Thursday evening was the first anniversary party at Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA and they combined it with a Rocky Patel event with a Halloween costume contest. Mark Weisenburger (pictured, from his Facebook page) was present pimping the Rocky Patel line so I picked up a couple of the Vintage 2003 Cameroon robustos and lit one up. They were also featuring Alan Price’s cigar that he blended at Rocky Patel’s factory. Alan works part time at Mojo and is our area Cigar Rights of America Ambassador. I picked up a couple of these as well, it’ll be interesting to see how he did 
blending this cigar. Interestingly, it’s about the same size as the last cigar I blended at Drew Estate last year, a chunky toro in the 6″ x 54 range. Anyway, there was a big crowd for a Thursday evening, and regulars Bruce and Arline won the costume contest. I’m sure the party went into the night, but I excused myself when I was done with my cigar to go home and watch the Flyers losing effort. Congrats to Wade and Trae at Mojo for an excellent first year. They are doing a great job in selection and service. It’s a great place to hang out.
Friday was Halloween, and we don’t have any kids come to our house trick or treating. It’s a matter of where we currently live, not any commentary on who we are or anything. There is a neighborhood around the corner where I always take Macha for a walk and there are a handful of kids who mostly have met Macha and love seeing her. I grabbed a Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro Corona Grande for the evening walk, and Macha had fun seeing the kids (she loves kids, they taste good!). The Corona Grande is a 6½” x 48 that was the creation of Nick Perdomo III. For me it’s the best size of the bunch, for both the representation of the blend and the comfort of smoking it. It’s a smooth, rich maduro with a hint of espresso bitterness, which I like. I know, I should have smoked a Tatuaje Monster, or a Gurkha Ghost, or even an Asylum Ogre or something cliche, but I was in the mood for the Perdomo, so that’s what I smoked!
Saturday we spent the morning gutting the family room in the new house. We had taken out the carpet and padding to have the asbestos tile removed, so what better time to take the paneling off! Of course, it was just paneling over a thin vapor barrier and cinder block and brick, so we have some insulating and dry-walling to do. Best to get it done before having carpet installed! It’ll be a great space once it’s done, and directly adjacent to the screened in cigar porch! After getting that done I took a quick spin over to Goose’s Tobacco in Limerick, PA to pick up and pay for the box of Asylum Straight Jacket Robustos I won in the Operation: Cigars for Warriors silent auction at the Smokin Goose festival last month. Always happy to support OP:CFW, thank you to Goose’s and Asylum Cigars for their contribution to that fine organization. When I got home I took a walk with A.J. Fernandez’s newest offering, the New World in a box pressed belicoso size called the Almirante. The New World is the first cigar that A.J. made together with his father, Ismeal, and is a Nicaragua Puro, with tobaccos from all over the country, including Ometepe. This medium bodied cigar burned perfectly and had really nice sweet spicy flavor. Considering I paid somewhere under $6 each for these at JM Cigars in Exton, PA, this is an absolute must try.
That’s all for now. We’ve got to visit Home Depot or Lowe’s and look into some room finishing options and come up with a plan. Then I’ll be digging into the humidor once again looking for something fun to smoke. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
I assume that your nail driver’s license is current.
Did I read “asbestos”? Danger !!! Be careful with that stuff.
When I read about these efforts to put good cigars into the hands of our fighting men (and women), I think back about the days I spend in the SEAsia theater. I only wish that someone was sending hand-rolled premiums to me. My group of cigar smoking buddies and I were limited to Hav-a-Tampa Jewels, White Owls, Tampa Nuggets and the like. Not much better than nothing, but at least they were cigars. Better than Old Golds and Chesterfields. I thank you for the support and encourage your readers to do likewise. Those people are standing on the wall for YOU. A cigar is a very nice way to say “thank you”.