I realize that I’ve gotten everyone used to morning posts, but it’s back to work and back to writing when I can. I have to admit, I’m experiencing some writer’s block at the moment, so bear with me please. It’s gotten bitterly cold here in south-east, Pennsylvania, which is not awfully conducive to the proper enjoyment of a cigar. My normal routine is to take a walk, which usually keeps me moving enough to enjoy a small cigar, as it turns out, the rigors of returning to work after a week plus off has left me without the energy to bother. That’s my excuse, I’m sticking to it.
Mo
nday I received a call from my brother-in-law, Jeff, who has recently taken to fine cigars. He’s been picking one up at his local shop in New Jersey, and called me from my local shop while visiting for the holidays. He wanted some inexpensive “everyday” cigars, and wanted my advice. Oddly, on my last visit to the shop the previous Friday, I failed to really take 
a good look through the humidor. I was able to direct him to the National Brand bundles, which happened to be in the same place I remembered thme being. Since he really enjoyed the Acid Kuba Kuba I gave him, and had been enjoying working his way through the Alec Bradley range, I figured they’d be a good bet. I’ve certainly enjoyed my fair share of National Brand maduros, and I hope he likes them too. Naturally, since he was in the area, I invited him over for a smoke. I had picked up a pack of the Jesus Fuego Sangre de Toro Originals while I was at the shop Friday. I had been offered a sample at the IPCPR show by Jesus, but I never managed to get one for one reason or another. I had enjoyed the heck out of the robusto in this blend, so I figured for $12.95 for five cigars I had to try them. I’ll eventually try the other two blends in this size as it seems to be a very good “winter” size. I really enjoyed the cigar. Great flavor, the mold-less old style shape is fun and burned well, and I can’t wait to smoke another one. That may be my equivalent to a “10” or whatever rating scale one uses. Very good smokes. I gave Jeff a Maria Mancini Magic Mountain to try which he enjoyed. That’s a hard cigar to beat and they can be purchased for around $2.50 a piece if you find yourself in a JR store.
Editorial
In the “Editorial” department, I wanted to encourage everyone to sign up at Citizens for Tobacco Rights, which is sponsored by Philip Morris USA. Now, I understand that this site is not cigar specific, and is provided by a cigarette company, but the challenges we face as cigar smokers certainly run parallel to those of our other tobacco product using brethren. So far I’ve received no unwanted e-mail from them, and found no reason not to add my name to their numbers. Registration is free and they
provide many of the same tools as Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR for contacting your elected officials. It can’t hurt to take every opportunity we have to have our voices heard as our rights are being eroded. Please write to your senator and congressman about the FDA issue too, there’s a link in my sidebar to enter your zip code and take you to a pre-writen letter you can send. It really will be a problem if the FDA is allowed to regulate cigars. Our hobby and passion will be ruined at best, and criminalized at worst.
I guess I did OK considering I had no clue what I was going to write about. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and feel free to share your smoking experiences as well!
Unt
il the next time,
CigarCraig
Villiger Stokkebye
