We hope that you all manage to overeat, sleep, and shop to your hearts content but most importantly stay safe this fine holiday season.  Remember: Turkey kills.  I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather and not screaming like the other passengers in the car.  If you find yourselves driving long distances to bounce from house to house to meet all those in-laws you can’t stand while you’re sober, remember to exercise caution.  Don’t drink and drive and if you get tired pull over and take a break to digest before continuing your journey home tonight.  We value all of our readers and would enjoy entertaining you all for many more Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons to come.  Also try not to get trampled to death or stampede some poor Wal-Mart employee in search of Zhu Zhu pets or Twilight Barbie dolls tomorrow morning.  If you have the nerve to brave the crowds for your children’s Christmas presents please consider that you are spoiling the hell out of them and putting yourself at unnecessary risks.  They are still going to hate you when they reach 16 anyway, it’s just a phase. 

Nevertheless, here are some suggestions for enjoying your holiday to the fullest.  Since you’ll be eating a nice, full meal one great way to top it off is a full, rich cigar.  My suggestion this year is the Padron Anniversary 1964.  This is always a good one for any occasion and a great cigar for a gentleman’s smoke before embarking on pumpkin or pecan pie.  Drink a red wine or coffee to warm yourself up for dessert. 

Not feeling the maduro?  Then reach for an Oliva Serie V.  The rich caramel and woody smoke is another good after dinner cigar that won’t overdo you newer guys.  I usually like to step up to a fuller bodied smoke following Thanksgiving dinner but whenever possible still stick to something that is rich in flavor but mellow.  Spice can be good but goes better with fine liquor and more often than not wine will accompany most Thanksgiving meals unless you remembered to run to the liquor store to pick up a good scotch or Irish whiskey beforehand.

What will I be smoking this year?  I’ve already set aside a Padron Anniversary and an Ashton VSG.  VSGs are harder to come by, but I love how smooth they are followed by a nice kick toward the end.  Regrettably, they are not the most consistent in flavor, but when they are good they are great and well worth the little extra money.  I also intend to wash it down with a nice dark beer.  Probably a coffee-oatmeal stout if I can find it during tomorrows rush.  Otherwise I’ll settle with a Sam Adam’s seasonal or Unibroue’s La Fin Du Monde or Maudite. 

These are just a couple of quick suggestions to spice up your holiday.  You can smoke and drink whatever you want, but hopefully the gears are turning in case you forgot to grab a couple of smokes because you’re so busy cooking that damn turkey or prepping yourself to try not to kill your in-laws bratty kids.

Click on the images to view them larger and on a separate page.

Now, cigars are seriously masculine, but let’s not forget that women who smoke cigars are still hot as hell.  I feel I should say this because I know that there are women reading who would kick my ass if I excluded them.  I’ve seen some women who do a damn fine job of keeping up with the men.  One of my favorite bar time stories deals with a chick who bought a Torano Virtuoso and smoked the thing down to the label without ever letting the ash drop.  She topped it off by standing her cigar upright on its own ash.  The room erupted in applause until some jackass kicked the table and the cigar crumbled to the ground before I could snap a picture. 

These girls sure make cigars look good

A lot of people think that the flavored cigars are for women, but I’ve seen plenty of dudes smoke flavored cigars and plenty of women reach for full bodied maduros.  So ladies, I applaud you if you like to enjoy a good cigar, flavored or not, once in a while.  Heather, this shout out is directed at you.  Heather reminded me recently that cigars are for women too which inspired me to create a page for YOU the readers of this blog.  So email me in our new reader’s page titled ‘Our Fans’ featuring your cigar smoking pictures.  Send your pics to cigarsanonymous@gmail.com along with a brief bio about yourself and favorite smoke and we’ll kick this off the right way.

Ok, I’m done plugging that newest page addition, so back to the reason for this post.

When you find yourself a nice little smoke shop or join a local cigar group, you will meet some great people.  That’s a promise that I can stand by too.  I’ve never been able to walk into an establishment where a plumber can sit at a table next to a truck driver, a lawyer, and a big-wig CEO, one wearing Carhartts covered in mud and the other wearing a Brooks Brother’s suit and no one’s ego gets in the way.  Pull up a chair in a nice little cigar lounge and it won’t matter if you are the most interesting man in the world who can speak French in Russian, or 45 years old still living with your parents, you’ll only be judged by the words that come out of your mouth and not by your salary.  Over the years I have met best friends, famous musicians, and retired generals over a cigar and a beer.  I’ve also come across some rare cigars in the process.  Most memorable being cigars dating back to before the second world war stamped with a seal that linked them to the German army.  We jokingly called them Nazi cigars and I’m not going to make an Auschwitz joke about burning through that box of tasty goodness. 

Networking using cigars as your tool to meet new people is a great way to set your career path up for success.  Of course there are other leisure activities that are good for that as well, but cigar smoking has certainly helped me out whether by expanding my knowledge of cigars while in the industry, or taking in other people’s political views and sharpening my own views in the process.  It’s a beautiful thing.

What should you be looking for in the area near you?

First off, look around for local smoke shops.  Talk to the guys working there and the owner.  It’s not hard because the conversation will come naturally based on your interest in cigars.  I recommend visiting regularly and buying a consistent number of cigars.  You don’t need to blow hundreds of dollars in your first couple of visits to gain respect points.  Smoke shop owners and employees recognize regulars.  Go in once or twice a week and buy the same stuff every time or ask for suggestions about new buys.  In just a few repeated visits you may find yourself feeling comfortable hanging around, lighting up a stogie (if your state permits), and sitting and talking for a bit.  This is a great time to ask questions and expand your knowledge.  A lot of shops have a lounge or seating area so customers can sit and smoke.  This is becoming more popular as smoking bans spread throughout bars across the country.  Smoking a cigar in a  room full of people is not like sitting in a doctor’s office.  People are always chatty, and more often than not there are regulars who sit and smoke a cigar or two after work before finally going home to the wife and screaming kids. 

If your area doesn’t allow smoking at all…ahem, California, then try and look up a cigar group that meets somewhere around your area.  There is sure to be something.  Usually, they might meet and set up in a parking lot behind a smoke shop or sometimes even hotels.  The best way that to find these groups is to ask around at smoke shops for any cigar groups they may sponsor.  Most groups are sort of based out of some cigar shop where they buy a box of cigars for poker nights or cigar tasting.  You can also check Facebook for groups.  Several are extremely active on Facebook and Twitter and schedule regular events that you can find out about via email. 

But if you’re totally shit out of luck because you live in the middle of bum-ass nowhere, then you’ll just have to settle with us.  Light up a cigar on the back porch and pour yourself a glass of single malt scotch and read what we have to say.  Chances are one of us is doing the same at that given moment while updating the site.  But in all seriousness try to get yourself out there to find those groups and start networking.  I can’t do a better job of explaining the network experience than I have so far.  You really have to experience it for yourself.  But believe me when I say that the cigar community is a close knit group of some great individuals.

There are three things that people fail to understand. 

1. Most pipe/cigar smokers don’t inhale the smoke directly.  Just simply puff and taste the natural flavors of the tobacco on your tongue.
2. Cigar smoking takes place for most during infrequent smoking sessions like celebratory, once in a while, or maybe once a day.  It’s not like many cigar smokers smoke a box of 20 cigars in a day.  (Although I would be in heaven)
3. There is still the overwhelming myth that second hand smoke is somehow just as lethal as first hand smoke. 

Getting use to smoking cigars and pipes is simple if you take your time developing your palate.  Instead of going into a smoke shop and buying the most expensive cigar you can find thinking expensive is better, think instead of finding something less expensive and mild.  Cigars are like wine…it’s not worth it to go invest $80 in a bottle of wine if you never drink wine.  Your taste for wine hasn’t developed therefore you won’t appreciate the age or character of the wine and you have effectively wasted $80 and a bottle of wine that a connoisseur would appreciate better than you.  Rather than reach for that $20 dollar cigar if you have never smoked but have decided to upgrade from Black n’ Milds, ask the guy behind the counter what he would suggest you start with. 

One brand that I see in several cigar shops I have visited is the Gran Habano line.  In particular they make a Connecticut wrapper referred to as the #1 that has a good flavor and great construction.  They retail for $4-6 and are one of the finer jumping off points for new to intermediate level cigar smokers.  The series is listed by numbers that are easy to benchmark the progress of how you are developing your palate.  The next in line from the same series is the #3 which is a Habano, followed by the #5 which is stronger and spicier Corojo.   

Going back to finding a starting point, most often Connecticut wrapped cigars are mild enough for starters.  Another one that is new on the scene from Oliva is the Connecticut Reserve.  I smoked one recently and found it to be a wonderfully creamy smoke with warm, woody notes.  I decided to smoke it almost immediately following a stronger maduro cigar since I wasn’t really ready to leave the pub.  Not too overpowering is the key.  Everyone’s taste is different, but starting on the inexpensive and mild end is the best way to get into it.  From there you will gradually work your way through a series of different types from Cameroon to Sumatra and even Maduro.  I can explain what the difference is in these wrappers later if I get a lot of questions.

As for pipe tobacco, I find most blends to be more on the mild side from the start.  Here you get to choose what interests you based mostly on how the tobacco smells.  Cavendish, or flavored tobacco, often smells awesome in the jars you buy them from in the store.  What you smell is often the way the tobacco will taste and usually smell as it burns.  Makes enough sense, right?  Okay, so start by simply finding a blend that you like, assuming you already have a pipe.  (Go to the help topics to find out about finding the right pipe for starting out if you don’t already have a pipe in hand.)  Most stores will allow you to sample the pipe tobacco in the store.  So the implied task is that you should bring your pipe into the store with you. 

Just remember that those appealing cherry blends may smell good, but unless you are use to smoking a pipe, and more specifically the pipe you intend to use while smoking such blends, sweet, aromatic blends often deliver a really cool smoke that is easy to singe your tongue on.  I recommend instead something that is a more flavorful blend of Virginia and/or Burley with a mellow blend of let’s just say vanilla.  A Tinderbox brand that you might see is Wilshire which is exactly that.  It smells great, burns slow, and doesn’t kill your tongue too easily making everything else taste like ass for the next four days.  (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…everyone burns their tongue at some point while smoking a pipe.  It comes with the territory and you’ll get use to it.) 

As you mature through pipe smoking you’ll discover English blends and other made with large doses of Latikia or Perique that you may enjoy.  Start simple and develop toward different flavors at your choosing.  Ask the dude behind the counter what he thinks is a milder blend and which ones are considered full body.  It’s not always easy to tell with pipe tobacco as with cigars which ones may be too strong to start out with.  Also reminder that it may be a good idea to collect a few pipes in the meantime so that you can use one for radically different blends.  Smoking everything in one pipe may make some things taste like shit. 

Now I’m tired of writing, so if you have any questions you guys know what to do…ask away.

So take a break from the kids, the news, your asshole boss, and porn and enjoy all that there is to enjoy in an awesome network of friends who don’t care if you can remember how many parsecs the Mellennium Falcon can make the Kessel Run or what year the Miami Dolphins complete NFLs only undefeated season.  We’re all friends here.

But before I bore the hell out of you with useless information or make promises I can’t deliver, let me just say that this little project is a ‘just for fun kind of thing.’  We aim to bring you a new forum and jump on board the social network train to raise awareness of smoking ban issues and other stuff in the news as well as to create a new snob-free network for those looking to get into cigars.  Now I must warn you that we dabble in the raunchy and some material may be a little edgy.  If that is not for you than please stay tunned to our twitter accounts and facebook page for the launch of our new forum site.