JC's
Cigar Travels
December 2007
Holiday Herf, December 19th at Dreamers II - Big Thank You to everyone who took time out of their hectic holiday schedule to participate in our holiday herf. The pictures are up in the gallery. We had a nice turnout. Paul & Bill brought some food platters, Bryn & Ann supplied us with some goodies in a crock pot and remembered to bring utensils. Judy & Gerald provided some tasty stuff including delicious cake. Also big thanks to Dave for the chicken and George for the wonderful Greek cookies. It was nice to get together with our local cigar posse. Stinky did a great job of coordinating this event. Hopefully we can make this an annual event.
And big thanks to Richie at Las Vegas Cigar Company, Ramon at Las Vegas Cigar Lounge and Phil of Phil's Cigars for their cotributions towards the goodies bags that were distributed to everyone.
Their support was very much appreciated..
Smokin' Ass Cigars on E. Flamingo near Paradise has a new name. It's now Las Vegas Cuban Cigar Factory.
November 2007
Lots of local cigar events going on during the Big Smoke Weekend. Positive comments about this year's Big Smoke weekend being set up much better than last year. It's still a cattle call with the huge lines but at least there were more tables & chairs.
Smokin' Ass Cigars on E. Flamingo near Paradise has been acquired by Herman of Bad Habits Cigar Company. One of the first things he'll be doing is changing its name. The store will feature hand rolled cigars by local roller Nelson along with a full lline of premium brand cigars.
September & October 2007
Even Stewie enjoys a good cigar!
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I tried the new CAO America, not bad but nothing to write home about. I'd have to say Marginal. It has some of the traits of the Italia but not as flavorful. I notice that the cigars are shipped with an extra band at the foote of the cigar.
The one I sampled came from the RTDA show and didn't have the extra band.
Above with band on and below with band off. |
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Toast Across America went well at Casa Fuente and was well attended.
Looks like MONTE'S on E. Desert Inn near Eastern has closed down.
May, June, July & August 2007
August 31st - Visited Cigar Box - where I noticed the new Camacho Triple Maduro and the newly packaged Camacho Diploma. I tried the Diploma. It has a new look with two bands one is on the foote of the cigar and the wrapper is darker. It started out harsh but developed into a nice smoke. But not as good as the old unbanned Diplomas that I remeber. These are stronger.
I'm noticing a lot more cigars are coming out with a band on the end. I guess that is to prevent damage in transit, but they are still a pain to take off before lighting my cigar.
August 30th - CAO Event at Cigar Lounge & Punch/General Cigar Event at Phil's Cigars.
It was a 3rd anniversary celebration at the Cigar Lounge and Ramon's Birthday. Stinky brought in a birthday cake with the Stinky logo on it. CAO cigars were featured and there was a very sexy Samba dancer performing out in front. See the cigar picture gallery for more.
Phil's Cigars had a nice event with special pricing on all General Cigar products and great food and College football action on the big screen TV.
I just got back from a road trip vacation that took me to Reno, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, the wine tour in Sanoma, Monterey and Pismo Beach. I didn't have too much trouble sneaking in some cigar time. In Reno, we stayed at the Silver Legacy where you could smoke in most of the casino area but not on the level where the food courts are located. They should have signs posted.
In San Francisco the basic rule is you can smoke anywhere outside as long as you're about 20 feet away from public places. I stayed at the W Hotel and they had an outdoor terrace on the 4th floor where the indoor pool & spa was located. Every morning around 4am I would go out there and enjoy a cigar.
In Monterey they don't allow smoking on the beaches but at least they do have signs posted. I visited a friendly cigar store there called Big Shot Cigars that had a nice comfortable smoking lounge.
In Pismo Beach I didn't see any No Smoking signs, so I decided to have my special moment with a well-aged Partags Series D I had been saving on the beach. I ignored someone that tried to tell me there was no smoking allowed on the beach. I found that hard to believe with all the cigarette butts and dog droppings that I saw.
August .... There's a new cigar shop in Las Vegas on W. Cheyenne near Rainbow: Hemingway's (located behind Wendy's & The Olive Garden.) Nice shop, no walk-in humidor but cigars are easily accessible in the many humidor display cabinets. Selection contains a wide variety but limited. But you're going to love his prices. Paul, the owner says he's going to try to keep his prices low and work on volume. And the smoking area is located in the front of the store which many cigar smoker prefer.
June and July was a bit slow with limited events. I did manage to make it the the Cigarpass.com event in June at the Roadrunner on W. Flaming which quite nice.
Also during June I discovered TROYA Cigars at a couple of events that were held the Cigar Lounge & Phil's Cigars. The Troya tha I liked was a Nicaraguan blend made by Don Peppin Garcia who makes great cigars.
May started out with a bang at Big Al's annual BBQ herf and as always the food was great and as a special treat Al ordered the De La Hoya / Mayweather fight on pay per view for us to enjoy.
Also, wanted to thank Al for turning me on to the Herf Dog cigar. A pleasant 8x50 cheap smoke. I think they're only 70-Cents when you buy a bundle of them.
Smokin' Ass Cigars on E. Flamingo near Paradise (located behind Buca di Bepo & Morton's) did some remodeling and have a real nice smoking area in the rear of the store with leather chairs, lots of Stinky Ashtrays and a big screen TV. They carry a good selection of cigars along with their hand rolled cigars by local roller Nelson. They also have their own line of gourmet coffee that is fantastic. My favorite is the Maui Coconut. |
April 2007
April
28th - The Join Sal at Bad Habits Cigars has
been postpone until May 11th.
Another great event at Monte's featuring the Gran Habano Siglo III.
April
26th - Tobacco Leaf Grand Opening New Location (7175
W. Lake Mead) Rocky Patel was there and Will & his
wife Maggie were great hosts and gave away
a lot of prizes including a trip to Honduras
to visit the Rocky Patel cigar factory.
April
1st- Casar's Cigar Lounge (Downtown
San Diego, California) located in the Gaslamp
district it was just nice finding a public
place to enjoy cigars in the People's Republic
of California. Nice selection of cigars but
pricey. Click Here for
pictures in the Cigar Gallery. |
March
2007
March
30th & 31st- Cigart (Rosarito,
Mexico) hung out there for 2 days enjoying
Cubans. Louie, the owner is a real nice guy
and his shop is across the street from Senor
Frogs where there was a lot of action during
the Spring Break weekend. Hard to believe
that with all the Cuban cigars he has in
his shop, the young crowd was only interested
in Swisher Sweets. But that's OK, because
that meant more Cubans for me. Rosarito is
a nice town and way better than Tijuana.
Click Here for
pictures.
March
27th - Cigarbox (3014 S. Rancho
...South of Palace Station) - Just arrived,
the new La Flor Dominicana Cabinet
Cameroon.
This is a full bodied cigar that iisn't overbearing
on the flavor but does deliver a wallop.
The burn & taste is similar characteristics
to some Cubans that I remember from years
ago. One of the best cigars I've had so far
this year. These cigars have no band or cellophane.
March
1st - USA Tobacco & Cigar Lounge (Hualapi
& Desert Inn next to Starbucks) - March is
off to a good start as we discovered another wonderful
place to enjoy cigars. USA Tobacco just
opened this year and they're already talking about
expanding their cigar selection and adding a bar.
There's lots of room, a couple of flat-screen
TVs and several big leather chairs. They're open
7 days a week from 8am til 9pm and you can bring
your laptop and take advantage of their free Wi-Fi. |
February 2007
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February 22nd - Tasting at Stinky's Pre-Release Drew
Estate Liga Privada No.9 - Great Cigar reminds me of
the full bodied flavor of a St. Luis Rey Rothschild Maduro ...only
more. I like it! We don't have much information
about these yet. I think it's a special Steve Saka blend.
Don't know the price or when it will be available for
sale at retailers. Drew Estate makes several unique blended
brands. Check out the Drew
Estate website.
February 8th - Chicago Brewing Company - I
enjoyed a Partagas and a Davidoff Diadema I received for Christmas.
It came in its own box and was the best one I've had so
far this year. It was nice to see that Chicago Brewing is still
cigar friendly. Get well wishes to Don & John, members
of our cigar posse. Recovering from their surgeries and
we hope they have a speedy recovery.
We can add Rosie's Saloon to our list of places
to enjoy a cigar. Located next to where Monte's Cigars used to be on E.
Desert Inn near Eastern. They serve food and are cigar-friendly.
February 4th - Super Bowl Sunday - I smoked my first
cigar of the year during the game. It was a Perdomo Lot
23. It was good, but I might have smoked it too far down
as I started feeling ill. Afterwards I drank a protein
shake and then during the 2nd half I had a couple of Cubans,
a Monte A & a Cohiba. |
January
2007
The
New Year is here and I have yet to smoke a cigar in
2007. I'm still recovering from surgery last month.
I do plan on smoking a big one on Superbowl Sunday
February 4th.
Mark your calendars to be downtown in Las Vegas during
Cinco de Mayo weekend. More information coming!
On January 11th we attended the Cusano Cigar tasting
at the Las Vegas Cigar Lounge.
Ramon, Mike, Justin & JC all decked out
in our Cusano hats.
January 25th, Ramon hosted another event at
his Cigar Lounge store featuring Ghurka cigars. More
people showed up along with some new faces and it was
an enjoyable time.
January 27th, was the monthly cigar
event at Monte's featuring Perdomo cigars. Lots
of positive comments about the new line of Perdomo cigars. |
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