Cigar Fantasy

Here's mine:
Roughly 20 guys gather on my back deck on a humid summer night. After grilling ribs on the BBQ and downing lots of beer, we light up.

Within 20 minutes, a thick blue haze hangs above us in the humid air, drifting ever so slowly towards my liberal neighbor who thinks smoking is evil but sucking the brains out of a six-month human fetus isn't.

If Hillary gets elected, I'll reward him by arranging many of these gatherings....

What's Smokin

My stash of stogies won't compete with Rush Limbaugh's (either in quality or quantity), but my 50 count humidor is filling up nonetheless. With the exception of the Camacho Coyolars, these are not black-tie cigars, but they are great for the golf course and relatively inexspensive.

Here's what's currently inside:

Camacho Coyolar (6x54) maduro--8
St. Louis Rey (6x54) maduro--4
La Unica 200 (7x49) maduro--5
La Unica 200 (7x49) natural--2
La Unica 100 (8x52) maduro--1
Da Vinci (7x48) maduro--5
Trilogy (7x52) maduro--1
Non-labled Dominican torpedo (7x54) maduro--8
Savoy Torpedo (5x50) natural--4
Punch (6x54) maduro--1
Las Cabrillas (7x48) maduro--3
Las Cabrillas (7x48) natural--1

Next year I plan to start a seperate humidor just for super-primos.

Houston Smoke

Took the wife to Houston for a friend's wedding this weekend. We stayed at The St. Regis, not far from the Galleria shopping area.

Perhaps you can't afford the $275 per night romance package (which includes breakfast, room, wine, flowers in room), but if you have time to kill in Houston, you must stop by for a smoke at the Remmington Bar.

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven--a hotel bar where you can actually smoke without risking arrest?

Yes, and more. The dark wood panneling was gorgeous, and the furniture was arranged for easy conversation. Imagine the blast of having 10 of your best friends sitting around smoking stogies and sipping some fine port? The bar even had a humidor built into the far entrance.

I didn't have 10 friends--only one, my wife. She, a non-cigar smoker, thought the bar nothing special.

I didn't want to leave. But I'll be back with some cigar buds one of these days, though not for the romance package. We're simply gonna blow some thick blue smoke.

La Unica 200 (Maduro)

I'll make this short and sweet. This is a great cigar when time is tight. The flavor holds steady all the way to the label, though after that it's just too hot for my taste buds.

The one I lit-up today had an easy draw, a rich looking maduro wrapper, burned evenly all the way down, and had plenty of ash--2 inches or more.

I've said for years that La Unica is a very underrated cigar. I still think that. For the price, you can't beat it (roughly $5 a stick for the 200 series).

Fred Thompson Knocks Out Michael Moore [SK]

Liberal filmaker Michael Moore is a jerk. Fred Thompson, possible GOP candidate for prez, delivers Moore a cigar weilding rebuke with this 30 second reply.

You gotta see it.

Camacho Coyolar

I bought five of these smokes at Demuth's Tabacco Shop in Lancaster, PA.--the oldest smoke shop in the U.S. dating back to 1770. You really should visit this place. The shop is still in the original building where the company started and they haven't remodled since 1917. In a state that's sadly trending liberal democrat, it's nice to see one last refuge of smoking freedom.

Last Monday morning I lit up the first Camacho Coyolar, and what a stick it was! The wrapper is dark and the size is just shy of 6 inches long by 54 round. The flavor is very strong, but if you draw long and easy, the taste is incredible all the way down to the label. If you draw too heavy, the taste will overwhelm you.

Warning: The Camacho Coyolar is not a quick hit cigar. (For something quicker, try the very good and inexpensive Savoy torpedo.) Leave lots of time to enjoy it. To fully enjoy my smoke, I went up to Arbor Springs Plantation (the club house bar and grill, to be exact) and sat down on the outside deck overlooking the 10th hole. For drink, I ordered a tall Corona Extra and stayed put for over two hours. Even then, I had to finish the smoke at home that afternoon. Any attempt to speed things up resulted in too strong a taste. The best advice I can give is to go slow.

It's worth the wait. My server, Nathan, was blown away by the aroma and was itching for a hit.

Cost: $6.00 to 6.75 per stick.

Note: This was my first real day off after a grueling month of heavy travel, so I deliberately did not engage in any serious thinking while puffing away. I'll save the serious reflections for the next stick.