Stogie Guys Friday Sampler XXXVIII

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

1) No thanks to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the Old Dominion almost became the 22nd state to enact a statewide bar and restaurant smoking ban. Fortunately, state senators rejected Kaine’s attempt to attach the ban to a far more reasonable proposed bill that would force restaurants that allow smoking to conspicuously post a “smoking permitted” sign.

2) Do you think that the editors over at Cigar Aficionado just pull numbers out of their asses when they give a cigar a rating on their one hundred point scale? Well, it turns out it’s a bit more complicated than that, as Gordon Mott and David Savona explain in this video. Still, we’re sticking with our easy to understand five stogie scale.

3) We were pleased when we came across this article on CNN’s travel site. It’s not often that you see a good primer on the cigar industry of Cuba. Now, if you actually want to travel there, you’ll probably want to check out our tips on visiting Cuba.

4) If you’re a fan of Rocky Patel’s Vintage Sun Grown line, you’ll be pleased to know that a new size is now available. The monster six inch by 60 ring gauge vitola – with a distinctive pigtail cap – joins the “Sixty” sizes available in Rocky Patel’s other vintage lines: 1990, 1992, and 1999. Of course, back in September, Rocky told Stogie Guys Tampa Bureau Chief George Edmonson that a slightly narrower 6″ x 52 toro was his favorite size.

5) Deal of the week: Tinderbox.com is running a special deal on their “Herf Sampler,” which can be ordered for a modest $23.95. For that you get ten stogies, including some top notch smokes like a CAO Maduro, a Cohiba XV, a tough to find box-pressed Punch Pensada, a Camacho Havana, the Cusano Corojo 1997, and five others. Pick yours up here.

–The Stogie Guys