There are some cigars that fit a moment so perfectly that you almost wonder if they were blended specifically for it. The Crux Bull & Bear Toro became exactly that cigar for me on a quiet weekday morning in my cigar lounge—which also happens to be my office. The trading day was …

Well, I thought I was finished writing about GANGSTAS for a while, but one story seems to beget another. Since I finished off the GANGSTA piece last week writing about how we sent cigars to a boat in international waters, and to various prisons all over the USA, it reminded …

Some days are simply satisfying. Others feel earned. This particular evening fell firmly into the second category. Earlier in the day, I had spent hours tending to a brisket. As any serious backyard pitmaster knows, brisket is not just food—it’s a test of patience, discipline, and attention to detail. There …

I just spent the better part of an hour trying to find my cell phone. It’s something that seems to happen to me a few times a day as I get older and stupider. My daughter Samantha says I should use my “find my phone App” – I don’t know …

Some afternoons offshore are measured by the fish you bring home. Others are measured by the moments you never want to end. That evening aboard The Reel Paws turned out to be the second kind. The late South Florida sun hung low over the Atlantic as I eased the boat just off …

Holy Smokes! This is such a long story that I’m not sure where I should actually begin, but let’s say… the fall of 1972. Me and LaVonda had just moved back to Manhattan from “the middle of nowhere”. We had lived on a farm about 5 miles outside of Marion, …

There are cigars you smoke… and then there are cigars that become part of a moment in your life. The El Titan de Bronze 30th Anniversary became exactly that for me. I was walking through the heart of Little Havana with a few out-of-town friends on a warm Miami afternoon, …

Did you know that Pierre is the State Capital of South Dakota???  Yes, it is, with a population of just 14,000 souls. But it’s still 75% more populous than the 8,000 that live in Montpelier, the State Capital of Vermont! These and thousands of other completely worthless facts are what …

As the sun slowly melted into the South Florida horizon, I found myself anchored at the legendary Haulover Sandbar aboard my seafoam green 2018 Sea Fox 248 Commander. The tan and beige upholstery glowed warmly beneath the fading amber sky while old-school Cuban music drifted through the salty breeze like …

Obviously, you’re gonna look at the pictures I’m attaching to this story way before you read anything I’m writing. But after you stop laughing, just read the story….  Al Goldstein was just bout the most bizarre customer we ever had… well, except for maybe Moondog who I already wrote about! …