Netflix and Cigars

When I started smoking cigars I was content sitting out in the Southern Californian night as long as there was some bourbon to fill my cup. Cigars and bourbon are a great way to unwind after a long day but, after a while, it became a bore. Cigars and bourbon are wonderful but a man needs more than libations and smoke.

That is when I realized I have a treasure box filled with gems. Westerns, action flicks, science fiction and oh so much more all in my laptop just waiting for me.

Instead of whiling away the early mornings with Padron and Patel I now had something for those unused synapses. I watched movies that I knew I should have watched by now. Full Metal Jacket was great, Eyes Wide Shut was odd but it was a decent movie and that one with the modern version of vampires in that Alaskan town wasn’t worth the two hours. C’est la vie.

Then I took a tour through a post-apocalyptic America with Jeremiah and Kurdy. If you have not watched the science fiction TV series Jeremiah then you should do yourself a favor and watch it. Unfortunately, it only lasted two seasons because, I’m guessing, the budget on that show must have been astronomical and it aired during the earliest parts of this new millennium. If it aired now I’m sure it would have lasted as long as Battlestar Galactica. Even though it is a step down from Battlestar Galactica, which was a post-apocalyptic romp through space, it did have a lot of redeeming qualities.

Now I am puffing away to the stylings of J. J. Abrams’ Lost. I’m almost through the third season of Lost as of this writing and it is at least as wonderfully convoluted as I had been told. Who would have thought crashing a smattering of misfits on an island would be allegorical gold? Wait, wasn’t there a book….

Yes, there was a book but it wasn’t as rich as Lost. With a preponderance of exposition and a never ending back story that is as intricate as any Opus X, Lost is one of the most addictive shows I have ever watched. Even if it didn’t have all that intrigue I still would watch it because any show that creates a fake whiskey, McCutcheon, is worth watching.

So, thank you Netflix for giving me another reason to stay up late. Cigars, bourbon and Netflix are a great combination.

My Birthday at The Cellar

It was a great night full of amazing food, out-of-this-world bourbon and surprisingly good cigars (I like Punch cigars but they just seemed significantly better Thursday night. I’m sure it had something to do with the setting.). Here is what I had at The Cellar:

The Bourbon
Evan Williams Single Barrel – The world’s only vintage-dated Single Barrel Bourbon and is one of the world’s most acclaimed whiskeys. The first American Whiskey ever to win The Spirit Journal’s Whiskey of the Year award.
Elijah Craig 18 yr. old – The oldest Single Barrel Bourbon in the world at 18 years, Elijah Craig Single Barrel is a rare marvel of whiskey-making.
Parker’s Heritage 27 yr. old – Simply one of the oldest bourbons on the market. This smooth spirit features silky and sweet nose with hints of caramel and vanilla. The taste is amazingly balanced and smooth…sweet without being too sweet…and dry without being too dry!

Dinner – By Executive Chef David Kelser
Seared Ahi Tuna served under a spicy Mango salsa and fresh micro greens
Ratatouille veloute with Pesto croutons and crème fraiche
Slow roasted Short Ribs over herbed Polenta and Shallot-Thyme Jus
Chocolate-Espresso soup with Vanilla Ice cream, Fresh Berries and Pistachio crisp

I was lucky enough to have a man from Heaven Hill’s Distillery at my table – an entertaining fellow who I am extremely jealous of. Wouldn’t it be great to have a job selling such amazing libations as the ones we had? Of course it would!

My favorite cigar was the Punch Champion Natural. It’s a perfecto with a good amount of kick to it. My only regret is that I smoked it first because I am certain it would have mixed much better with the older bourbons. As far as regrets go this is but a pittance. The cigar definitely belongs in the 91-93 point range.

Everyone at the table was great. They were all extremely accomplished men and the stories and jokes they told were a lot of fun. Before I continue with my Saturday I need to thank my professor, John Jackson, for inviting me. That cigar dinner was a great way to cap off my birthday. Thanks JJ!

Cigar Aficionado June 2009

Just got my new issue of Cigar Aficionado today and on the cover is Jay-Z. As a younger guy I’m somewhat aware of who this guy is. Rapper, music mogul, with Beyonce, and an all-around cool dude. Basically, I just know what his image is – so the part about him probably won’t be all that interesting of a read. Oh well.

The top cigar of this issue is the Padron 1964 Anniversary Series “A” with a score of 95 points. That’s an impressive score indeed and one that I would most likely agree with. My New Year’s Day cigar was a Padron 1964 Anniversary Monarca and I gave it 95 points. Since then I have had a couple of cigars I would rank higher and I will be putting those reviews up in the future.

Then I come to the Editors’ Note. It’s always one of the more enjoyable parts of the magazine for me because it’s not just an advertisement for the rest of the magazine like so many other Editors’ Notes tend to be. It starts out with a nod to the current economic problems and how the fear of today is analogous to the fear from the Depression even if the current circumstances do not arguably warrant as much trepidation. Then they talk about S-CHIP and how the increase in taxes doesn’t seem like it’s going to put a damper on premium cigar sales anytime soon (that’s just what the tax-happy Senators and Congressmen wanted to hear).

And then, oddly, they say that more taxes usually leads to a drop-off in sales for the taxed items. This I completely agree with and, ironically, may explain why premium cigar sales didn’t slack off during the first quarter. When the government tells the people that they are going to raise taxes on a product on a certain date the people will act rationally and start stockpiling those products up to the date when the tax increases. Here’s an example of that and here’s another example.

Go to page four of this report and see the affect that stockpiling could be having on premium cigars. This report is mainly about a tax on cigarettes but I think that we’ll see a lot of the same things happening with cigars during the next couple of months. Maybe the taxes on cigars will have less of an impact due to its premium status but once you couple the new taxes with a soft economy I don’t know how we will see cigar sales increase for the next few months.

Alright, that’s it. I’m going to go and read the magazine and find a better cigar to enjoy (Hoyo de Monterreys are not my favorites by any stretch of the imagination). Have a great day!!!

24 and Battlestar Galactica Premieres

Jack is back! Not only that but 24 is back on track, which, based off of last season, I wasn’t sure was going to happen. No longer is there some apocalyptic threat that Jack has to single-handedly stop but rather a more manageable African coup with a side of domestic evilness.

However, bringing Tony back does seem like a stretch and their explanation (the bad guys pumped him full of drugs to make him look dead, which is actually what happened to Jack – minus the bad guys – at the end of a season a while back) seems a little far-fetched. But, oh well, there has to be at least a modicum of unbelievability with every episode of 24 and I like Tony so I’m glad he’s back. (Think they’ll bring Curtis back? No, probably not.)

What I especially like about this season is that it’s finally getting into a situation I’m really liking. No longer is it “Jack fighting authority” but rather we have a patriotic/rogue Jack doing things the government should be doing; like working with an ex-bad guy (Tony) to bring down an evil organization. The world we live in is filled with nefarious people and the sooner we realize that you have to get in the mud to deal with them the better.

In many ways Battlestar Galactica (BG) also came at the perfect time for America. BG is basically a metaphor for our post-9/11 world. In BG a terrorist strike wipes out most of humanity and whats left of humanity flees in search of a mythical place called “Earth.” To increase the intensity up to 11 the terrorists (robots created by people to make things easier) can look like humans, which means anyone can be a terrorist (sound familiar?), and the robots endlessly hunt down the remnants of mankind in an attempt to wipe every last one of us away.

Boston Legal… Over

It all ended last night. Another show I liked, not as much as The Sopranos or The Shield, is off the air. Here’s how it ended:

The action ended on the porch with cigars and whiskey as usual, where Shore and Crane were bickering like an old married couple before they had a dance together. Earlier it seemed they wouldn’t have that chance, since the Chinese had already taken over the chairs and the cigars in a previous scene. But how could the series end otherwise?

‘Boston Legal’s Unsentimental Farewell – Roger Catlin

Even though my own politics were often at odds with the politics argued for on the show it was a very witty and funny show. If it were a cigar it would have gotten 92 points from me.

The Shield – End of an Era

The whole final season was like watching a train-wreck in progress. Vic giving up Ronnie to save his double-crossing wife, Dutch hunting a serial killer kid, Claudette dying while chasing her white wale, ICE fumbling their investigation into the Mexican cartel only to be saved by the duty-bound Vic, Aceveda being as dirty as possible while winning the mayoral election. It was not a perfect ending but it does seem to be a fitting ending for this series.

This show is the definition of a tragedy. Every character was fundamentally flawed and they were all working in a system that is extremely corrupt but, after all, is probably not too far-fetched a portrait of the system we live with.

Vic is a cop-killer. So was Shane. Everyone on the Strike Team was dirty because they were playing all sides against each other and trying to skim as much as they could for themselves. But did they really have a choice?

Yes, they did. But amidst all of this chaos and corruption it did seem like they were getting the job done. Well, that’s not really right though, is it? They were managing the situation as best they saw fit.

24: Redemption and The Unit all in one Night

It was awesome watching both 24 and The Unit all in one night. I just wish my cigars had been better, which was surprising since I smoked a Arturo Fuente and a Rocky Patel.

24: Redemption is on Tonight

I’m a big 24 fan and while I would be the first one to say that the show has deteriorated somewhat in the last couple of years it is far better than most things on television. Especially considering the fact that the last time I got to watch a new episode was about a year and a half ago! Damn writer’s strike.

While Jack is running through the fictitious African country of Sengala saving children from being forced into military service and politicians in DC are trying to figure out how to prosecute Jack for saving the world at least six times (in six days nonetheless!) I will be lighting up a big cigar that will hopefully last most of the whole two hours.

The Unit is a Cigar Smoker’s Television Show

The Unit has got it all: gun fights between good guys and bad guys, intrigue at home, death at every corner. This is a truly dramatic television show because, unlike other “dramas,” a main character might actually get killed in combat and missions might not get completed like the good guys want.

But that’s what is so great about this show; there’s a ton of tension. There’s tension on each mission, tension between husband and wife, mother and daughter, between shooters and their colonel, soldier and politician, even between team members themselves. No story line stands still on this show and everything inevitably goes off in some totally unforeseen direction.

If you haven’t watched this show before you need to give it a try. Watch a couple of episodes and, if you are liking what you are seeing (and I can’t see how you couldn’t like this show), rent the previous seasons as well.

What makes this show a great show for cigar smokers is that the lead character, Dennis Haysbert, is an avid cigar smoker. He has even been able to sneak our shared pastime past the network censors and onto a couple of the episodes.

This is an action-packed thriller of a show that actually has good guys and bad guys. Give it a shot and watch it a couple times.

Sons of Anarchy is a Cigar Smoker’s Show

When The Sopranos left our television sets I was saddened. We no longer had a television show that prominently featured cigar smokers and that sucked. But a few weeks ago something great happened.

A new show came on the air that could take the cigar smoker’s cause up once again. This show, about an outlaw motorcycle club, is the Sons of Anarchy. They’re like the mob on bikes.

Every episode there are shootings, girls, deadly club politics, fights, gun running, smuggling, choppers, and, oh yeah, cigars. It’s this perfect mix of ingredients that draws me to the FX Network every Wednesday night.

While it was the cigar smoking that initially drew me into watching this show it was the complex story lines, like with The Sopranos, that has kept me watching. There are so many twists and turns, back stories, side stories, and all-around mayhem that it is impossible not to get hooked on this show.

The only way you couldn’t like this show is if you were one of those guys who was in touch with his “inner self.” If you haven’t started watching it yet you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.