There are cigars you smoke for their flavor. Others for their craftsmanship. Some become favorites because they deliver exactly what you expect, every single time. And then there are those rare cigars that take you somewhere you never intended to go. The Protocol Phoebe Couzins Maduro Toro did exactly that. What started …

I think I must be the world’s most unique cigar smoker in two distinct ways because: a) just about every cigar I’ve smoked the last couple of years has been older than I am… and I turned 80 this year! b) the full retail price of those cigars was anywhere …

There are certain sounds you expect when working on a boat. Water moving against the hull. A pump kicking on. Tools hitting the deck. Maybe a few choice words when a bolt refuses to cooperate. What you don’t expect is evidence that somebody else has been enjoying your boat while …

Some cigars are good. Some are excellent. Every once in a while, however, you light a cigar that catches you at precisely the right moment—and for the next hour or two, everything else becomes quiet. HOADU did that to me. I came into this cigar after a long, rough week. …

Some cigars demand an occasion. Others simply find their way into one. This particular evening wasn’t about celebration, contemplation, or chasing some spectacular sunset. It was maintenance night in the Cave—one of those routines I’ve followed for years. Weapons out. Cleaning cloths on the table. A little oil. Inspection. Wipe down. …

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, …