So, my fellow CROMAGS… if you happened to read last weeks little bloggie, yours truly, El Zman of NJ correctly picked the New York Giants and the New England Patriots to win their respective games sending both teams to Indianapolis to meet in the Super Bowl… again. I am truly the master of all prognosticating Polacks and should be held in high praise (just go along with it, you know that I like feeling important.)

Yes, as a Giants fan, I whooped it up with a choice selection of celebratory smokes for several days on end. Right after the game I poured a belt of single malt goodness and fired up an Omar Ortiz Honduran Maduro and holy guacamole that thing is one serious little flavor bomb – dark, oily, well rolled, and bursting with taste from the first draw! This Central American hottie is quickly becoming a real favorite of mine! Other fine sticks of celebration included the Frank Llaneza ’61, the Rocky Patel Edge, and the Fonseca 1907. Pretty damned nice, huh?

Now last week, the Date of January 19th came and went, the date that the FDA stopped taking public feedback on their proposed regulation of the cigar industry. As of this moment, the organization, Cigar Rights of America has collected over 157,000 petitions that have been sent to congress. Now I’ve heard some complaining from people that the number sounds small, but look at it this way – Take two professional football stadiums filled with 80,000 cigar lovers in each, and that’s one hell of a smoke signal if you ask me! The CRA would like to hit the quarter million mark and with all our help, they certainly can. So I urge you all to keep sending your friends, family, neighbors, FaceBook and Twitter followers to cigarrights.org and fill out the simple petition because this is one battle we simply cannot afford to lose.

All that dominates our tv sets these past few weeks are annoying debates amongst politico dumbasses and a speech chock filled with classic political rhetoric. Good God, talk about blowing smoke. Now this is NOT aimed any political party – it’s the general statement that I have been making for over four years since day one of this blog, as it is MY personal opinion (not that of JR’s whatsoever) that ALL lifetime politicians are lying sacks of excrement who all have their own agendas and do everything for their own political gain. While our political view and parties certainly differ, every time I have EVER posted this opinion, we ALL seem to agree. And while some will say that’s a pretty broad brush I’m painting with, I have to believe that there’s a 99.9% accuracy rate in my assessment.

Take one little for instance: all these politicians who support New Jersey’s 88 year old senator, Frank Lautenberg’s crusade against smoking, well, the fact is that we know that so many of these politico jack wagons smoke fine cigars in back rooms and at private functions, living it up with their cronies. We KNOW that they do… yet, in the name of getting votes, they pander to the anti-smoking contingent leaving all of us lovers of the leaf to ask… Et tu, Brute?

Last but not least, the weather is freezing again here in the northeast, making it a frigid hell for us cigar lovers. But just a few days ago the mercury actually hit the low 50’s and I was outside in shorts and a t-shirt (manly, huh?) smoking it up like a banshee, making up for days of jonesing for my Pepin, Punch, and Partagas! I vow to you right here and now that one day I WILL have that luxurious man cave, oh yes… it will be mine.

So that’s it for this week, my peeps, and all I have left to say is “Smoke ‘em Cuz You Gottem.”

Your BOTL in good Standing,

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

I know, the headline states the obvious. But Illinois may loosen its smoking ban and another ban slips up, goes too far and shows real purpose.

In a rare display of actual common sense, a democratic state rep from Chicago is pushing legislation that would let casinos and bars apply for smoking licenses that would get them out from under the current ban.

Anthony De Luca says,” It’s about letting the businesses decide.”

Whoa…now that makes sense…and ya know it also may make cents too. Maybe Illinois is finally realizing just how much the smoking ban is costing the state. A study by the St. Louis Federal Reserve in March 2010 showed Illinois took a hit of about 20 percent in gaming revenues when it banned smoking. That cost the state $200-million from gaming alone(some estimates say $500 million). Not to mention losses of tax from closed businesses due to the ban. I can remember lighting up in the cigar bar at the Palmer House not THAT long ago.(The cigar bar is gone now) Or having a nice Hemingway at Gibson’s bar drinking an ice cold martini while the piano player entertained and the place was jam packed with people drinking and smoking. Or even a bunch of us at Ditka’s smoking Bolivars after eatin Da Pork Chop. Yeah Gibsons and Ditkas are still there but I bet they aren’t as packed as they used to be.

Anyway, after the St. Louis Fed report the anti’s did their own study and are using it to fight the relaxation of the state smoking ban. It was truly impactful because it claims that loosening the smoking ban will not bring back more patrons because they never left.

This is how you use statistics, but at least the group who did the study added a disclaimer.

“This report is NOT about revenue, and makes no claims about revenue: It is about admissions. We were driven by the arguments that casinos in Illinois would lose patrons to neighboring states.”

So in other words, the same number of people came into the casinos but since they couldn’t smoke, they left sooner and spent less. Game. Set. Match.

Oh and maybe Illinois is finally waking up to its economic problems since it now has the worst credit rating of any state in the nation.

Not only that but when Moody’s downgraded the state debt, 85 winners in the state’s lottery had their checks bounce. A total of $159,000. I would say the state has much bigger problems that regulating where to smoke.

But leave it to the American Lung Association to push for Illinois to double its state cigarette tax to $2 per pack. When pointed out that tobacco taxes are regressive and hurt businesses and lower income people more than the rich, a spokesman for American Lung that’s ok because they would save more money if they quit smoking. Like taxes will make people stop. Yeah American Lung…Let them eat cake.

The real reason for bans

Dr. Michael Siegel is a tobacco control advocate. He believes smoking is dangerous and wrong. However, Dr. Siegel IS rational. And even he says the anti’s are going too far.

In Florida, those institutions of enlightenment and higher education either have or are banning all smoking from their campuses. They can do that, but as Siegel quotes an article in the Sun Sentinel:

If you smoke, you may be breathing less easily on college campuses these days.

Looking for the designated smoking area at Florida International University? There is none.

Want to light a cigarette inside your car at the University of Florida? Don’t let the cops see you

Hoping to smoke during your break at Nova Southeastern University? You have six months left until NSU becomes the latest college to go tobacco-free. Come July 1, the covered smoking benches will come down and smoke-free-campus signs will go up.

So how far are they going? Into your personal property…your car according to Tom Vitucci, NSU’s director of campus recreation and leader of the smoke-free effort.

“We don’t want your car to be a safe haven, where you do any activity you want as long as you’re in your car,” he said.

So inside a car that you own, you cannot do something that is totally legal. Ok, got it. Christopher Snowden says it shows these bans are nothing more than naked authoritarianism.

Trampling on property rights; paternalism run riot; the tyranny of the majority—why would libertarians not be interested in this?

But it is all because of that nasty smoke seeping out and affecting someone else right? Nope …someone may SEE you.

Patricia Kelly, associate professor, director and doctor of the Health Science Program in the Health Professions Division, said, “Secondhand smoke has been proven to be dangerous in a number of instances.

“Students who do not see their peers smoke, either in public or in private, are less likely to start smoking themselves,” she said.

So we have gone way beyond smoking is bad for you, past the whole secondhand smoke argument and into the crux of the matter…we know what is best for you and we don’t want to even see you doing it. After all, the University of California , San Francisco ban we talked about a couple of weeks ago included e-cigarettes which are not smoked nor even contain tobacco. Appearances are what matter to the anti’s. According to Dr. Siegel:

The anti-smoking advocates have long since left the realm of promoting policies to protect the public from secondhand smoke exposure. They are now in the area of paternalistic policy making which aims to segregate and isolate smokers so as to prevent the rest of the public from ever having to see these people

Be sure you visit the CRA and send a petition to congress to stop the FDA from taking over our industry. As you can tell….it ain’t about the science it’s about control.

Last week we talked about ANY excuse to smoke a cigar, but there’s one HUMUNGOUS excuse I’ll always have, and that’s NFL Playoff football. Cigars and football… damn guys, it’s like mac n’ cheese… Starsky n’ Hutch… mashed taters n’ gravy… beer nuts and… well, um… beer. Now being a lifelong New York Giants fan, you can only imagine how I’ve been enjoying the gridiron action so far. With the reaming of Atlanta and the pummeling of the 15 – 1, heavily favored Green Bay Packers, I have admittedly been a horror for anyone to be around who doesn’t bleed blue.

Now I always break out the premium smokes when there’s hot playoff action on the telly, but when it’s my team winning, I will pass the good stuff around like a proud papa celebrating the birth of a child! And these past two weeks I’ve been like Santa on a month-late run handing out the likes of the Camacho Triple Maduro, Jaime Garcia Reserva Especiale, Montecristo Red, El Rey Del Mundo Real, and some Oliva Cain Daytonas! What am I nuts? No, just a generous BOTL who is enjoying the pigskin madness that only the National Football League can provide.

The unfortunate problem we will forever have up here in northern New Jersey is that it is just frigid outside this time of year, and even heading to the garage for a halftime shortie will undoubtedly freeze some important parts of the anatomical structure. Now come on guys, we’ve been thru this crap for over four years now, and you KNOW that I don’t smoke in the house. Yeah, go on tough guy, call me a wuss, girlie-man, or any kind of insult you’d like, but it’s not gonna change things for me. And I tried getting a really good heater for the garage, but I still freeze my little bag of onions off so I can only really go to a friend’s house where smoking is accepted, or a local cigar shop – and thank God, there are a few by me that I frequent for just these kind of occasions.

So this weekend we have two stellar match-ups: the NFC has My New York Football Giants on the road to take on the defensively tough San Fransisco 49ers, and the AFC has the Baltimore Ravens trying to take down the Patriots Brady Bunch in Foxborough, Massachusetts. If you’re a football hound anything like me, you’ll be glued to the flat screen, tossing epithets at opposing players, coaches, and referees, all while noshing an assorted mix of man-food goodness. (I’ve got a rootbeer pulled pork recipe that’ll knock your taste buds off into another stratosphere. Let me know if you want me to send it.)

Now these match ups are going to call for some special play selections direct from the JR CIGARS humidor. For the AFC game, your friendly neighborhood Polack is taking the New England Patriots along with a the Alec Bradley American Blend Classic with its Connecticut-seed Honduran wrapper intermingled with a flavorful binder and hearty blend of long fillers from the town of Condega, located in the province of Estelí, Nicaragua, to create a mild-to-medium-bodied, smooth, and creamy smoke with great balance and a sweet cedar finish. As for the NFC, well, you KNOW I’m picking the road dog Giants paired up with a Macanudo Cru Royale GIGANTE! Don’t let the Macanudo name fool you because this dark stick is packed with with a long-filler blend of Brazilian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican Mata Fina tobaccos, a smooth La Vega Especial binder, and a deep, dark, oily Ecuador Habano-seed wrapper. Plus the Blue band goes perfect with a Big Blue victory. (Sorry, dude, I told you I was an obnoxious snob.)

So, I guess what I’m saying is that it’s gonna be a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl, Patriots vs Giants and I’ll be looking for a repeat of that amazing game. (Can anybody see where that David Tyree fella is at?) Hey, don’t let me get ahead of myself, because it’s only Friday and we’ll see on Monday if the Zman is a champ or a chump. But no matter what happens, I’m gonna be smoking up some serious premium goodness, courtesy of our friends at JR CIGARS! Ahhhh… football and cigars… say, it’s just a hunch, but I bet some ice cold beer would work with this whole shindig, whaddya think?

Stay Smoky My Friends,

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

It is that time of year when the cigar factories begin reopening. You see each year they all close for the Christmas holiday. So no cigars are made between the middle of December and about now. One factory that is new, is the MATASA factory in the Dominican Republic. It’s grand opening was Monday.

5th Generation Quesadas celebrating new factory

MATASA, makers of Fonseca and Quesada, moved out of their old digs in the free trade zone in Santiago (as noted on my Dec 13^th post) and now have opened the new factory outside Santiago. While it officially opened yesterday, the gala will be during Pro Cigar next month.

Crossed Travelers=New cigar

Ok I admit it, I am a mileage whore. American Airlines is running two promotions which end up giving you 3x elite qualifying miles. I usually hit somewhere between 60-75,000 miles without some “mileage runs to make certain I make 100k and Executive Platinum. Yeah it is a big deal. Well, yesterday I flew from DFW to SFO and back. While checking into the Admirals Club in San Fran, I look to my left and say Brian? It was Brian Chinook of Chinook Cellars Wine and Cigars. We have known each other from Pro Cigar and the IPCPR trade show. He was headed out to Raleigh for both his wine and cigars. While we were talking he gave me one of his newest cigars…the Terroir corona. He had launched the line at last year’s IPCPR but the corona is new…probably debuting in March. It is made at El Titan De Bronze in Miami and uses Dominican seco, Nicaraguan viso and two Nicaraguan volado leaves for the binder. The wrapper is Sun Grown Ecuadorian Cubano seed.

A light in the Darkness

While there is still a lot of work to do in fighting the smoking bans, there is a positive trend over in London. It seems that the old cigar rooms which once populated most of the city ( can you picture Winston Churchill without his cigar?) are making a comeback. But with a twist which is a good sign.

According to the Daily Mail, since smoking was banned in England in 2007, cigar rooms went the way of the dodo bird. Extinct. A pity because there were some terrific places in London hotels where a cigar could be enjoyed along with a wonderful selection of spirits. Well, apparently guests of the hotels have not stopped asking where they can enjoy a quiet smoke. You have to smoke outside now, but the hotels are coming up with ways around it. The rule says 50% of the place has to be open and the hotels are figuring out ways to make the the new cigar divans legal. But instead of doing them up in the old woods and leather aimed at men, the new lounges are being aimed at women. You can now light up at the Lanesborough, the Langham and the May Fair hotels and soon at the Bulgari Hotel. According to the article:

“The renewed popularity of cigar smoking, traditionally associated with older men, has been partly driven by younger enthusiasts and a growing number of women.”

In fact, one hotel hosts women-only cigar smoking evenings. Let’s hope this continues.

Pushback

In Savannah, Georgia, the county council has given us a victory of sorts. By a vote of 5-4, the council removed prIvate clubs, tobacco shops and bars that only allow people 21 and older from the proposed smoking ban.

“Democrat Harris Odell, a staunch proponent of local wellness initiatives who chairs the county health board, joined Kicklighter, his Republican counterpart and outspoken critic of “nanny government,” in approving the exemptions.

“I believe in individual choice,” Odell said later.”

Score one for the good guys.

First they came for our cigars

But with the good comes the ominous. The CDC now says that one in six Americans binge drink. The CDC (much like other nannys) say this is a big problem. Look for the government to spend more money studying it and look for more laws regulating it.

Now if you are like me, you probably think of binge drinking as getting blotto. Nope, that is not the definition. This crap began in Australia, of all places, in 2008 when the government decided that binge drinking meant having three glasses of wine at dinner. Really? Yeah, that is troubling. The Australian government, which knows what is good for you, decided no one should have more than two drinks a day.

Now the CDC is doing much the same, except it says women should only have one a day. The CDC defines binge drinking as having 5 drinks in a short period of time…it does not designate the “short period of time”. If it is like in 20 minutes, yeah sure…but if it is an evening out…not so much. (By the way one glass of wine counts as 1.5 drinks)

I find it funny that the report says drinking too much contributes to sexually-transmitted diseases. Wonder why? Hah.

But the writing is on the wall about this. Nanny Bloomberg has alcohol in his sites and expect others to do the same.

According the the NY Post, Bloomberg wants to cut the number of places New Yorkers can get the evil booze and possibly ban advertising. (First Amendment bye bye in Bloomberg land.) Now this is “just a proposal” and according to the U.K. Daily Mail, Bloomberg has backed off. (Wanna bet?)

Cigar and the Senate

J.C. Newman, makers of Cuesta Rey among others, took a step this past week when they invited Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell to Tampa to meet with cigar industry representatives and retailers. The meeting was a round-table with 48 cigar companies participating. They talked about the bills pending in Congress to help protect our beloved cigars from FDA control. You can bet McConnell got an earful.

This is serious stuff and everyone needs to be involved. You can contact your Senator and Representative via the CRA website. Please do it today.

If you’re anything like me (whoa that’s a scary friggin thought, you’ll have to agree) then you will basically make any excuse whatsoever, anytime, any place, to smoke a good cigar.

“Hey honey, I’ll be barbequing for 20 minutes,” and that’s all I need to break out a shorty and herf away while I’m grilling up the mid-section of some four-legged carcass. Gonna be in the garage for a little bit? I don’t care what the chore is because my leafy buddy is there by my side, stinkin’ up the joint and keeping me good company. An hour ride in the car alone is excuse enough to grab a big burly stick from the humidor and use it as my navigational device! Any ride of an hour or more requires a kettle sized mug o’ java, some rockin’ tunes on the radio, and a smoldering double corona to signify the passing of every single yard marker.

A few neighbors of mine smoke cigars and what a great excuse to partake while they walk their dogs. When I see one of my buds strolling by their pooch, I quickly throw on my shoes and coat and join in on the festivities. I’ve actually lobbied for a dog for this very reason, but the reality of taking bowzer out and picking up his steaming pile in two feet of snow is not my idea of enjoyment… but at least a good cigar would make it somewhat more enjoyable.

If my son wants to have a catch or pitch to me, that’s good enough reason to have a stellar stoag hanging from my face. If my neighbor or pal is returning a tool he borrowed, well, I will ALWAYS coax him into kicking back with a single malt and a tasty hand rolled treat from a variety of Latin American countries. Twenty minutes later his nagging wife will be screaming out the door, wanting to know where he mysteriously disappeared to, and unfortunately for him, all the lies in the world can’t cover up the luscious scent of premium aged tobacco lingering from every fiber of his being.

Then there are the blatant made up stories I use, and no matter how much bullshit I toss out as a smoke screen, the wife will always know the real deal. “Hey honey, Jim needs me to help fix his mower, so I’m heading over there for a little bit.” “FIX HIS MOWER?” she’ll yell out in a ‘you’re completely full of Shinola’ voice. “You don’t know how to change a god damned battery in a flash light! You’re going over there to smoke cigars so don’t even try to pull one over on me!” Busted… like every single time. Of course I’ll then get pummeled for being a lazy-ass who just wants to smoke cigars and escape from performing any of my household chores, which is basically true, but why the hell does she have to make me feel so bad about my love for the aged leaf?

Now nothing is more enjoyable than a celebration smoke, like when your team wins a big game. The past few weeks I’ve been celebrating the New York Giants latest victories including their decimation of the Atlanta Falcons in round one of the NFL playoffs. Of course this weekend is a MONSTER challenge for my G-men as they take on the Cheese Heads of the Frozen Tundra, but I believe in my team and I’m about to choose some major league celebratory smokes like the Alec Bradley Tempus, Camacho Corojo, or the Bolivar Cofradia. Yeah, I know, decisions, decisions. And if by chance my team doesn’t happen to win, well, you can bet your sweet ash I’ll find some kind of an excuse… ANY kind of an excuse to smoke them anyway!

So hey, share in the comments section here and let me in on YOUR favorite excuse to smoke a cigar! We’re all Brothers (and Sisters) of the Leaf, and your favorite cigar is ALWAYS the one you’re smoking at that very moment. Okay, I can’t take credit for that last one, but it was good enough to repeat!

Til’ net time, Stay Smoky My Friends,

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

First off, let me start by introducing myself. My name is Brian Massey and I work at J•R Cigars as a graphic designer. Before this job, I developed my love of the leaf and cigar knowledge as a salesman in one of J•R’s retail locations. I’ve smoked most of the cigars we carry and I’d say I have an advanced palate and strong opinions. The reviews that I post will come from me and many fellow cigar lovers. (I work with a lot of cigar connoisseurs and, when we find something good, we like to pass it on and share our opinions).

Let’s kick off with a review of the Alec Bradley American Classic Blend.

With so many cigars to choose from, where do you begin when trying new brands? Well, for me, I like to take recommendations from advanced cigar smokers. Alec Bradley was not a brand I’d smoked and, despite all the great reviews online, it took a recommendation from a coworker before I took the leap and tried it.

This cigar has a Connecticut-seed Honduran wrapper that is intermingled with a flavorful binder and a hearty blend of long fillers from the town of Condega, located in the province of Estelí, Nicaragua. At first glance, you’ll see that this cigar is well balanced and rolled with care. The wrapper leaf is beautiful and, because most of the flavor comes from this part of the cigar, it’s a great indication that you’re in for a wonderful smoke.

I usually cut my cigar with a bullet cutter, but I’m smoking the torpedo so I used my guillotine cutter. The cap came off perfectly with no fray, and the dry draw beforehand was ideal. Upon lighting, I was hit with a bit of youth and cedar, followed by a tremendous amount of creamy smoke. About 10% into the cigar, the youth fades (and this is a very good thing because, a lot of times, this ruins the start of the cigar for me).

The burn is even and the flavor is a very solid traditional taste with hints of cedar and nuts. This cigar manages to have a solid medium body despite the origin of the tobacco. This is surprising and says to me that there was a lot of time spent making sure the blend was just right. The middle of the cigar is toasty and stays consistent with the opening flavors. The finish is wonderful—it really opens up about halfway through and delivers the whole time.

The Alec Bradley American Classic Blend is a great cigar and costs around five dollars a stick, making it very affordable and well worth the price. All in all, this is a great smoke for the price and I’m very happy that my colleagues turned me on to this beauty. I now have several in my humidor and I recommend that you guys give it a shot.

Alec Bradley is a newer line for us here at J•R, and I know that a lot of our customers (as well as the cigar smokers here) are very happy that this famous brand has been added to our lineup. You should also check out the Alec Bradley Black Market and Alec Bradley Tempus lines.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the employee alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company.

Just about everybody who blogs about cigars (me excluded) feels that at the end or beginning of the year they have to decide the cigar of the year. While it is nice and many arguments can arise from opinions as to what is the best…the ranking that seems to matter most is Cigar Aficionado’s. The number one cigar this year was the Alec Bradley Prensado. But there are a lot of other goodies in the CA top 25 which was released yesterday.

Read the rest of this entry »

I would imagine you guys know me long enough, where it goes without saying that I freakin’ love cigars. (Gee Zman, what a revelation… did your inner Polack just kick in?) Now I’ve been smoking long enough where I know what I like. I know the blends, the wrappers, the flavor profiles and the strength. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why I like what I like. That may sound a little dopey and your answer may be, “who really cares, just STFU and enjoy your stogies, ya fat bastid.” But I’ve been wondering why I like a certain cigar and another guy thinks it dog shmootz.

I guess you could wonder this about anything: food, alcohol, taste in women, yada, yada, yada, but this query has led me to think about how personal cigar smoking really is. If a guy tells you that he doesn’t like scotch, or liverwurst, or even red heads, no offense is taken whatsoever. (Let me just say that if you don’t like red heads, you are mentally challenged, but please don’t let me stray from the subject at hand.) You just figure it’s his personal choice and that’s all there really is to it. But offer up say perhaps one of your prized stellar maduros to someone and that knuckle-dragging ingrate tells you that it sucks, well you take great offense as if it were a serious personal affront. I’ve seen this on many an occasion in online cigar forums where a guy says he loves a certain brand and then someone else will reply that it’s a hunk of excrement, and suddenly a war of words begins. I even get mad at my own dad when I give him what I think is a nice stick, and if he tells me he didn’t care for it, I get all pissy and tell him to go buy his own friggin cigars!

So when it comes to cigars, why do we like what we like and why are we SO goddamned particular and uppity about it? Hey I don’t know, I’m asking you! You have any concrete thoughts? Cuz I don’t. I know one guy that smokes the strongest cigars on the planet and eats triple maduro / triple ligero for breakfast. He thinks everyone else is an out an out puss for smoking anything less. Then I know an older dude who’s been smoking for 45 years – mild delicate Connecticut shade wrapped cigars, the kind most newbies start off with. I’ll ask him why he doesn’t try bumping up in flavor to a medium bodied cigar, something with a little more depth, complexity, and flavor. And you know what he says to me? “I like what I like.” I know as a fact that the guy dines on a variety of tasty foods and fine wines, but when it comes time to lighting up, it’s that same golden yellow wrapper cigar every damned time.

Now for me, personally, it’s all about flavor. From medium to very full bodied is what I like and if I do smoke a lighter wrapper cigar, it’s usually in the morning or before I’ve eaten. Years ago, like most stogie lovers, I dug the mild stuff, but my palate has changed a lot and I just don’t get the flavor I need from a mild cigar. I’m sure many of you reading this are the same, yet, did you know that the basic Macanudo brand is the best selling premium hand rolled cigar in America? That’s because the casual smokers and newbies who smoke on the golf course, while camping, playing poker, etc., those guys want something mild that’s not going to leave them with Satan’s breath the following morning. Complexity means zilch to those guys, as where it means a lot more to us full time leaf-ionados. (That’s some writer’s license used right there, keep on reading….) Although I will say that complexity is definitely not as important to me as a cigar just having good flavor. There are certain sticks, like take the Cain Habano for instance, that really just has a nice medium to full flavor profile straight through and I’m totally fine with that. But then there’s times I have an expensive scotch or full bodied wine and I’ll reach for maybe an Ashton VSG to compliment the complexity of what I’m drinking.

Hey, I guess when it comes down to it, there really is no right or wrong answer, we really do just “like what we like” when it comes to cigars and I have to say upon final reflection that I’m totally cool with that. But if you tell me you don’t like red heads, I can assure you that you do indeed have some sort of mental blockage.

Happy New Year, Home Boys & Gals,

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

I hope the holidays found you happy and safe with family and friends. But today it is back to work even though many football bowl games remain to be played. This will be a bit lighter than the usual fare giving you something to enjoy and think about.

Read the rest of this entry »

First off, wish me a happy birthday, ya slugs! Yeah, it’s today, December 30 and I don’t smell a day over 40.

Okay, I seriously ask you guys, how can it possibly be the end of another year? I remember celebrating the new millennium like it was yesterday and now that’s a dozen years ago? This is crazy! And now we’re facing a glitch in the Mayan calendar, hoping and praying that these ancient knuckleheads simply ran out of paper.

A hell of a lot of crap happened during the course of 2011, way too much to talk about in detail, so I might as well just stick with the cigar happenings. First off, the good people here at JR Cigars gave Steve Nathan and I our own YouTube show where we get to entertain and spread the cigar knowledge to the world. The feeling of power is somewhat overwhelming, and gratifying all-the-same. Of course when you mix a ranting, psycho Polack with a chemically imbalanced Debbie Downer of a cigar training manager, you’re going to create a chemistry that is horribly unpleasant, yet for some unexplainable reason, you just can’t stop looking at it. I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you.

As far as cigars go, JR went completely bonkers bringing in a plethora of new brands to the company, the brands you’ve been asking for, ie; Rocky Patel, My Father, Don Pepin, Jaime Garcia, NUB, La Flor Dominicana, Alec Bradley, Oliva, VegaFina, EP Carillo, CAO OSA Sol, Macanudo Cru Royale! Yeah, the list is long and deep and I personally couldn’t be happier. I am definitely gonna celebrate the new year in JR style with more smokes than I could have ever imagined enjoying. Sweet!

Now, while the good stuff was certainly good, the bad stuff was incredibly annoying. The Food and Drug Administration decided they wanted to regulate the cigar industry, treating our precious smokes in the same way that they scrutinize cigarettes. If these politico nightmares get their way, an entire industry that employs some 85,000 people will be in for the fight of their lives – so it’s up to us to fight these clueless numbskulls with every last ounce of smoke that we’ve got! January 19 is now the date that the FDA will stop taking feedback from the public on this matter and it’s up to us to make as much noise as we possibly can until then!

And now you’ve got these stooges on the Orange Bowl committee who have been bamboozled by the ancient and out of touch Frank Louseyburg of NJ and his smoke Nazi cronies. Our good friends at Camacho Cigars had a 3-year deal with the Orange Bowl to be an official sponsor of the game which included outdoor smoking lounges at the event. But three holier than thou senators stirred up a bunch of health organizations and bullied the Orange Bowl Committee and the NCAA, getting Camacho tossed out as a sponsor! Of course the Bowl organizers used the lame and shameless excuse of what a poor message a cigar company would send to kids, but somehow it’s okay for collegiate sports to advertise alcohol, fast food, and the pill that makes you call the doctor after 4 hours. From what I understand, a rum company is an official sponsor of the game, which is a hypocrisy that has us all shaking our heads. What kind of message does consuming alcohol send to our children? The message is simple: when enjoyed responsibly by adults in moderation, all of these grown-up products should be allowed to do business under the name of freedom in these here United States of America.

So what’s up for 2012? Well this FDA thing is looming and we need to educate, get the word out, and fight these fascist legislators with everything we’ve got. And while the crap keeps hitting the proverbial fan with new anti-smoking laws and continual tax hikes on our cigars, new brands will continue to come out this year as our industry will stick together like never before.

So, that’s it from the great state of Jersey, guys. You and I will be talking again next year for sure!

JR Cigars Blog with the Zman