Time Flies

Wow, it's been nearly a year since I posted last. Time flies when you're having fun, or have too much to do.

Over the last year I've built my cigar collection to include several hard to get Arturo Fuente Opus X including a Rising X, a few Arturo Fuente Hemingway Between The Lines, Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente, Toast Across America 2005 cigars, Oliva MasterBlends, CAO Vision, La Aurora 100 Anos, and many more excellent but more common cigars. I have 4 desktop humidors and 2 coolerdors that hold my collection.

Another Month Gone By

Here it is Christmas time again. In the last month I have gotten in several new cigars, including another Carlito's Way sampler that my son gave me while he was home on leave for Christmas. I've also gotten a box of Sol Cubano Maduro Robusto, a CAO Artistry of Champions sampler, a Carlos Torano sampler, a 10 pack of Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Torpedo, and since my birthday is this month I've been getting packages from my cigar brothers and sister all around the country. I really enjoy getting these packages since they include a variety of cigars that I normally wouldn't find or haven't tried yet.

The CAO Artistry of Champions sampler includes some of the most unusually shaped cigars I've ever seen, two in their Italia blend, two in their Brazilia blend and one combination blend called the Bratalia. Only 2000 of these samplers were made.

Carlito's Way Sampler

I purchased one of these unbelievable samplers from Holt's Cigars this week. It's a fantastic deal at $50. It includes:

1 Arturo Fuente Anejo Special Release Cameroon Shark (5.88 x 64)
1 Arturo Fuente Hemingway Work of Art Maduro (4.88 x 60)
1 Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Wizard (6 x 56)
1 Fuente Fuente Opus X Belicoso XXX (4.63 x 49)
1 Fuente Fuente Opus X Perfecxion X (6.25 x 48)

I also got a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Sobrasas this week.

Catching Up

Let's see ... on Thursday, November 8th, I went to a Carlos Torano event at Cigars & More. The rep brought in a torcedore (cigar roller) from Cuba to roll cigars for people attending the event. It was fascinating to watch him work.

I ended up buy a mix of 10 Torano cigars, Cameroon1916 Corona, Casa Torano Churchill and Toro, Virtuoso Encore, Exodus 1959 Robusto, and got 5 free, including 3 of the fresh rolled cigars, and a hat. Very good evening.

Last week I rented a locker at Cigars & More to store some of my cigars. I figure that I can go and enjoy a smoke inside during the winter. Plus having a locker will enable me to get any free cigars given at events that I can't attend.

Ashton/La Aroma de Cuba Event

Last month I had a chance to go to the Ashton/La Aroma de Cuba Event held by Cigars & More. Got to meet the rep and enjoyed smoking a La Aroma de Cuba Monarch and tasting Mount Gay Rum which matched very well with the cigar. I bought a few La Aroma de Cuba Marquis, a tin of Interlude, and a couple of Ashton Cabinet Series Trés Petit 4. I won a nice Ashton ash tray in the raffle.

CAO Tasting

Last Thursday I attended a CAO cigar tasting at the local cigar shop, Cigars & More. I took a free CAO Brazilia GOL after I introduced myself to the CAO Regional Sales Manager, Jeff Tinnell. Very nice fellow. Jeff had a display of beautiful CAO meerschaum pipes and a couple of varieties of CAO pipe tobacco. He had several CAO caps and a box of CAO Cameroon to give away. Too bad I didn't win anything. But they had a but 3 get 1 free deal going so I bought a few and got a few free, along with a CAO cutter. I enjoyed some pizza, coke, and conversation with lots of other cigar enthusiasts. I smoked the GOL while I talked and ate. Great smoke as always. Very good burn with lots of smoke. Spicy, peppery flavor with a medium/full body.

http://www.birminghamcigars.com/

http://www.caocigars.com/

Since my two boxes from the pass have made it home I ran out of storage space. The cheapest and quickest remedy for this was to purchase a large ice chest and create a coolerdor. After getting it set up and all the cigars moved into it I made a few purchases:

2 Boxes of Punch London Club Maduro
1 Montecristo Sampler that included: (3) Monte #2's, (3) Monte Platinmu Habana #2's, (2) Monte White #2's, and (2) Monte Serie VI Belicoso

Thanks to one of the fellows on the forum that put together a group purchase I also picked up a Xikar Envoy Case, Executive Lighter, and MTX Multi-tool.

My second box came home this week. The inventory of this box included:

5 Vegas Churchill
5 Vegas Limitada 2005 Torpedo
5 Vegas Series 'A' Limited Edition Apocalypse
Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva #48
CAO Black Bengal
CAO L'Anniversaire Cameroon #4 Corona
Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 Torpedo
Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown Churchill
Danli Reserve Churchill
El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme (Cuban)
Fonseca 5-50
Gurkha Legend Perfecto
Gurkha Legend Robusto
Fire by Indian Tabac Double Corona
Joya de Nicaragua Celebracion Torpedo
Padron Churchill Maduro
Perdomo2 Exponente Maduro
Perdomo Estate Seleccion Monstro
Perdomo La Tradicion Cameroon 'R'
Perdomo La Tradicion Champagne 'C'
Pueblo Dominicano Torpedo (2)
Punch Rare Corojo Rothschild
Puros Indios Presidente
Rocky Patel Connecticut Toro
Rocky Patel Old World Reserve Prototype
Rocky Patel Sungrown "A"
Romeo y Julieta Belicoso
Romeo y Julieta Churchill
Sol Cubano Connecticut Churchill