No matter where a cigar smoker goes or who he’s with, time must be allocated for the proper amount of quality smoking. Is there a smoke shop anywhere near your intended destination? Are there any smoke friendly places at all – bars, restaurants, churches? Will your company mind if you smoke? I mean, you gotta have your nightly stogie…right? Damn, I love my cigars. And if you’re like me, it’s important to spend time with your Honduran, Dominican, and Nicaraguan friends. And some of your little pals may even be from the island 90 miles south of Miami, Florida, but we’ll just keep quiet about that.

As you know, time away from home presents problems for us cigar smokers and everything must be heavily thought out in advance. First off, if you’re traveling by plane, leave the ISOMs home or spend hours with Dominican labels and a glue stick. Been there done that and what a pain in the ass. Whether you’re carrying one or a hundred, the TSA will snag your bounty so fast that your head will spin. Then there’s your travel humidor that looks like a spy’s little metal bomb case. That doesn’t bode well with the security. They’re a jittery bunch to begin with and the last thing you need is a trip to a private shake down room with the magic wand perusing through every crack and crevice. No thank you.

Here’s a good question for you…you arrive via plane and now you’ve got to fire up your favorite stick…what are you gonna do? One trip had me angered beyond belief. When I arrived at the hotel in another city, I opened my shaving kit where I kept the $200 lighter that my best friend gave me as a gift. Well, you guessed it - there was no lighter, but in its place, a note from my buddies at the TSA who told me they took my lighter and I was basically screwed. Now, it wasn’t in my carry on, but rather tucked away in my suitcase where I had NO access to it during the flight. Did you even think that they could do that? Obviously I didn’t. Somewhere, some minimum wage flunkie is lighting his Phillie blunts in style, and yeah, that irks the living shit out of me. And I know they have those new plastic yellow tube shaped carriers that are “supposedly” accepted by the airlines for your lighter, but I’m not taking a chance that the same rent-a-cop didn’t get the memo on the carry cases. And while you’re at it, leave the cutter home too, bro.