The Stogie Guys

In our inaugural post on May 15, an anonymous comment was left that asked, “When will the website include info for the girls?” Good question.

Since I believe all of our posts apply equally to both sexes, the answer is simply that StogieGuys.com does – and always will – have information for both Stogie Guys and Stogie Gals.

But today’s post – or, rather, advice – is especially for you ladies out there. Specifically, gals, if you want to look sexy, nothing does the trick quite like smoking a fine cigar.

Just ask any guy. We don’t quite know what it is (in fact, we can’t pinpoint exactly why we’re naturally attracted to the things about you that we are in the first place), but something about an attractive woman indulging in a sumptuous smoke is particularly enticing. Even nonsmoking men have to agree.

Don’t believe me? Check out these sexy photos from Cigar Aficionado. You know you want to.

Is it the smoke billowing from her lips that’s so alluring? Is it the way she gently embraces the cigar with her delicate fingers that keeps us up at night? Or is it simply the very notion of an elegant woman treating herself to one of life’s greatest pleasures that drives us crazy?

Whatever it is, it works.
Note to all you Stogie Gals: Send cigar smoking self-portraits here, and we’ll put the best ones up on the site.

-Patrick A

In an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Calabasas, California city officials are lauding their draconian law which prohibits all smoking outdoors, except in city-approved designated “smoking areas.” In effect, the city government has laid claim to and commandeered the air, preventing adults from exercising their individual rights to free choice.

Most reasonable people observing the Calabasas calamity from the outside agree that outdoor smoking bans go way too far. No scientific or medical data have ever even suggested that banning smoking outdoors reduces exposure to second-hand smoke.

Which brings us to the unfortunate heart of this controversial issue: If Calabasas officials aren’t trying to “protect” nonsmokers, they must be trying to “protect” smokers, the very people who are consciously choosing to smoke. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the aim of every smoking ban – whether outdoors or inside private buildings – is for the government to control the actions of consenting adults.

But what about the waitresses and bartenders who work in smoking facilities? What about all the nonsmokers who frequent these businesses? Aren’t smoking bans intended to protect these people from second-hand smoke?

First of all, the notion of second-hand smoke as an epidemic is totally overblown. While the AFL-CIO claims in a press release that “second-hand smoke is estimated to cause 65,000 deaths per year in the U.S.,” that number is just plain wrong. It’s 20 times the estimate of the Center for Disease Control, and even the CDC estimate was roundly rejected by a federal court.

Second, since public health isn’t really a factor, most nonsmokers who support smoking bans in private businesses do so because they don’t like the smell – not because they’re concerned for their health. “It gets in my hair,” they whine. Well, guess what? This is America. No one – I mean no one – has the right to ban the actions of others simply because they’re annoyed. That’s certainly not a principle America’s founding generation fought and died for.

What these aggravating gripers do have is the right to take their business elsewhere. As in any case in public policy, free markets – not government bans and regulations on private businesses – work perfectly. If there is a demand for smoke-free facilities, smart entrepreneurs will rise to the occasion. In fact, here’s a list of literally hundreds of nonsmoking facilities in my hometown provided by Smoke Free DC, the idiot group that squelched individual free choice in – of all places – our nation’s capital.

Finally, any waitress, bartender, or busboy who works in a smoking facility knew well in advance of his or her first day that customers’ smoke would come with the territory. If they’re so bothered by second-hand smoke, there’s plenty of other jobs out there to consider.

The bottom line is that consenting adults have rights to do with their bodies what they so please, and private business owners have rights to offer the accommodations they so choose. Whatever the perceived social ill, government regulation and intervention is almost certainly a “cure” worse than the disease.

-Patrick A

Chances are you probably didn’t catch this article in Sunday’s Contra Costa Times about an Oakley, California man who hated his first cigar, but grew up to own two stogie stores (including his own brand).

But as a fastidious reader of every piece of news concerning the world of cigars, I wasn’t about to let this one fall through the cracks. “Why,” you’re probably asking, “is this esoteric tale worth relaying to all of us Stogie Guys?” Well, as it turns out, it provides the perfect opportunity for me to make two very important points.

First – and most obviously – if you don’t like your first cigar that certainly doesn’t mean you will never like any cigars. You owe it to yourself to at least try another. As in many cases in life, persistence pays off.

Now on to my second point: The man in the article, Tony Hemenes, was quoted as saying that “you are not going to find lower income people who like cigars.” Bullshit.

Regardless of the fallacy society developed that cigars are only for the rich and elite, stogies are for Jane Doe and John Everyman just as much as they are for Fidel Castro and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many wonderful cigars cost less than the price of a Miller Lite at your local pub, and they’re sure to last much longer. Case in point: StogieGuys.com has already provided you with reviews of two very respectable cigars (see here and here) that cost less than $3 a smoke – and there are many more to come.

While I have a lot of respect for Mr. Hemenes as a successful entrepreneur in a commendable industry, I can’t agree with his assertion that stogies do not transcend class structures. A good smoke is for anyone – rich or poor, man or woman – who deserves a bit of flavorful relaxation.

-Patrick A

When you think of the Big Apple you might think of the tall buildings, the Broadway lights, the attitude of its residents, or even some of its famous food items (Carnegie Deli sandwiches, slice shop pizza, bagels with lox…). But cigar making probably doesn’t come to mind.

And yet in a recent trip to New York I made it a point to visit two shops where you can see experienced cigar-makers roll a handmade stogie right before your eyes, and then smoke it right there. One such place is La Rosa Cubana.

While only a brisk 10 minute walk from Nat Sherman Cigar’s glitzy flagship store at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, La Rosa Cubana’s second floor mini cigar factory and shop on 6th avenue (between 30th and 31st streets) could be worlds away. As a lifelong New Yorker before seeking it out, I have walked past it at least a handful of times without taking notice of the neon signs proclaiming “La Rosa Handmade Cigars: Cuban Seed.”

To get from the street to La Rosa you need to ascend a daunting flight of steep, rickety stairs, but as you approach the top the smell alone makes the trip worthwhile. The small one room factory/shop is taken up primarily by presses, rolling tables, and prep areas where the Dominican “cuban seed” cigars are produced. The rest of the room consists of a simple “lounge” consisting of two chairs and a table and a display case/humidor from which any Stogie Guy can select from the many styles of cigars that La Rosa produces. The cigars come in most popular sizes, plus the nearly 1-inch in diameter 6 1/2 inch by 60 ring gauge “King Churchill.”

And while I’ll spend more time on La Rosa’s cigars in future StogieGuys.com articles, I must say that there is something so very authentic and pleasing about seeing handmade cigars produced in front of your very eyes. And I’m certain that when I do get around to enjoying that King Churchill, it will be that much better because I have seen the effort, attention to detail, and years of experience that went into creating it.

Click photos for a larger view:

Visit La Rosa Cubana yourself at:
862 6th Avenue (second floor) between 30th & 31st Streets
New York, New York 10001
Or see their website for more information:
www.LaRosaCubanaCigars.com

-Patrick S

Sorry guys…that’s my position on the government of Cuba, not a stogie offer.

Stogie Guys around the world appreciate freedom, because everyday some busy-body do-gooder “activist” or politician is trying to tell us that we should not be allowed to enjoy our cigars. And yet that lack of freedom under which we suffer pales in comparison to the oppressed citizens of Cuba.

While at StogieGuys.com we generally just stick to our stogies (and leave the politics to others), there can be no doubt that the political situation in Cuba affects the cigar habits of all American Stogie Guys.

So without debating the merits of the embargo, I’d like to point your attention to a Wall Street Journal profile of one Cuban who is certainly making a positive impact on his country’s political situation:

By conferring a Doctor of Laws degree on Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, Columbia University effectively honors every person in Cuba who shares his burden, dreams and goals.A Columbia press release about the award summarizes those goals: “As a prominent human-rights organizer and director of the Varela Project, an effort to democratize Cuba’s political system, Payá is celebrated as an agent of nonviolent change.

In 2002, Varela collected thousands of signatures on a petition that called for, among other things, a referendum on electoral reform, free speech and private enterprise. The group then presented it to Cuba’s national assembly. Later that year, Mr. Payá traveled to Europe to accept the EU’s highest human-rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

By 2003, however, a brutal and continuing crackdown on democracy activists was in full swing in Cuba. Undeterred, Mr. Payá and other Cubans continued their work, and this week in Havana, Varela took another step, unveiling a proposal for a new Cuban constitution with guaranteed democratic freedoms.

Columbia deserves kudos for inviting this democracy activist to its commencement ceremony, and Stogie Guys everywhere should applaud Varela since, if he had his way, we would be able to legally buy Cuban cigars in the United States…and, most importantly, the citizens of the world would have a bit more freedom to enjoy.

-Patrick S