Tuesday, July 29, 2014

No rest for the wicked…


To rest or chew that is the question for many of us. I was told and taught by the powers that be that a cigar should rest between puff, in an ash tray, that way it doesn’t get to hot or bitter, or even so moist that it falls apart or goes out.

 However me being the average Joe cigar smoker, I usually just hold mine or keep it in my mouth. The brands and lines of cigars I smoke are affordable so that it doesn’t matter if it rests between puffs or not. I can’t afford to be smoking $200.00 to $300.00 boxes of cigars, so the case for resting my cigars is moot.

I have seen many amusing rest stops for cigars. Between the Pickets of a stockade fence, on the brick foundation of a bar, the rail of a fence and one time on my refrigerator door handle (that fat bastard). So I guess whether you use an ash tray and rest your cigars is a personal preference, do I have them yes, do I use them occasionally, would I use them if I smoke very, very expensive cigars? You bet your ash! there would be a cigar in every room resting in an ash tray because if I could smoke cigars that were that expensive I would be rich and would have nothing better to do than sit in every room of my domain and smoke and rest my cigars everywhere.

So I say to you, you upstart cigar Aficionados that push your cigar etiquette on others I will rest no cigar before its time…There is No rest for the wicked.  

This blog entry was inspired by a Fellow Cigar smoker who thinks that he knows what is better for your cigars and us as cigar smokers to the point of annoyance. It is all about enjoying cigars not being chastised because we do not stop and let our cigars rest, cigar Nazi.

Happy Smoking

 B.O.T.L.

~Cigar Ash~

Monday, July 21, 2014

Honored


 
I was honored to receive a very special gift this past weekend, something so special that it proves to me that I have exactly the right friends and family surrounding me.

 A quick background before I tell you about the gift. I had a best friend Justin, he and I got into so much stuff, we raced a stock car, started a blog, smoke cigars, we watched movies, Shot guns, fished and listen to music, all the usual stuff buddies did.

 He and I were friends all his life. I lost my friend 4 years ago to a motorcycle accident, as you can expect His family (and mine) as well as myself were crushed; the man was a shining star and had potential oozing out of every pour of his body.

 Now that you got the very brief background on to the gift, Justin has a younger brother his name is Bob. Bob Made Justin a 100 count humidor when he was in high school. It is beautiful and solid you would be hard pressed to find something made this sturdy.

 So It is Sunday morning I am sitting in my usual spot drinking coffee, smoking a cigar and having a gab-fest with a couple of friends when I see Bob come around the corner and he doesn’t say a word to me just kind stares at me and then smiles and puts this very same humidor on my lap. I recognize it immediately and feel a lump in my throat. I say “what’s this Bob-o”? And Bob replies “it’s for you, you will treat it better and it was made to be used and I knew you would appreciate it and put it to good use”

 That humidor will have a place of Honor on my shelf and after I season it and bring it back to the perfect humidity I am going to fill it with some of my favorite cigars and I will always have 1 in there in memory of my friend, brother and ying to my yang . . . Justin Robert Dilks.


Thank you Bob for a gift I will never forget, and I am honored to poses. I will think of him every time a get my cigar and it will be like he is having one with me like we used to do.
















 Next time we get back to basics with Humidor 101 for the regular guy.
see you next time B.O.T.L.
~Cigar Ash
 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

It’s a Wrap (per)


The Not Ready for Premium Cigar smoking Players


Well CigarFest 2: Clash of the Stogies is a wrap. Hosted at the Smoking Troll Bar and Grill at a camp in the woods of Maine the Members of the Dead Ringers Cigar Club gathered for their annual cigar event, where they stuffed their faces and smoked many cigars, There was a cigar grab, and a cigar swap and a Whiskey tasting and a Longest ash competition, a grand time was had by all.

For me it started at 6:30 A.M. browning the chicken and getting the crackpots of food going, arranging tables and chairs, dusting off Chief Wooden head our Cigar Indian and mascot, gathering up the boxes of cigars for the swap and the bags for the grab bags. At Noon time the first person arrived and that is when it all started, the food, whiskey, wine and beer flowed like water and the ice tea was perfectly chilled. Instead of giving you a dull minute by minute rundown I will keep to the highlights.

The event was sponsored for the Dead Ringers Cigar Club By the following.

  • The Smoking Troll Bar and Grill

  • M&C Realist Consultants LLC

  • The “IT” Department

  • The B.B.E.

  • The Sherburne & Sherburne Deck Construction Company

  • Marchant Methane Corporation

  • A. Looney Rescue Services

  • The McLaughlin Snuggie Ninja Services

The menu was vast we had:

 Homemade hand cut French fries, chicken fingers, Chinese sausage, multiple cheese and cracker patters, cashews, Dips, Venison chili, Burritos, teriyaki wings, BBQ Chicken thighs, Rum Soaked Pineapple, 3 different salads and so many other things, too many to go on about

 The Cigar Roster for the swap was the following:

  • Diesel Robusto 5.5 x 54

  •  Gurkha Park Avenue Maduro

  •  Arganese Maduro

  •  Black Ops Maduro

  •  Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro

  •  Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro

  •  5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural

  •  Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2

  •  Baccarat Rothschild Natural

  •  5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal

  •  CAO Lx2 Robusto

  •  Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche

  • Bahia – Maduro - Toro

The Whiskey List was narrowed down to a small list, but in my mind perfect choices were made here.

  • Crown Royal

  • Crown Royal Black Label Reserve’

  • Gentleman Jack by Jack Daniels

  • Jameson Irish whiskey

  • Jameson 12 year old Irish whiskey

  • Cabin Fever

  • Fireball Whisky

  • Jameson Black Barrel Reserve’ Whiskey

The Winner of the Longest Ash contest was none other than the head of The B.B.E. Enterprises and Cigar Club member Paul “The Brain” Linscott Jr. He won hands down while smoking a 5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal. All the other participants could not top his 3 and 1/8 inch long ash. Most dropped their ash due to laughing and eating and one lost it as he went to put it in the tray. Congratulations Paul!
Paul "The Brain" Linscott winner of the Longest Ash
The Longest Ash 3 1/8 inches


We doubled the number of attendees from last year from 8 people to 16, with 6 being women and gained two new members to the Cigar club. The event last year lasted 6 1/2 hours, this year is went 12 hours and 15 minutes from first guest arriving to the last two leaving at 12:15. There were over 40 cigars smoked in that period, 3 bottles of Whiskey emptied several others were almost emptied or half gone and we lost count of the number of beers consumed. There were also nine tongue scrapers and toothbrush sets given out that day as door prizes.

 The next morning several members got together and we used the leftovers to make a huge breakfast for whoever was hungry or interested in eating after the previous day’s events.
 We have got some great feedback from participants and some great ideas for next year’s event. I will have some reviews up in the next coming days/weeks on all the cigars we sampled at the event and I will try and get some of the members to give me their thought on them, but for now here are some of the highlights of CigarFest 2: Clash of the Stogies
 Thanks for reading and if you have questions or comments send them along to us here. See you next time ~Cigar Ash~




 
 































Thanks to all that made it a great time.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Less than a week away and it is CigarFest 2


Time is ticking

 As the Dead Ringers Cigar Club’s HERF gets closer the excitement build for me, it is only the second time I have organized a Cigar Event and as I said in the past posts it is a 100% voluntary event, no venders involved. This has its advantages and disadvantages. It is good because no one can push their political views of the industry on us and bad because we supply our own cigars and entertainment and venue.

  So it is a low key event for us we have a group of 12 men and women, we will be at a camp in the State of Maine and it will also be pot luck for food. Everyone has made their orders and they are all in, so long as no one forgets them at home we are all ready to have a great time.

 Here is a list of what attendees get to go home with.
Arganese Maduro
Black Ops Maduro
Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro
Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro
5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural
Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2
Baccarat Rothschild Natural
5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal
CAO Lx2 Robusto
Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche

 Cigar Roster
Diesel Robusto 5.5 x 54

Gurkha Park Avenue Maduro

 Arganese Maduro

 Black Ops Maduro

 Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro

 Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro

 5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural

 Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2

 Baccarat Rothschild Natural

 5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal

 CAO Lx2 Robusto

 Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche

I shall get some photos of our HERF up next week, but for now here are a few things you may or may not know that makes reading this blog a bit easier.

The Definition of a HERF is a group of people men and women that enjoy getting together and smoke Cigars. So when you hear want to go to a HERF you will know what they are talking about. If they say “NERF” that can mean one of two things, either the toys called nerf or you are living in the North East of the United States in the New England states. You will be able to tell what reference you will need by the audience that you keep, if your hanging out with a kid it’s the toys if its and adult it’s a Cigar party, if it’s a 40 year old with child like tendencies it probably both, so watch where your cigar is so you do not get hit with the nerf ball.

 The next term is “BOTHL” which simple is an abbreviation for fellow cigar enthusiast and it stands for Brothers Of The Leaf.

 I hope that helps and as always if you have a question or a recommendation I would love to hear it. For now enjoy those cigars and keep’em moist.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog~ Cigar Ash
Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro
Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro
5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural
Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2
Baccarat Rothschild Natural
5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal
CAO Lx2 Robusto
Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche
Arganese Maduro
Black Ops Maduro
Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro
Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro
5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural
Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2
Baccarat Rothschild Natural
5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal
CAO Lx2 Robusto
Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche
Arganese Maduro
Black Ops Maduro
Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro
Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro
5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural
Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2
Baccarat Rothschild Natural
5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal
CAO Lx2 Robusto
Tabak Especial Cafe con Leche

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

CigarFest2:Clash of the Stogies - The Event of Smoke


So we are a mere week away from CigarFest2: Clash of the Stogies,

 I don’t mind telling you I was on edge a bit, running your own “HERF” is not easy, you have to have several back up plans in place incase participation is not up where is should, and doing one  that is 100% voluntary is tough, no venders to help you and you have to find yourself a hook. Lucky for me I have a solid cast of characters that all want to participate.

Last year was the first one I organized and it went well with a small group of 8, this year we have 10 men and 4 women so I am interested to see how things go. We will see how this one goes get some feedback and see what we can do to make next years as good as this one.

 The Cigar list for this year reads like a who’s who of cigars, as you can see by the list we have quite the array and variety of choices and every one of them is a new cigar for each of us. This year instead of all the members of the Dead Ringers Cigar Club getting together and picking cigars, we had each member purchase their own to share and with all the members in but one, it looks like a great success, so long as they don’t forget then at home the day of the event. So here is a revamped list of cigars sans one member who is operating on the fly. I will have more soon. Happy Ash to all you “B.O.T.L.” out there.

 Cigar Roster

Tabak Especial – CafĂ©’ con Leche - Belecoso

 Gurkha Park Avenue Maduro

 Arganese Maduro

 Black Ops Maduro

 Puros Indios Reserva Maxima 2003 - Maduro Toro...

 Carlos Torano Hogshead - Toro

 5 Vegas Gold Robusto - Natural

 Gurkha Master Selection Torpedo #2

 Baccarat Rothschild Natural

 5 Vegas Series 'A' Special Edition Animal

 CAO Lx2 Robusto