The end or an era...
Hello there Kennel readers (the very few of you that exist). Sorry for the long delay. I've been on a vacation of sorts. I got married, honeymooned in Mexico, and right when I thought life would settle back down...boom! I got offered a new job! Worry not, plenty of good smokes have helped see me through this past month. I do intend on writing a summary of all the tasty and special occasion cigars that helped mark my bachelor party, rehearsal dinner evening, wedding, and honeymoon. However, this morning I'd like to focus on the most recent change in my life, that of the career.
Yesterday marked the end of 5-plus year long journey as a tobacconist for the finest cigar shops in the K.C. area. The last year and a half I was privileged enough to even run one of the two stores on my own, a great honor. But I am off to “greener” pastures. Last night, in somewhat of a cross between a celebration and a lamentation, I marked the end of my days at the shop with a fine cigar (what else would you expect). I chose an Opus X Forbidden X Lancero (a size that is not sold for resale) that Carlito himself handed me just over 3 years ago. I had held onto this cigar for a while, waiting for the right occasion, and last night seemed to fit the bill.
The cigar was grand. I lit it once and never had to put flame to again. It burned evenly the whole way down, with a beautiful white ash. It started up immediately, delivering that black-cherry/raisiny/cinnamon spicy goodness that is found in a good full bodied Dominican puro (I suggest Litto Gomes Diez also). Then the strength that you’d expect from a thinner ring-gauged Opus started to kick in about an inch of the way in. The strength and the flavor would play off of each other, one never out doing the other. Until finally the cigar was finished…smooth all the way down.
But what was even more enjoyable than the Opus was reflecting on my good times at the cigar shop, and dreaming about possibilities that lie ahead. Dictionary.com describes a tobacconist as “a dealer in tobacco and smoking supplies.” But I was much more than this during my years at the shop. I was many things: part salesman, part advice-giver, part bartender, and part friend. Working in that humidor opened doors that lead into my customers’ lives. Weddings, funerals, births, golf games, poker nights, or an evening at the local drinking establishment were all preceded with a trip into my shop for cigars. What began as “Hello, there…try this cigar…thank you, have a good one” transformed into “Hello, Carl. I’ve gotta great joke for you”, or “Mr. Patterson! How’s the barber business? Headed to the local tavern I assume?” Getting to interact with so many people from different paths of life who all share a common love (cigars) was what really made my day worth it.
Multiple times during my time at the shop, customers would say something to the effect of “Man, I’d kill for your job…leaning against the counter talking about cigars all day...what a dream job!” Perhaps they would enjoy working there. Even Tu Jaque La Flor himself went from corporate world underling to successful tobacconist! The transition is attractive. However, I’m now on the flip-side. With a wife by my side (who doesn’t disapprove of cigars, I might add!), and hopes of a family on the (non-immediate) horizon, I have chosen a path that will provide me with a more financial stability and an opportunity to grow in my career. Are these things worth letting “the dream” die? I believe so. And time, I suppose, will help be my judge. At this point though: onward and upward…like a cloud of cigar smoke.

P.S. Ciao turds...

AVO LE05 vs. Avo 80th Anniversary
Let me start this review by admitting upfront that it is probably skewed. I should point out that I am only canine, and canines have been known to develop pre-conceived views. After smoking many an Avo LE05 (and proclaiming it to be the best smoke ever), I knew that the Avo 80th Anniversary had a tough road to hoe. I didn’t necessarily assume that the 80th would suck, but as I mentioned previously, I fear my view may be somewhat tainted. I heard many customers’ comments on the 80th, especially from those whom also hold the LE05 in high regard, so I decided to put it to the test, smoking an LE05 last night, and the 80th tonight for a side-by-side comparison of sorts.
First, let us take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce about the good qualities of the LE05 (which, of course, were all re-affirmed by last night’s smoking session). The LE05 is the 16 oz filet, medium-rare, dry-aged, corn-fed, Midwestern beef of all cigars. The cigar is so smooth it’s damn near sensual in experience. The smoke is lush, almost palpable and chewy in its consistency. The cigar is full-bodied, but by no means too strong. The flavor is complex, ranging from woody (although, not dry) to red wine. And although I have been one to roundly mock Cigar Aficionado’s use of the term “smacks of red meat”, (ridiculous for obvious reasons) the LE05 does come close to achieving this. The finish is lush, long, and not at all sour or harsh. These cigars have consistently been this way, and the one I smoked last night was no different - an absolute treat to any smoker who is lucky enough to still find one.
Now let me move on to the 80th. The Avo 80th Anniversary is quite a different cigar. Word has it that some people were disappointed with it due to the fact that they wanted a replica of the LE05. These people described it as green, or young, but I think there was an error in description. What some people described as green, I found to be a spicy tang (similar to what I found in the Arturo Fuente “King B”). It’s a special kind of spice found in some cigars that tingles the follicles of the mustachio! The 80th was also stronger than the LE05. If these combinations of strength and spice were found on the LE05 it would come off as green, as they would throw off the balance of flavors (to the credit of the boys at the “house that Zino built”, they obviously knew this and rightly sacrificed strength for flavor with the LE05). But in the 80th, the darker wrapper leaf is probably most responsible for this and the interior tobaccos compliment it nicely. The 80th is equally as smooth, yet this quality is harder to discern, due to the spice. The flavor of the 80th is nowhere near as complex. Keep in mind, though, that this perhaps was not intended. The focus here seems to be balancing spice with silky smoothness, not creating a smoke of complexity.
To sum it up, the 80th falls short of the LE05 only when one tries to view them as equals. No one is comparing Arturo Gatti to Ali, but damn it – Gatti is great entertainment (just ask Mickey Ward’s face)! The LE05 is the superior smoke, but let us not take anything away from the 80th. Due to LE05 scarcity, (truly, you are damn lucky to find one these days), I say grab an Avo 80th Anniversary if the opportunity presents itself and give it a try! These are smokes that are not to be missed! And by the way – if you enjoy micro-brewed beers, try New Belgium’s “Skinny Dip”. That’s all for tonight in the Cigar Kennel. Ciao turds…

Tu Jaque La Flor

Yo Yo, Bo Bo !

Tu Jaques La Flore here. I’m still up here in the great white north cause it’s too damn hot
down there. Things are real quiet up here on my floating iceberg in this frozen white wasteland somewhere off the Alaska coast - so quiet that I’ve been able to smoke some great stogies in peace for once. Me and my snow monkey brethren are hoping for some oil drilling to get up here soon so maybe we can have some company.
Anyways, on to my opinions of some smokes –
- Ashton VSG #1 Belicoso – So Fine! True VSG flavor but more intense due to the large ring gage and relative short length. Builds in strength as it’s smokes - in a good way.
- Davidoff 100 Year Diadima – Made in recognition for Zino to honor his 100th B-day. Too bad Zino isn’t here to enjoy it. Spiciest Davidoff this Snow Monkey has had. Best Davidoff my bro 6 Paque La Flore has ever had, even when he’s not sober. I know it will set you back some jack, but it is mos def worth havin. The 2+ hours of the best ever from the house that Zino built, plus it looks kool and smokes parfait.
- La Flor Dominicana Cabinet – Great mid-bod smoke for the money, like a VSG but sweeter and less tangue (or tang for you non- snow monkey types). Got to try all the sizes now.
Sorry but I gotta run now – need to chase off some of those damn baby seals that are tryin to get on my iceberg! Where’s a good fur trapper when you need one?
Until next time, good night now!!

Maybe this World Cup thing ain't so bad...
While I'm not a huge soccer fan, I can fo' sho' get behind (literally) the Brazilians if this is what they got going on. On an unrelated note, I'd like to discuss what it's like when good cigars go bad. I had one such experiance last week. I had an A. Fuente 8-5-8 Sungrown all ready to go. An 8-5-Friggin-8 SUNGROWN! These are some rare cigars. I've seen like maybe 3 boxes total grace my cigar shop with their presence in the last 5 years! I finally broke down and bought one. For $5 it seemed like a great price for such a rare cigar! Well, I went outside, and lit that puppy up, having expectations like an 18 year old boy driving his date back to his house on prom night! And it matched the excitement...unfortunatley for the 8-5-8, I got NO action on my senior prom night. That damn cigar didn't draw for shit! The muscles in my face were tired after only 1/3 of an inch or so had burned down from sucking so damn hard trying to get any smoke out of it! I thought that perhaps if I ashed, that air would flow better through the stogie and make the pull easier. Sadly, I was wrong. So that was that! I put it down in the ashtray, and went back inside. I know that cigars are crafted by human hands. I know that these hands can indeed make an error. But when that error occurs on one of the rarest cigars on the market, it's just damn dissapointing! Luckily my ol' trusty Padron Pricipe Maduros and La Flor Ligero Cabinets that I've been smoking since then have been rolled to perfection! Look for some new coming features to hit the pages of The Cigar Kennel this summer, including best and worst picks of the month! Ciao turds... Oh yeah, and GO BRAZIL!!!!

Blue hair in big blue boat bashes Big Ben. Big Ben gets boo-boo, breaks beak, goes boom-boom...
In the wake of this week's breaking sports story (and I'm NOT talking about World Cup play starting) I thought I'd weigh in and give you Bobo's take. Let me start by saying that I have never operated a motorcycle. I've ridden on the back a few times, and I did own an Aprilia scooter that got up to about 47 mph at top speed. Nonetheless, you have to be a fucking moron to choose to ride a bike with no helmet. Even at 47 mph that pavement would give me the "I'm gonna kick your ass" look! This is like tearing the filters off of your Marlboro Lights, like adding a cup of salt to your burrito, like riding in a jeep with the doors and top off while not wearing a seatbelt...except worse than all those things. I'm sure it feels good, nothing but the wind blowing through your hair...just man and machine together on the open road, but if that's your pleasure, get a friggin' convertible man! I should mention that I feel truly sorry for Big Ben. It's not like he asked to be plowed over by some 62 year old granny who shouldn't be driving in the first place if she somehow fails to se 800 lbs of machine and flesh headed down the road (let me add, old people and driving could be a whole blog in and of itself...once you're eligible for your AARP card, you need to start taking the test again every time your tags come due!). The other factor at work here is a professional athlete’s duty to his team. One can even make the argument that he has a responsibility to his fans as well. An athlete with that many hopes riding on him (I'm sure the hopes wear a helmet while riding) and that kind of money invested in him should not be engaging in that kind of activity. By now most of us have heard how Cower had warned Ben about riding with no helmet before. And we're also well aware that because of offering some decent common sense, Terry Bradshaw now gets the silent and behind the back treatment from Big Ben like they were two 6th grade girls (and by the way, if you're doing something that's considered dumb by Terry Bradshaw, it's gotta be an unintelligent move). At any rate, if you're a half way intelligent owner in the NFL, you had better start scrambling to include proper "motorcycles-are-forbidden" language in their players contracts quicker than Dwayne Wade flops onto the ground with an agonizing look on his face after the slightest bit of contact on the hardwood floor. And that's quick, people! Well, I've babbled on long enough. Let me give you a little advice on what to pick up at your local smoke shop this week. The La Flor Dominicana Ligero Cabinet...quite a cigar. It's full-bodied, with just a touch of spice. The Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro wrapper is what brings this baby all together. It brings a mellow, sweet quality to the smoke that contrasts nicely with the ligero filler. Smooth, but strong. Strong, but mellow. Mellow, but spicy. Spicy, but rich! And at the risk of turning into Dr. Seuss, I'm gonna sign off here. Goodnight now! Ciao turds...

Tu Jaque La Flor
Editor's Note: Tu Jaque La Flor will be a featured guest columnist on The Cigar Kennel. The opinions of Tu Jaque do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Cigar Kennel. However he is a close friend and an endorsed journalist. Enjoy! Ciao turds...

Yo Yo , Bobo -Been chillin cause of the heat. Us snow monky's like the cold .Have to go north until the weather cools off. Will have some stogie updates then.I am out !..........Tu Jaque

B-B-Q, basebol, and of course, cigars...
Well, if we Americans know how to do one thing right on Memorial Day weekend, it's barbecue - and I'm happy to say that I performed my civic duty - two different times. Sunday night, while the ladies were off at the spa, I had the fellas over for some cards and eats. We started it off by finishing off two filet mingons that I cooked up, then munched on grilled peppers, onions, and tomatoes as we waited on the main course to finish cooking. And what a wait it was! 4 marinated, rubbed, barbecued, bacon warapped pork loins! Hot damn they were tasty! We didn't leave one bite left! After dinner, it was time to retire to "the den of sin" as my fiance calls it for some cards and stogies - but alas, not one of my friends felt like one! I took that as a sign that perhaps the Padron '64 Principe I had for breakfast, and the La Flor Dominicana Tubo 200 that I had poolside earlier in the day were enough to complete my day. Cards and drinking sufficed for the rest of the night. The next night I cooked up some blue cheese burgers for the fiance and I - they were tasty as well. On to a different subject, it appears as though that sorry, sad-sack, suck-ass excuse for a baseball francise known as the Kansas City Royals hired a new GM. Well, Mr. Dayton Moore, I wish you nothing but luck. And you'll need it, especially in your dealing wil the Ass, I mean, Glass family. When absentee owners needlessly meddle in the affairs of GM's (who for the most part, know more about running a baseball team than some 70 year old turd) things at the ol' ballpark are never easy. However, I hear that as part of your hiring, you actually got Mr. Ass to claim he would spend more money on payroll. Well, as long as I've known of Senior Wal-Mart, it's been "always low prices", so good luck getting him to bump the payroll. Well, I hate to end this post talking about anything to do with Wal-Mart (which, by the way, have managed to help ruin the sports dept. 120 miles east of the K as well) so let me give you a run down of the ciagrs I've smoked this past week that were worth a shit (besides the previously mentioned two): Fuente Opus X Fuente Fuente, and..., uh, well, that's it. The rest were dogg-rockets, or close enough. Ciao, turds...

Today's lesson: Padron + Lighter = Damn tasty
Hey there, kidos. Bobo the cigar smoking bulldogg here. And as you can see by the heading, today we'll be discussing Padrons. But more on that later. First, allow me to introduce myself. Bobo's the name, and as you can guess, smoking stogies is my game. I manage a cigar shop in the great town of Kanas City, and I believe there's nothing better than a fine cigar. I first began life in cyber space as a guest columnist for Puros y Ron (see "Cigars via the crow" under links). But there I was limited to writing about dogg-rockets. You know, the real shitty kinda cigars that look and taste like, well....dogg-rockets. I felt it was time for a change. The Crow and I disagreed on a certain $25 smoke, and I've decided I need more journalistic freedom. This blog was created so that I could have more of an outlet on the important things in life: sports, booze, tasty BBQ, and well... NON-dogg-rocket cigars. I'll try to keep the fare around here light and fluffy (like the gang bangs in Armor Hills) for the most part, but beware of a serious take or two on politics, sports, religion, and what not. Don't worry, though, Puros y Ron fans, I'll still be posting there as well. Now, on to the Padrons. I lit up a Padron 1964 Principe Maduro tonight, and man oh man, what a smoke. Full bodied, delivering jolts of the good stuff. Yet still smooth and refined. Not to mention, complex...more complex than the shit storm at the Mizzou atheletic dept. It had loads of flavor, ranging from pepper to black cherry...whoa, nevermind, I don't wanna start sounding like Shankin' & co. So just remember, next time you're in the smoke shop and you don't know what to grab, snatch up a Padron Principe Maduro and you won't be let down (like Tennesse football fans were this past fall). Log out with your dogg out. Ciao turds...