Matt's Cigar Journal

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. I am going to make my last cigar of 2008 my favorite smoke.  It currently graces the number one spot in my Top 5. I’ll be enjoying a Tatuaje Reserva SW this New Year’s Eve.  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what was your last cigar of 2008.

Be sure to check back tomorrow. I’ll be posting my 100th cigar review on this site. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the Tatuaje (Black Label) Private Reserve.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah! Smoke good, Drink good, Eat good, and be Merry!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

-Matt

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Just a quick Happy Turkey Day to all my BOTL and SOTL out there!  Hope you’re smoking something good today.

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A quick personal announcement of joy…..

It took 16 months of discipline and focus but my wife and I are now debt free (except for our mortgage)!!!!!  We made the last payment on her car today and now we are out of debt and ready to move on to the next step which is saving for retirement and the kids’ college.  We are doing all this on the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover.  It’s a great book and a great system for getting your financial house in order.  I recommend the book as a must read for anyone who carries a balance on a loan or credit card.

Unfortunately, I am out of town and away from my humidor, otherwise I would be digging out an extra special cigar to celebrate this momentus occasion.  But I did pack and El Truinfador Lancero so I spark that up today.  It isn’t a bad subsititue in the absence of my best smokes.

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CigarsDirect.com is holding a March madness Contest. It’s a chance to win some really great cigars so go signup and fill out your brackets. Here is the details…

March Madness is here and CigarsDirect.com is looking for
College Basketball fans and Cigar Aficionados alike. We have
come up with an unbelievable offer for the upcoming N.C.A.A.
Tournament, finish with the most points and win! We have
created a CigarsDirect.com Tournament contest on
CBSSportsline, load your teams by March 20th to be eligible
to win 1 of 5 great prizes. Your entry is completely FREE;
you are under no obligation to buy. Please be advised we are
in NO way affiliated with CBSSportsline nor will we have
access to your personal information. We will however be
able to see your name and email address to contact the
winners. We must have a total of 50 players for the contest
to be valid. If we do not have 50 unique players we can
cancel without notice.

The 5 players with the highest total points will win!

1st Place Padilla 1932 Signature Humidor completely full
with 45 Padilla Cigars…retail value: $1500.00

2nd Place is a sealed box of Fuente Fuente Opus X
Robusto…retail value of $799.95

3rd Place a sealed box of Arturo Fuente Anejo #77
“Shark”…retail value of $579.95

4th Place a sealed box of God of Fire Churchill…retail value
of $239.95

5th Place a sealed box of Hemingway Short Story…retail value
of $139.99

* The first 50 entries will also receive a FREE 5-Pack of
Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Cigars*

Please don’t miss out on this great offer, pass it around to
your friends and cigar buddies. Each player will be allowed
2 brackets; each player is only eligible to win 1 of the 5
prizes. Please make sure to enter a valid email address when
signing up, we will notify all winners via email at the end
of the tournament. If you do not respond with in 2 weeks the
prize will go to the player with the next highest point
total.

First you must register with cbssportsline.com then once you
have logged in with your own username and password you will
be asked to enter the league password which is the one
below.

To accept this invitation and join the group, click the link
below (or cut and paste the link into your browser’s address
bar). You’ll be asked to enter the group’s password before
you can join. The group password is included below.

http://robusto.mayhem.sportsline.com/e

Our Group password is: cigars

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…MISERABLE.  I’ve been trying to kick this thing for almost three weeks and it just keeps hanging around.  Man I would love to smoke a cigar….

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I haven’t had a cigar in over two weeks because of a cold that hung around too long. I’m finally feeling better so I’m off to the local shop for the weekly Wednesday night smoke. My humidor is overflowing, but I am still going to head to the shop and pick up a smoke there tonight. I probably should save the money and smoke what I have, but it is a lot of fun hanging out with the guys at the shop while enjoying a good smoke. I’ll probably try to lighten the load on my humidor some this weekend and maybe I’ll try to do another review.

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Tomorrow is my daughter’s first birthday party. My house is going to be packed to the gills with family and friends. Luckily it will be a nice day so some of the action will be able to spill out into the back yard. Once the action begins to wind down and the crowd thins out, I plan to enjoy a really good cigar out on the back patio. It will either be my 2004 Camacho Liberty 11/18 or one of my CAO Palms SuperBowl Perfectos. I think it will end up being a game time (smoke time) decision.

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What a great week at the beach. The weather was perfect the whole time I was there and I capped off every night with a cigar and a Guinness. I got to check out Nick’s Cigar World. It is a great cigar shop. A huge selection, just about anything you might be looking for from A to Z. In fact that is how he had them organized. I picked up a few sticks of his house blends. I got a few more of the Cubana Selects that I had reviewed in an earlier post. I also picked up a couple of the Geminis, and a Los Patriots. I also got a Monticristo White toro. I have never tried one. I’m gonna let it spend about 6 months or so in my humidor before I try it. I want to let it rest a little before its big debut. I already tried one of the Geminis. It is a good smoke and I’ll try to get my review of it up soon. I was also considering waiting until I smoked my second Gemini and then review it. I’m still up in the air about that.

Overall a great trip with plenty of relaxing cigar smoking. Who could ask for more from a vacation.

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I plan on trying a new smoke tonight before my poker game. The same friend that recommended I go check out Nick’s Cigar World while I am down in Myrtle Beach later this month gave me one of Nick’s “house blends” to try. It is called Cubana Select. It was described to me as an excellent mild to medium bodied smoke. If it is as good as advertised, it will be made even sweeter by the fact that these sticks come in under $3 bucks a piece. Another step towards my quest to find the best cheap cigar out there

I’ll post my review of the cigar sometime tomorrow.

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I decided I needed to smoke a cigar last night, but I wasn’t at home and didn’t think far enough ahead to bring one from my humidor with me so I bought one. I was in the store’s humidor looking through the selection trying to decide what I wanted to smoke and I saw that they had some of the ACID cigars by Drew Estate. I had heard about these cigars and read a little about them. The tobacco used to make them is cured in special rooms full of aromatic… whatever… to give these cigars unique (some would say weird) aromas. I had thought it would be neat to try one. They sounded interesting. Well I picked one up, took a whiff of it and… Whoa! The thing reeked. Smelled like a lady wearing too much perfume. The smell was enough to scare me off last night. I wasn’t looking to be that adventurous. I just wanted a good smoke to help me relax before a game of poker. So, I didn’t buy one. Instead I just picked up a reliable, and always exceptional Excalibur. Of course it was a fantastic smoke and was exactly what I was looking for. I already shared my thoughts on this particular cigar in a previous post. This excerpt is to relay my experience with the ACID cigars. I may try a stick one day when I am in the mood for something less traditional, but the aroma of these cigars seemed so strong that it gives me pause. If anyone has tried one of these ACID cigars please share your thoughts on it. I’d like to hear from someone who has actually smoked one or two of them.

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I’m just a couple weeks away from a much needed vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. A friend of mine was down there recently and he told me about a cigar shop that he said I must check out. It’s a place called Nick’s Cigar World. I added a link to their site on the left with the other cigar links. My friend told me the place is great. A huge show room and a great smoking lounge with a big screen TV and a keg of beer. Sounds like heaven. In addition to this, my friend said to try one of Nick’s house brands. Apparently one of the cigar manufacturers makes a special blend exclusively for Nick’s. I have been told it’s a premium cigar for a bargain price. I’m really looking forward to visiting the place while I’m down there. I’ll post my own thoughts on the place when I get back, but if you find yourself in Myrtle Beach, be sure to go check them out.

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**Note from the Author:  This post remains on the site for historical perspective.  This was written a very long time ago and has absolutely no relevance to the cigar smoker I am today.**

I figure while I’m waiting to smoke my next cigar, I should share a little info on myself as it pertains to my tastes (some may say lack of) in cigars.

I tend to gravitate towards the mild to medium flavored cigars, but I can appreciate a good full bodied strong cigar from time to time as well. My current favorites are 5 Vegas Gold and Excalibur on the medium to mild side and El Rey Del Mundo Oscuros on the fuller side of things. I did recently smoke a CAO L’Anniversaire Maduro that was very heavy and very strong. I caught a wicked buzz off that cigar. I really enjoyed it. It was probably the strongest cigar I ever smoked that I actually enjoyed. It had a very heavy flavor but I found it pleasant and enjoyable, not overpowering. I felt like I just finished a four course meal by the time I finished it.

Any way, I am a casual smoker. I sometimes go a month or so without a cigar, and then there are times when I can go thru three or four in a week. I am just a regular guy and I don’t get hung up on the super rare, super fancy, super pricey elite cigars. I absolutely love a good smoking cigar that runs about $2 bucks a stick. I think that’s the definition of cigar perfection. If it tastes good, burns even, has good smoke, and comes in at a cheap price, I love it. I’m not a rich man after all.

I also like a good drink with my cigar. I am a beer man. I love Guinness and it is always my beer of choice. Once and a while I like something lighter and I’ll have a Newcastle instead If I’m feeling really froggy, I’ll have some bourbon or scotch on the rocks with my cigar. I love whiskey and see no point in ruining it by mixing it with something.

So there you have it. A little information on the kinds of cigars I like. Maybe this will give some perspective on where I am coming from when I write some of my reviews. I am an amateur, not a professional reviewer of cigars. Just a regular guy sharing his opinions. Keep that in mind when you are reading my reviews.

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I recently added a bit to my humidor. I figure a good way to kick things off is with a brief inventory of what I’ve got. Since I just got a bunch of new cigars, I can’t recall everything off the top of my head so I’ll do an inventory later tonight and post it. It will give everyone an idea of what I’m most likely to be smoking in the near future.

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