My Cigar History

My experience with cigars seems to mirror many in this hobby. I began smoking cigars in high school just as something to do. Usually the “good” stuff like swishers, white owl, tiparillos, etc. In the later years of high school, I was introduced to premium cigars by an uncle of mine. He was (and still is) a Punch smoker. From then on I became very intrigued with the cigar industry and more specifically the art of cigar making. All of the nuances of the process, much like the wine industry, and how they affect the final product, is fascinating to me. Although I was introduced to premium cigars a long time ago, it wasn’t until a few years ago when my cigar hobby became a passion. I was gifted a 50 ct. humidor and quickly filled it. I remember thinking that I will never need more than 50 cigars on hand at a time. Well, as most of you know, I was wrong. I now have 4 humidors including a 600 ct. end table.

As my passion for cigars grows and as this hobby takes me to new places, I am finding that it is one of the most exciting and inviting “societies” on the planet. The people in the cigar world are much different than others. The camaraderie and the generosity among BOTL/SOTL is unmatched. I think this is why I continue to look for ways to get deeper and deeper into the industry.

And that brings me to Nice Tight Ash. I met Charlie and Chris as a fan of their site. It was entirely coincidental that they lived an hour away from me and that I was soon to be taking a job even closer. They had asked if I would like to do some reviews for the site but I wasn’t quite sure I was up to it. When Charlie was getting married I agreed to do a guest review of the Man O’ War Ruination and thoroughly enjoyed it. So the next time they asked, I jumped at the chance. I am looking forward to being involved with such a good group of guys and watching site grow as we all get better and better at what we are doing.

My Personal History

I’m a 32 year old Engineer living in Maryland. I have been married for just over 5 years and have 2 great kids. My passions are obviously cigars but also on top of the list are family and ice hockey. I grew up playing hockey from the age of 4 in central New York and continue to play today although I spend most of my time coaching now. I started coaching when my regular playing days ended and have coached multiple youth and college programs in New York and Maryland. Other things that probably aren’t interesting but…I love to golf although I would really love to get better and I watch pretty much any sport on TV with the exception of basketball.

Current Top 3 cigars: Man O’ War Ruination Belicoso, Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic 1979, El Triunfador

Honorable mention in no particular order: CAO Lx2, Tatuaje Brown Label, Padron Maduro, Oliva Serie V

My Cutters: Palio Silver.

My Lighters: Xikar Executive torch

My Humidors: 500-600 count End Table, a 50 count Savoy Desktop, a 100 count 3 drawer desktop, a 20 count desktop at the office, and a 15 count cigar Caddy travel case.

Our main goal is to make past reviews easier to find, and help you find cigars you want to smoke. Web design is my real job, and I know from that one of the best things you can do when redesigning any site is to ask the reviewers of the site what they want. So here is your chance to put in your 2 cents about the redesign. What do you want to see? What don’t you want to see? What can we do better? What should we leave alone? Just leave a comment below, and we’ll take it into consideration as we work on the overhaul.

Sincerely,

The Nice Tight Ash crew

My Cigar History

Growing up I can remember my Dad smoking cigars and I guess that is what sparked my interest early on.  So in June 2000, while on my senior trip in the the Bahamas, I decided to try a cigar for myself.  I don’t remember the particulars, but I can tell you it was a H. Upmann.  Over that week I probably smoked a handful of cigars and remember feeling like I had really discovered something.  When I returned to the states I had to wait a month and a half before I could purchase cigars legally; so, as soon as I turned 18 I started frequenting a local Tinder Box.  Early on I smoked a lot of  Romeo y Julieta, Partagas Black, La Gloria Cubana Serie R and Sancho Panza.  As my interest grew so did my tastes.  I began picking up new and different cigars and began a journey of self discovery; a journey that continues today.

Cigars quickly became a part of my life.  I spent countless nights on the back deck with my Dad smoking cigars, sipping scotch and talking about whatever came to mind.  Cigars even found their way into family gatherings.  Following any big holiday meal or birthday celebration there is always a cloud of smoke that hovers above a group of family members, that includes my cousin Charlie.  We joke that we are solving the world’s problems, but it’s nothing more than a world class BS session.  But that’s what cigars are all about; they are about more than just the leaf, it’s about the people who smoke them and the stories they share.

In June of 2007, after attending CigarFest, I began frequenting an online cigar board, Cigar Weekly.  I had met a few members while at the event, and decided that it would be a great way to learn new things and share my love for cigars.  That pretty much brings us to today.  Now, I would consider myself a true certifiable cigar nut.  I belong to a handful of boards and, thanks to Charlie, now use Twitter where I have met even more great cigar nuts like myself.

My Personal History

I’m a 26 year old Financial Analyst living in Maryland.  I married my high school sweetheart in November of 2006.  We don’t have any kids yet, but we are looking forward to that in the future.  

A little more about me in complete random style: can’t imagine not owning a Jeep, don’t play golf enough, love all types of music, enjoy trying new craft beers, bourbons and scotches, I’m a wanna-be handy man, enjoy watching football, hockey and NASCAR, and I’m a night owl.

Some of my favorite cigar brands: Tatuaje, Illusione, La Flor Dominicana, Liga Privada No. 9, Don Pepin Garcia, CAO, EO Brands, Camacho, Torano and Joya de Nicaragua.     

My Cutters: Palio Silver and a Xikar Xi2.

My Lighters: Xikar Executive torch, Colibri soft-flame lighter.

My Humidors: 150-200 Count Savoy, 1 48 Quart coolerdor, 1 Camacho Cherry cabinet style humidor and a 25 count desktop at the office.

Other: Xikar 20-30 count traveldor. ]]> http://nicetightash.com/meet-the-ash-holes-chris/feed/ 6 http://nicetightash.com/february-contest-win-a-box-of-bad-dog-cigars/ http://nicetightash.com/february-contest-win-a-box-of-bad-dog-cigars/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:36:59 +0000 Nice Tight Ash http://nicetightash.com/?p=269 Nice Tight Ash is happy to announce our first sponsor, Duque Cigars. Use coupon code NTA2009 to get 5% off your order. To kick off our partnership, they are sponsoring our first contest!

The Prize

The winner of our February contest will win a film can of 20 Bad Dog toros and a Bad Dog Cigars poster. The Bad Dog is a long filler cigar with a slightly sweetened tip that goes well with a cup of coffee or after dinner. And the poster? Well, the posters speak for themselves.

The Contest

So, what do you have to do to win this great prize? Simple. Just leave a comment with a suggestion for Nice Tight Ash. Each person can make one suggestion each day until March 4th, and we will select one winner at random soon thereafter. Please make sure to enter a valid email address so we can contact you and Duque Cigars can get your prize to you!

Good luck and let’s see those suggestions!

My Cigar History

Oddly, I don’t really remember my first cigar. I started smoking cigars at 19 when I was in college. I started off with drug store cigars. Garcia y Vegas, stuff like that. I moved on to Romeo y Julietas and Macanudos from there. When I left that school and came back home, my uncle had started to smoke cigars on a pretty heavy basis, and I learned of the Tinder Box in Waldorf, MD from him. That is where my cigar education really started. My work schedule provided me with every other Friday off. With money burning a hole in my pocket, and having most of my friends away at college, I started going up there on my Fridays off, and spending 3, 4, 5 hours sitting in the shop, and talking with the owner and head tobacconist, Jeff Lustig. I’d buy a handful of sticks, sit down at the counter, and smoke and pick his brain. He’d invariably go into the humidor, pull out a stick, and then school me on everything about this stick. I quickly ramped up from Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and CAO Gold to Ashton VSG and Padron Anniversary. After a year of buying a couple sticks at a time, I purchased my first humidor from Jeff. A beautiful Montecristo Pyramid box that held around 300 cigars. A week later I bought my first full box: Onyx Reserve Mini Belicosos.

I kept on trying new cigars, probably irritating Jeff and his crew with the question “What new stuff do you have?” Then, in April of 2006 a new cigar shop opened closer to home, co-located at the Tiki Bar. I walked into the shop a couple weeks later, and asked the guy behind the counter if they were hiring. He told me “We have all the security we need for right now.” I guess he thought I wanted a job as a bouncer because of my size. I told him “No, no. I want to work in here.” He asked me about my knowledge of cigars, I told him, and a few minutes later I was the first tobacconist at the Tobacco Barn. I relished the opportunity, and totally immersed myself in this part-time job that was really a full-time passion. I began keeping 3 cigar journals (a different one for each of the big three countries), and I worked to turn over the stock, bringing in new and different cigars, and expanding our shop’s presence and trying to build a loyal following. I met some great people along the way, and added some of them to the staff. I signed up for Twitter in February 2007, and in the summer of 2008 I started following a bunch of great cigar people, and met some more great cigar people that way. It got me even more determined to start up this site to share my experiences and knowledge with the cigar community.

Me with Pete Johnson at the Tatuaje Monster release at W. Curtis Draper in Washington, DC.

My Personal History

I’m a 29 year old web designer living in Maryland. I got engaged on Christmas Eve 2007, and will be married to my wonderful, understanding-of-my-cigar-habit fiancée May 30, 2009 in Orlando. Both my father and father-in-law are cigar smokers which can’t be beat.

Besides cigars, I enjoy golf, reading, and watching movies. About the only thing that rivals my knowledge of cigars is my knowledge of The Simpsons. And I’m a devoted Mac fan.

Favorite Brands: Ashton VSG, Camacho, Don Pepin Garcia, Fuente, La Flor Dominicana, La Riqueza, Oliva, Padron, Perdomo, Rocky Patel, and Tatuaje.

My Cutters: Palio Burlwood (my day-to-day carry cutter) and a Xikar Xi2 in black.

My Lighters: Zippo with a Z-Plus insert (carry lighter), Porsche Design PD3, and a Tatuaje Lotus table lighter.

My Humidors: 100 count CAO America, 100 count cherry Cuban Crafters, two 48 quart Rubbermaid coolerdors, and a 24 count Craftsmen Bench travel humidor, all holding around 400 cigars at the moment.

Other: Carlito’s Stogie Nubber, an alligator skin two finger fake case, and a silver three finger case with a flask as the third finger.

Why Nice Tight Ash?

Back in 2001, Charlie was at his company’s Christmas party in Washington, D.C. After the party, he and his friends were down in the pub, smoking cigars and having some good bourbon. Charlie had had a bit much to drink, and got into professorial mode, and started to explain why the Padron 1964 Maduro he was smoking was so excellent to his friends. “Man, look at that nice tight ash! Just look at it! That’s how you know you’ve got a good cigar in your hand! Just look at that that tight ash!” Every five minutes “nice tight ash” dripped into his speech. And on Monday his friends didn’t let him forget it. So, being a web developer, he went and registered the domain.  And then a couple years later he forgot to renew it, but luckily his uncle saved his butt, and locked it up before somebody could get it. He never could figure out what to do with it. Eventually, a cigar blog seemed a natural fit for the name. So, in the spring of 2008, Charlie and his cousin Chris started working on Nice Tight Ash, hashing out ideas and concepts and the principals behind the site while herfing on the back deck at Chris’s house.

How we do things

For our cigar reviews, we smoke every cigar at least twice before writing our reviews. We drink water with at least one of them so as to not distract from the cigar (although you will catch us drinking a beer or Scotch or bourbon with them from time to time). And we try to find as much information about the cigar itself. Knowing the wrapper is from Nicaragua is great, but we try to find out what type of wrapper it is also. We also want to showcase both the known cigar brands, and also lesser known boutiques. We review what interests us, and hopefully it will interest you as well. We’ll get into cigar gear like humidors, lighters, cutters, and other odds and ends. And hopefully we can pass on some useful information we’ve picked up after smoking cigars for so long.

What’s next?

We’ve got some big plans, and we think you’ll find them as interesting and fun as we do. Subscribe to our RSS feed and Twitter and stay tuned as we roll out new features and reviews of not just cigars and gear, but also hopefully some articles that will help you get the most out of your cigar smoking in the coming days and weeks. And maybe we’ll sneak in some other stuff too. We’ll also be having some friends drop by to offer up some more info. Thanks for visiting Nice Tight Ash, and don’t forget:

Nothing beats a nice tight ash!

Charlie and Chris
Co-founders of NiceTightAsh.com