The Smoke is Back

What can I say about my first smoke in 6 months? It’s kinda like riding a bike - your body never forgets. The first half was a bit shaky like clipping into the pedals, fumbling around with the shifting and developing cadence, but you eventually settle into the ride. What a ride for my first smoke – the Montecristo No. 4.

My neighbor was good enough to present me with this smoke earlier in the morning, brought over from a friend in Canada. He, like I, enjoys a good smoke, and the Montecristo never disappoints. The petite corona was the perfect size at a 42 gauge and 5 1/8 in, encompassing a mere 25 minutes of pure enjoyment even though my Phoenix Suns were down by over 10 at halftime of game 6 against the Clippers.

The No. 4 is probably the most popular of the Cuban line, and I’m sure many of my readers out there have had the pleasure of enjoying this stick. It started off a bit hot and fast, however 5 minutes in it started to mellow out to a slow burn. My palette quickly registered the enjoyable earthy tones that I haven’t experienced in quite some time. With hints of cinnamon and a woodsy flavor, this was best enjoyed in my favorite, and recently neglected, smoking chair in the yard. With the sun setting into twilight, and a breeze blowing out the now 100+ degree temps, the night was just calling for a cigar.

It’s tough to cut this review short, however my Suns are on a 9-0 run, closing in on the Clippers heading into the 4th quarter. It’s time to direct my attention to the game, and I’ll be back with more posts soon.

Fumo, out…

Broken Promises

Holy Cow! Never again will I make promises on my blog!!

Oh, how things have a tendency to change. One minute, I’m updating on a daily basis, smoking cigars, enjoying life to it’s fullest, and the next minute I decide to enter into a ½ marathon, ditch cigar smoking for a while and focus on re-tooling my physical self (while still enjoying life).

Again, I want to apologize to all of my readers whom I’ve most likely lost over the course of the past few months with my blatant neglect. I’ve visited my blog again and again, but just have not found anything interesting to post about. I’m not sure about the rest of you out there, but my cigar moods tend to swing in and out, causing me to drop the habit for months at a time. Does anyone else go through this? I know I’ve let a good number of people down with my absence, and for that I’m truly sorry.

As for the fitness aspect, I have started another blog called Racing The Edge. After finishing the ½ marathon in January, I decided to possibly adopt the sport of triathlon, and as a motivational tool, I’ve been posting regularly to track my progress and provide a journal if you will so I can reflect back on the progress I have (or haven’t) made. It’s a pretty exciting journey with nothing but benefit to my mind and body. Check it out if you have the time.

Again, I’m truly sorry for the lack of posting here at Fumo Santo, however I’m getting the itch to start smoking again, and have recently re-read the Michael Jordan article in Cigar Aficionado as motivation to possibly find a way to enjoy a smoke while training (not at the same time of course). It still baffles me that Jordan was able to smoke on his way to every home game in Chicago mere hours before he lit up the court. It’s an amazing read if you haven’t seen it yet.

Along with this blog, I’ve also temporarily stopped work on my new Fumo Santo site, however I do stress the word temporarily. Things will rally back in motion here shortly enough, and hopefully I’ll have some new news to share with all of you soon.

To all my readers, you’re still the best and I look forward to getting backing the groove!

Slow News is No News

Well, it looks as though I’m not sticking to my New Years resolution as planned. I’ve been pretty busy for the first part of the New Year, and I haven’t smoked in quite a while, hence the lack of reviews. I was dedicating a lot of time to running in my first ½ Marathon, which I completed on January 15, with a time of 2:12:35. My goal was to set a 10:00 pace, and surprisingly I accomplished that, for my GPS unit nailed it at exactly 10:00 per mile (by weaving around the streets of the course I actually ran almost 2 tenths of a mile longer).

Anyhow, I wanted to shout out a quick apology for not posting lately. As Cigar Jack notes, there really isn’t much news as of lately to report. I guess I’ll have to start coming up with some more creative columns to write.

I’m open to suggestions of what you all would like to see, so fire up a comment and give me some feedback. I’m currently working on the new site as well, so expect that to go live in the near future.

Movin' On Up

As part of my many New Years resolutions, I’ve decided to move this page to it’s new home of http://www.fumosanto.com.

Look for this change to happen soon; for most of the transition is complete, however there are a few bugs preventing 100% success.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Things have been pretty hectic here over the past few weeks with visiting family, friends, holiday cheer, food coma, etc., therefore I apologize first and foremost for not posting lately. In all actuality, the cigar news has been a bit slow as of late, and I haven’t been smoking enough to produce quality reviews; however, that’s all about to change.

Tomorrow night marks New Years Eve and I plan to light up at least once. One of my many resolutions for the New Year will be to expand my realm of cigar smoking for which I’m used to now. I’d like to really dig into the history behind the sticks that I enjoy and provide some additional insight to the origins of cigar tobacco. I’m hoping to conduct several interviews as the year progresses, attend more cigar events, along with focusing more on the overall mystique of the enjoyment of a smoke. On top of everything else, I’ll be soon changing the format of this blog to my own site at www.fumosanto.com. This will take some time to ramp up, so please don’t look for anything immediate, but know that the format you’re all used to here may change somewhat in the near future.

I hope all of you have had a great holiday season up to now, and here’s wishing everyone a happy and safe New Years Eve. Should you get a moment, drop me a line and let me know what you’ll all be smoking at midnight tomorrow!

Windy City Bans Smoking... Sort of.

The Windy City, Chi-Town, Second City, Chicago, a cigar smoker’s paradise, now faced with a smoking ban to go into effect on January 16, sort-of.

The ruling passed yesterday for a blanket smoking ban across the city which bans smoking within fifteen feet of the entrance and inside of a prohibited enclosed area which includes restaurants, convention facilities, sports arenas, government vehicles used for city business, and the lobbies, hallways and other common areas in apartment buildings and condominiums; however this blanket is full of holes.

According to an article posted by Cigar Aficionado, “The law does allow for smoking in cigar stores, hotel and motel rooms, private clubs and lodges, and bars, taverns and restaurant bars. Smoking in bars and restaurant bars will be allowed until July 1, 2008”.

There is also a provision that states “If the owner of a place of employment can demonstrate that its air filtration is sufficiently powerful—the wording suggests the air quality must be made the same as the air outside the establishment—to the satisfaction of the city commissioner of public health and the commissioner of the environment,” they’ll have an exception to the ban.

Either way, this spells a certain doom for cigar smokers and the enjoyment and pleasure of the city, as we know it today.

Preserve Tampa's Cigar Factories

Moving from a city like Chicago full of rich heritage, cultural diversity, neighborhoods built by ethnic backgrounds and stunning historical architecture, to Phoenix, a fairly young city in development with potential where everything looks new and sterile without a richness in history that Chicago captures, it disturbs me to read any article that questions preserving historical structures. Case in point, an article from the St. Petersburg Times questioning historic preservation of the last remaining cigar factories.

The defining nature of a city is it’s historical symbols reflected through architecture. Tampa is widely known for it’s “grand, brick cigar factories that still grace the city”. These plants have transitioned over the years from Havana, to Key West, eventually making their way to Tampa, which helped define the city’s character. Only 25 of some 200 factories still stand, and the opportunities to preserve these landmarks are dissolving quickly.

The Tampa City Council has the opportunity to decide whether 15 factories not currently covered should receive preservation status. There’s been some pushback from the factory owners fearing that if covered under the preservation laws, they’ll loose rights as property owners and would require them to follow architectural guidelines.

Preservation is key, and it would be a mistake for those owners wanting to “opt-out” and make preservation voluntary. Take any measure to preserve the richness in history, for when the factories are gone, only to be replaced by another strip mall, the only question would be “why?”

You can read the article in its entirety HERE.