Well the 12th annual Dallas Post Turkey Day Crawl got off to a rather shaky start as on Thanksgiving night snow decided to make a brief appearance. (Fortunately this was not like 1993 and the infamous Ice Bowl cowboys game downpour.) By Friday morning the sun was out, no remnants of the aforementioned snow and it looked like a great day.
We began our day at the crack of 11am at Wizards Sports Café in North Dallas. Here, because of its bar and pool tables, you are exempt from the Dallas smoking ban. (It also may be that they are in Richardson but we’re not sure.) Anyway with cocktails and food, we began by firing up the firs of many sticks for the day. The first was a special lancero from George Rico at STC/Gran Habano Cigars. This lancero sports an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a very tasty Honduran blend. These actually are not cigars being released, but instead George makes then for himself and graciously decided to share.
After lunch, we headed for our first stop, Tobacco Gallery. Store owner Bob Smalley and cigar reps Tom Poehler (La Aurora, Camacho and Monte Carlo) and Gary Erwin (Kinky Friedman) were on hand to make sure we got special deals. Tom gave everyone one of his Monte Carlos a criollo wrapped cigar with Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos. Bob had stocked up on the “Don’t Mess With Texas” cigar from La Aurora. This was a special release of about 200 boxes of aged tobacco and double wrapped with an Ecuadorian Sumatra over a barrel-aged Corojo wrapper. The result is a fabulously smooth taste with lots of complexity. The boxes flew off the shelves. (I was able to score on and a box of 1495 coronas.) Others in the group loved the Camacho maduros and triple maduros, while still others found the Connoisseur Selection of La Aurora 1495s. This gives you the chance to see just how much the wrapper influences the flavor of the cigar. La Aurora took their normal 1495 robusto and changed out the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and replaced it with Connecticut, Corojo, Cameroon and Maduro. Otherwise the cigar is the same.
At Rich Baldelli’s Two Brothers cigars in Plano, Ryan Poehler from Drew Estates was there with some fantastic swag. Buy a box of Drew Estates and ya got about 200 bucks worth of merchandise. A cutter, a t-shirt and hat and more importantly a selection of cigars and the limited edition kult pack. Rick was running a special for us so I took advantage to pick up a box of Chateau Real Small Club Coronas and get all the swag. Others bought boxes of Roots, La Vieja Habana and other Chateau Reals. The only down side was the special and the discounts did not apply to the Liga Privada #9s…but that didn’t stop those sales anyway. (Just having them arrive was special enough.) Two Brothers is the only authorized LP store in north Texas and we stocked up. Not sure how many boxes he got of this limited cigar, but I know I scored one as did a couple of other crawlers. Steve Saka had given us Liga Privadas for last year’s PTDC and everybody loved the complex, full bodied flavor of the Connecticut broadleaf ligero wrapper over the blend. We have just been waiting for them to come in. Talk about anticipation. Steve had promised they would be there for this year’s event and they were. By the end of our time at Two Brothers, our numbers had rising to our limit so it was off to dinner.
We held our celebratory dinner and charity raffle at the Cock and Bull on Gaston in Dallas. Now the C&B is a pub…most of its money comes from liquor sales so it is exempt from the Dallas smoking ban. The owners of the C&B ( Robert and Sean) had put in a special vent fan a while back and we thought we’d test it out. 43 cigar smokers in a small bar and ya know between the vent fan and the smoke eaters it worked! (Color everyone shocked.) Our pre dinner cigar was a Joya de Nicaragua Serie “C”. Manuel Quesada and Brad Weinfeld of SAG Imports ( who distribute the JdN) graciously provided these smokes for us. As Manuel has said the Antano JdN is like drinking scotch neat. It is in your face. The Joya Celebracion is a little lighter like adding a few drops of water to the scotch to open up its flavors. The Serie C is like adding more water to the scotch, it allows even more of the flavors to become apparent without sacrificing the taste. And we agreed. These are very tasty cigars (no matter what one rating said--no hints of paper or cardboard here.)
For dinner, the chefs at the C&B (yup chefs not cooks) Asher and Hugh prepared us a choice of Bison Ribeye, Been Tenderloin Oscar or Vanilla chili glazed wild Salmon. The food blew everyone away. It all came out without any problems, and was very delicious. Considering the size of the C&B kitchen, we still aren’t sure how Hugh and Asher were able to do everything so smoothly.
After dinner, Guerillmo Leon and Jose Blanco from La Aurora graced us with their new barrel-aged cigar. This beautiful robusto has the wrapper, binder and filler all aged for nearly a year in 20-year old rum barrels. The result is a medium to full bodied smoke with a complex and unique flavor. The cigar will be released to stores probably in March of next year. It was the perfect ending to our meal.
We then concluded the day with our raffle for the Salvation Army. Contributions were generous and varied. We had signed boxes from Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana his Limitada II. Steve Saka signed a Liga Privada #9 box, Guerillmo Leon sign a box of Don Fernandos, Manuel Quesada gave us three signed boxes of his Cubano Limitados, Guerillmo and George Rico signed a box of their Tres Siglo coronas along with bundles of their cigars to be given away. Our friend Mo from England sent a literal cornucopia of delights and Nestor Miranda sent one of his beautiful Africa Humidors, Christian Eiroa sent us shirts, hats and belts along with a couple of Camacho ashtrays and a box of 11/18s. Altadis gave us a box of Trinidads, while General gave us a box of La Gloria Cubanas. Tom Poehler gave us a couple of travel humidors along with other goodies. I am sure I am forgetting someone but overall we were able to raise well over $2,000 for the Salvation Army and in the process have a helluva good time.
Now I am gonna lie down.
We began our day at the crack of 11am at Wizards Sports Café in North Dallas. Here, because of its bar and pool tables, you are exempt from the Dallas smoking ban. (It also may be that they are in Richardson but we’re not sure.) Anyway with cocktails and food, we began by firing up the firs of many sticks for the day. The first was a special lancero from George Rico at STC/Gran Habano Cigars. This lancero sports an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a very tasty Honduran blend. These actually are not cigars being released, but instead George makes then for himself and graciously decided to share.
After lunch, we headed for our first stop, Tobacco Gallery. Store owner Bob Smalley and cigar reps Tom Poehler (La Aurora, Camacho and Monte Carlo) and Gary Erwin (Kinky Friedman) were on hand to make sure we got special deals. Tom gave everyone one of his Monte Carlos a criollo wrapped cigar with Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos. Bob had stocked up on the “Don’t Mess With Texas” cigar from La Aurora. This was a special release of about 200 boxes of aged tobacco and double wrapped with an Ecuadorian Sumatra over a barrel-aged Corojo wrapper. The result is a fabulously smooth taste with lots of complexity. The boxes flew off the shelves. (I was able to score on and a box of 1495 coronas.) Others in the group loved the Camacho maduros and triple maduros, while still others found the Connoisseur Selection of La Aurora 1495s. This gives you the chance to see just how much the wrapper influences the flavor of the cigar. La Aurora took their normal 1495 robusto and changed out the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and replaced it with Connecticut, Corojo, Cameroon and Maduro. Otherwise the cigar is the same.
At Rich Baldelli’s Two Brothers cigars in Plano, Ryan Poehler from Drew Estates was there with some fantastic swag. Buy a box of Drew Estates and ya got about 200 bucks worth of merchandise. A cutter, a t-shirt and hat and more importantly a selection of cigars and the limited edition kult pack. Rick was running a special for us so I took advantage to pick up a box of Chateau Real Small Club Coronas and get all the swag. Others bought boxes of Roots, La Vieja Habana and other Chateau Reals. The only down side was the special and the discounts did not apply to the Liga Privada #9s…but that didn’t stop those sales anyway. (Just having them arrive was special enough.) Two Brothers is the only authorized LP store in north Texas and we stocked up. Not sure how many boxes he got of this limited cigar, but I know I scored one as did a couple of other crawlers. Steve Saka had given us Liga Privadas for last year’s PTDC and everybody loved the complex, full bodied flavor of the Connecticut broadleaf ligero wrapper over the blend. We have just been waiting for them to come in. Talk about anticipation. Steve had promised they would be there for this year’s event and they were. By the end of our time at Two Brothers, our numbers had rising to our limit so it was off to dinner.
We held our celebratory dinner and charity raffle at the Cock and Bull on Gaston in Dallas. Now the C&B is a pub…most of its money comes from liquor sales so it is exempt from the Dallas smoking ban. The owners of the C&B ( Robert and Sean) had put in a special vent fan a while back and we thought we’d test it out. 43 cigar smokers in a small bar and ya know between the vent fan and the smoke eaters it worked! (Color everyone shocked.) Our pre dinner cigar was a Joya de Nicaragua Serie “C”. Manuel Quesada and Brad Weinfeld of SAG Imports ( who distribute the JdN) graciously provided these smokes for us. As Manuel has said the Antano JdN is like drinking scotch neat. It is in your face. The Joya Celebracion is a little lighter like adding a few drops of water to the scotch to open up its flavors. The Serie C is like adding more water to the scotch, it allows even more of the flavors to become apparent without sacrificing the taste. And we agreed. These are very tasty cigars (no matter what one rating said--no hints of paper or cardboard here.)
For dinner, the chefs at the C&B (yup chefs not cooks) Asher and Hugh prepared us a choice of Bison Ribeye, Been Tenderloin Oscar or Vanilla chili glazed wild Salmon. The food blew everyone away. It all came out without any problems, and was very delicious. Considering the size of the C&B kitchen, we still aren’t sure how Hugh and Asher were able to do everything so smoothly.
After dinner, Guerillmo Leon and Jose Blanco from La Aurora graced us with their new barrel-aged cigar. This beautiful robusto has the wrapper, binder and filler all aged for nearly a year in 20-year old rum barrels. The result is a medium to full bodied smoke with a complex and unique flavor. The cigar will be released to stores probably in March of next year. It was the perfect ending to our meal.
We then concluded the day with our raffle for the Salvation Army. Contributions were generous and varied. We had signed boxes from Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana his Limitada II. Steve Saka signed a Liga Privada #9 box, Guerillmo Leon sign a box of Don Fernandos, Manuel Quesada gave us three signed boxes of his Cubano Limitados, Guerillmo and George Rico signed a box of their Tres Siglo coronas along with bundles of their cigars to be given away. Our friend Mo from England sent a literal cornucopia of delights and Nestor Miranda sent one of his beautiful Africa Humidors, Christian Eiroa sent us shirts, hats and belts along with a couple of Camacho ashtrays and a box of 11/18s. Altadis gave us a box of Trinidads, while General gave us a box of La Gloria Cubanas. Tom Poehler gave us a couple of travel humidors along with other goodies. I am sure I am forgetting someone but overall we were able to raise well over $2,000 for the Salvation Army and in the process have a helluva good time.
Now I am gonna lie down.
