2008 Bolivar Royal Corona

[smbauerllc]

All very true. I have chronic back pain like i mentioned, plus chronic pain in both knees and nerve pain in my left hand from my gunshot wound destroying 4cm of a major nerve to the hand. All the nerve graft did was return 75% use of my thumb, and cause chronic pain.

The VA refuses to prescribe anything stronger than over the counter medications, but when I worked for Halliburton and had blue cross insurance I could go to PT and get pain medication that actually worked pretty well.

Now I'm back to no insurance and have to get all my care from the VA again and they dont have or cover chiropractors and there's nothing that can be done about my knees or hand except pain management if the VA would actually do it.

Like you said, going from severe pain to no pain is very energizing, greatly improved mood, better focus and concentration, etc

With me, some days are pain free, and others are pretty bad, and the difference in energy, motivation and mood is very noticeable

A good friends wife is a Reki Master and he swears that you can feel heat on your back without her actually touching you, and that her treatment works wonders for multiple problems. She suggested that I look for a local one and try it out.

Actually did find one surprisingly for being in a town of only 4500 people.

Definitely plan to give it a try. I'll take anything that works at this point. Just hope its affordable as i know chiropractors aren't cheap.

ETA: will be reviewing your BRC tomorrow or Saturday. Can't wait to see the results, as I'm guessing many others are too based on the number of views for this thread. 360 so far. Definitely has to be a record for one of my reviews.

Hang in the everyone, only a day or two until both reviews get posted and we can all see what, if any, differences there are between them.

I friggin love cigars

[BigO]

I heard that. Every 5 years or so, I go to my GP, gett my annual physical and a renewed script for 2 Flexoril a day for the next year. In the meantime, they want my rheumatologist write the script. The rheumatologist says that my GP should be the source of the script and it's a tennis match for 6 weeks while I suffer without it.

This time, the GP nurse said it wasn't meant for daily use. My wife is a nurse and I am fully aware of their workload and the difficulties of time management

At the same time, had they gone though my file, I'VE BEEN TAKING THIS STUFF EVERYDAY FOR THE LAST GD 15 EFFING YEARS! And my GP has been the prescriber for all of them!

So, in anticipation of the new tennis match, I am trying to wean myself off of it so if I have a major setback (pun not intended) I have some I can use. Granted, this has been a factor in my sleep routine (I have severe sleep apnea and going to sleep can be a real challenge), it seems that we get the medication just right and this crap pops up like a game of whackamole and mess it up all over again. Flexoril isn't even a scheduled medicine. So what's the effing problem?

For the longest time, doctors have told me that I shouldn't take any NSAIDs or acetaminophen because my Humira for psoriasis and the arthritis that occurs in roughly 15-20% of patients who have psoriasis raises my liver enzymes (not taking into account that I drink whiskies regularly). Without the right "cocktail" of sedatives and such, I drink more to relax me enough to fall asleep. With the proper regimen, I can abstain except for a few things like football games.

I've shared more than enough, but I am in synch with you in the frustration department. We just get into a normal routine and someone has to step in and screw it all up again. Roughly every 5 years. That just about matches the turnover rate for this hospital system. Probably not a coincidence.

[smbauerllc]

Yeah, my problems are only with 2 medications that I had no problems with the first 2 years i lived here at the veteran's home, then suddenly 6 months ago, someone has screwed up one or the other every month, and i get to go through benzodiazepine or amphetamine withdrawal until it can be straightened out, usually after about a week of nasty, ass chewing messages from me on the VA messaging system.

Just ridiculous. They never have any problems getting me my non-addictive medications on time. Very weird and suspicious.

Oh, and benzo and amphetamine withdrawal is a very miserable 2 days of aching joints, dry heaving, lethargy, and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes.

I don't reccomend it, Lol

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[BigO]

Been there and done that on benzos and dexedrine, both prescribed. Benzos for anxiety attacks that have only struck since July and the deadline for an autonomic malady before an autoimmune diagnosis of psoriasis and followed by a diagnosis of psoriasitic arthritis a couple of years after Katrina. Couldn't walk except on my outer feet, severe limp and almost became useless. The base joint of my second to the big toe swelled to the size of a golfball. I had symptoms of it before Katrina, but in the stress after it, it became unbearable.

TNF therapy has been nothing short of a miracle for me. I'm more likely to die of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma than anything else, but sometimes quality of life takes precidence over the quantity. I will never die in a hospital without having at least a cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla milkshake before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

All of these health nuts that deny themselves of the joys of life (dying of nothing they couldn't work out of the gym and enjoy depriving themselves of this world), are going to be surprised when the end comes.

Pretty sure nobody lies on their deathbed and wish they hadn't had that last cheeseburger.

[smbauerllc]

Ok folks, here we go finally. This is the original cigar reviewed in this thread.


2008 Bolivar Royal Corona



Specifications:

Country of Origin: Cuba

Wrapper Color: Colorado

Wrapper type: Cuba

Filler: Cuba

Binder: Cuba

Vitola: Royal Corona (Robusto)

Manufacturer: Habanos S.A.

Humidimeter Reading: 64%


Environment:

Temperature: 77 degrees

Humidity: 24%

Wind: N/A

Setting:
In my favorite spot on the nice, padded bench swing in the semi-enclosed, all glass shelter in the shade, with my very nice personal ceramic, Brick House ashtray and nice view of the Big Horn Mountain range.

Paired with: Cheap, cold coffee with lots of cream and sugar.

A 4.87x49 robusto, that was Cigar Aficionados Cigar of the Year in 2006, with a 94 rating, that “delivers a sophisticated flavor bomb of a smoke with an array of rich character, including touches of chocolate, coffee and leather.”

A very fine, very smooth Colorado wrapper with invisible seams, smooth, medium size cap, a firm bunch and an overall very attractive appearance.

Very slightly uneven burn, very short, conical coal, strong, dark gray ash, and slightly tight draw.

Ample smoke volume and a faint, yet fragrant, floral aroma.

Of excellent richness, mild-medium strength, generous body and flavor, and a perfect balance of grassy, woody and leather flavors with a medium finish of grassy and leathery flavors.

No sweetness, bitterness, burn on the tongue, sharpness or saltiness.

Excellent character and an excellent overall score of 94 out of 100, exactly the same as CA's score for the fresh 2006 cigar they named Cigar of the Year, which goes to show that these certainly don’t lose anything with age, with the possible exception of nicotine strength, though its hard to say as I haven’t had a fresh one in quite a while so I’m going off memory and am a recently reformed cigarette smoker of 30 years, so nicotine still has no noticeable effect on me.

Also interesting that I too detected some leathery taste, as I never usually taste any of the things mentioned in reviews.

In spite of being an excellent cigar, I certainly can’t call it my Cigar of the Year as the CAO L’Anniversaire Maduro I just reviewed currently holds that spot, and I highly suspect it will remain there.


No idea what happened to the original band as I got this on a now defunct forum, and it wasn't from any of the small handful of people I still remain in contact with.

I friggin love cigars



I friggin love cigars

[smbauerllc]

And now the review of the known legit one from @BigO





Cigar:
2007 Bolivar Royal Corona


Specifications:

Country of Origin: Cuba

Wrapper Color: Colorado

Wrapper type: Cuba

Filler: Cuba

Binder: Cuba

Vitola: Royal Corona (Torpedo) 5.40x50

Manufacturer: Habanos S.A.

Humidimeter Reading: 66%


Environment:

Temperature: 64 degrees

Humidity: 41%

Wind: N/A

Paired with: Iced coffee

Setting: In my favorite spot on the nice, padded bench swing in the semi-enclosed, all glass shelter in the shade, with my very nice personal ceramic, Brick House ashtray and nice view of the Big Horn Mountain range in an extremely comfortable temperature with just pants and a tshirt.

A fine, very smooth, very light tan, Colorado colored wrapper with slightly visible seams and slightly veiny, but they are not raised, so don’t effect the smoothness.
Also a smooth, long cap and a hard bunch. Overall a fairly attractive cigar.


A very nice, razor sharp even burn, typical ash structure and color of mottled grey, absolutely perfect draw, and a very short conical coal. Very near to being flat, so it was definitely burning properly.

Excellent smoke volume and a strong, fragrant, floral aroma.

Had ample richness, mild strength, perfectly balanced, generous body and flavor of predominantly woody flavor, with a lite amount of herbal and floral taste in the background.

Finish was of medium strength and again predominantly woody with lite undertones of herbal and floral flavors.

Everything except strength increased noticeably starting in the second half, and became quite bold for a 15 year old cigar.

No sweetness, bitterness, burn on the tongue, sharpness or saltiness present.

Excellent character and an overall excellent cigar with a final score of 95 out of 100.

[smbauerllc]

The obvious difference is the hand written band one had a round head, but the known good one from BigO has a tapered head like i now remember about these.

I'm confident that this difference was the biggest red flag to BigO.

The other difference I notice is they had completely different tastes and the known legit one got much stronger in the second half, whereas the other one was more mellow and didn't really change at any point.

The known one also had a much lighter wrapper, and its dimensions were noticeably different.


Thanks to anyone who has been awaiting this comparison. Sorry it took so long.

I friggin love cigars

[smbauerllc]

Originally Posted by BigO

Well, now you're just brownosing.

The only reason I own this is that the previous owners wanted to shut it down. I wanted to at least keep the forums open for this unique community. There are 2 egregious errors on the magazine's front page. Nobody pointed them out to me, so I doubt that anyone is even reading it anymore.

@BigO

Just finished carefully looking over the magazine homepage, and reading some great articles, and didn't notice any errors on the homepage, with maybe the exception that the logo that hails 20 years of CW, is a little unusual just because it happened in 2017, and its creeping up on 2023 now, but still not exactly an error.

You would have to point them out to me for me to spot them, as everything seems fine to me.

But, knowing your personality and beliefs when it comes to running the forum and magazine fairly well at this point, i highly suspect that you wont point out the errors to me, especially here in an open forum, or likely even by PM, lol.

Guess I have to keep looking.

I friggin love cigars