The Stogie Guys

As much as I love cigars, it may surprise you to learn that I’ve never had the pleasure to actually attend a huge event like Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smoke. It seems like many of these events – which include free-flowing spirits, cigars, and food – pass up Washington for other, more suitable locales like Vegas, New York, and Chicago.

But I did come close once. As you may recall, back in September StogieGuys.com received complementary tickets to Cigar Artisans 2006 in Tampa. But other commitments prevented us from attending in person. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however, because the winner of our ticket giveaway soon became our Tampa Bureau Chief.

On Tuesday, my DC obligations once again prevented me from attending another major cigar event – the famed Big Smoke in Chicago. Fortunately, StogieGuys.com was able to infiltrate the event by sending my dad, and veteran Big Smoke participant, Steve Ashby (pictured at right with Carlito Fuente).

OK, we didn’t actually send my dad. He was already scheduled to attend the event on “business.” We simply equipped him with a camera and a few good questions. What follows is his brief, yet insightful, report.

The Chicago Big Smoke was another great success. I find it so interesting watching grown men act like children on Christmas day when they have just found the perfect present under the tree.

Plenty of cigars for everyone and great camaraderie. Tommy Bahama rum, Pilsner Urquell, Johnny Walker, and several other libations were served and sampled.

To the cigar side, I discussed smoking beyond the band with numerous cigar company representatives and most indicated that if the smoke is good, remove the wrapper and have at it. Few said otherwise.

CAO surprisingly divulged that their best production cigar was the Brazilia (perhaps a shock for you Italia fans out there), and they were handing these out freely. In fact, unlike other cigar manufacturers who simply passed out bags of their products, CAO representatives kindly lit a Brazilia for me and told me to come back when I was finished.

Speaking of the Italia, Joe Gannascoli from The Sopranos was in attendance. You may remember his character, Vito Spatafore, who was killed off last season.

In all, a great time was had by all, and I can’t wait to attend my next Big Smoke.

After reading this report, I’ve reaffirmed my commitment to make it to my first major cigar event in 2007. In case you’re wondering, my dad and I currently have plans in the works to crash the Big Smoke in Las Vegas on November 10 at the Venetian. We hope to see you there.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars

Apparently, if Bay City Mayor Michael J. Buda had his way, cigar smoking in the Michigan town of 37,000 would be limited to tobacco shops. That’s the message he sent yesterday when he vowed to veto the sale of a small park to a local cigar store.

You see, Timothy Socier – owner of Timothy’s Fine Tobaccos – recently bought a courtyard next to the building that he plans to move his shop to in June. In essence, he envisions an outdoor environment where his customers can relax with a stogie. Sounds like a great idea.

But Mayor Buda (pictured at right in what appears to be some sort of throne) objects, and has promised to try to overturn the sale of the park – even though it was approved by the Bay City Commission by a lopsided vote of seven to one. In short, he doesn’t want the property to turn into a place where a “bunch of people can stand around and smoke cigars.”

What an asshole. The mayor’s power-trip is especially outrageous when you consider that the land otherwise has very little use. Even the city manager has acknowledged that, due to its location between two buildings and lack of infrastructure, there has otherwise been little or no interest in acquiring the parcel.

I, for one, applaud Timothy Socier for his keen entrepreneurship, and I hope his cigar courtyard comes to fruition.

Fortunately, there’s a good chance it will. The Bay City Commission only needs six votes to overturn a mayoral veto, and seven commissioners currently seem to have their heads screwed on right.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars

No matter what your opinion on the war in Iraq, one thing that shouldn’t be divisive is supporting our troops. And cigar smokers, retailers, and manufacturers have answered the call by sending cigars to soldiers fighting abroad so, at least for a little while, these brave men and women can enjoy one of life’s most versatile luxuries. Come to think of it, what other extravagance can be enjoyed just as easily in war-torn Falluja (pictured below) as on the local golf course or in a wood-paneled bar room?

This recent news story from Olympia, Washington is just one of many such examples:

With the flight to the Middle East imminent, Picasso Bros., a cigar shop in Lacey, gave about a dozen soldiers assigned to the company’s 2nd Platoon a proper send-off recently.

There were decorations and snacks inside, but the soldiers, some accompanied by their spouses, stayed outside to enjoy the warm evening, the light conversation, and a quality cigar or two.

“It’s really nice because we haven’t had a chance to relax in quite a while,” said Staff Sgt. Wayne Demetriff, 30.

“They’ve kind of accepted me as part of the Picasso Bros. family,” he said.

His love of cigars proved addictive. The number of soldiers who smoked cigars grew and some gave up cigarettes for them.

In addition to organizing the send-off, store manager Nicole Blocker secured $2,000 worth of cigars for the soldiers. Some were gift-wrapped and distributed at the send-off, and the remainder will be shipped to Iraq.

“She called each of the manufacturers, and they were more than happy to send a box or two to these guys,” said store owner Michael Karch, who also owns a store in Centralia.

Alexander bought a traveling humidor, which stores cigars at an optimum humidity, to protect them from Iraq’s brutal heat.

If you want to send some cigars to the troops, you can find information in any number of places.

Most cigar forums have a thread about stogies for the troops, many retailers would probably be interested in sending cigars if asked by a loyal customer, and some online stores like Cigarbid.com have a special section where you can buy products to send to the troops (with the proceeds often also going to support the troops). The site AnySoldier.com also lets you find a soldier deployed in harms way to send a care package to.

Also, if there is interest, we would more that willing to help organize and contribute to a shipment from StogieGuys.com readers.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

We’ve praised the Montecristo Club at PNC Park – the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates – in previous articles and even mentioned it in our proposal to the Washington Nationals for a cigar night at RFK stadium. That proposal was shot down by the Nationals promotions office despite the tens of thousands of empty seats most nights at RFK. Questionable decisions like these might explain management’s inability to put together a winning team.

Now, with a draconian smoking ban in effect in Allegheny County, encompassing the city of Pittsburgh, the Montecristo Club is closing its doors for good as the entire stadium will be forced to go smoke free.

As Michael Moretti from Cigar Aficionado explains, the ballpark’s cigar club came about when a group of cigar smokers began enjoying their handmade tobacco treats while watching the Pirates play:

At first, Pittsburgh seemed like an ideal town for a ballpark cigar venue. Pennsylvania had no tobacco tax or statewide smoking ban, and the Pittsburgh area enjoyed strong cigar sales. The inspiration for the club came from a group of fans and back-office people who had started a tradition of gathering for cigars under the Southwest Flight Deck in left field.

Later, after the success of PNC cigar nights, where special smoke-friendly sections were set aside, the Pirates teamed with Altadis Cigars and Southern Wine & Spirits to create the Montecristo Club. Cigar lovers in Pittsburgh were then able to join fellow baseball fans in Tampa Bay’s Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar and Detroit’s Comerica Park Camacho Cigar Bar in simultaneously enjoying two of America’s favorite past times: cigars and baseball.

Now the Montecristo Club is another casualty of the paternalistic smoking bans that are sweeping the country, and a perfect example of why these bans are so wrong.

Smoking bans are supposedly justified by protecting people from the harms of second hand smoke. Yet everyone (both patrons and staff) was perfectly aware that by entering the club they would be exposing themselves to cigar smoke. And clearly they were willing to take those risks (and even pay a pretty penny) for the chance to smoke a premium cigar while taking in a Pirates game.

But once again a smoking ban refuses to let adults make adult decisions, and so we are forced to mourn the loss of the Montecristo Club at PNC Park.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

Way back in June, I wrote a commentary about “smokin’ ladies.” The piece was basically an excuse to link to sexy Cigar Aficionado photos, and it argued that if gals want to look especially alluring, they should try smoking a fine cigar.

No readers objected to my advice.

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?

With all this in mind – coupled with the sad fact that far too few women smoke cigars – this article from M Magazine, a lifestyle publication out of Milwaukee, caught my attention.

The gist? A group of self-proclaimed “Cigar Babes” from Lake County, Wisconsin recently trekked to Honduras to experience the ultimate stogie vacation with Rocky Patel.

As Cigar Babes member Amy Siewart wrote of the first day of the trip, “It was hot and after a long day of traveling we headed to the pool with a cigar. This would become our daily ritual and we felt like royalty as we sat around the water sipping soda or Florde Kane rum and smoking.”

The sixteen ladies spent the next four days at Mr. Patel’s home in Danli touring his tobacco fields, visiting his manufacturing facilities, and taking lessons on the art of cigar production.

“It was amazing to see the attention to detail and the fact that nearly every part of the process is done by hand,” Siewart wrote. “Patel is a self-claimed perfectionist and it showed. The quality was apparent not only in his product, but in his work environment and the treatment of his employees.”

Since Mr. Patel personally led each leg of the Cigar Babes’ tour, this vacation was an experience most male cigar enthusiasts can only dream of. Frankly, I’m extremely jealous.

The next stop on the Cigar Babes tour is Nicaragua, where the ladies will visit the Perdomo factory.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars

It’s been over two months since the draconian smoking ban went into effect in DC, and strange things are already happening. (Just two months in and it’s hard to remember that Washington was once a thriving cigar town.)

And while average smokers are forced out of bars and restaurants and into the streets, the city’s political elites are crossing party lines just to enjoy a smoke indoors. Most recently, House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner has even started hanging out at the National Democratic Club:

His own party’s club won’t let him light up, so House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been sneaking over to the National Democratic Club to smoke. Ironic, and a tad scandalous — considering Boehner sits on the board of the Capitol Hill Club, where Republican members of Congress do their boozing and schmoozing.

But the Capitol Hill Club, unlike the Democratic Club, never got an exemption to get around the District’s new smoking ban. And Boehner and other members are no longer allowed to smoke in the House Speaker’s Lobby, thanks to Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) new rules. So what else is a Republican to do when he’s jonesing for a smoke?

Boehner, who’s hooked on Barclays, has popped into the Democratic Club — a sad sack of a joint (compared to the tonier GOP club), which is frequented by union lobbyists — on several occasions. Most recently on Wednesday night, when he was puffing and chatting with Democratic Reps. Allen Boyd (Fla.), Dennis Cardoza (Calif.) and Jim Costa (Calif.).

The minority leader was a such a hit that one of Boyd’s constituents who was in the club grabbed a menu and asked Boehner to sign it. Boyd told the Sleuth that “while I worry about Mr. Boehner’s health, I’m always a fan of Democrats and Republicans being in the same room, even if it has to be a smoky one.” And he joked: “A Dem Club menu with the Minority Leader’s signature…now that’s probably rare enough to be really worth something!”

For those of us in the DC area who can’t joke around in the exclusive smoke-filled clubs occupied by America’s pork-spending, log-rolling politicians, at least we can still have a cigar in Shelly’s Backroom, Ozio, or bars in Northern Virginia.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

An interesting article out of Brunei, of all places, reported yesterday that American stogie sales jumped a whopping 28 percent from 2000 to 2004. This news is even more stunning considering cigarette sales declined ten percent over that same time period.

The article quotes Action on Smoking and Health Executive Director John Banzhaf – an anti-smoking zealot, not an impartial expert – claiming marketing campaigns, low taxes (excuse me?!), and cigar wielding politicians are to blame for the surge in stogie sales.

“Many of the factors that began leading to the [cigar] increase are still present,” Banzhaf said. They include the perception that cigars look fashionable and the fact that high-profile politicians and others are seen smoking them regularly. “We have Arnold (Schwarzenegger, California’s governor), smoking cigars and occasionally, Bill Clinton,” he said. “More and more women are smoking cigars.”

While busybody do-gooders like Banzhaf chalk increasing cigar consumption up as bad news, it’s worth noting there are a few positive health consequences. For one, cigar retailers and various studies suggest the average cigar enthusiast smokes much less than the average cigarette smoker. One to three times per week, to be exact. (My friends who smoke only one to three cigarettes per week consider themselves nonsmokers.)

Also, stogie smokers do not inhale. So while their risks for oral cancers are marginally higher than nonsmokers, heart disease and lung cancer rarely enters into the equation.

The alarmist article provides additional insight when it cites a recent study out of Cleveland that found, out of the 4,000 plus teens polled, 23 percent prefer cigars, compared to only 16 percent who prefer cigarettes.

This research – albeit limited in scope – contradicts two public misconceptions: (1) that teen tobacco consumption is almost entirely composed of cigarettes; and (2) that the average cigar smoker is a senile, porch occupying grandpa.

For those of you who question the validity of half-baked “reporting” out of Brunei – as you should, especially given the local media’s strong ties to Sultan Hassanal Bolkia – the research does square with an October AP article that ran in hundreds of American publications. That article prompted us to write a commentary about avoiding the pitfalls of the mid-90s cigar boom.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars