Tres Perros Homebrew & Smoking Lounge

Piggy Fermentation!

2009-05-07T12:58:00.001-04:00

This is why you should get a carboy to do your primary fermentation in, because it can be fun to watch! Don't let anyone tell you that fermentation is a passive process:

Batch #004 - Pigs On The Wing Brew Day!

2009-05-04T13:53:00.002-04:00

So, evidently, the first Saturday in May is "National Homebrew Day!". For us here at Tres Perros, it was also IPA brewday!

This time around, it was another "extract, with specialty grains" brew, highlighted by Nugget Hop bittering, and Fuggle Hop aroma/flavor additions. Some other procedural changes were made this time as well, using a turkey fryer outside for the the boil being the most obvious.

We started by steeping the grains in two gallons of water on the gas range inside:

Then drained the grains into a larger pot, moved then moved the whole process outside for the remainder of the process:

Another one of the procedural differences in this batch was a longer boil, highlighted by the first Nugget addition, which boiled for 90 minutes (instead of the 60 minutes that I have done in the past):

The final difference of this batch compared to recent batches, was that we used a different brand of yeast. As opposed to the WYeast smack packs used in the past, we used a vial of White Labs yeast:

Now, after what felt like an exceedingly long lag time (It was really only about 30 HRS), we are bubbling along just fine and building a Krausen:

Fugget Ale Name Change!

2009-05-01T02:44:00.000-04:00

Oddly enough, the recent swine flu outbreak inspired me, and so Fugget Ale is no more, see above!

Next UP? Fugget Ale!

2009-04-27T13:44:00.002-04:00

To keep the ball rolling right along, another batch coming up this Sunday. This time around, we are going to do a Dry Hopped IPA with Nugget and Fuggle Hops. I think it has potential to be my Summer Sipper this year. Here is the initial brewsheet as a tease. . .

Old Ale Bottling Day!

2009-04-27T13:24:00.002-04:00

Today we got the Old Ale out of the Secondary Fermenter, into the bottles for conditioning. Alas, it really doesnt mean we are any closer to drinking the beer, because that is still 6 to 7 weeks off into he future, but we are one step closer.

First off, I have to say that this is the single most useful we have made to help the brewing/bottling process recently is in the picture above. That bottle washer jet cut down the time it took today by half! Especially if you reuse commercial bottles in your homebrewing adventures, I cannot reccomend a bottle rinser highly enough.

Note the subtle sign on the bottling bucket below. One of the most important things to do in homebrewing is to learn from your mistakes. We had serious issues with the spout leaking before, and were going to make sure that that trauma never occured again!

Now, they are resting/conditioning comfortably in our basement (next to the Scottish Export Ale, which should be ready to drink this weekend coming up!). Side note, I think I might be able to brew down there all through the Summer! We had a bit of a warm snap this weekend, temps in the mid - 80's the last three days. . . and during that time, the warmest it got down there is 63! w00t!

Up next sunday, an IPA!

Sunday 04/19 - Tres Perros Update!

2009-04-20T02:01:00.001-04:00

Today was a big day for brewing on the home front, First we racked of our old ale into secondary. The initial gravity was a touch high, and the gravity after primary fermenting was a bit lower than we expected, so I guess it will be a bit stronger alcohol wise than originally expected (5.9% by volume). Tasted the sample I took to check the gravity, seems to be coming along just fine. I feel confident about this batch.

After that I tasted our Scottish Export Ale, which had been bottle conditioning for two weeks now. And while I think two more weeks will do it some good, that this beer shows lots of promise. Tasted pretty much like a beer of this style should!

Pretty, huh?

So What Was Batch #001?

2009-04-15T02:13:00.002-04:00

Somebody asked me what was the first homebrew batch we ever did. Well here is the answer. We brewed a premeasured can of extract from the company John Bull. The clerk at the home brew supply store we went to suggested adding 3lbs of malt extract, so wee did. Boiled the lot for a half an hour and added the dry yeast packet. After a week fermenting and two in bottles conditioning we had beer! And surprisingly, it was pretty good (though it definitely got better with time)! It was more than enough to start us down the road we now travel. . .

Glass Carboys Are More Fun!

2009-04-14T03:37:00.000-04:00

One of the fun parts of fermenting in glass carboys is that you can watch the yeast at work while you wait. This batch seemed to kick into gear pretty quick, with foam (called krausen) forming on the top of the wort in only eight hours. By twelve hours there was a good inch of foam on the brew and the blow off was bubbling furiously. Its forty eight hours later now, and the action hasn't let up a bit. Check it out!

Batch #003 - Old Ale Brew Day!

2009-04-13T09:45:00.004-04:00

Saturday was the best day of the week again for us here at Tres Perros. . . BREW DAY! This time around, we are attempting and Old Ale/Stock Ale variety. It is actually an approximation of a clone of a rather popular brand of British old Ale that is rumored to not be distributed in the United States any more. The brew being cloned must stay a secret for now, (well its not really much of a secret if you do a bit of research) but eventually that fact will be revealed. But that's not important right now, what is, was that it was BEER MAKING TIME!

(Note: If anybody is interested in homebrewing, but hasnt taken the plunge yet, the following post is a pretty simple breakdown of how to make an Extract Based Brew. Its pretty simple, if you just take your time and think things through).

The first thing we did was get everything together. I am a rather scatterbrained type of guy and it really makes life easier if I keep all the materials I need to do something in close contact. The french call this mis en plas (literally "put in place"), and in cooking as well as brewing, its a good tenet to follow.:

First you get together all the things you need for the boil, and then you gather everything that needs to be sanitized and do as such. Sanitation cannot be overstressed. While you are trying to grow yeast in an effort to get them to make beer for you, thats the only thing you want growing:

Next we weighed out all the specialty grains out to steep. Specialty grains are used by homebrewers to add color, body, taste, and aromatic properties to the beer. In fact, some styles of beer cannot be properly achieved without the help of specialty grains.

When steeping specialty grains for for an extract brew, you generally need the water between 150-170 degrees, for aat least thirty minutes. The process is much, like making a pot of grain tea:

Our recipe called for a rinse at the end of the steeping cycle. In another pot we had more water heated to 175 degrees, which we ran through the sack of grain to get all the goodness out:

When thoroughly rinsed out, you pour all the water back int he pot and bring it to a boil. When the boil is good and rolling, there are Malt and Hop Pellet additions to be made at regular intervals. In our recipe the boil lasted for a full hour:

(Our Old Ale recipe included a can of Coopers Dark Ale extract. This can be used to make a pretty decent beer on its own, but with a little tweaking seems to make a decent base to build upon, for a good beer. We added it into the pot at the very beginning of the 60 min boil).

(In all the brews I have made to date, I have used hop pellets, as they seem to be the most convenient to use and store. In this case, Willamette hops are added for bittering at the 45 minute mark).

In batches of beer that boil a volume smaller than the total volume, it can be beneficial to only add some of the malt extract at the beginning of the boil. Adding some of the malt toward the end of the boil accomplishes a few things. First, because the malt spends less time over the burner its less likely to scorch or discolor. also, there is some evidence to suggest it helps you utilize hops more efficiently. We added the unhopped amber extract with 15 minutes remaining in the boil.

A quick addition of Perle Hops with 2 minutes to go and the boil is done!

All thats left is to strain and cool the wort, add some yeast, and you are ready to go!

Now, as usual, the tough part. The waiting. . .

Old Ale Recpie Brewed

2009-04-12T04:01:00.002-04:00

Carrie and I Brewed an Old/Stock Style Ale tonight, which I will post a blow by blow of tomorrow. For now, here is the brewlog sheet for the beer. I have the software, beersmith, which I use often and helps out the brewing process quite a bit, but there is something nostalgic and special about the tactile function of sitting down and mapping out by hand what we plan to do. More tomorrow, after the holiday festivities.

HAPPY EASTER ALL!!

Bottling Day!

2009-04-05T00:28:00.025-04:00

Ah, bottling day. . . . the least fun and most tedious time for a home brewer. This might be the single reason it was so long between batches of brew for us. This is the hardest part of the whole process to get jazzed up about. Never has one of the beacons of the home brewing movement, Charlie Papazian's, Golden Rule ("Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew") seem more important to remember. We decided to take it a step further and have a BEER BOTTLING PARTY! Misery does love company, after all! So we invited (co-brewers) Carries parents over, had some prime rib and a few brews, and bottled our tasty ale!

First came the tedious task of washing the bottles, rinsing them out, sticking them in a sanitizer bath, and rinsing them again! I didn't take pictures of that, because reliving that just might bring me to tears. So i have this picture to present, in honor of Victory!

After all that tedium, the rest of the process isn't nearly as bad. First you have to siphon the fermented wort out of the fermenter into the bottling bucket:

we had a bit of trouble with the gasket around the bottling bucket spigot leaking (not shown here), which cause a little more agitation of the beer then I would like, but I am not going to stress about it, as it is a well known fact that stress ruins beer's flavor (RDWHAHB and all, y'know. . .). When that was settled, and after a quick dose of priming sugar, into the bottles it goes:

After that, slap on the caps and we are ready to go!

Well, not quite! Alas, more of the hardest part of homebrewing to come. More waiting. This particular ale need four weeks to bottle condition before its really going to shine (though I plan on checking on it in 2, to see how it is coming along). So the waiting game resumes again. . .

I think I'll have a beer and plan out my next batch!

38 Schilling Scottish Export Ale Recipe

2009-03-31T00:07:00.009-04:00

In case anybody out there would like to replicate our experience, this time I will include the recipe!

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com

Recipe: 38 Schilling Scottish Export Ale

Brewer: Tres Perros Brewing
Style: Scottish Export 80/-
TYPE: Extract

Recipe Specifications --------------------------

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 18.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.9 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients: ------------

2.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 32.73 %
3.30 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 54.01 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.18 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.09 %
0.06 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.98 %

1.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] (60 min) Hops 17.7 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU

1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

Happy Brewing!!

Isla Fisher

2009-03-30T15:08:00.001-04:00

Isla Lang Fisher (born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. She began acting on Australian Television, playing Shannon Reed on the Australian soap opera Home and Away, and has since become known for her roles in the 2005 comedy Wedding Crashers, opposite Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson,[1] 2007's Hot Rod. and 2009's Confessions of a Shopaholic.

At the age of 18, with the help of her mother, she wrote two teen novels, Bewitched and Seduced by Fame, that became bestsellers. From 1994 to 1997 she played the role of Shannon Reed on the hit Australian soap opera Home and Away. After leaving the popular soap, Fisher enrolled at a prestigious theatre and arts training school in Paris, and went on to appear in Pantomime in the United Kingdom. She also toured with Darren Day in the Summer Holiday musical, and appeared in a London theatre production called Così. In 2002 she had a part in the film version of Scooby-Doo as Mary-Jane, Shaggy's love interest, and subsequently was taken on by an American agent. A larger role in Wedding Crashers, alongside Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, in 2005 won her the Breakthrough Performance Award at the MTV Movie Awards. While promoting Wedding Crashers, she was officially crowned the 1000th guest on Australian talk show Rove on 2 August 2005. She entered the set ahead of Owen Wilson, winning the title by two meters.

In 2006, Fisher starred as Becca, a Manhattan party host, in the relationship drama London co-starring Jessica Biel, Chris Evans and Jason Statham. In 2007, she appeared in The Lookout, a thriller co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode, and Hot Rod, opposite Andy Samberg. She was scheduled to appear in The Simpsons Movie, although her appearance was cut from the final version. In 2008, she starred in Wedding Daze with Jason Biggs, Definitely, Maybe, with Ryan Reynolds, Elizabeth Banks, and Abigail Breslin, and had a voice role in Horton Hears a Who! Fisher has also co-written a script entitled Groupies with Amy Poehler, as well as another project entitled The Cookie Queen. She starred in the movie adaption of the book Confessions of a Shopaholic, which opened on February 13, 2009. In the film, Fisher played a college graduate who works as a financial journalist in New York City to support her shopping addiction.

Fisher has spoken out against the lack of opportunities for comediennes in Hollywood.

Batch #002 Brewday - Tres Perros Brewing!

2009-03-29T12:24:00.044-04:00

Yes, yes I havent posted in long time, and there are some fun excuses for that that maybe I will explain later on, but not in this post. Instead, we will jump right back into the swing of things with a post about. . . . HOMEBREWING! yes, we have taken it up, more seriously these days. Carrie even named our little endeavor "Tres Perros Brewing", after these three fools:

Cute, huh?

Well anyway we are going to be brewing quite a bit more these days, and I figured I could post our adventures here. For now its mostly malt extract based recipes, but we intend to get more in depth with time Today we brewed a Scottish Export Ale, which I named 38 Schilling Ale in honor of the recently retired Red Sox pitcher. Here is a look at the brewsheet:

Brewing extracts (with specialty grains) is a relatively simple, if a bit time consuming, procedure. First you put all the grains in a sack, and stew them in some hot, but not boiling water for half an hour:

After that, you remove the grains and bring the liquid to a boil, and add the malt extract (Dried, Liquid, or in our case, BOTH):

During the boil you also add hop pellets at certain intervals (in our case 60min/30min/5min), to enhance the flavor and add bitterness to balance the malts sweetness.

After boiling. the resulting liquid (called "wort") is cooled, strained, and added to the container it will ferment in, and the yeast (Wyeast 1728 in our case) is added:

Now, all there is left to do, is wait while the yeast does its thing. Happy munching little guys!

The Kids Take On a Padron 80th

2008-09-10T03:18:00.000-04:00

More Padron 80th goodness, this time from the boys at Churros y Puros!

Wheeeeeeee!

TomC

Padrón 1926 Serie 80th Anniversary Perfecto

2008-09-10T02:17:00.003-04:00

Vitola: 6 ¾" x 54
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sungrown Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan Sungrown
Filler: Padrón 1926 Serie Blend

Notes: This cigar is the first ever perfecto shape from Padrón, created to commemorate the 80th birthday of the patriarch and founder in 1964 of Padrón cigars, José Orlando Padrón. 500 of these cigars were handed out to attendees of the Saturday morning seminars at The Big Smoke 2006 in Las Vegas.

This perfecto has the trademark 1926 Serie box press, and a lush Nicaraguan sun grown maduro wrapper. The blend is most similar to the Padrón 1926 Serie 40th Anniversary cigar blend, which is a tweaked version of the 1926 blend, dubbed "The Family Blend".

These cigars will be sold in boxes of 8 cigars per box, with limited distribution of only 1-2 boxes per vendor for each shipment.

Appearance: As one would expect, this cigar is made with the finest construction. It is firm and evenly packed, and just in general quite the specimen to behold. The wrapper was a beautiful deep chocolate, and was practically glistening with oils.

Pre-Light: The clip was easy and can be, and the prelight draw was smooth and easy. There were notes of sweet chocolate and coffee in the prelight.

Burn/Draw: This cigars aesthetics were fantastic. It burned like a dream! The burn line was straight from the very beginning and never wavered one iota the whole time I was smoking it. The draw was just short of free and easy, and allowed the cigar to burn just cool enough to allow for tons of fragrant, rich smoke. Overall, I could not have been happier with these aspects of this cigar, it was a benchmark for how a cigar should smoke. The ask was mottled grey and held for almost two inches.

Flavors: I am not going to beat around the bush, this was on tasty cigar! To me it combined the best aspects of both of the "Anniversary" lines produced by Padrón. It combined the some of the spice, and oomph of the 1964 maduro cigars, along with the rich and creaminess of the 1926 Serie. . . It began with coca and chocolate, and built to a cinnamon hotness and a slightly peppery ending. Every moment of it was an exercise in decadence that one get only once in a very long while.

The only drawback to this cigar is it is a tad cost prohibitive. I do feel this needs mentioned, as it is a cigar one can only have on special occasions, if ever. Despite how much I enjoyed this cigar, I wonder if it was really that much better than the 1964, or 1926 lines, and it is significantly more expensive. That said I was quite happy to get the opportunity to smoke and review this cigar, and it might be worth your while to try one as well.

TomC

In Honor Of The 2008 Summer Olympics:

2008-08-17T01:47:00.005-04:00

Alicia Marie Sacramone (born December 3, 1987) is an American artistic gymnast. A member of the U.S. National Team, she is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise, the 2008 U.S. National Champion on vault, and a seven-time medalist at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982 in Vallejo, California) is a American swimmer who has represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. She won multiple medals at both of these Games and became the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics.
Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981 in Newport Beach, California), is an Olympic-level swimmer and model from the United States of America. Beard participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2008 Summer Olympics, capturing a total of seven medals.

Hope Amelia Solo (born July 30, 1981 in Richland, Washington) is a goalkeeper for the United States Women's National Soccer Team (US WNT).
Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is a professional women's basketball player. A high school star from Christ The King RHS, she went on to become a key part of two national champion University of Connecticut teams, the first player to be picked in the 2002 WNBA Draft and an Olympic gold medalist. She currently plays for the WNBA's Seattle Storm, with whom she won a championship in 2004.

TomC

"The Kids" Take On An Oliva Serie V Lancero!

2008-06-26T12:59:00.002-04:00

Good Times,

TomC

More Humidor pRon!

2008-06-21T16:02:00.002-04:00

My Friend MikeD made me promise I would post more pics of my Antietam Cabinet once I got it stocked with cigars, well who am I to refuse a request.

(From The Front)
(Look at all the Goodies!)
(Top Drawer.)
(Bottom (Drawer.)

Well there you have it, a meaningless, self aggrandizing post! But stay tuned, because tonight there will be a review of the much talked about Padron 1926 Serie, 80 years! I bet you cannot wait!

TomC

Building Lather/ "SOTD"

2008-06-13T04:21:00.004-04:00

Well I must say, I am really enjoying this foray into traditional shaving techniques. I have been at it almost two weeks now, and while I have not achieved "Baby's Behind Smooth" shaves yet I can tell you that three things are true:

1) I enjoy shaving a lot more now than I ever did in the past, in fact I look forward to it on occasion now.

2) I can get about as good a shave now as I usually got with a Mach 3 Razor, and with less irritation in the end.

3) I am sure I will only improve with time.

I think one of my biggest problems to date is figuring out how much water to put in the shaving cream while lathering (I think I may be putting too much), and so for my benefit and your interest, I put another of our pal "mantic59" videos at the top of this post, this time the one that focuses entirely on lathering.

One of the common things discussed on forums for wetshavers is a persons "SOTD". That is their "Shave Of The Day". Many of these folks have been at it a lot longer than me, and can produce many variations of razors, blades, soaps, creams, and aftershaves. I cannot do this yet, so I will give you essentially the setup I have been using to practice technique with:

Pre Shave:
Warm Shower
Hot towel
Musgo Real Pre Shave Oil (Didn't Use Today)

Razor:
Gillette Knack (kindly gifted by a friend)
Derby Extra Super Stainless Blades

Cream:
Musgo Real (surprise, surprise)

Post Shave:
Musgo Real Classic Aftershave (I must say that I really prefer their Balsam for its skin protection, though the smell of the aftershave is amazing!).

Yeah I know its not very creative (yet), but I bet the collection of things to try will grow in time. I hear its good to stay consistent when learning shaving form, so we shall stick with this stuff for a while, and its a lovely combination, if you ask me. Now on to the Action Shots!

Soaking the brush in warm water while I take a shower.
It really does not take much of the cream to do the job at hand!
See, a little bit goes a long way! Though I think I may have put too much water in it this time. Some experimentation may be in order here.
Goes on the face nice and slick, providing a relatively close and comfortable shave! (I added a bit more after this shot was taken ;) ).

Needless to say I am hooked, so you may be stuck hearing about this more often. That said I have bored you all enough for tonight.

Hope all is well,

TomC

La Flor Dominicana "El Jocko" Maduro

2008-06-13T03:29:00.002-04:00

Country: Dominican Republic
Length/Ring: 4 1/2" x 32/54
Shape: Perfecto
Wrapper: Maduro

Construction: I have never really had a construction issue with any LA Flor Dominicana cigars, and this one is no different. The construction on this perfecto was spot on. Both firmly and evenly packed, there were no soft spots to be found. The rich dark chocolate wrapper was smoot and without flaws, and glistened with essential oils.

Pre-Light: The clip was simple and clean. The pre light draw was just right. This draw yielded notes of sweet tobacco, earthiness, and dark roasted coffee.

Burn/Draw: The burn on this cigar was great. On occasion, perfecto shaped cigars will burn a bit funky at the beginning, but that was not the case with this cigar. The burn line generally stayed straight, and self corrected the few times it wandered at all. The draw was just as it should be, it offered a tiny bit of resistance, so that the burn stayed long and slow, producing volumes of smooth cool blue grey smoke. The ash was very light grey/white and firm. It held as long as I wanted it to.

Flavors: This cigar strikes me as the LFD Chiselito, Lite! The chiselito is one of my all time favorite smokes, but it is VERY STRONG, and not for all occasions. This cigar is a mellower version of that. More of a medium strength smoke, it still displays a lot of the great flavors I love in La Flor Dominicana Maduros. It starts with a light burst of pepper, and then settles in to a lovely earthiness, sweet maduro tobacco flavor that lasts most of the first half of the cigar. At the halfway point, the flavor ramps up a bit, adding a nice french roast coffee note. Over the last third or so of the cigar the flavors are more dry, with some cedar woodiness and the earthiness pushing more to the forefront. Overall, a pretty damn good cigar, and I think a great entry point into La Flor Dominicana's more robust blends. I recommend it, and might just have to buy a box myself!

TomC

Beginnig Wetshaving. . .

2008-06-09T02:54:00.003-04:00

(The beginning of what I hope is not ANOTHER obsession!)

It seems to me, in my time as a cigar smoker, that people who enjoy cigars, also enjoy (to whatever degree they can afford) several of the other finer things in life. Whether that be the good company of a herf, an exciting or relaxing lifestyle, the best sports teams, a lovely spirit to accompany a lovely smoke, or anything else that strikes their fancy. Well something I have been made aware of lately that falls into this category is something I have been searching for recently, a decent shave. I have to say for most of my relatively short life I have either sported a (bad, lazily trimmed) beard, or an equally bad, hastily shaven face, covered in bumps and razor burn, and honestly more like stubble than a clean shave. There was a brief time where I tried using a cheap brush from a christmas set I got and Bath & Body Works Shave Cream, but I gave up on that almost as quick as I started. I think they discontinued the line I used anyway. In general, I was young and lazy, and because I really didn't need to shave, I pretty much didn't.

Well recently, realizing I am not as young as I used to be (it is my Birthday today, after all!), along with having a job that requires a clean shave, I have come around to the idea that if I am going to have to shave just about every day, then I might as well finally try to learn how to do it right. Couple that with an affinity for retro lifestyle things in general, and it was inevitably going to lead to one thing, wetshaving. The old school method of shaving with a brush and mug, real shaving soap or cream and a Single Blade Safety Razor. Now, I am slowly easing my way into this pursuit, making sure I do everything right, and while I was searching for information to help me on my path I came aacross agreat set of YouTube Tutorials by a guy who goes by the screen name "mantic59", that I have found to be the absolute best resource so far. He even has a BLOG where he tries his best to answer any questions a n00b like me would have. Well through the joy of the internet, I figure I would share some of the videos that he has posted with you, my readers, to show that, like me, anybody can attempt this and maybe we can even get good enough to enjoy what, for me, has usually been an annoying daily chore.

Today I thought I would post the stuff that coincides with where I am along this journey, the VERY BEGINNING.

(note: I had nothing to do with the creation of any of these videos, and if you like the content they hold, I strongly suggest commenting on either his BLOG or YouTube profile page to that extent!)

I find this all to be terribly interesting, and hope that you do too.

TomC

Bombed By Black Patch Cigars!

2008-06-08T03:45:00.002-04:00

Last fall while on a trip to KY I picked up a cigar by the Black Patch Cigar Company, and reviewed it.

Well ever since posting it, I have been in contact from they guy in charge there. Well out of the blue, on Friday, I got a package from Black Patch with samples of thier new stuff, whic i thought was pretty cool, so I thought I would share that generosity with you all. More Black Patch Reviews forthcoming, it seems. . .

TomC

"The Kids" Take On A Nub Habano

2008-06-08T03:42:00.002-04:00

I just love these guys, who are at it again:

TomC

My New Humidor And its First Friend

2008-06-08T01:42:00.003-04:00

Not much too this post really, just a little cigar pRon! After a long time trying to save for one, I finally purchased an Antietam Cabinet Humidor! And since I didn't want the humidor to feel lonely, here is its first friend, a box of Carlos Torano Signature Churchill. Fun Times!