I hadn’t planned on writing anything this week, but I just smoked a really wonderful cigar. It was called an Optimate, but don’t confuse it with the machine-made short filler Optimo brand that you see in supermarkets or drugs stores… this was a real quality cigar. I looked up the …

There are cigar names that feel like marketing, and then there are cigars that somehow find themselves in exactly the environment they were meant for. ADVentura Blackfin’s Parlay found me aboard The Reel Paws on a Saturday morning, cruising the Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal with Stacey beside me, Saber along for the adventure, …

There are cigars you buy because of the wrapper. There are cigars you chase because of the blender, the rarity, the reputation, or some ridiculous score printed beside the price tag. And then, every once in a great while, you choose a cigar for a completely ordinary reason—and life gives …

Well, it’s that time of the year again. Time to head to Kansas to visit relatives, then out to Wyoming to see our son Shane, and then to pack up here in New Jersey and head down to Florida.  So, I may not be writing this blog thing as often …

There are cigars you light because you have an hour to kill. Then there are cigars that somehow seem to arrive at exactly the right moment. The Room101 17th Anniversary was the latter. I had just finished working Saber at the park. It had been a productive session—sit, stay, recall, …

A few weeks ago, I wrote about grabbing a taxi to go uptown years ago and finding that Ramon Cifuentes (Cuba’s most famous cigarmaker before the embargo) was my taxi driver! Well, I’ve started going through all my old papers and collectables and throwing stuff out so I don’t leave …

Before I lit the Dunbarton Sobremesa Tapa Negra, I had already made up my mind about the evening. It was my birthday. And in my opinion, birthdays are largely overrated. At fifty-four, they become less about candles and more about gratitude. Another lap around the sun. Another page on the …

In the early 1970’s probably 90% of the handmade cigars sold in America were sold in New York, Chicago, Miami, and L.A. The rest of the nation was what I called “Roi Tan Country” … and although I’m best known for my career dealing with imported handmade cigars, I had …

Sunday evening, August 2nd. My birthday was only a few days away, and the South Florida heat had finally surrendered to a tolerable late-evening breeze. The pool lights cast their familiar glow across the water, creating ripples of blue and silver that danced across the lanai ceiling. The neighborhood was …

I imagine everyone is getting bored with Trumps’ on and off war and peace with Iran, and is at least somewhat familiar with many of the historic wars like The War of The Roses, The Napoleonic Wars, the two World Wars, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, etc.., etc.… or …