The Stogie Guys

They’re dropping like flies. The question is not if another major city will fall to a fascist smoking ban, but which will fall first. For what it’s worth, my money is on Baltimore.

If you have a great memory, you may recall a July 19 post on cigar etiquette in which I briefly recounted a drunken evening smoking stogies at various Baltimore bars. Well, according to the Baltimore Examiner, I may have to get back up to the Charm City very soon if I ever want to do that again.

While the highly anticipated vote on the citywide smoking ban was delayed at Monday night’s council meeting, both sides continue to maneuver to tally votes and win support. And though advocates and opponents argue they have the upper hand, many believe the fate of the smoking bill could come down to the support of a yet-to-be-selected council member. “If Stephanie Rawlings Blake becomes City Council president, as it appears, then the person who replaces her on the Council could be the deciding vote,” City Council Member Robert Curran said.

Now I know I just asked Stogie Guys Nation to make some phone calls to Ohio’s Department of Health to give those bureaucrats hell for their upcoming statewide smoking ban, but I can’t resist asking you to pick up the phone again – especially if you reside in Baltimore. Since this ban is currently teetering on the fence, a flood of phone calls to the Baltimore City Council may actually tip policy in our favor.

Anyways, I just think it’s worth a shot. Many Baltimore business owners, like Ron Furman, worry that if the ban passes they “will be looking at losing 30 to 40 percent of business” because “a lot of our customers are cigar smokers and cigarette smokers.”

He’s probably right. Would-be customers like me will be less willing to make the trip up to Baltimore from Washington (and other locales) if the city government votes to outlaw free choice.

–Patrick A

The Montecristo Vintage 93 Club Cabinet line is hard to find. I haven’t come across any in recent trips to cigar shops, and in a quick spot check of major online retailers, JR Cigars seems to be the only game in town. There, the robusto-sized (5 inches by 50 ring gauge) No. 30 sells for $130 for a box of 25 – over five dollars per stick when purchased in bulk.

At first glance the 1996 Connecticut Valley wrapper was a bit veinier than one might expect from Montecristo, but overall this was a fine looking cigar. Held next to a traditional brown band Montecristo, the Vintage 93 wrapper was slightly darker with more of an oily shine.

Like many Montecristo smokes, this cigar felt very solid and dense in my hand. After clipping the cigar with a double guillotine, I used two wooden matches to give it a proper light (the first match toasted the edges and the second turned the foot glowing orange).

I immediately noticed that the stogie produced dense smoke. And while a deliberate puff was necessary, the draw was firm, but not at all a hindrance to enjoying the cigar.

Straight away, smooth nutty and creamy flavors came through in this medium bodied smoke. Initially there were also subtle hints of spice and black pepper.

Overall the cigar had good balance, and after the initial third of the cigar, the pepper flavors faded away as mocha notes became apparent.

This smooth complexity and balance, coupled with flawless construction throughout, earns the Montecristo Vintage 93 Club Cabinet No. 30 an impressive rating of four out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick S

Sure, the Buckeye State might be home to the best team in college football (at least for now), but do Ohioans have the right to light up indoors? According to the power-hungry state legislators in Columbus, not after 12:01 AM on Thursday.

That’s when the fascist statewide smoking ban on bars, restaurants, and almost every other business goes into effect, criminalizing business owners who choose to offer smoke-friendly environments to their customers and the adult smokers who consciously frequent such locales.

But before you stop reading this out of frustration or sheer helplessness, you should know that this time there’s something you can do. The following simple action may not stop the law from hitting Ohioans like a hurricane of oppression, but it will infuriate the Columbus bureaucrats who thrust their “values” on the populace – and that’s a start.

Take a few minutes to call 866-559-OHIO. That’s the toll-free “Complaint Hotline” the state initiated to allow nosey Ohioans to report smoking ban violations. Even though the ban is not yet in effect, the hotline is up and running and will immediately connect you to a lovely Ohio Department of Health bureaucrat. They even take out of state calls! Trust me.

Instead of reporting a ban violation, I suggest you let the state government have a piece of your mind for squelching free choice and imposing their anti-smoking “ideals” on the citizenry. Now that’s a complaint.

If you don’t know how to put your feelings into words, feel free to take a few lines from this post.

It’s worth pointing out that Ohio officials established the hotline because they’re not quite sure how to enforce the ban. That’s government efficiency for you.

So let’s make the Columbus bureaucrats pay for their fascist powergrab by flooding the Ohio Department of Health with some serious “complaints” over the next few days. We may not make any real difference in public policy, but we can piss off the government workers who live off our tax dollars.

–Patrick A

Yesterday your three hardworking Stogie Guys took some time to relax and have some cigars in Ybor City. By chance Patrick A and myself were in the area for business, and once we realized we’d have some free time, we immediately contacted Tampa Bureau Chief George Edmonson to meet for a few hours in the cigar capital of America.

With just over three hours to spend in the historic district of Tampa, we wasted no time. We started our trip by meeting in front of the Columbia restaurant, where they roll their own cigars in the Gonzalez & Martinez Cigar Factory. The factory itself was closed when we were there and, unfortunately due to Florida’s Draconian restaurant smoking ban (how a state with well over half a million Cubans bans the traditional after dinner cigar is beyond me), we couldn’t light up at the restaurant.

So we walked down E. 7th Avenue (the main drag in Ybor) until we came across an open cigar shop (at 11 on Sunday morning your options are a bit limited). Outside of The Tampa Cigar Company Inc., the owner was puffing away at a cigar. As we walked in, to our left was a cigar rolling station surrounded by dozens of cigar presses, and to our right was a walk-in humidor with hundreds of stacked, un-banded cigars which we were told were all rolled right there in the shop.

At the owner’s recommendation we selected three robustos ($5 per stick), which we enjoyed with strong cuban coffee. After a leisurely smoke we thanked our host and left to have some lunch.

Later we found ourselves at King Corona Cigar, a large combination cigar shop, bar, and barbershop. They carry a respectable selection of name-brand cigars in a massive humidor. Tucked in between the CAO’s, Fuentes, and Diamond Crowns was an unbanded cigar simply called “Ybor City Handmades” that came in three sizes – Lonsdale, Torpedo, and Churchill.

Since we could find the national brands anywhere, we decided on the very reasonably-priced Ybor City Handmades and enjoyed three Churchills with some more coffee. With excellent construction, a mild buttery-almond flavor, and the occasional hint of spice, these Ybor-rolled Dominican cigars with their nearly vein-free Connecticut Shade wrappers were a steal at just over two dollars apiece

Unfortunately, like every cigar, this stogie adventure had to come to an end, but not before everyone walked away with a few more cigars for our humidors and a few pleasant memories.

–Patrick S

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and reader-friendly as possible, each Friday we’ll post a sampler of quick cigar news and stogie-related snippets to tide you over for the weekend. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) From time to time we’ll look back at a review we did with a Stogie Guys Second Look. Not quite a full review, these will include little tidbits about a cigar we already reviewed. Item 2 in today’s sampler takes a Second Look at the Gurkha Connecticut Reserve Robusto #4.

2) Stogie Guys Second Look: Gurkha Connecticut Reserve Robusto #4
After having awful construction problems in its review, this toro-sized Gurkha came back strong with a relatively even burn, very long sturdy ash (see picture), and none of the wrapper issues initially encountered. Combined with the same mild nutty flavors as before, this was a big improvement.

3) We look everywhere for deals for our readers. We found this special from Cigar International in a pile of coupons that usually just goes straight from our mailbox to our trash can. Ten bucks for eight cigars including sticks from Gurkha, Perdomo, Indian Tabac, and Fonseca Just click this link.

4) Looking for a good deal? Well, you need look no further than the Torano Website, where the generous cigar makers say they’ll give you a free one for signing up here.

5.) Last week we let you know about this $30 cigar case and sampler deal. That’s pretty good, and for a few bucks more you can have have the above ten cigars and case. Click the above picture for the special deal.

–The Stogie Guys