New Blog at http://www.cigarcurator.wordpress.com

I am not a computer guy, I am a smoking cigars drinking bourbon type of guy. I do really like sharing my cigar experiences and teaching people about how to enjoy cigar smoking so I figured I would start a blog.

Living in Seattle, I have had the pleasure of sharing cigars with some super techie guys. They said that I should be blogging in Wordpress instead of Blogger?!!?!? I can't really tell a difference, so I guess I will just blog in both until one stands out over the other. To see my other blog goto http://cigarcurator.blogspot.com .

So I just got married last weekend. As every cigar curator's wedding requires, we were handing out SKA branded Cigars (those are our initials) My wife is pretty crafty, so I picked up a few boxes of Fuente's and La Gloria Cubana's. (I was once told by one of my cigar mentors you can't do a wedding without Fuente cigars)

Being that I had to do the rounds I didn't get to smoke that much of my cigars at my wedding, I lit one up of course for the pictures and helped some cigar novices get theirs started, so today I took some time getting to really feel the Fuente Rothschild.

The Rothschild family was the banking dynasty of Europe, Rothschild is also the size of a cigar, they are usually about 4 to 5 inch long and a 46-52 ring gauge. That was the size I smoked tonight.

It was a fairly standard Fuente, good flavor, this one was particularly earthy, I was interrupted half way through so I had to relight so I think that may have effected my total smoking enjoyment as I was not able to experience the whole cigar through.

I wonder how many people actually smoked the cigars from my wedding, if you have them and don't have a humidor, you better get to it!

Cigars with the GM at Casa Fuente

Was in Las Vegas again this week. This time we stayed at the new Vdara Hotel, what I found out after we checked in was that it was a non-gaming resort. Which is fine, I often don't like to play cards in my hotel anyways...another note about that hotel, something I found out lighting a cuban crafters cigar up at the pool was that the whole city center complex is a non-smoking project.

Non-smoking...in vegas, can you believe that. I was so ticked that I decided to leave the pool and go see my friends at Casa Fuente...thats where I usually smoke when I am in vegas anyways but not being able to smoke by the pool...that sucks.

So at Casa Fuente, I lit back up my Cuban Crafters, (sorry Carlos), I did enjoy a few glasses of Jim Beam and ginger ale from their bar. (hey I am on a budget I just got married)

At Casa Fuente I met their general manager, we started talking about the cigar prohibition we have here in Seattle. He asked if I ever went to Snoqualmie, I said I had but it had been too crowed. He said they were involved with it and the lead Cigar Curator at "Lit" at the Casino trained, I mean smoked a shit load of cigars, with them at Casa Fuente in Las Vegas.

I think I may need to take a trip out there again soon. Maybe I'll make reservations for a piece of leather furniture since it was so packed when we went for my birthday...

Casa Fuente Las Vegas

I went to Las Vegas last week and visited one of my favorite spots on the strip. Casa Fuente at Cesar's Palace is a cigar bar right in the middle of the Forum Shopping Mall.

cool article about it at www.cigaraficionado.com/cigar/ca_Show_Article/0,2322,1763,00.html

I had a Casa Fuente branded cigar (you can only get them at Casa Fuente) and my 3 colleagues picked from the Fuente catalogue, as you can imagine, I don't remember a lot from that night, especially their cigar picks.

Their waitress uniforms changed again, they used to have their waitresses in white chiffon, now its the little black dress. I asked the waitress about it and she said that she used to get more tips, but the black is easier to keep clean.

Overall this place if fabulous! Great people watching, great cigars, good drinks and as you can imagine, close to other great indulgences.

Check it out next time you are in Vegas!

Cain Nub Cigar Review

I have always been a big fan of the NUB cigars! Everyone says the last 4 inches of a cigar are the best part of the cigar, the sweet spot. The concept for NUB was creating a cigar that was all a sweet spot and only about 4inches long. They have truly achieved that with their cigars. Also due to their large ring gauge these cigars are often a 40 minute smoke. My wife likes to point out that you don't have to ash a NUB either, and the ash will hold through the whole smoke.

I was hanging out at my cigar shop and helping the owner unpack some boxes and a single box of the newest NUB the NUB Cain appeared. I am not sure if they are really out publicly yet or if it was just a sample box. She let me have one, and told me it was going to become one of the hottest cigar she has.

So, Cain cigars are very full bodied, really bold. I have a hard time getting really into super bold cigars in the same way I have a hard time getting into extra bold California Merlots. I guess I am just not a fan of loosing my taste buds after 10 minutes of smoking. That was the experience I had previously had with Cain cigars. The Cain NUB however, was awesome.

I think the advantage of the Cain NUB was the large ring gauge and the ash that kept it in the flavorful sweet spot. I also punched the cigar instead of cutting it, which I recommend on most NUB cigars. It was bold and flavorful. It had great spicy coffee notes and due to the size and construction it was not overwhelming. I would highly suggest picking one up!

FK Kirsten's should have them in stock now, as of the last week they still had a box at the Ballard store.

Humidor

Have you ever bought a really expensive cigar and it was dry or just not as good as other times you have had it?

Yeah it happens to the best of us...If I owned a cigar brand, I would make sure that all the shops that sold my sticks maintained the perfect conditions of my cigars.

When I go to a cigar shop anywhere in the world, I like to ask the vendor how they buy their cigars and how many middle men are between the rollers and the shop. The shops I frequent here in Seattle, have direct relationships with the growers and rollers and use their direct reps to bring the cigars into the USA.

Also, look at the walls of your cigar shop's humidor...is it 100% Spanish cedar? They should be. Here's a picture of my fav. humidor in Seattle at FK Kirsten's in Ballard.

The start of cigar curation

I started smoking cigars in college, kind of just after the cigar boom of the early 2000s. It was kind of one of those things you did before you were allowed to drink, or to give off a persona, project a lifestyle, etc. (ie. cigar aficionado)

When I started working for a small but fast growing restaurant chain, I found out that if you were to smoke cigars, it gave you a free pass to spend extra time with the CEO and key vendors. Being an intern in accounting, that extra face time gave me big growth opportunities and eventually gave me the vital connections I needed to open my own restaurant chain. We have now grown to three locations and are looking at adding a Concessions StepTruck.

Being that I was in college I was in a "learning experience the world" mindset. Smoking cigars started to become more of an obsession, not just the smoking part, but the process of how it gets from seed to smoke and everything in between. In this blog I will attempt to continue this learning for myself and the rest of my readers and give reviews, information, and suggestions for my fellow cigar fans and future cigar curators.