The Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: The following is a guest commentary from Jacob Grier, a friend of StogieGuys.com whose recent move to the West Coast has him face-to-face with environmental-driven smoking bans.]

My apartment hunt in downtown Portland yesterday brought unexpected frustration. As I strolled among modern high-rises with big balconies, surrounded by restaurants and coffee shops and independent specialty stores, I thought I’d found the perfect city for me. Yet time and again I was told that my kind are not welcome in these apartments: the residences are completely smoke-free, inside and out.

I’m not a frequent smoker but I do think that enjoying a good cigar and a glass of whiskey with a close friend is one of life’s great pleasures. With Oregon’s ban on smoking in bars and restaurants coming into effect soon, my home will be one of the few places that I’m allowed to light up here. Being forbidden from enjoying a cigar or pipe even on my own deck or balcony is close to a deal-breaker for me. Walking around the Pearl District yesterday, passing block after block of apartments where I would not be permitted to pursue my hobby, I felt for the first time what it’s like to be a minority facing discrimination. Admittedly, I suffer for a lifestyle choice rather than for an immutable characteristic of my being, so I won’t pretend it compares to racial or sexual discrimination. But still, it was a new experience for this middle class white guy.

I assumed that these anti-smoking policies were how apartment buildings cater to West Coast nanny state types who have fantastically misinformed beliefs about the dangers of secondhand smoke. However much that might irk me, it would be hypocritical of me to deny them the right to live in the kinds of communities they prefer. I respect their rights of property and freedom of association, even if they won’t extend the same courtesy to smokers and business owners.

Then at one of these properties I learned that there’s actually another force at work. LEED certification, the seal of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council, now imposes strict smoking restrictions on buildings that want to advertise their environmental bonafides.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. In eco-conscious cities like Portland, it’s a marketing advantage to have a building LEED certified. Builders submit their designs to the USGBC, are given a checklist of features the council looks for, and the number of items they can check off determines their LEED rating. Most of these items involve matters like energy efficiency, reusing materials, reducing water use, and other goals clearly related to environmental purposes. You might wonder what controlling residents’ smoking habits has to do with any of this. I certainly did.

It turns out that LEED certification considers six categories of evaluation, one of which is indoor environmental quality. If tobacco smoke is considered a pollutant, banning smoking is one way of addressing it. One could make a plausible case that LEED certified buildings shouldn’t allow smoking indoors, where habitual smokers could pump a lot of smoke into the ventilation systems. But in proximity to an exterior door? Or on a balcony? There’s absolutely no scientific justification for banning this. Walking by a smoker on the way into the lobby is not going to kill anyone. It’s annoying, perhaps, but it’s not a matter that needs to be addressed by green building codes.

To put all this into perspective, of the more than 70 items on the checklist, only 7 are necessary prerequisites. In the indoor environmental quality category, increased ventilation, low-emitting materials use, thermal comfort, and outdoor air delivery monitoring are all optional. In other categories things like materials reuse, building with certified wood, managing refrigerants, using renewable energy, reducing water use, and minimizing the heat island effect are optional. For a project that’s primarily concerned with environmental protection, prioritizing outdoor smoking bans over these other concerns is strange indeed.

As I said before, I don’t object to leasing companies forbidding smoking if that’s what their customers want them to do. I do object, though, to the USGBC forcing bans onto anyone who wants to advertise their green building practices. Most people don’t know the details of what goes into the LEED checklist; they just want to know that a building is energy efficient, clean, and doesn’t waste resources. Banning smoking outdoors has nothing to do with that and muddles legitimate environmental concerns with restrictions on people’s personal behavior. Worse, it casts doubt on the merit of the USGBC’s other standards. If the organization has so little respect for scientific validity when it comes to smoking, it makes one wonder about the entire checklist. Is it guided by respectable science or by political correctness? Not being an expert in design, I have no way of knowing.

–This originally appeared at JacobGrier.com on Oct. 14.

photo credit: Flickr

Over a year ago, one of my colleagues listed three boutique cigar manufacturers in an effort to “discover new sticks and to play at least a small, direct role in supporting the art of cigar making.” Today I’d like to continue that trend because, in my opinion, these smaller-scale operations turn out some terrific smokes for a fraction of name-brand prices.

Now you might be asking what qualifies a cigar producer to be “boutique.” According to a 1999 feature article in Smoke Magazine, boutique cigars are “brands with a production of less than 1.5 million sticks per year.” (That number would likely have to be upped today to adjust for increased overall cigar production.) Others say boutiques simply mean the firm’s stogies are cultivated in small batches with high attention to individual detail.

For our purposes—and because it’s a lot easier than researching production numbers—I’ll adopt a broad definition: Boutique cigar manufacturers are those with a relatively limited output, name recognition, and niche market. In other words, to borrow a metaphor from Smoke Magazine, they are the micro-breweries of the cigar industry. This definition is certainly subjective, so feel free to disagree with my belief that, despite José Oliva’s assertion, his operation is not boutique.

Either way, I don’t want to get all caught up in semantics. Instead, I’d like to share my three favorite boutiques and encourage you to explore their wonderful creations:

Bucanero Cigars. Founded during the mid-90’s cigar boom, this company uses fine tobaccos from 10 different nations to create 18 signature blends. I particularly appreciate the Don Douglas, Treasure, and Cañon lines. “[Bucanero] was, and continues today to be, built around honesty and friendship,” says President Robert Spoden. “We set out slowly to introduce unique blends.”

Cuban Crafters. This selection should come as no surprise. We write about this Maimi-based, Nicaraguan-growing operation so often, in fact, I worry that readers think we’re on their payroll. (We aren’t but, in the interest of full disclosure, we do participate in their affiliate program.) Cuban Crafters makes many of my everyday favorite brands, including Cupido, J.L. Salazar, Don Kiki (Brown and White), La Carolina, and Cameroon. The company’s latest, most premium creation, the Medina 1959 line (full release TBD), is also an up-and-coming winner. “While difficult to find in many cigar retailers,” says National Sales Director Alberto Noguera, “boutique premium brands are something different from the ordinary mass-produced cigars commonly available in most shops. Their flavor and aroma is unmatched.”

Isla de Cuba. I’ve loved everything I’ve tried from Darryl Lieser’s Tampa-based boutique. The two original blends that launched in February—Classic and Aged Maduro—have a simple beauty to them, and Isla’s new Wango Tango and Blend 376 lines are also impressive.

Feel free to use the comments below to share your favorite boutique cigar manufacturers with other StogieGuys.com readers.

–Patrick A

photo credits: Stogie Guys

Sure it is tough times economically right now, but that shouldn’t deter you from buying cigars. In case you have any doubts (or need help convincing someone that now is the right tome to stock up), here are nine reasons you should be increasing your cigar reserves right now:

Hurricanes, Floods, and Locusts — Hurricanes and other natural disasters (including insect infestations or mold) could strike tobacco producing countries at any time, devastating the tobacco crop, limiting supply, and driving up the prices of whatever remains. If you have enough cigars before disaster hits, you can ride out the storm.

Stupid Politicians — They’re only one vote away from levying a massive tax on cigars or outright banning our combustible tobacco treats. There is, however, one sure way to avoid paying the taxes of the future (or having to purchase black market cigars of questionable origin): Start storing up now.

Food and Booze — Enjoying some fine dining or top shelf booze? Everyone knows that a good meal or great spirit is made better when followed by, or enjoyed with, a good cigar. You’re practically throwing your money away every time you eat or drink and fail to top it off with a fine smoke.

Cheap — I’ve said it before: Cigars are cheap compared to most entertainment and would still be even if prices doubled tomorrow (not that I’m in favor of that). Think about it, a trip to the movies can can run $40 for two people, a baseball game twice that much. Yet for five or ten dollars, you can smoke a cigar for an hour or two. Basic economics tells us when something is so under-priced it should be bought up.

Aging — Cigars, at least many good ones, get better with age. Months, years, or even decades can do wonders for the flavor of a fine stogie. The problem is waiting for the cigars to age without smoking them all. Fortunately, there is a solution: Buy so many cigars that it’ll take years to smoke them all.

Celebrations — There are countless reasons to celebrate, and many often come up unexpected. The only way to be prepared is to have a massive stash of cigars ready to go. After all, you can’t plan a drunken Vegas wedding…but you can have enough smokes on hand to celebrate the occasion.

Investment — The stock market is tanking, mortgages are defaulting, and inflation is killing the dollar, but cigars remain a good investment. Think about it. If you bought a box of Opus X cigars one year ago, it would have out-performed pretty much every stock in the Dow Jones. And given all the reasons on this list, demand (and thus prices) will only go up.

Bargains — Nearly everyday there is a great deal on one website or another, or at your local B&M (not to mention the StogieGuys.com “Deal of the Week” featured in every Friday Sampler). Any of these could expire tomorrow, leaving you stuck paying more for a cigar than you otherwise would have. Therefore, it is always smart to take advantage of these deals, right?

Idiot Repellent — Let’s face it: There are a lot of dumb, annoying people around, and the dumber and more annoying, the more likely they are to give you their unsolicited, unwanted, and uninformed opinions. Fortunately, these stupid people are also the most likely to be annoyed by the wonderful aroma of a fine cigar, making smoking the perfect way to keep such undesirables away.

Got a better reason for buying cigars now? Let us know in the comments.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Flickr

I think it’s difficult to smoke cigars very long without having a few questions that don’t seem to ever get asked—or answered, for that matter—at your local B&M or on any of the cigar websites and podcasts.

Here’s one that’s been bugging me for years: Who smokes all those cigars you’ve never heard of or seen that they sell in the catalogs? I mean, honestly, have you ever spotted anyone smoking one of them? Imagine someone sitting at home thinking to himself, “Gee, I’m glad this company offers overnight shipping for only $25 more because I just can’t wait to start smoking that bundle of Mexican factory seconds.”

Speaking of catalogs, why is it necessary to print and mail them so frequently when about 90 percent of the content is the same time after time after time?

Then there’s the matter of boutique cigar manufacturers. In an industry steeped in Latin culture and language, why use a French word to describe the smaller cigar makers? It’s somewhat similar to the way ring gauges are calculated and the lengths of cigars are measured. While ring gauges seem to be universally stated in measurements of 64ths of an inch regardless of the country, most of the rest of the world uses the metric system.

I know it’s cheaper, but how can humidor makers—even those that turn out the flimsiest, poorest boxes imaginable—continue to include floral foam as a humidification device? Hey, charge $1 or $2 more and put beads in that will actually work!

Finally, I submit the photograph (above right) from a recent cigar company catalog. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where someone OK’d this picture as a fine example of their wares that would surely make customers want to part with their money.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Over 335 million premium cigars were imported to the United States in 2007, most from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Every time I see that figure—which is up about 8% from 2006—I wonder how many more entered American soil under the radar of Uncle Sam.

The amount of “black market” cigars in this country has to be astronomical given the U.S. government’s hypocritical trade embargo against Cuba. Just think of how many enthusiasts you know who have stashes of Cubans, or ponder all the websites that sell outlawed sticks to Americans, or consider how poorly U.S. Customs examines each bag coming in from a foreign country. Since these activities aren’t accurately documented—at least not publicly—coming up with a solid figure isn’t easy.

Let’s just say a lot of Cubans are imported annually, and let’s just assume you’ve smoked at least several. What I’d like to know is, generally speaking, how do Cuban cigars stack up to their Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan counterparts?

Make no mistake about it, Castro’s oppressed island nation produces some fine stogies, from the Partagas Serie D No. 4 and the RyJ Short Churchill to the Cohiba Siglo VI and the Monte Petit Edmundo. We’ve published 15 full reviews of various Cubans here at StogieGuys.com since our founding in May 2006—and we’ve reviewed over 200 others from a myriad of other countries.

Our average rating on the Cubans we’ve examined is just over four stogies out of five, above the total overall average of about three and a half stogies. But take that with a grain of salt; we’ve never been big fans of bringing numbers into cigars.

I personally question whether all the Cuban cigar hype—and the excessive prices that come with black market goods—is justified. I think many of us give sub-par Cubans a pass simply because we’re not supposed to smoke them. The forbidden factor unquestionably makes them more attractive.

Also, don’t forget that we live in a golden age of cigars with countless non-Cubans that are nothing short of exceptional. Those of you who “only smoke Cubans” (I’ve seen this many times in correspondence with readers in Europe) are seriously missing out. Seriously.

After thinking on this broad, esoteric subject for many months, my conclusion is this: The world’s finest non-Cuban cigars can stand up to most of Cuba’s best, but the world’s standard stogies are no match for Cuba’s average. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my pseudo-hypothesis in the comments below.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Flickr

Not long ago I enjoyed a cigar with one of my best friends and his new wife in the backyard behind their house. Large, airy, and lushly landscaped, this is the sort of place I hope to own someday. Backyards are at a premium here in Los Angeles, and to me they’re more important than the houses built around them. They can be shared with friends and family, or they can be intensely private places of tranquil meditation and uninterrupted reflection. If people elsewhere around the world take such open space for granted, here we consider it sacred and inviolable—a small, but personal plot held fast against the encroachment of a sprawling, noisy, and land-hungry city.

This particular backyard was, as I’ve said, pretty big by LA standards. Unfortunately, the view was “fenced in” on the west side by a neighbor’s addition to her home—an ugly, three-story guest house with a window overlooking my friend’s entire yard. Nevermind the fact that building a three-story structure is illegal in this part of the city; what was particularly onerous about this building was its violation of my friend’s privacy. In shape, form, rule-flouting design, and hostile spirit, this building pretty much embodied the neighbor herself. She, a 70-something widow, was notoriously paranoid, litigious (again, ironic, given that her guest house was in clear violation of building codes), angry, and conniving. She was always around, never left her house, and never ran out of excuses to harass or even sue her various neighbors.

And on this particular day, as we smoked in peace, or so we thought, we’d noticed her popping up every now and then from behind the curtain in that watchtower window. She’d appear for a few seconds, glower at us, then disappear. Eventually she thrust open the window and started shouting at us. She demanded that we extinguish our cigars, as the smoke was “choking her to death.”

We complied, if only because she was old and because she was so lawsuit-happy; pressing the conflict just wasn’t worth the time and expense, even though my friend probably would have prevailed in court.

But part of me couldn’t help thinking that we were simply appeasing a madwoman. For one thing, there was basically no way that the smoke had drifted the 50-odd feet into the air, up toward her sealed window, and through it—an especially difficult feat given that the wind was blowing in a different direction. More likely than not, she had been spying on us and was simply looking to pick a fight, as is apparently her modus operandi. She and my friends hadn’t been getting along ever since they moved in next door, and this was one more complaint in her endless litany. She was bullying them, establishing dominance. If they didn’t challenge her this time, she probably figured, she could keep getting her way in the future.

The real question, however, is this: What would you have done in this situation? Have you been in such circumstances before? Does your neighbor have the right to complain about what goes on in the confines of your private property? And will such situations arise more frequently in the future, thus giving the anti-smoking lobby a proverbial invitation into our houses?

–Jon N

photo credit: Flickr

A friend and fellow cigar enthusiast recently told me that he won’t smoke “anything less” than a full-bodied cigar. To me, the designation “anything less” seems a bit ridiculous in such context—every bit as silly as if I’d claimed not to drink “anything less” than a cabernet sauvignon, or eat “anything less” than dark chocolate. “Anything less” implies a degree of quality, and we should not confuse quality with strength.

It’s true that many of the finest cigars available happen to be full-bodied cigars. It’s also true, however, that many are medium- or even mild-bodied sticks. Davidoff, for instance, has long been one of the finest cigar brands available, and the company specializes in milder stogies. You’d be hard-pressed to argue that a milder Davidoff is inferior to a fuller cigar of lesser craftsmanship and flavor.

Many of us like to say we “graduate” from milder to fuller cigars as we delve deeper into this shared hobby of ours. Be that as it may, let’s not forget that milder cigars can and should remain part of a well-balanced collection. We should not consider ourselves too macho, too old, too cool, or too proud to smoke mild or medium sticks.

In fact, I’d argue that one sign of a truly sophisticated connoisseur is the ability to appreciate sticks of all vitolas, wrappers, strengths and bodies. Such an aficionado may have his favorites, but he is always trying out new stogies and never turning them down on the basis of style alone.

I’m not suggesting that you force yourself to endure mild sticks if you absolutely don’t like them. But at the same time, I ask that you not conflate mildness with low quality, or fullness with high quality. Quality and body are two very separate things.

–Jon N

photo credit: Stogie Guys