Day in Reno; Fumare and A+ Cert

[DiSiLLuZioN]

The following may be a bit lengthy of a read, but I'm afraid I don't know much any other way to tell a story.

A little background: I'm an IT Specialist for an Indian Tribe in northern California. This is one of the only employers that I've worked for who actively encourage their employers to better themselves with training/certifications, and do so by paying in full for any training or certifications one may decide to take. I took advantage of this about a month ago when I decided to start my long path of computer related certifications. The first being A+. They paid for my week in Reno, as well as my salary, travel, food and tuition. I took the class, studied, and scheduled my test. Today was the day.

Luckily for me, the training and testing is done only an hour and a half away from me in the grand city of Reno (those who have been there or live there may feel I'm being sarcastic, to them I say "You've never been to Susanville"). I'm familiar with Reno, and I'm also familiar with the tobacco shops in Reno. The only one that I personally will visit is Fumare (plug plug). I had a few hours to kill before the test, so I decided to calm my nerves by smoking a cigar and just clearing my thoughts. I walked in and, just like every time I've been there, Dion welcomes me and offers any assistance I may need. I am pretty sure of what I want to try by the time I hit the humidor doors, and that is a Davidoff. I've never had one. I hear great things about them, and I always tell myself any time I'm in Reno without the wife, I'm going to go smoke a Davidoff. Again, today was the day. I take a brief walk around the humidor just to make sure there was nothing else that jumped out at me, before I returned to the extensive Davidoff selection. I wasn't sure what to try, since I've never smoked one before, so I tried to gauge by price (stop it, you know you've done that too). That wasn't much help, as most of the cigars were all reasonably priced. I settled on the Davidoff Millennium Blend short robusto. I took it up to Dion and let him know it would be my first of this brand, and if he recommended anything different. I wanted to make sure that my first Davidoff would tell me what this brand is all about. After finding out what my normal smokes are, he decided that what I've picked out would be a good fit. I purchased the cigar and sat in the lounge area, which I must say is a calm, relaxing and comfortable atmosphere that did just the trick to take my mind off my test coming up later on in the afternoon.

Forgive me if I don't give you a blow by blow, Cigar Aficionado review of this cigar, as I've never been able to taste leather, caramel or earth in any of my cigars. I can say that it was an extremely tasteful but mellow cigar. The construction was something I've found in $20 - $25 cigars, not $12.75 cigars. It was unbelievable. I kept waiting for it to get harsh and unpleasant, but it never did. I smoked it as far as my fingers could withstand before I reluctantly laid it to rest. I can honestly say that among cigars in that price range, it was by far the best I've had.

Shortly after having that wonderful smoke and clearing my head, I made my way to the testing center to take the first of my two A+ Certification tests. The hour or so I spent in Fumare relaxed me enough to where I wasn't just a bundle of nerves going in. I showed up an hour early expecting to get a cram session in, but they told me that I was allowed to take the test early. Rather than dwelling on the details of the OSI (seriously, who uses that in their day to day job?) model, I decided to jump in and get it over with. The test lasted all of 40 minutes (out of 90 allotted), and at the end I learned I had passed.

Epilogue:
Weather the results of the test can be attributed to my years of experience working in the computer field, the instructor based training I received in Reno, or the Davidoff Millennium Blend short robusto I smoked at Fumare, I will never know. I can tell you one thing though, I've found a new test day tradition.


-Jeff-

[vudu9]

Good to meet you today Jeff - hope everything went well! Sorry I wasn't the most talkitive host today, I was wrapping up end-of-the-week bookwork today as well as waiting on the stream of customers. It never fails as soon as I get comfortable in a lounge chair, I have to pop up within 20 seconds. Today was THAT day ! Don't be a stranger, stop in anytime.



Dion

[nozero]

May your method continue to work as well!

Congratulations!

[ScottishSmoker]

I plan on making that trip to Reno this fall....I will come with Zacapa in tow...

[Danielle]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Jeff, I'm so pleased you selected a Davidoff and am happy to hear that it will now be a tradition. The description of your Millennium Blend experience was perfect--your palette tells you everything you need to know about a cigar as only you know what you enjoy.

The strongest smoke in the MB line is the toro, you may like to try that as well. And I think you would also really enjoy the Anniversario No. 3.

Here's to the good life!

Best regards,
Danielle Hawthorne
Brand Manager- Davidoff/Zino Classic
Davidoff of Geneva (CT)

Epilogue:
Weather the results of the test can be attributed to my years of experience working in the computer field, the instructor based training I received in Reno, or the Davidoff Millennium Blend short robusto I smoked at Fumare, I will never know. I can tell you one thing though, I've found a new test day tradition.

-Jeff-[/quote]

[sonick]

Congrats on the Davidoff experience ! They are the most consistent, fine cigars ever IMO. Have NEVER had a bad one.

As far as OSI, you will end up using it, trust me. I live by it. It provides an intensely important frame of reference for design and troubleshooting, and many analysts will speak within it. Especially with so much virtualization going on, clearly defining layers is more important than ever.

I need to get to Fumare one of these days...

[devilfish]

Congrats on passing the tests. I got my A+ in 01 when there was mucho DOS still involved. Wouldn't mind seeing the tests again to see how much has changed.

[dennis569]

Originally Posted by vudu9

Good to meet you today Jeff - hope everything went well! Sorry I wasn't the most talkitive host today, I was wrapping up end-of-the-week bookwork today as well as waiting on the stream of customers. It never fails as soon as I get comfortable in a lounge chair, I have to pop up within 20 seconds. Today was THAT day ! Don't be a stranger, stop in anytime.



Dion

I'll be in Reno this weekend and have been planning to stop in.
Never been to your store and am looking forward to it.