Five O'Clock Friday: It's Bourbon Time

What will I do this weekend?  You needn't ask.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers!

Range Outing

Whenever I drive over to the range it's a bit of a gamble if at least one of the two pistol bays will be open. Last week I was shut out when I got there, and other factors prevented a return attempt. This week my luck was much better. 

This outing was not all that different than previous ones in activity. The 'stand and shoot two shots' rule limit the variety of drills beyond varying distance and aim point. However, there's always the joy of the simple diversion of shooting so it's not all bad. Coincidently I happened to see a video of me shooting at last weekend's IDPA match and, among other faults, noticed a proclivity to not having my gun up and aiming when I arrive at a shooting position. I'll have to work on fixing that in a dry fire movement rather than at the range.

I fired the majority of my shots from the 10 yard line. My intent was concentrating on trigger press, and ease in gathering brass at the end. Various combinations of head and body shots from the draw used up the first 80 rounds fired.

I only load a 2 or 3 magazines with just 10 rounds at a time in order to slow down consumption, and to not fatigue my finger too quickly. Despite that, I started noticing some drift after a bit. So I moved to extra slow drills. I had told myself last weekend I wanted to do bit of practice at longer distance so I hung a fresh target at 35 yards. I only fired 10 rounds at that distance since I was walking down range every 2 shots to check the results. There's still work be done, but all shots made the -1 zone at worse.

Back to 10 yards for a 10 shot round shooting strong hand only. That was followed by 10 weak hand only shots at 7 yards.  

The results were better than I had actually expected. Certainly nothing I generally see in matches, although my SHO shooting has admittedly improved in recent months. A few more outings like this would be a confidence booster at least.

Too soon the fun was over and it was time to pick up brass and return to my day job. Now I begin looking forward to the next outing.

Cheers!

Afternoon Cocktails and Smokes

One of our regular weekend pleasures during the warmer months is spending a few hours on the deck enjoying the sun and just being outdoors. Our property is wooded so we enjoy an abundance of birds and other wildlife. Sunday is generally a day of relaxation, perhaps after some light yard work. On a recent Sunday afternoon the time included Rye Old Fashioneds while we nibbled some snacks. I also smoked an Oliva Serie V Lancero. 

The Old Fashioned was made with Sazerac 6 Year Rye and some Backstrap syrup from J.H. Bards Spirit Company. The flavoring syrup is great for a really quick preparation while the cigar is waiting. The Rye add a little extra spice to the sweet drink.

There is no shortage of Oliva Serie V reports in these Musings. It's a ubiquitous cigar in my humidor due to being a consistently well-made and flavorful smoke. I enjoy smoking the occasional Lancero, and the frequency of that pleasure seems to be increasing of late.

The lancero vitola add a touch of elegance, and generally notches up the flavor profile a bit over the more common vitolas. The narrow, long shape does often add some peculiarities to the smoking process, requiring a bit more attention. Often the cost is slightly more than the same cigar in another vitola due to the extra skill and time required to handcraft a well made product.

The Oliva Series V Lancero had none of those added quirks. The burn remained strong and consistent throughout. I was a bit concerned as I had only acquired the cigars the past week. I normally give new additions at least a month in my humidor before lighting up. There were no issues. It's also a quite reasonably priced stick. 

On all fronts, a most enjoyable afternoon.

Cheers!

A Patron Saint for Cigar Smokers

I was perusing the endless internet recently, questioning if there was a Patron Saint dedicated to cigar smoking. I found plenty of information related holy persons who smoked. Catherine de Ricci is referenced as the Patron Saint of the sick people, tobacco, and pipe makers, but no reason is given. Close but no cigar. 

Then I came across a story about Pope Saint Pius X. This is from a reader's letter published by Cigar Aficionado,

Reading of his [Pius X] defense of cigars as not being a vice, I was reminded of a story that a cigar smoking priest of the Diocese of Tulsa, who is now in training for the Vatican diplomatic corps, told me. When he was a seminarian in Rome, he learned that Pius X, who was the pope from 1903 to 1914, called a bishop onto the carpet to reprimand him for his scandalous misbehavior with wine, women and song, and to correct his wrongs patiently.

The pope offered the errant bishop a cigar from the papal humidor on his desk. The bishop declined the offer with the protestation, "I do not have that vice, Your Holiness," to which His Holiness replied, "If cigars were a vice, I would not offer you one, for you have quite enough vices already."

There is no way to verify if the story related is true, or simply an interesting urban legend. However, it is known that Pius X kept a cigar humidor on his desk in the Vatican. (Smoking was allowed in the Holy See until 2002 when John Paul II banned the activity.) Saint Pius X's cigar habit did not keep him from being elevated to sainthood, even if it may not be the reasoning behind it. There is little doubt in my mind that the relaxation provided helped him deal with the stress of his position.

Pope Pius X
It's easy to imagine a cigar in that hand

It's my opinion that Saint Pius X is worthy of invoking by cigar smokers. His feast day is August 21. 

BTW, Regina Cigars offers a Pius X Maduro Selection cigar. I've not tried it yet.

Cheers!

Saturday Desserts - Pastry, Bourbon, Cigars

While I was enjoying a day of shooting, Colleen was enjoying her love of cooking and baking at home. Hers is a passion of which I am the grateful beneficiary. The day's project was Cardamom Buns. The pastries are flavored with freshly ground cardamom, cinnamon, dark cocoa, black pepper, and sugar and twirled and swirled into a pinwheel. After dinner we enjoyed them still warm from the oven.

Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed mine with a cigar and bourbon. In actuality, I did finish the pastry before lighting up. The Cardamom Buns had a nice golden glaze over the finely spiced pastry. While enjoying the treats, we both noted that they reminded us of some of the pastries we had enjoyed last fall at cafés in Budapest. A tasty treat that invokes memories of a fun trip brings the pleasure full circle.

The bourbon pour for the trio of desserts was Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series FAE-02. The FAE-02 expression is the fall 2021 release that's part of the distillery's Wood Finishing Series. Spicy oak, caramel, citrus rind, and leather are the predominate notes. When I first opened the bottle in 2021 I thought it a little harsh. However, upon examination a year and a half later, the profile seems a lot more balanced and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Perhaps the sweet pastry, or just a different mood, brightened it up.

The Foundation El Güeqüense Huaco is a cigar I've mentioned very recently. I thought the notes of cocoa, espresso, and creamy chocolate provided a well balanced side to the bourbon, and even a few crumbs of the bun I picked off my plate.

It was an extremely relaxing repast providing refreshment and relaxation after the tiring morning on the range. To my delight, we had another serving heated up and enjoyed after Mass on Sunday with coffee.

Cheers!

Cavalier IDPA June Match

All the week prior to Saturday's IDPA match at Cavalier, the weekend weather forecast was looking ominous. It was expected to be a rainy weekend the followed a rainy week. As luck would have it, the weather on Saturday morning was quite pleasant, if even a bit warm. I squadded with the usual group enjoyed the camaraderie as usual.

Our shooting started with all targets engaged from low cover, which means at least one knee on the ground while shooting. With my well-worn knees, that meant two knees on the ground. The kindly stage designer provided padding for the ground. We faced six targets place around walls and non-threats. The more limber and "long" shooters were able to get by with just some good hard leans, but being less limber than in my younger days, I did resort to a bit of shuffling. Despite that, I was pleased, shocked actually, to finish 8th out of the 39 shooters on that opening stage.

On stage 2 we started facing a single target in the open, and shot it while backing to the first position of cover. Moving across the bay we passed a surprise target exposed around the barrels. After engaging a couple targets through a narrow opening, the shooter retreated up range to shoot from the end of a wall, before advancing to find the final target via a hard lean around the wall. I only dropped one point while shooting on the move past the surprise target. I saw that -1 hole but kept moving, figuring it would take more time to back up and make it up.

The next stage was a quick standards drill with just two targets shot in two strings. String 1 was two shots on a single target, freestyle. The second string required two shots on the other target, using strong hand only. The stage pretty much mirrored the two-shot string shooting I am allowed at my local range. I ended up dropping one point on the SHO shooting for a shot I called as breaking the perf, but the SO deemed outside the perf. Such is the game.

Stage 4 was a moderately simple stage, but one that seemed to inspire a lot of "strategic planning." There were just six targets spread across a mirrored layout on either side. The shooter started at either of the two front fault lines. The basic plan started with engaging two targets before moving downrange. Moving forward there were two more targets found by pieing around the end of a wall. Then by stepping to the center fault line a center target was engaged. This was the mirrored half of a target engaged at the first position. Stepping to the next point of cover exposed the final target. If the shooter began the stage on the opposite side, the moves were the same, but in the opposite direction.

There was much discussion among shooters during the walk through, discussing and debating how to run the stage. From my hearing it seemed like the plans involved more movement. I actually began to think I must have missed something, but no matter how many times I reviewed the course, I couldn't see anything different. The first shooter shot the simple plan and there were many exclamations of surprise over the straightforward plan. It's easy to get caught looking at the trees and missing the forest. I believe that in the end, everyone ran the same pattern, from either side. This was my second best overall stage, though many moved through it faster. 

The next course of fire featured seven targets with varying hard cover and non-threat limitations lined up along the right side of the bay. At the end of that run, there was a low target behind barrels and another that was finally seen at the end behind more barrels. I tried to shoot the stage on the move, slowly, but was having trouble keeping the gun smooth and making good hits, some of which I think had to do with my hands being very sweaty and not keeping the gun well-gripped, so a lot of extra shots were taken. In the end I was three points down, but took a long time to do it. In the response to the good-natured ribbing from my friends, I simply remarked, "I came to shoot so I'm doing a lot of it!"

The last stage took us to a part of the gun range I had never seen. I've shot IDPA at the club for 11 years, and did some USPSA there before that. The PCC side matches, and some USPSA larger matches apparently make use of this very large bay. Getting to it required about an 8 minute walk. As we started I wondered why some shooters were leaving their range bags and carts behind and simply going with the gun and ammo on their person. Now I know, although I tend to carry a lot of "just in on case" stuff and I would probably feel odd leaving it behind.

The setup used was one that some shooters had seen at the previous weekend's USPSA match, with some modification for IDPA. The spread out course of fire started with us seated, and the loaded firearm on a barrel in front of us. There were three targets to engage at the starting position. We moved to the left to shoot two targets from two points of cover. Then moving across to the right, there was first a lone target from cover, before heading to the end. At that point, one could either move up range for a target or continue across to hit two targets. Most shooters went to the end, then finished at the lone target. The two targets engaged from the far right included a far target at 25 yards or so. I was first to go on the stage and shot the two right most target from around the end of the wall, instead of over the low wall. Why? I just don't know. It makes no sense in hindsight. I was six points down, with 4 coming on that far target. I'll have to practice more at 25+ yards.

It so happened that curiosity prevailed in the morning and I had activated the Map My Walk app on my phone upon arriving. The map of the day gave an interesting perspective on the 2.26 miles walked that day.

All the various stops of the morning, parking, registration, safe area, and the shooting bays are distinguishable. The "blobs" in each bay represent mainly to trips to reset the stages after shooters. I cannot be accused of not helping to paste targets!

It was a morning of fun and interesting stages, and socializing with good folks. Overall I was very pleased with my performance, and have no big regrets. Another interesting aspect of the match was that 26 of of the 39 shooters were shooting Carry Optics. Only six of us "dinosaurs" were shooting Stock Service Pistols (SSP).  It seems iron sights and stock pistols are no longer in fashion. I often remark that iron sights are the stick shift of the gun world. I suspect I'll be forced into CO some day, if not for the cool factor, certainly by aging vision.

Cheers!

Five O'Clock Friday: Weekend Forecast

It goes without saying.

That's one forecast sure to be accurate.

Cheers!

A New Bourbon Cultivates A New Cigar Smoker

It's not unusual to hear stories about a special whiskey or bourbon that "converts" a drinker to the spirit. There's often an "introductory bottle" kept by aficionados to offer a new drinker. But I had not heard of a bourbon that would help help someone discover the joys of cigar smoking. Until I saw it happen.

We have a good friend of the family with whom we frequently enjoy good food and beverage. It also was this friend who introduced me to scotch many years ago. Since my tastes turned more to bourbon, I've in turn introduced him to that particular spirit. He is an occasional pipe smoker, but had no interest in cigars.

During a visit a few weeks ago, I offered him a taste of the Old Elk Cigar Cut Bourbon that I had recently picked up. The new expression from Old Elk is a blend of bourbons finished in sherry, armagnac, port and cognac casks. The new blend is said to be designed to pair with a fine cigar. While we were enjoying the drink, my friend remarked, "If you found a cigar to pair with this, I'd have a cigar." 

Challenge accepted! Although pairing cigars and bourbon is generally not too hard, I decided to give it serious thought. This could be a "make or break" deal. One evening I was enjoying a Rocky Patel LB1 when inspiration struck. Although I was pairing it with a different whiskey at the time, the LB1 hit me as the perfect candidate.

The Rocky Patel LB1 is a medium bodied smoke with easy notes of coffee, cedar, earthiness, with just a touch of spice. There's a muted sweetness in the finish. It's flavorful enough to be interesting and would stand up to the sweet aspect of the bourbon. It would not be too bold for the new smoker, and at the same time flavorful enough to keep the interest going. The 5 1/2" x 50 Robusto size would be perfect.

A few weeks later we sat down to enjoy the cigar and bourbon.  Needless to say it was a hit. I now have new smoking companion. We've since enjoyed a different cigar and bourbon pairing. Since we frequently get together for food and drink, I suspect cigars will also be a regular thing. All thanks to a good bourbon.

Cheers!