Puff Cigar Discussion Forums

sysrock · 12-09-2007, 11:46 PM

Joe (Bullybreed) and I went to San Antonio to stay with my parents for the Hill Country Herf. Along the way we decided to hit up as many B&Ms as we could. We ended up with four in two days.

The Friday night after arriving we saw a friends band play at a club that smelled like puke and stale beer. I am serious, my fraternity house smelled better than that club and that is saying a lot. We stayed for a little while, but the band was not having a good night, so we went to Cigar Club (the first three pictures). If you are ever in SA, bring your own cigars to this Cigar Bar, cause their humidor sux. And I don't mean a little, I mean most of the wrappers were damaged, the Rh was way too high, and at least 30% higher than retail. La Gloria Cubana, Series R, maduro, something like 6x60...get this, $9.90. I did not see a Rocky Patel below $9. The atmosphere was cool, IMO, and the band was totally awesome. Drinks were ok, $4 for Heineken. Bottom line, bring your own smokes if your gonna go.

Saturday morning we tried to go to a B&M called Chango's, but they didn't open until 2pm, so we went to Club Humidor instead (second three pictures). This smoke shop was pretty good with the exception of a lack of seating for smokers. Since this B&M is in a large shopping center, there seemed to be a lot of shoppers husbands just hanging out waiting for their wives. Consequently, Joe and I didn't get to sit down to enjoy a couple of Zino Platinum Scepters (the Chubby). The prices were reasonable and the Tobacconist was totally cool. He was very knowledgeable on their upper end products and, in the end, traded Joe the Zino for a 601 Green (they didn't carry the Green). Overall, buy your smokes here, smoke them somewhere else.

After leaving Club Humidor, we went to probably one of the best smoke shops I have ever been to, C.I.G.A.R. (an acronym for Cigar Intellectuals Gathering for Any Reason and the next eight pictures). I guess it helped that I went to Nicaragua and Honduras with Joe (Anubis), one of their many knowledgeable tobacconists. After checking out the large humidor with lots of great and reasonably priced smokes, we got to hang out in the private club. To say this club is nice, does not do it justice. The decor was plush, the members were inviting and generous, and the conversation was flowing and stimulating. This is the type of club that other clubs should aspire to be. And for only $550/year and up, it comes with too many other amenities to remember. While there I smoked a Don Pepin Black and a LFD Lancero. I forgot what Joe smoked, but one of the members gave us some Flor de Cana 18 year Rum and a four year old LFD Factory Press. Talk about generous BOTLs. Joe also gave us C.I.G.A.R. hats. As you see in the last picture, they have a really cool work in progress art project of glued cigar bands. All in all, this B&M is a place to see, a place to shop at, and a place to join.

We finished up the night at the Hill Country Herf in New Braunfels at Tobacco Haus (the last six pictures). This is a good ole bar that also has a humidor. While the humidor needs some attention the atmosphere totally made up for it. The smokes were in mostly good shape and the selection was varied on the full bodied side, but we did see a few stogies with mold on them. The drinks were reasonably priced, and the patrons were friendly. The band was really good as well, so much so that Joe and I gave them a few smokes. They were a kind of popular-country, get-drunk-and-sing-along type of musicians. If it weren't for some drunk assholes yelling into the microphone, it would have been a perfect evening. I think that the absolutely best part of the evening was the company. In all we had 10 BOTLs together in one spot, 9 of which are on CL. To sum up, bring your own mild cigars, buy a few full bodied ones there, drink, smoke, and have a good time until they close at 1am...then it's on to IHOP.