How often does it happen that the weather is just perfect for a cigar, not to hot, not to cold, not to humid, and not to windy. Well that happened to me the other day so I just had to grab me a smoke and head outside. Now the hard part, what to smoke.

 Not to long ago Frank Santos of Reyes Family Cigars had sent me some cigars to try out. He sent me the two Reyes Family cigars, and some Cuba Ailados cigars. One was the Cuba Aliados Anniversary which I have smoked before and enjoy. It was already gone. Another Cuba Aliados had a red band on it. Well went I went to my humidor that holds some singles in it this cigar just happened to be starring at me, so I grabed it.

It is a Toro size cigar, medium in color, nice looking wrapper and looks well conctructed. Like I said the band is red, flat on the bottom and a round crown on the top. It say "CUBA ALIADOS" on it. So I head outside and light this baby up. Right away I am hit with a flavor of toast and almonds. A combo I don't think I have ever tasted in a cigar before but I sure was liking it. As I smoked this cigar it was clear that it was very complex with its flavor, was medium in body and very smooth. The flavor if this cigar keep changing on me. The almond went away only to be replaced with what I would call a sweet hay flavor. Along with the sweet hay was green grass. The sweet hay seemed to stay for most of the cigar, but the flavors with it changed often. From green grass to toast, back to green grass, then cedar, then back to hay and toast. I was getting into the last third of the cigar and was thinking what else can this baby throw at me. Yeah it must have been reading my mind. How about a taste of grilled meat for a couple of puffs, have never tasted that before either but it was nice. The cigar finished with a strong cedar with some spice. The only time I picked up any spice in the cigar.

Man I was impressed with this cigar. It turned out to be a great smoke on this perfect day. There are many times I can smoke a cigar and don't pick up certain flavors, but that day it just worked out perfect.

I emailed Frank Santos to find out what this cigar was. Turns out this is a Miami made cigar. Here is the info on it. "Rolled in Miami - production is only 200 cigars per day. Habano wrapper / Sumatra binder / DR & Nic fillerWe just started shipping these to select retailers, not too many. "

I have seen Reyes Family cigars get a bad rap from time to time on cigar forums. "To mild, not enough flavor etc etc". Well let me tell you that even though this isn't a full body smoke it is complex with plenty of flavor. So keep an eye out for these cigars. They will have the red band, but they will also have a white band under it with "Limited Miami Edition" on it, as well as a cedar sleveve with "Limited Miami Edition" stamped on it.

So you are probaly thinking what is this guy talking about. Well it all starts with Sam Leccia (maker and owner of Nub). You see when Sam first started working for Oliva he wanted to everything there is to know about cigars. One of the ways he learned about the flavors of different tobacco was to take wrappers off one cigar and put on another and then smoke. Most will agree the main flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper.

After meeting Sam and talking to him about this, then him showing me how to as he did it I started playing with it some. You really can taste the difference in the wrappers and how they change a cigar. I haven't done one in a while just do to time, but here is a how to that I posted on CL back in August.

What you need.

1. Two cigars about the same size.

2. Spray bottle with distilled water.

3. Pectin (found at grocery store, near canning items).

4. Something sharp.

First thing you do is get the pectin ready. You just take a small amount of the powder and mix with some distilled water.

Take one of the cigars and spray it down from head to foot. You will prob need to spray the head sevral times because of the cap and the way the leaf is wrapped around under the cap.

Carefully start taking the cap off. There really is no special way to do it, just be careful. Once you have it off put to the side, you will reuse it.

Now you can start to work on the wrapper. I have noticed that most have a small piece of tobacco that is part of the wrapper that is wrapped almost like a cap and twisted on top of the cigar. This can be very hard to get off without tearing. The spray bottle is your friend here and don't be afraid to use it. Once you have this part off make sure the rest of the wrapper is still damp (not soaking wet) and slowly unwrap it from the cigar. Side aside.

Repeat these steps for the other cigar. Make sure you know which wrapper goes on which cigar, I know that sounds funny but with the wrappers off you may not be able to tell which cigar is which. And yes I put a wrapper back on the same cigar it came off of LOL.

So now take one wrapper, make sure it is damp (you may need to spray it down again). Lay the wrapper down flat, you may need to stretch the leaf but be sure not to tear it. Start at the foot of the cigar and the point of the leaf (I put a little pectin on the point of the leaf) and start rolling the cigar around the leaf. Be sure as you roll it that you try to keep it as smooth as you can. When you get to the head try to repeat what you undid at the begining LOL. The main thing is to try to have the wrapper as tight to the top of the head as you can. I also use a little pectin here too (when you use the pectin you may need to add some water from the spray bottle just so its not to thick). Ok all you need to do now is put on the cap. Once again make sure the cap is moist, add pectin to the whole bottom of the cap and place on the head of the cigar. Make sure the cap is laying flate then you are done.

I put mine back in the humi for at least 24 hours but that is not a must.

Good luck and get to work!

Later this week I will post a review of one of the cigars I switched.

Thanks for reading

This is a question you hear or see often on cigar forums etc.. Do you buy them online? At your local B&M? Many of us have our reason for what we doing, including where we buy our cigars. Taxes, price, where you smoke?

 For me I try to buy most of my cigars from local B&Ms. The reason being is that I enjoy smoking my cigars there, so I try to support them as much as I can. When I first started smoking it was easy. I would only buy a few singles here and there, so buying at the B&M just made sense. And I like seeing what I am buying anyway, which leads me to buy very little online no matter what the product is. It took me awhile before I bought my first box of cigars, which had to do with space, and finding what I wanted to buy a box of and the price of that box. My first box was Camacho Select in Robusto size. And yes I bought it at my local B&M.

Since then I have bought a few more boxes and now have a Cabinet humidor that is almost full. I can't say that I have never bought cigars online because that would be a lie. Last week I just bought a box of Padilla 1932 Torpedos because they where at a cost of just over 50% off my local shop!! Now that was something I just couldn't pass up. I have found some good deals online over the last few years, and have also been burned with "good deals on great cigars" that ended up being "bad deals on crap cigars". But like I said a great price on a cigar I know is good can catch me. Also there may be cigar online I can't get at my B&M, maybe its a small company or a house blend at another shop. Some of these I have been burned on, but with a cigar forum like this is easier to try and find out from others what to expect.

 I have also learned to get better deals at the local B&M. Number one is you will always (at least where I buy) get better deals on boxes the single cigars. Now I don't always have the money to buy boxes so if I know what I want I start saving. Another way to get a better deal is to buy during an event. The last few boxes I have bought at events. The last one was 20% of boxes and freebes depending on how much you bought. The freebes included limted cigars, hats, T-shirts, lighters, cutters, etc... It really was a good deal.

 My point of this blog is if you ever smoke at your local B&M try to support them as best you can. We want this places to stay open!! Of course its never wrong to take advantage of a great deal that comes around, but also be carefull because you can get burned with bad cigars. Now enjoy your smokes.

Thanks for reading.

Seems like a loaded question, but I will do my best to answer it.  The easy answer is my name is Frank AKA tx_tuff. I'm coming over as a Mod on CL where I have been a member since June of 07. I am a cigar smoker, been smoking cigars for about 5 years now. I have expensive taste as my favorite cigar right now is the Padilla 1932, and before that it was the Asgton VSG. But don't get me wrong I'm far from a snob and smoke everything.

 Co-workers got me into cigars but it didn't take long before I was out smoking them. Besides just the taste and relaxing part of the cigar I love going out to events and meeting all the people in the busniess as well as locals that enjoy the hobby just has much as I do. I have meet many many locals in Houston that I know consider good friends thanks to CigarLive. And I'm looking forward to meeting many more once PUFF gets going like it should.

One thing I am not is a blogger or writer! But I thought doing a blog would be fun and it would be one way for people who don't know me to get to know me a little. One thing I really enjoy as a Mod on CL (and as soon as it gets moved here, a Mod on PUFF) is helping members when they need it. Rather its a question, something they need done, whatever I'm here to help. I love getting PMs from them when they need help and if for some reason I can't help I do my best to get the help they need.

I don't know how often I will blog, hopefully at least once a week. Maybe cover some events, maybe do a review, maybe talk about a TV show or a Movie, Kids, I know have three including a Step Son, and maybe just BS. Who knows! But I hope whatever it is that you will enjoy it and I don't piss to many people off LOL.

Thanks for reading.