Oh Man Oh Man Oh Man

IWantThisSoBad.

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Hmm..

O.k.

So there are obviously some kinks to be worked out with the pictures in the blog.

Still!


You know you like them.




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I never watched the show but now I think I should have

Go to CAO's website (It's very cool).

Once the page loads, mouse over the left side of the picture until you find the menu.

Click cigars.

Click Sopranos Edition.

(Holy shit! That freak figured out how to put pictures in his blog!)

Read all about the delicious cigar Flash brought me last night.






"Flash? Thats a person's name?" I thought I heard you say.

Remember before when I mentioned the whole "friends getting nicknames" thing?

Ta Da!

So yeah, she rocks. She brought me this delicious full bodied cigar and it was a great smoke. In fact, I'll have to agree with CAO when they say that the cigar is:

"Dark, compelling and rich with character, this smokin' hot escape is riddled with decadence and forcefully pleases the palate with notes of straight coffee beans, cocoa and a smattering of black cherry."

I also agree that when smoking this cigar you should, "Tread lightly and enjoy the badness. Capiche?"

This was my first time trying a CAO and man, great job guys.

Also, last night was smoking party part deux.

(This is not a picture of the hookah we used)

It was just as fun as the last time only instead of being at gimpy's house (there's that nickname thing again. hahaha... gimpy.) we were at my house. And I made delicious food. mmm...

(Why does it start all of the pictures out up at the top of the page?

Don't they know how difficult it is to get them into the right place? WTF?)

There were seven other people there as well, but I haven't thought of any clever names for them yet so they shall, as yet, go unnamed. (Besides my old lady and BJD)

Today is mothers day. Happy Mothers Day all you Mommies! Mommys? Mommies? Either way.

So, what would be a great mothers day present is showing your mom my examiner page. She'll love it... Unless she's my mom and wants me to quit smoking. (Hi Mom!)

Even if you don't show her my page (and she'll be disappointed if you don't) you should go there yourself and check it out. I get paid for it. Yay!



Have a great Mother's day guys and as always:




Keep em Lit!

Baltimore Cigar Examiner Contd.

I've had a few questions, Let me be clear about this:

I get paid for every visit I get to the website.

If you want to subscribe to it, I get paid every time I do an article and it is sent to you. (THIS MEANS LESS WORK FOR YOU!)

More of this content will be Baltimore specific, but a lot of the same information I'm using for the Examiner and the Blog will be interchangeable.

Any other questions/comments? Leave em in the comments section below.

I'll be smoking tonight so I'll post later.




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Baltimore Cigar Examiner

I am now the official Baltimore Cigar Examiner. (Like how the title of this blog is my title as well?)

I get paid for every visit to my Examiner site.

Since you all love me and want me to succeed, you should go there frequently. It only takes a minute and I'm pretty sure you can subscribe to it as well. (So you don't have to visit all of the time. The articles will be e-mailed to you instead.)

So, yeah. Go check it out. Repeatedly. Tell your friends. Link the site on your facebook page and anywhere else you might want to put it.


Pimp my site out guys!


Yay!




Keep em Lit! (<--Watch what I do with the link here. Keep em Lit! will now always be the link to my Baltimore Cigar Examiner page. So click it on every post that you read and the world will be a better place!)

Let me tell you...

Breaking Bad is not about smoking cigars.

It is, however, awesome.

I'm watching it right now. I'm thinking about having a cigar after I finish this disc but that depends on what time it is when this disc is done.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. There are 15 days until school is over and I've got a lot of work to do between then and now. You'll just have to make do with what sporadic posting I can get in.

Oh, my friends and I are planning on having our hookah/cigar party again on Saturday so be ready for a post either Saturday night or Sunday.

Other than that, enjoy your weekend coming up, go out and buy a nice Ashton cigar and have a schmoke.













...and a pancake.







Keep em Lit!

About Sunday:

Welcome to my Sunday post!
.
.
.
Now lets talk about Saturday.

Yesterday was great! I spent the day with friends dorking out and we basically beat each other with sticks for a few hours. It was great! (I already said that. Hmm.)

When I got home my old lady's cousin came over and we proceeded to become gently inebriated the way that the United States becomes gently involved with other countries business.

It is at this point that I decide to have a smoke. I make a quick decision after looking into the humidor and pull out my Xicar to nip the tip. It is at this point that I realize my lighter (remind me to post about lighters soon) has been purloined (stop moving stuff!). Luckily there were other smokers around. After lighting my cigar I snuggled up to my old lady on the porch and relaxed into the smoke.

Don Lugo, you're still delicious.

Don Lugos have a nice dark wrapper and are usually wrapped well. The ash went for about an inch and a quarter before wanting off.

The cigar was tasty and having friends hang out made it worth while. (So come over more often woman!)

As usual I recommend this cigar to anyone who wants a nice smoke.

So yeah, Welcome to the Sunday post which is, in fact, about Saturday. (You like how I ninja mind controlled you with that sweet ruse? Kiaaaaaaa Hiyaaaaaaaaah!)

I bet until that last line you forgot this was supposed to be about Sunday.

I'm going to go smoke now.



Keep em Lit!

Hookah

(Before you read this I'm apologizing ahead of time for the Wikipedia links. I don't have a hookah supplier or no enough about them to give you a good link. So make do! due? do? Make one of them!)

Tonight was great. I went over to a friends house for a somewhat impromptu smoking party. I took along a few cigars for people to try and one of my other friends brought her hookah.

For myself, I brought along one of the cigars that came in my free fuerte 6-pack; An Augusto Reyes Criollo Churchill.

It was a great smoke. The wrapper is a nice light color and the cigar lasted me at least two hours (Normally I smoke much shorter cigars which take 45 minutes to an hour).

The wrap was done well, ash burned nice and even and it was about two inches before it wanted off.

This is one of the few cigars that got progressively and very noticeably better the further along in the smoke I got.

Augusto Reyes Criollo: I approve.

Now. On to the hookah:

You are not supposed to inhale cigars (though many people do). It is about the flavor and you don't taste with your lungs.

The hookah, however, you inhale (but don't hold in) the smoke. I was worried about coughing and hacking since I don't smoke regularly. I shouldn't have worried.

The smoke was so smooth. The tobacco tasted and smelled delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it more than the cigar, but it was a tasty smoke.

Hookah: You make for a great time.

Thanks again for everyone who came and props to the host and hostess of the party! Lets do it again soon!


I had two smokes today, cigar and hookah, and they were both an amazing time. I recommend both.

To those of you who haven't noticed, I don't use names in my blog. I like that people can have anonymity if they want. (or at least until I find interesting nicknames for them.) If you don't care feel free to comment at the bottom and reveal yourself or we'll work out a sweet nickname for you later.



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Oh!

If it seemed like I was distracted in that last post it was because I was watching the movie Proof.

Its pretty good and more importantly is about a Mathematician and his Mathematician-daughter.

Sadly, no one had so much as a puff of a cigar. Luckily the movie can be saved by this ingenious proof I just finished:

Math=Awesome

Cigars=Awesome

Cigars=Math

See what I mean? They could have stuck that in the movie and it would have won awards. Many of them. Awards movies can't even get. Like the Pulitzer or a Grammy.

(I bet this proof makes it into the Director's cut.)

If you were to write a proof, given that: x=Awesome=Cigars,

what can be substituted in for x? (Besides this sweet blog)


Keep em Lit!

Now wait just a minute!

Whoa there! Stop! Hold up! Wait a minute!

What I said before, about that humidor I want... Thompson pulled the wool over my eyes there.

I thought that was the best deal. I thought I had a handle on things here. Then they put a catalog in my mailbox. The April catalog to be exact.

I'm flipping through it when what appears on lucky page 13? The Lucky 7 Gold Combo!!!!

This amazing combination includes a 200 cigar humidor with:
*Exterior analog hygrometer
*State-of-the-art double humidification system
*Sturdy brass piano hinges, Plexi Door (this bit isn't as impressive as that other stuff)
*7 Divided cedar drawers with finished faces
*60 Handmade cigars (see page 55 for cigar description)(heh. Good luck!)

Ok, you're pretty lucky so I'll give you the scoop. Page 55 has this to say about the cigars:

"This is a creamy, mild cigar blended from Cuban-seed long fillers and finished with a Java wrapper."

An upstanding gentleman known as Big Daddy describes them as well: "Very smooth and good flavor. These cigars were so good that I smoked 2 or 3 a day."

Thanks Big Daddy.

And the price tag for this awesome package? $99

The same amount as the other awesome-but-less-awesome-in-the-wake-of-this-amazing-offer humidor.

Thompson & Co., Why are you so good to me?

I'll be smoking later tonight so keep a lookout for a possible second post tonight.


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I've been thinking

You will be upset to know that I did not smoke a cigar last night.

"Awww." I thought I heard you say.

I know right? But look, I'll have one tonight and all will be well with the world. Instead I have something serious to talk to you about: My humidor.

Specifically the humidifier (note: this link is not to the humidifier I have, its to the humidifier I need). Its not working properly. I'm getting upset. I'll have to buy another one soon. Luckily I bought some of that great gel (not the Thompson's system that I'll be getting when I'm done with this) and it seems to be keeping humidity in the humidor for the time being.

You have to understand. This is a big issue. A humidor with a malfunctioning humidifier is just an expensive box.

Dry-Stale cigars are just as bad as Wet-moldy cigars. Well, maybe not as bad as moldy, but either way their ruined. If you've checked out the humidor link I put up you'll know that the inside of a humidor is a micro-climate that keeps the cigars living in a perfect humid atmosphere.

I need to get a new humidifier and fast! I want my tobacco wrapped friends to be comfortable and enjoying life before I burn them mercilessly for my enjoyment. (Don't worry, I'm as humane as I can be.)

Really what I need is a larger humidor.

Really what I want is this one. Right here! This one! Oh Yeah! You know you like it! Look at how pretty it is! And cheap! And it comes with bundles of cigars! And all of that room! I'm making due with a fifty count humidor now and its not enough. (On the bright side it assures that if I want to keep fresh cigars I'll need to smoke them quickly.)

That being said. The question becomes do I spend $30.00 on a humidifier for the humidor I have (which is obviously too small) or try to scrounge up $100.00 for the humidor I want (which comes with cigars as well). This question is further made interesting by the fact that I am usually extremely broke.

But... We can't let all of these fine cigars got to waste. So I'll have to do one of them. This is a touch decision. (and by touch I mean tough. Yes I realize I could have easily deleted the ch and put a gh in it's place but c'mon, admit you like this better.)

I will have a delicious cigar tonight, either the aforementioned Don Lugo (who escaped its fate last night due to me being exhausted), or the La Gloria Cubana that is waiting right next to it.

I love having to make delicious decisions.

Ok. I know I use Thompson Links often, but they're just good people. They do what they can to make sure you are satisfied and their deals are great! So don't judge me.


Let me know what you think I should do about this humidor situation in the comments section below and as always:


Keep em Lit!

I want you!

Good news everybody!

The Examiner has decided to accept me as a contributor. I'm just waiting for the paperwork to get straightened out and I'll soon be publishing to their site and getting paid!

Who knew?

That being said, I'll link to the site once its up and running. You all should visit because the more hits I get the more monies I make!

Also, downer, I just found out they don't like words like Fuck Shit Ass Bitch Cunt and Cock. So if I write that in here I'll have to change/delete it for transition to the Examiner.

Oh! Something about a cigar... (Of course I remembered to write something about a cigar here I'm the Cigar Freak!)

I'm going to go smoke one right now. Probably a Don Lugo. I'll let you know how delicious it was/is tomorrow. Live in suspense until tomorrow.

Also, leave comments! (It stops my fingers from trembling and makes it easier for me to light my cigars.)


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Thank you for applying to become an Examiner

A friend of mine convinced me to apply to become the Baltimore Cigar Examiner which I think is a great idea!

I thought you might be interested (I have no idea why) in the questions I had to answer and which directions I didn't follow.

Without further ado (Well, maybe a little ado), the application (or at least the good bits):

What experiences or credentials do you have that qualify you to write as and examiner?

Cigar smoking is in my family. I remember my uncles and grandfather at family parties when I was young smoking delicious smelling cigars. They have always been a part of my life. I have been smoking cigars (quality and otherwise), for about twelve years. I receive shipments of cigars on a monthly basis and regularly blog about them.

As to my writing qualifications: I currently edit upper level college papers and write a fair share of my own. I have been writing (fiction and nonfiction) since before I began smoking. My style is very stream of consciousness and usually riddled with humor. If my blog is not enough to show you, feel free to ask and I'll send in a few other writing samples.

In your articles, what are some topics you would examine and why?

I plan on examining different cigars, and the gadgets that go along with cigar culture (cutters, pokers, lighters, humidors, etc.). I will focus on different cigar shops in Maryland as well as online shopping sites. There is also a lot of important legislature regarding tobacco products and culture currently in the works in the federal and state governments. I will discuss some of the effects they are having on cigar prices and smoking in general. It is my purpose to bring the cigar culture to as many people as possible. Smoking in general has gotten a bad rap recently and the tobacco culture is suffering. ...and to have fun.

(What I plan on doing is what I do in this blog. Then I'll probably copy and paste, replacing or deleting expletives if they don't appreciate foul language. They'll read this in a few days. Don't say you weren't warned Examiner!)

Sample article title: Excerpt, TCC Corojo Cubana and the Rain

Sample article: (I sent them a bit of the article. I am not repeating it here. If you want to see them go read my post TCC Corojo Cubana and the Rain. This may be why they don't accept me: They told me to write an article NOT in the first person. Considering this is an excerpt from my blog which is all in first person, either they are going to love it or not hire me.)


So that's my app. I should hear back within the next two weeks and I'll keep you posted.

Questions? Comments? General thoughts? What do you want to hear about? You are a pretty quiet bunch in the comment section. (Gives me things to talk about which is good for me and then I can make you read it by saying I mentioned you or what you said in the post... C'mon. C'mon!)



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Gadgets: Part One

This will be quick considering class begins in a few minutes. I should be doing homework. Instead I'm contemplating my cutter.

Xikar is great. The things they make can take a beating. I've been using a Malachite Green Xi2 Cutter for a few years now so believe me, I know.

I've taken it camping, its lived in my Jacket for about two years and it still cuts clean.

Plus its pretty.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about the smoking culture is the gadgets that come along with it.

This is one of my favorites.

Now all I need is a torch lighter. Yes. Yes...

You can't see it, but I"m rubbing my hands together gleefully right now. My beard has become a pencil thin moustache and I'm wearing black. No one can stop me! Not even those meddling kids and their dumb...

Ok. I'm back.

But yeah,

Gadgets make the smoking experience even better.


Off to class.



Keep em Lit!

TCC Corojo Cubano and the Rain

You know what I found? My invoice from Thompson. This makes naming these cigars way easier.

I also found matches. (I know some of you were worried.)

And rain. Lots and lots of rain. Buckets of it. Since I am a Cigar Freak I persevered and went out on the porch to smoke anyway. The cat, who usually accompanies me out onto the porch, was too scared of the lightning to hang out this time.

While I was out there I was faced with a dilemma: While the rain was torrential, I hadn't been sitting and, once the storm became somewhat calmer, the chair was soaked. Also, I ran out of ginger ale in the midst of my cigar.

Now, these things are easily fixed when it is dry. Simply put the cigar on the side of the ashtray for a moment, run inside, grab a towel (come to think of it, why would I need a towel if it was dry? This is a flaw in my logic. Nevertheless, I continue), grab the 2 liter of ginger ale, and go back outside.

This is what I decided to do when I realized that the ashtray was a swimming pool at the moment and I had nowhere to put my cigar.

In fact, nowhere on the porch was dry. I wasn't going to take the cigar inside so I did the next best thing.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that before I went outside I put on my jacket. Unbeknownst to me, I had a few scraps of paper in there (read as bills) and with these I quickly fashioned a makeshift cigar holder (read as me putting the paper down and then the cigar on the paper as far away from the rain as possible and hanging slightly over so as not to burn the paper and damage the cigar). Voila! I dashed through the house, procuring both the towel and the ginger ale as quickly as possible before rescuing my cigar from almost certain doom.

"Whew!" I know right? Close one.

On to the cigar! Today I chose (I think) the TCC Corojo Cub (thank you invoice! Also, its the green labeled one in this picture. Couldn't find one of it by itself or didn't look hard enough). I haven't smoked them before because I wasn't sure what they were called and the wrapper isn't telling me jack. Here's what I have to say about it:

The ash. The ash was constantly mushrooming outward as I was smoking it and it definitely did NOT burn evenly.

The taste. The taste wasn't that great. It had that acrid aftertaste so many cheap/bad cigars usually have.

It is the first cigar I've tried out of the Powerhouse 30 that I am just not a fan of. I didn't enjoy this smoke as much as I should have (Rain notwithstanding).

I'm not going to give up on it quite yet however. I have four more of them in my humidor right now and perhaps that cigar was just a dud. I'll give it another go in a few days and see if my mind is changed.

So my fellow smokers/blog followers, What is your favorite smoke? (By smoke I mean cigar, not marijuana. I'm sure thats where a few of you were going to take this.) What cigars taste delicious to you?

Leave your comments below.

Keep em Lit!