When I buy cigars it almost always takes me a whole afternoon. First things first, before I leave the house I make sure I have my cigar cutter and a good box of wooden matches. Then I decide which shop to go to. There's a couple in the area, but I prefer Osi Tobacco because they have a great selection. That and they have an unbelievable lounge with leather couches, poker tables, TV's, and coffee. Awesome place to smoke a good cigar and chat with some of the old timers. Once I'm there I probably stand in the humidor for nearly an hour looking for something I might have never tried before (that's damn near impossible), or a cigar that just jumps out at me. After I find my smoke I venture into the lounge and have a seat in one of the cushy couches. I cut the cigar if need be if it doesn't have a pigtail. If the cigar has a cedar cover I take that off and light it, using it to light the cigar. If not I just light it with a wooden match. I sit back and enjoy the next hour or so. Makes for a nice afternoon. Even though I usually by my boxes at Big Mikes, I still crave my afternoons at the cigar shop. - Big Mike

www.bigmikescigars.com

I lied a little bit, i guess i couldn't go the whole day without something interesting. I love nothing more in life than a fine cigar and a good woman. That is unless is a good woman smoking a fine cigar. Here's a couple i ran into while on my trip last weekend. - Big Mike

www.bigmikescigars.com

Today i'm going to take a bit of a serious turn. Things have gotten rough down South and if anyone can help, even just a little, go to the RED CROSS site and do whatever you can. Even a donation of $1.00 will help. I myself have donated my entire cigar allowance for this month. Now thats a big deal for me, so I know you guys can help to.

- Big Mike

In today’s world of stress and bills, people have lots of vices. Some people drink, some people do drugs, some people eat…and me, I like to smoke a good cigar. Although I also like to drink and eat, so I guess 3 out of 4 isn’t horrible. I tend to treat a good cigar as a cure all. Some people like to take an aspirin for a headache, I like to smoke a cigar. Some people like to put a bandage on a cut, I like to sit back with a fine smoke and forget about it. Some people like to sit and worry about money problems, I like to sit and smoke a nice handrolled stogie and light it with my electric bill. Why so care free you might ask? Why the hell not? Why sit around worrying about life when you can be enjoying it. Have a nice drink, light up a good cigar, kick back under a nice big shaded tree and say “fuck it” that’s how I live anyways. Now that that’s out of the way I can talk about my weekend. I traveled to Cincinnati to visit my older brother. Big Mike hardly ever travels alone, so I took my beautiful lady with me, Mrs. Big Mike, and my humidor packed full of goodness. I meet up with my brother and we checked out the sites. There’s a lot of history and culture in Cinci. Very cool place to see. We kept seeing graffiti hidden everywhere, which is really interesting. My bro has made a habit of taking pictures of graffiti whenever he happens upon it. To see some of that go to his site. Well, not to bore you with normal shit, we did get around to smoking some cigars. We started the weekend off on Friday night hitting a couple bars until we managed our way into a martini/cigar bar. I don’t recall the name, but I know it was packed full of hotties. Mrs. Big Mike, who also fancies the occasional female every now and then, took charge of pointing out all the young blonde ones for me. Over the course of the night we managed to smoke a couple Don Diego Playboys as well as some Ghurka Regents. Not a bad night I must say. Saturday we hit the pool, yes a pool in the middle of downtown Cinci. It’s hidden away in the middle of some condos. There we grilled some t-bones and puffed on some Leon Jimenes. That evening was almost the same scenario as the night before. Only we smoked some Macanudos and Ashton’s this time, we went to the same bar though, the hotties were too much not to go back. All in all it was a great weekend and we even managed to get in a Montecristo while floating around in the pool on Sunday afternoon. The drive home is always so much more enjoyable after a Montecristo.
- Big Mike