The Stogie Guys

As you’ve no doubt seen if you’ve been following us on Facebook or Twitter over the past week, Patrick A and Patrick S participated in Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari in Estelí, Nicaragua.

First and foremost, we’d like to thank all the fine folks at Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua for showing us an amazing time on the incredible trip, especially Jonathan Drew, Steve Saka, Jose Blanco, Mario Perez, Pedro Gomez, and Johnny Brooke. We learned a ton and our passion for fine cigars was reinforced four-fold—as was our understanding that we have so much more to learn about tobacco. But that’s a learning process we embrace.

We know you embrace learning about premium cigars as well, and in that spirit we have a plethora of photos, videos, and other content to share with you from our recently concluded adventure. The video content is forthcoming shortly. In the meantime, we thought we’d share some of our favorite photos from the trip.

We had a tremendous group of guys for this trip, pictured here. Included are such notables as Jonathan Drew (red shirt and cap), Steve Saka (lower right), Doc Stogie (black CroMagnon shirt), and Brian Berman and Mark Brownlee of CRA.

The Drew Estate factory has a sense of style all its own, including this beautiful mural painted along the back of the factory and near the entrance to Subculture Studios, the nerve center of the company’s artistic creations.

As you might imagine, there were plenty of smokes available to us during the trip, and we weren’t shy about taking advantage of this awesome luxury. From Liga Privada No. 9 and Undercrown to Liga Privada T52 and Unico Serie, Cigar Safari was a great way to sample (and re-sample) all of the finest offerings from Drew Estate. The MUWAT Bait Fish, for example, was a favorite of ours as a potent post-lunch smoke with some dark coffee.

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StogieGuys.com is taking the rest of the week off as Patrick A and Patrick S travel from Chicago and Washington, respectively, to visit the fine folks at Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua. We’ll return to our daily coverage of the world of cigars on Saturday, May 26. In the meantime, feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as we participate in Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari. And be sure to come back to StogieGuys.com next week as we share exciting content from our smoke-filled adventure.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Drew Estate Blog

I think it was Woody Allen who said 80 percent of life is showing up. Well, I got part of my percent the other day when I won a box of Di Fazio Picoso Torpedos from The Cigar Station last month for what I believe was the electronic equivalent of showing. I registered at the site, which plays music, interviews, and other cigar-related material.

I’ve smoked a couple, and they’re nice cigars—spicy, well-made, and smooth. Di Fazio  is a relatively new company, starting operations in 2008 with headquarters in Miami. The Picoso is made in Honduras, and I wrote a Quick Smoke on the Churchill last year.

I thought I should share my good fortune, so we’ve cooked up another contest to give StogieGuys.com readers a chance to win a Picoso five-pack. The goal of this contest is to support the backbone of our hobby: the cigar shop. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post that includes this sentence:

“I will buy a cigar in person at a cigar shop the next time I get a chance.”

For most of us, that’s a pretty simple promise. Some of you, though, live a long way from a B&M. That’s OK. We trust you. If you say you’ll do it, you’ll do it, whether it’s tomorrow or two years from now. You’re all on the honor system.

Here’s the fine print: Please enter only once. Include an email address so we can contact you to get your mailing address if you win. (If you’re concerned about spammers, feel free to wrinkle it up by spelling “@” or writing .com as “.cXX”. Just don’t make it so clever that we can’t figure it out.) The winner will be chosen at random in a week, and the judges’ decision is final. The rest of the fine print can be read here.

Since Di Fazio was kind enough to supply the cigar, I’d recommend you purchase one from their lines if the shop you visit carries them. But whatever you buy, enjoy it. And tell ’em StogieGuys.com sent you.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

Say hello to the latest StogieGuys.com winner, Carl Lindstrom. He’s a retired Illinois resident and Florida snowbird who enjoys a variety of cigars with what may be the simplest, and best, method of evaluation: “I either like it or I don’t.”

Lindstrom was randomly selected from among those who commented on a January 2 post urging cigar enthusiasts to contact U.S. representatives and Senators to protect premium cigars from Food & Drug Administration regulation. His prize was a pair of Montecristo New York Connoisseur Edition cigars I’d received from Altadis. I must say I was flabbergasted when I saw his address. For when Lindstrom and his wife escape the cold northern clime, they can be found less than an hour north of me.

And that’s not the only close connection. His local shop in Spring Hill is one I’ve visited and written about, Serafin de Cuba, run by Arnold Serafin. (I also reviewed Arnold’s cigars here.)

Commenting on the Montecristo New York, Lindstrom said he found it a little strong, but that it smoked nice and slow. He summed it up as “a very nice cigar.”

Lindstrom, who goes online by his old high school nickname of Swede, sold Chevys for 32 years and worked five more as a grade school custodian before retiring. Like many of us back then, he started smoking cigarettes as a teenager, tried cigars and a pipe along the way, then quit in 1993. He returned to cigars about four years ago and said it took awhile to abandon the habit of smoking them like cigarettes.

Among his favorites are Nick’s Sticks by Perdomo, the Oliva Serie O, and cigars from E.P. Carrillo. “And when I’m in Florida, the Serafin de Cuba Connecticut Robusto,” he added.

As I wrote before, the contest offered us all a chance to be winners. And that’s certainly true for me. I now have another smoking buddy up the road, and I plan to see if we can get together at Arnold’s shop for a smoke before he flees the coming summer heat.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

How often do you get the chance to strike a blow for democracy, support your hobby, and win cigars? Well, step right up. Here’s your opportunity.

But before we get to the contest, I must confess that I had been trying to come up with a giveaway idea ever since I received a two-cigar “Blogger Edition” pack of the new Montecristo New York Connoisseur Edition (review here). I was also thinking about trying once again to generate more support for legislation barring the Food & Drug Administration from regulating premium handmade cigars when—voilà!—I realized could shamelessly combine the two.

If you’re a regular Stogie Guys reader, you know we’re big supporters of this bill. Passage would be a landmark event. And we need everyone to join the effort.

So, how does this contest tie in? Well, it begins with the assumption that Stogie Guys readers are honorable folks because we’ll take your word that you did what needs to be done before you enter. And what do you need to do? Simply contact your representative and/or senators to urge support of the legislation in their chamber and leave a comment here. If both your senators and your representative have signed on (currently possible only in Florida), just note that in your comment. If you’ve already appealed to your elected officials, write that in your comment.

For those who haven’t acted, here are links to make it easy. If you don’t know your representative, go here. You’ll also find a link to the rep’s website that includes contact info. Then, to find out whether he or she is a cosponsor of the bill, known as HR1639, click on Thomas. Go to “Legislation in Current Congress” in the middle of the page, highlight the “Bill Number” button, type HR1639 in the window, and click SEARCH. On the new page, click Cosponsors. If your rep’s name isn’t there, you need to get in touch.

My strong preference would be for you to compose your own email or postal letter, or call the office rather than sign a petition or use a form letter urging support for HR1639. Your own words have much more impact. Again, though, how you do it is up to you. You can find more on the bills by searching Stogie Guys and checking in at Cigar Rights of America.

For the Senate, it’s pretty straightforward. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced the bill (S1461) and his GOP counterpart, Marco Rubio, is a cosponsor. The only others signed on are Democrat Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. You’ll find senators by state with contact information here.

When you’re done, leave a comment. We’ll keep it open for a week and then randomly select a winner of the two Montecristo New York Connoisseur Edition cigars. Please enter only once. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you if you win. And if you’re interested, here’s the fine print.

Good luck. This is one contest where we can all be winners.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Fall means one thing to us: football. And since football goes so well with cigars, we thought we’d have a little fun by combining the two…and giving away a ton of cigars in the process.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce the Stogie Guys NFL Pick’Em Challenge. Each week you can try to pick the winner of each game, and we’ll be rewarding the best contestants with cigars.

To join, click here. Enter group number 24973 and the top secret password: “stogie.” At the end of each week during the regular season, the contestant with the most correct picks will receive a six-pack of cigars. And we’ll be lining up an even bigger prize for the grand champion at the end of the season.

We’re limited to 100 entries, so please only register once until we’re at capacity. Anyone who submits multiple entries will be kicked out to make room for others. Ties will be broken by using the Yahoo tiebreaker system and, as an added challenge, all picks are against the spread. (Fine print here.)

Good luck!

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys

We’re pleased to announce a new contributor to StogieGuys.com: Mark Carlos McGinty, author of the award-winning novel The Cigar Maker. “Mark M” adds unique expertise to our site, focusing on the rich history of the cigar industry and examining the intricacies of the cigar industry today.

Regular readers will recall that Mark has contributed to the site a few times already. In May, he wrote an article on the complex legal issues that will arise when the Cuban embargo finally ends. More recently, he wrote about the history of the Cuesta-Rey brand and the two revolutionaries who started it in the 1890s. (Both articles are well worth reading, if you haven’t already seen them.) As Mark’s bio notes, cigars and Cuban culture run in his family:

Mark Carlos McGinty is a descendant of Cuban cigar makers and the award-winning author of The Cigar Maker. You can read an excerpt of his book here. His work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Cigar City Magazine, Yahoo! Entertainment, and La Gaceta. Mark grew up in Minnesota but spent a good part of his childhood with his Cuban relatives in West Tampa eating ropa vieja and Cuban sandwiches, drinking café con leche and fresh-squeezed orange juice from his grandfather’s tree. His great-aunt rolled cigars for Arturo Fuente so, of course, his favorite cigar is the Arturo Fuente Flor Fina 8-5-8.

Mark spent seven years writing The Cigar Maker, a time when he ate a lot of Cuban food and smoked way too many cigars. Most of those seven years were spent researching the history of Cuba, Tampa, and the cigar industry during the period of 1850–1910. A labor of love with dozens of family anecdotes woven into the story, The Cigar Maker was a finalist at the Indie Excellence Book Awards in 2011, won the Bronze Medal at the Independent Publisher Awards, and was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2010 Book of the Year. Visit the book’s official website to learn more: www.TheCigarMaker.net.

Mark’s first novel, Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy (Beaver’s Pond Press, 2003), won an Eric Hoffer Book Award Honorable Mention for General Fiction. He graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and obtained his master’s degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Mark lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter and pays close attention to the Minnesota Twins, a subject that could one day warrant its own book.

Please welcome Mark to the site in the comments below. And as a bonus, we’ll select one commenter to win a signed copy of The Cigar Maker.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys