The Stogie Guys

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

1) In Tuesday’s review, George noted that he wouldn’t be spending the two hours necessary to smoke a Gurkha “CBid Exclusive” Ancient Warrior again. But since he still has one remaining, he figures he’ll just give it away free to a reader. Here’s how you can claim it:

Be the first to correctly answer this question in the comments of today’s article: What stunt did Braves great Lew Burdette, who just died, pull on his 1959 Topps baseball card?

To win you must leave a valid email (one entry per person), live in the continental 48 states, and agree to write a guest “Quick Smoke” review for the site. The winner will be contacted by George to get a shipping address.

2) Yesterday was George Washington’s birthday, and while he is best known as a great general and our nation’s first President, here are two facts you might not know about Washington: He was America’s number one producer of whiskey in colonial America, and he also grew cigar tobacco at his Mt. Vernon estate. Cigars and whiskey…our kind of guy!

3) New Product Watch: Two new cigars are due to hit the U.S. market in the coming months. Altadis is bringing its VegaFina line (the top selling non-Cuban cigar in Spain) to America. Meanwhile, the Don Lino line is returning to its Honduran roots with a Nestor Miranda-made cigar due to hit the U.S. this summer.

4) As if instituting a state-wide smoking ban wasn’t enough, commenter Jerry from Stogie Review adds that the anti-tobacco activists in the Maryland state government are also increasing the tobacco tax by 25 percent. That said, we’d like to invite all the Maryland cigar smokers to join their DC friends over here in Northern Virginia, where – at least for the moment – you can still light up without being hassled by anti-smoking jack booted thugs.

–The Stogie Guys

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

1) In another bizarre twist in Fidel Castro’s protracted battle for health, Reuters reported this week that the wavering communist dictator is signing five elaborate humidors to be auctioned off at Cuba’s annual Habanos festival. As you will recall, emergency surgery forced El Comandante to cede control of his impoverished island nation to his brother on July 31.

2) Toraño Cigars Inc. is celebrating 90 years in the business by releasing a limited-edition Noventa stogie. The sticks, which can already be found in many retail shops, sport a Habano Nicaragua wrapper and sell for about $10 apiece.

3) A cigar store Indian sold for an astonishing $69,000 this week at an antique show in Pennsylvania. The wooden figure – attributed to Sam Robb, New York, circa 1885 – stands over six feet tall while holding a package of cigars and a cube of tobacco. Click here for a brief history on these fascinating sculptures.

4) Representative Keith Ellison – the Minnesota Democrat who made waves in November by becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress – is waging a war against Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo. Because of Tom’s conservative stance on immigration? No. Because he smokes cigars in his office, which is right next door to Ellison’s.

5) Finally, here are our deals of the week: 12 premium big-name cigars (La Gloria, Hoyo, Gurkha, Torano, Rocky Patel, and more), a travel case, and a hat for under $30: Ultimate Cigar Sampler – $29.95. Also, you can claim a free Montecristo cigar with this offer we found in the January issue of The Robb Report: www.freemontecristosample.com. Enjoy!

–The Stogie Guys

Despite the resentment of resident Bears superfan Patrick A, today we are crowning the champion of our first annual StogieGuys.com Super Bowl Cigar Contest. Congrats to Kevin from Arlington, Virginia whose entry won, and thanks to all who entered.

Nobody had the Colts by 12, but Kevin guessed Colts by 11 which proved the closest entry. Fortunately for Kevin, his guess of 65 total points scored was not needed as a tiebreaker.

For his skilled (or maybe just lucky) prognosticating, Kevin will receive five fantastic stogies: a Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo, a Macanudo Robust Rothschild, a 5 Vegas Series “A” Alpha, a Puros Indios “Special-Aged” Piramide, and a CAO Criollo Pato. Only the Gurkha, Macanudo and CAO have have been rated by Stogie Guys and they all received impressive four out of five stogie ratings.

Special mention goes to runner up Marc Kassin, whose prediction of a 14-point Colts victory (and 45 total points scored – only one off) would have won were it not spoiled by a missed extra point and missed chip shot field goal by Adam “used to be a sure thing” Vinatieri. Not including StogieGuys.com writers, your predictions were split evenly between the Colts and Bears.

–Patrick S

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

1) It is hard to find a better combination than cigars and football. That’s why we’re so pleased to announce the first annual StogieGuys.com Super Bowl Cigar Contest. Here are the rules:

Leave a comment on this article with your prediction of the winner of the Super Bowl XLI, the margin of victory, and the total number of points scored in the game. You should also include your town and state.

The reader who correctly predicts the winner and gets closest to the margin of victory gets a fantastic Stogie Guys selected five-pack of handmade cigars! (The exact five cigars are yet to be determined, but we guarantee it will include a four stogie-rated Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo, a Macanudo Robust, and a 5 Vegas.) In the unlikely event of a tie, we’ll use total points as the tiebreaker.

Details: You must use a valid email address so we can contact you. Only one entry per person (yes, we can tell). The contest is only open to readers over the age of 18 in the Continental 48 states (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii). Entries must be left by 3pm EST Sunday.
Good Luck!

2) And as if announcing the first annual Stogie Guys Super Bowl Contest isn’t enough, today we are also announcing the first Stogie Guys Meetup. On Thursday, February 15, Patrick S and Patrick A will be at cigar-friendly Carpool Bar in Arlington, Virginia (two blocks from the Ballston Metro Station on the DC Metro). We’ll be there from 6:30 to 9 p.m. smoking cigars, eating BBQ, playing pool and darts, and talking stogies. Please join us and your fellow DC-area Stogie Guys. If you’d like to RSVP, send us an email.

3) With all the bad news about smoking bans (including the one that just went into effect in France) we were pleased that one commenter pointed out this article about a successful challenge in Colorado. Now let’s hope others follow suit and challenge these oppressive smoking bans.

4) Since we’re always on the lookout for great deals for you, we are pleased to point you in the direction of this deal from Cuban Crafters. We’ve tried a few of the cigars included in the Cuban Crafters Boutique Sampler, and we are very impressed. At under $20 for 12 handmade cigars (plus a cutter), it’s a bargain you should take advantage of. Click here for the deal.

–The Stogie Guys

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

1) From time to time we’ll look back at a review we did with a Stogie Guys Second Look. Not quite a full review, these will include little tidbits about a cigar we already reviewed. Item 2 in today’s sampler takes a Second Look at the Gurkha Connecticut Reserve Robusto #4.

2) Stogie Guys Second Look: Gurkha Connecticut Reserve Robusto #4
After having awful construction problems in its review, this toro-sized Gurkha came back strong with a relatively even burn, very long sturdy ash (see picture), and none of the wrapper issues initially encountered. Combined with the same mild nutty flavors as before, this was a big improvement.

3) We look everywhere for deals for our readers. We found this special from Cigar International in a pile of coupons that usually just goes straight from our mailbox to our trash can. Ten bucks for eight cigars including sticks from Gurkha, Perdomo, Indian Tabac, and Fonseca Just click this link.

4) Looking for a good deal? Well, you need look no further than the Torano Website, where the generous cigar makers say they’ll give you a free one for signing up here.

5.) Last week we let you know about this $30 cigar case and sampler deal. That’s pretty good, and for a few bucks more you can have have the above ten cigars and case. Click the above picture for the special deal.

–The Stogie Guys

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

1) We’re always looking for ways to improve your StogieGuys.com experience. And to that end we recently added a “Recommended Reading” page that has a running list of regularly updated articles on cigars and life recommended by the Stogie Guys. To see the latest updates, click the Recommended Reading link found on the top left of every page, and if you have an article you think we should include, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

2) We mentioned it in last week’s sampler, but it’s so big we had to say it again. Tomorrow in Tampa’s Ybor city,Wally Reyes will attempt to wrestle the Guinness Book of World Records “world’s largest cigar” record away from Cuba by rolling a 100 foot long cigar – surpassing the 67 foot Havanan-rolled giant by 50 percent. And we thought that this six foot Davidoff cigar was gigantic!

3) We’ve written articles before on the dangers and advantages of using online cigar auction sites. Now we’ve found a special unadvertised “private auction” over at Cigar Bid so you can test your skills. We haven’t tried the Gurkha Regents yet, so we can’t really recommend them, but we do hear good things. Have at it here.

4) For some reason this weekend seems like a busy time for cigar events. In our area we’ve noticed events from Zino, CAO, and La Aurora. Since Stogie Guys are all across the country, we don’t have the space to list all the fantastic events that are coming up, but we can point you to the most complete list we’ve found. We strongly recommend attending such events where you can meet fellow stogie smokers, learn about your favorite brands, and score free cigars.

5) Finally, we’ve got another special deal you probably won’t find anywhere else. For just ten bucks ($9.95 to be exact), you get eight cigars including six premium cigars from C.A.O., Toraño, Cusano, Ghurka, Padron, and La Gloria Cubana. Even if you just throw away the two Thompson brand cigars this is a great deal (of course, we haven’t tried them yet, so they may just be fantastic too). To take advantage of this special offer, click the following link: Powerhouse Super 8.

–The Stogie Guys

Regular readers know most of the cigar events we publicize at StogieGuys.com take place in the Washington area, primarily because that’s our home beat. But we recently caught wind of Cigar Artisans 2006, an upcoming event in Tampa that sounds too good to not mention.

And, as an added bonus for our loyal readers, we’ve got two FREE TICKETS to give away! So be sure to drop by tomorrow when we announce the contest that will decide who scores this sweet prize.

Normally the tickets run $110 apiece, but given the $300 in free giveaways included with each ticket – including $150 dollars worth of cigars – the lucky winner will receive a prize worth $820. Here are the details:

Cigar Artisans 2006, sponsored by Thompson Cigar of Tampa, brings together the most prestigious names in the cigar industry, such as Arturo Fuente, Padron, CAO, Torano, General Cigar, Altadis USA, La Gloria, Rocky Patel, JC Newman, Camacho, Gurkha, La Perla, Acid, Cusano, Oliva and more.

“It’s a rare opportunity to meet the people behind the major cigar brands and to meet them all at once is exceptional,” said Joe Silvestro, Senior Buyer, Thompson Cigar. “We really loaded the ticket holders with enough freebies and prizes to fill their humidors and enjoy the experience long after the event is over.”

The event consists of two sessions with identical prizes and giveaways including custom painted Harley Davidson Motorcycles, poker tables, golf bags and sets of Razor golf clubs. Ticket holders will receive 25 premium handmade cigars with a value of $150, plus other prizes worth more than $125: including an embroidered travel bag, polar fleece jacket, backpack, ball cap, cigar cutter, lighter, drawpoker and another 8 Cigar sampler. There will be food and an open bar during the event.

Tickets are $110 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster or by visiting this website: www.cigarartisans.com.

Cigar Artisans 2006 is taking place on Saturday, September 30. But we’ll announce how you can score two FREE TICKETS tomorrow…Right here at StogieGuys.com. See you then.

–The Stogie Guys