Chuck Norris is perhaps the greatest actor of our time. (Who else did you think the Cigar Guys would like? Sir John Gielgud?) His "Lone Wolf McQuade" is a modern film classic. Unfortunately, his Lone Wolf cigars do not have the same kick as the movie. We tried some coronas from his Vintage Series recently and found them to be quite ordinary despite a $7.50 price tag.

Our disappointment was tempered somewhat by the fact that a portion of the profit from each Lone Wolf cigar is donated to teenage anti-drug programs. For that reason alone, we encourage you to try them. Norris and his partner, actor Jim Belushi, offer three lines (Lobo Rojo, Signature Select, and Vintage), each with a different blend.

A bit more to our liking were some Churchills from the Chairman's Reserve line, which was introduced by H. Upmann in 1996. These cigars feature a Connecticut wrapper, Dominican binder and a blend of Dominican and Brazilian filler. They are well made, draw easily and offer a medium bodied smoke. They were a bit pricey at $17.50 each, but everyone should splurge once in a while.

We recently visited the ICG's new Chat Room for the first time. We usually approach chat rooms with caution since they seem to attract a lot of characters that are one sandwich short of a picnic. Regardless of the topic, some guy will inevitably ask the women to describe what they are wearing. The ICG Chat Room, however, remained true to its purpose.

We logged on as "Cigarguys".

"Are you REALLY the Cigar Guys?" came the reply.

"Yep," we answered without fanfare.

"No, really," the nonbelievers responded. "Are you the Cigar Guys from the web?"

"Yep," Bill repeated. "I'm Bill."

"Well there's no such word as binded'," scolded an English teacher from Missouri referring to a passage from our interview with Oscar J. Frank Y Terrazas. "The proper word is 'bound'."

" Yep," we apologized.

"Did you really go parasailing?" was the next question.

"Yep," Bill replied proudly.

" You guys should make a video. " A fellow named Marcus suggested.

"Yep, " Bill agreed.

I saw what was happening. These fellows expected us to be knowledgeable and witty. Bill was afraid of laying an egg in real time. I had to get him to relax and open up. We were about one "yep" away from being banned from the site. Finally, one of the fellows served up a softball.

"I'm having trouble with too much humidity in my Igloodor. Adding cigars doesn't seem to help. What should I do?"

Don't ever try to stump Bill with a question about an item that is even remotely connected to the storage, preparation or consumption of food. "If it's a good one," Bill replied with confidence, "there will be a drain at the bottom. Open it up 'til the humidity drops to the correct level."

You could just hear the applause over the web. "See, I told you these guys were good." one guy typed.

Bill logged out a winner.

Speaking of winners, the Cigar Guys salute our friend, Rick. He is a former undersheriff who recently ran against his ex-boss. Challenging an incumbent in a primary is always tough but our friend's candidacy just kept gathering momentum. He had a reputation for honesty and kept pounding away at the issues. As the election neared, it seemed like he had a real shot at becoming County Sheriff.

With less than two weeks to go and the campaign in high gear, our friend took off with us for a week in the Caribbean on the cruise ship Century. He returned just in time for his concession speech.

With all precincts reporting, he found himself on the short end of the count. The incumbent received 4,752 votes. Rick had 4,406.

His campaign manager publicly lamented, "If we only had one more week, We would have won."

Rick squandered that week smoking Romeo y Julietas and drinking cognac with the Cigar Guys. Would he do it all over again?

"There'll be other elections", Rick answered philosophically, "but who can pass up a week of fine cigars and the company of good friends."

It just doesn't get any better.

The Cigar Guys

PS. Take a look at a some of our Summer of 98 memories with a few of our new and old friends.

You can The Cigar Guys at: tbill@enter.net for any comments or questions.

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