LIGHTEN UP WITH THE CIGAR GUYS - ENTRY #8


LIGHTen UP with The Cigar Guys

July 1997

Well, what do you think? In a contest that ran longer than Bill Clinton's nominating speech for Michael Dukakis (Remember him?), we finally settled on a title that we felt captured the essence of our column. Three "Cuban Handmades" from the New York City shop of Alvis Sanchez are on their way to Marcus in a mailing tube recycled from ZAS Cigars. (Remember them?) We had planned to ask Ed McMahn and the Prize Patrol to make the delivery but we didn't want to get Marcus too excited.

Marcus is from San Diego and started smoking cigars after receiving some as a Christmas gift. His favorite cigar is a Hoyo de Monterrey. (Good Cigar, Good price. Try the Excalibur.) Marcus enjoys surfing and is working on a Master's Degree in Education. He sounds like a bright, young man who appreciates a good time and a good cigar.

Marcus's winning entry barely edged out Three Guys Who Smoke Lots of Cigars and Write About Them which was submitted by Fred from Altamonte Springs. Sorry Fred. Close, but no cigar -- literally.

The most humbling title came from Rick J. who submitted The Humordor - Where The Cigars Are Fresher Than The Material. Rick is banned form the column for two months.

With the new name in place, it's time to move forward. Before we bring you up to date on how we're frittering away our spare time, here are some quick reviews including several from the cruise:

  • Partagas Corona Grande (Cuban) - A rich, full flavored cigar that burned beautifully, even on a windy deck. A Cuban Partagas has "Habana" on the band while the Dominican version has "1845" commemorating the year that the brand was founded.


  • Partagas Limited Reserve Royale (Dominican) - A somewhat milder version of its Cuban namesake, our enjoyment was tempered by the fact that we paid $16.00 apiece for these well promoted smokes. The Limited Reserve series, which is made with an aged Cameroon wrapper, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the brand.


  • Bolivar Corona (Cuban) - Your Caribbean tobacconist will make you sign a release before you smoke this one. Its flavor is powerful and penetrating. You'll need Preparation H when you're finished. The Corona's rich aroma cleared the stern of the ship in about 60 seconds. A Bolivar Gigantes (7x47) could probably KO a beginner.

  • Davidoff Tubo No. 2 (Dominican) - Chestnuts? Yep. Chestnuts.

  • Punch Petite Corona (Cuban)- It's billed as a mild to medium cigar but we found it to be fairly strong despite its small size. It's also supposed to have a distinctive, spicy aroma and a slightly sweet flavor, but neither of these were evident to us. It did have a neat red band that looked good against the dark wrapper. One of the less expensive Habanos, the brand has been around since 1840.

  • Carlos Torano (Honduran)- This hand finished grand corona from the Tinder Box delivers a workmanlike, medium - bodied smoke for about $5.45.

  • La Flor de Cano Petite Corona (Cuban)- This one's surprisingly mild for a Cuban cigar. Reportedly, the brand is not widely produced but they were available at one shop on St. Maarten and are definitely worth trying.

  • Now, lets get back to frittering. A new cigar store recently opened at the local mall. We stopped in to introduce ourselves and bum a couple of free cigars which has not been all that hard to do ever since we had "Cigar Guys" business cards printed.

    The owner had a poster of Tom Berenger on the wall and we inquired as to its significance. He told us that he had been in a made-for-TV movie with Tom called "The Rough Riders" and he planned to produce a Rough Rider cigar as well as Rough Rider Beer. He showed us mock ups of the bands and labels. Both featured crossed sabers. The two part movie is scheduled to be shown on the TNT Network on Sunday July 20 and Monday July 21. The beer and cigars should debut around the same time. Look for our review of all three. Let's hope our new friend doesn't wind up on the cutting room floor.

    After we amused ourselves locally, we headed down to Atlantic City for a weekend at Harrah's Casino and Hotel. They were running a nifty promotion. If you signed up for a Harrah's Gold Card, they would refund half of your losses (up to $100.00) for your first hour of slot play. Unfortunately, the same deal did not apply to the crap tables. Remember those Don Pablos that we bought at Las Vegas and were saving for a winning session? We still have them. Bill is a sucker for the Hard Four.

    Harrah's lets you smoke at most tables, Most of the high rollers were smoking Cohibas. Some were even passing them out to others. We saw more Cohibas in Atlantic City than we did in the Caribbean. Our table had no high rollers. Someone offered each of us an Optimo. We politely declined.

    Trump's Taj Mahal features a new cigar store with a decent selection of premiums. Its prices are so high, however, that only The Donald can afford to shop there. As in Las Vegas, buy your cigars outside the casinos and save your money for the crap tables. With their $10.00 minimums, your money will go fast enough.

    Our comps for the weekend – a half priced seafood buffet and a free show for four. The wives thought we paid for the tickets and thanked us for being so thoughtful. What can we say? There was no point in telling the wives that we earned the tickets by pissing away the grocery money.

    It just doesn't get any better than this.

    The Cigar Guys
    Joe, Bill and Bruce

    PS Thanks to everyone who sent in an entry. The suggestions were great and so were the comments. Also, good luck to Marcus with his studies.

    You can Bill@Enter.netfor any comments or questions.

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