stumbled upon a post in the Corvetteforums, that listed a link to a very comprehensive article detailing a bunch of brands of oil filters.  The author, Russ W. Knize, must have spent a great deal of time researching this, and was kind enough to post his findings on the Internet.  Here is a link to his page of “findings”:  http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/opinions.html

Be sure to check out the other pages on his site, like the “Oil Filters Revealed”.

Thank you Russ for your valuable information!

GURKHA – Regent

GURKHA REGENT

This Gurkha must have come from a sampler I bought a while ago.  It looks to be a Toro, about 6 inches by 48 or 50 gauge.  It is box-pressed and the wrapper is a grayish-brown color.  It seemed to have a spicy pre-light flavor.  The draw was really tight after I used my punch, so I went ahead and got out the cutter.  Even after a generous cut, this stick was still tight.

It started out with a tangy, spicy flavor, but not harsh.  I tried to think of flavors and came up with orange, nutmeg and leather.  The cigar burned nicely and I noticed a nice, sweet aroma to the smoke through the nose.  It was almost a floral sweetness.

The flavor seemed to get richer as it smoked, but was particularly improved after I notice a stem sticking out right in the middle of the filler and pulled out a three inch piece of stem!  From then on, the draw was much improved and I was able to smoke this one down to the nub.  Although the flavor improved along the way, I’d have to say that the flavors do not fit my flavor profile enough to buy this one again.  I am looking forward to trying the Legend however!

Z06 DYNO CHART

I had been wanting to replace the factory valve springs in the Z06 since I bought the car last year.  There are quite a few reports of valve springs failing on stock 2002 and 2003 Z’s out on the Internet.  It seems like Chevy changed the springs in 2004 and continued using them in the LS2 engines with the C6’s as well.  So, one option was to just leave the original springs in and hope that if one did break, I wouldn’t be too far from home when it happened, and there wouldn’t be any additional damage to the engine.  (The LS6 is an “interference” motor, ie:  the valves can contact the pistons if their timing is upset.)  The other option was to replace all 16 springs with the “new” spring GM started using in late LS6 and all LS2 motors, or go with an aftermarket spring.  I opted to get the PAC Racing 1218 springs, sticking with the “beehive” design, but with an increased spring rate.  These springs are good to .600″ lift and have a seat pressure of 130 lbs, compared to the OEM springs with a seat pressure of around 90 lbs, if I remember correctly.  I don’t expect the new springs to add any power to the motor, although I expect them to eliminate any possibility of valve float at high RPM.

I bought the springs on-line, and had Nick at Newtech Performance do the install and do a dyno tune also.  They also recommended replacing the spark plugs and wires while they were in there, so that’s what they did.  New NGK TR-55’s and 10.4mm wires.  Sweet!

I wasn’t expecting much of a gain with the tune, I merely wanted Nick to optimize the fuel tables and make sure the air/fuel was good.  I also told him I wouldn’t mind if I got an increase in fuel mileage.  After the tune, I can’t feel a “seat of the pants” difference in power, but the gas mileage seems to be better.  Before the tune I would average about 20 mpg.  The first tank of gas after the tune, I averaged 23.3 mpg.  I won’t be able to tell for sure for a few more tanks of gas.

If you look at the dyno chart above, you can see a big dip in power at 5k RPM on the first run.  Not sure if this was an anomaly or what, but if you imagine the lines without the dip, it still looks like Nick got a good gain in power across the RPM range.  I doubt if it was 23 whp though.  The only power mods on the car are a Halltech intake and throttle body coolant bypass.  I am happy with the tune and with the service at Newtech.

CAO SOPRANOS – SOLDIER

CAO SOPRANOS -Soldier

Well I must really thank Paul for giving me one of these to try.  I assumed that this line from CAO was 75% hype.  Boy was I wrong!  This stick was 100% smoking pleasure.  I’m not sure how long it had been sitting in the humidor.  At least six months and probably closer to a year, I think.  I just looked at it and felt “it was time”.

There was nothing too special about the appearance of this cigar.  I did notice the cap was rather “blunt”, but it fit into my cutter and clipped off nicely.  I can’t recall any exacting flavors, but I can say that the flavors were pretty complex, and not even a hint of harshness, ever!  There seemed to be an underlying sweetness that reminded me of a Cameroon wrapper, although I can find no mention of any Cameroon leaves being used anywhere in this cigar.  The sweetness was not overpowering at all, but was always there in the background, the bulk of the flavor I would describe as a rich tobacco flavor with ample amounts of spice.

This stick threw off a huge volume of smoke, with a perfect draw which lasted down to the nub.  The taste never got harsh, and I smoked this thing down under 1/2 and inch remaining before I reluctantly dropped it in the ashtray.

This was one of the best cigars I have smoked.  I immediately checked the prices at the usual on-line sites, and although they have been coming down in the last couple years, they are still over $200 a box.  Too rich for my current “recession budget”.  But man, for $10 a stick, this cigar is worth it.

SANTANA ROW- Cars and Coffee

Can you say "Big ceramic brakes?"

Okay, so it isn’t an official event, and it’s isn’t really “Cars and Coffee” like the one is SoCal.  But my buddy Greg and I headed down there today to catch the Saturday morning gathering of car nuts in the back parking lot.  And since we did go to Starbucks, hey, I call it cars and coffee! 

This was actually the first time for me, Greg had been a couple times before.  It was a beautiful day, and not too hot with the temperature around 70 degrees.  Perfect for checking out cars.  And there were some nice cars!  There were probably about a dozen Corvettes, about the same number of Ferraris, a couple Lambos, couple new M3s, one M6, a late 60’s Camaro with a new LS2 dropped in, a new Nissan GTR, a older gen actual Skyline GTR right-hand drive, and a C4 Vette with a built, turbocharged small block that has put out over 1100 hp at 22 lbs. boost.  So, there were some neat cars there.  The Nissan GTR had aftermarket exhaust, so we asked the owner about it.  He said he deleted the cats and his “straight pipes” netted him another 141 hp at the wheels!!!  That must be a quick car!

We also talked with a guy with a nice Porsche GT3, his buddy with a 360 Challenge and another guy who had just gotten back from running the Gumball race in an M5.  He said it was an awesome experience and from the smile on his face, we certainly  believed him.

OLIVA SERIES “O”

OLIVA SERIES "O"

I got a cute, little perfecto shaped Oliva Series O in a recent sampler pack and after a couple months in the humidor, I gave it a shot.  Now, I hadn’t heard anything about these, having only heard that the Series “V” is supposed to be very good.  I did get one of those also, and it’s still in the humi.  So, having no preconceived notions, I gave it a go.

This cigar looked to be about 4 1/2 by 50 and had a natural colored wrapper which unfortunately had a couple tears by the foot.  It was sweet smelling pre-light and sure enough was initially very sweet.  It reminded me very much of a AF Hemingway, so I assumed it has a Cameroon wrapper.  However, this very noticeable sweetness seemed to last only a few puffs, then the flavor turned smooth and creamy with hints of caramel.  About halfway through, it became toastier, with some spice.

Overall, this was a decent smoke with mild to medium flavor, although I felt it was a little one-dimensional.  Although it started off reminiscent of a Hemingway, it lacked the richness and complexity of my favorite stick.

WINE TASTING WEEKENDS

Windy Oaks vineyard

Well, Beth and I realize how lucky we are to live where we do.  We went wine-tasting the past two weekends without driving  more than 45 minutes each way, and without spending a fortune.

Two weekends ago we had $35 tickets for the Corralitos Wine Trial.  The tickets let us taste at four different wineries around the Corralitos area.  We met up with four friends at Windy Oaks Winery where Beth bought a bottle of Chardonnay.  (I know, what is the world coming to?)  It was a very tasty Chardonnay, but it should be for the nearly $40 price tag.

Next we all went to Alfaro Family Vineyards, where Ed and Laurie met up with us.  This was my favorite stop.  It was pretty crowded and lively, and had a fun atmosphere with Richard Alfaro running around nonstop, being a great host.  We broke out the picnic lunch we had brought, and everyone ate and drank wine.

The last stop was Pleasent Valley Vineyards, which was my least favorite.  We were beat after a long afternoon of wine-tasting, and the only places to sit were off limit to non-club members.  Well, Ed & Laurie are members, but the other six of us weren’t .  So, we were summarily kicked off the back porch and we watched some other people get kicked out of the pool area for sitting on the little wall surrounding the pool.  Now, Ed & Laurie explained how the place was really just the home of the vineyard owners, not really a tasting room, so I can understand their strictness.  However, with no place to sit, it didn’t really make me feel like sticking around to try their wines, join the wine club or buy any wine.

This past weekend, we met Paul & Lori and Ed & Laurie at Creekview Vineyards in San Martin.  This was the weekend that many local wineries were open once a month.  Paul met the owner of Creekview at the cigar bar a little while back, so we decided to taste some of his wines.  The wines were good, the only problem was the weather which was 104 degrees in San Martin.  Not exactly conducive to wine-tasting, but we tasted nonetheless and the wines were good.  The delicious chocolate pairing definitely helped.  All of us ended up buying two or three bottles.

Paul and Lori ended up heading home, but Ed & Laurie followed us to Fernwood Cellars in the north foothills of Gilroy.  The wines were good and Beth and I picked up a bottle of Sangiovese.  Ed and Laurie bought a few bottles and joined the wine club!  I have to admit, the photos of past club events looked very enticing.  (A lobster boil and a salmon fishing trip to Canada will do that.)

We finished off the day by stopping at Martin Ranch so Ed & Laurie could pick up their wine club shipment.  (Martin Ranch is four tenths of a mile back down the road from Fernwood)  Dan and Therese were as knowledgeable and friendly as they were when we ate dinner with them last summer.  Laurie and Ed broke out some pasta salad, sandwiches, barbecued chicken and watermelon and Dan sat down to grab a bite with us.  In fifteen minutes, I increased my wine-making knowledge by about 100%.  What a pleasure!

So, we survived the 100 degree temperatures and brought home a couple bottles of wine.  Not bad for an afternoon’s work.