I tried a sample of this at a cigar event last week and really enjoyed it. The presenter said that his distributor slashed the price on it and he loaded up. He was selling it in his store for $59.99 US so I had to jump on it. White port and madeira finish is lovely. Not so “in your face” as my...

I won a little package from Cigar Snob Magazine’s weekly Win! Stuff! Live! Contest last week. They are featuring Drew Estate swag this month. I scored a Drew Estate 25th anniversary backpack, two lighters, two travel cases, a cigar stand and a couple other items. They run the contest every...

New shop in my hometown opened today. I picked up a couple nice smokes from a well stocked walk-in. Liga, Davidoff, Fuente, Ferio Tego, Perdomo, Ashton, CAO, Dunbarton just to name a few. Some real high-end, limited editions too. I was amazed at the single stick inventory and the back up box...

Found this ceramic and brass stand for $20 at an antique shop yesterday. It was missing the ashtray but I had the big glass one that I picked up a few months ago in mind when I saw it. I was going to attack the brass with Simichrome, but I think I’m going to keep the patina. Th boss likes it!

With coupon code cojsale. For those who don't know, Cup O' Joes is a site owned by Sutliff Tobacco and Sutliff just got bought out by STG. STG is merging this site and tobaccopipes.com into Pipes & Cigars on March 4th. I think tobaccopipes is running the same discount with SAVENOW code. Stocks...

Thought I’d start a new thread since the old one is dated two years ago. Here are before and after pics of two local antique store finds. The capped pipe is an unbranded Italian Briar and the squat bulldog is a Kaywoodie Campus pipe. They cleaned up nicely! Baraccini Mare Blu 313 I got as a...

In December 1996 I won $300 in a football pool and used the nearly all the winnings for a Diamond Crown Jamestown by Reed & Barton. It was the first humidor I owned that wasn’t a mason jar. Back then our rent was $700 a month, so $275 a MINT for us. To use the money for a humidor made me realize...

I visited the Sisimbro shop in Naples, Italy a few years back on a family trip. It’s a LCDH affiliate and I picked up a handful of Cuban cigars and a nice Montecristo branded leather case. I wasn’t a pipe smoker at the time, but I’ve been following the shop on social media since, glazing over...

Largest point differential in NCAA tournament history. Twelve straight tournament wins by 13 or more points. Incredible. I stormed the court at MSG in 1988 thinking the NIT Championship would be the pinnacle of UConn hoops. Man was I wrong. I am going to dig something special out of the...

This is my great-grandfather’s 1930 permit for curing tobacco which he did on his farm in Simsbury, CT. I spent a lot of time on this property in the ‘70s and ‘80s and the curing barn was still standing at that time. The Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company is still in operation today...

Just finished refurbishing a bureau my Dad made over 60 years ago. I now have all my smoking accessories in one spot. Lighters, cutters, punches, ashtrays, humidors, pipes and tobacco, etc., it’s finally all together. The first pic shows what it looked like two weeks ago and then pics of the...

I recently helped a good friend recondition his Dad's old desktop humidor and while we were sitting around I mentioned that I wanted to try smoking a pipe. He said that he inherited his Dad's collection of Meerschaum pipes and took a couple of pictures when he got home. Not sure of brands or...

The Cigar Oasis Plus in my Aristocrat mini finally crapped out after 20+ years. It had been getting a little noisy over the last year and every few months I would give the fan a shot of compressed air and revive it for a while. It was the original humidification that came with the Mini all those...

Thought I'd share a project of mine from earlier this year. I had been searching for an ashtray stand for years and came across this piece at an antique shop about a mile from my house. This is definitely built as a cigarette smoker's ashtray but the Art Deco style just spoke to me! My...

This is the quintessential Islay. I wonder what it's PPM rating is, because it seems to blow Ardbeg 10's 53 PPM out of the water. I took a whiff of the Ardbeg and they weren't close. I'll do a taste comparison soon. The Laph was a beautiful amber color, somewhere between the copper color of the...

What have you had? Sam Adams - A little better than last year's offering. Heavier malty flavor. Harpoon - Not as good as last year. Tried it both on tap and in the bottle and Sam's has got it beat. Next up, Hacker Pschorr, Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale and Brooklyn Octoberfest.

I found this quote while searching for a place to have a beer while on vacation next week in Hyannis, Mass. "People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot." Capital Brewing -- Middleton Wisconsin Here's a bunch more. From Archie bunker to Ancient...

Looking to try something new, I picked up a bottle of this last week and was completely underwhelmed by it. I was hoping for a some of the intense heather-honey characteristics of Scapa's northern neighbor, Highland Park, and possibly some of the maritime characteristics of Island Scotches I...

On Friday I picked up a 6 of this from Clipper City Brewing. An ale with Magnum, Centennial, Chinook, Amarillo and Palisade hops. It boasts 3 lbs of hops per barrel! The hops are extremely well balanced and it doesn't blow your head off. It also has a slightly fruity (plum?) aftertaste...

The nose to me was reminiscent of maple syrup with a prominent vanilla aroma. First sip (neat) showed a more subtle vanilla flavor, heavy notes of oak and just a whiff of smoke. The finish was very peppery, very HOT! Probably due to its 50.4% alcohol content. I added a splash of water which...