Past Newsletters
Vol.8 No.8
Member of the Month
Huy Nguyen Eats His Way Through S. Cal!
Dear Cigar Club:
I was sitting down enjoying a nice traditional 10 course Vietnamese meal the other day and I realized that a good cigar goes very well after a big Vietnamese feast! I love to eat. I mean I really love to eat. I eat more in one day than 3 to 4 average Vietnamese people eat in the same time! I had some soup mang cua (crab and asparagus soup), a huge plate of tom ran muoi which is like salted shrimp, 3 bowls of bu cac tao (fried rice with lots of good stuff in it), cai lan xao (I don't know what this vegetable is in English!) and not enough thit bo xao cai (beef with broccoli). I was still hungry so I ate two hamburgers and then decided to sit down and smoke the Cohiba you guys sent me. What a great way to end the meal! I reordered more of them to share with my friend and here in this photo is my good friend Van who can only eat one bowl of soup at a time. So, I hope you guys make me your member of the month this month so I can see my pretty face on your newsletter! Take it easy guys.
Huy Nguyen
Irvine, CA
SUBMIT YOURSELF OR YOUR GROUP PHOTO FOR CONSIDERATION! And if you're selected, we'll send you a variety pack of 25 hand rolled smokes from past selections! Get your submissions in now before everyone else does or you gotta wait 3 months to see your pretty mug adorning the front page! Send your photos and letter to: Cigar of the Month Club Attn: Member of the Month, PO Box 1627, Lake Forest, CA 92609 or email your photo and letter to customerservice@cigarmonthclub.com
Featured Cigar Dimensions
| Brand Name: | Shape | Size | Strength | Country | Panel |
| Rating | |||||
| A. Avo #7 | Corona | 6 x 44 | 5 | Dominican | 91 |
| B. Cruz Real Sp. Edicion | Robusto | 5 x 50 | 8 | Mexico | 90 |
| C. La Luna Maduro Fuerte | Toro | 5.5 x 52 | 7 | Honduras | 92 |
| D. Maya Maduro | Toro | 6 x 50 | 9 | Honduras | 92 |
| E. Oliveros Gran Reserva Maestro | Torpedo | 6.25 x 50 | 5 | Dominican | 89 |
Featured Cigars
Avo Uvezian was born in 1926, the son of a family of musicians in Beirut who dreamed of becoming a great musician. Avo worked hard at becoming a pianist and eventually moved to New York where he studied at the famous Julliard School of Music. Avo's dream had come true - he had established his career as a musician. In the early 80s Avo opened a restaurant and piano bar in Puerto Rico and discovered his love for cigars. In about 1982 he met the master cigar producer Hendrik Kelner in the Dominican Republic and by 1988 the first AVO had been sold in New York. Kelner and Uvezian had started with 100,000 cigars in the first year, and in the third the number had already risen to 750,000. Today they sell over three million cigars worldwide.
A medium bodied cigar with a fair amount of spice to it, the panel all agreed that this is a good cigar for any time of day. With a silky smooth Connecticut Shade wrapper and Dominican wrapper and binder, the quality of this cigar is apparent right from the get go. Perfectly rolled with no soft spots, you will quickly see why the panel choose this one to feature.
Boy, sometimes governments make some really stupid laws. Take Mexico, for instance, where cigar companies were required by law to only use Mexican tobacco in their cigars. The result of this law was that most Mexican cigars were full-bodied, but had no complexity. Well, luckily for the cigar companies (and cigar smokers), that law recently changed and the taste of many Mexican cigars did as well. Cruz Real was the first Mexican brand to change their blend of tobaccos and the result has been phenomenal. People who once snubbed their noses at Cruz Real are now making it a must in their humidor. While they still use Mexican binder, they now mix Dominican and Mexican filler and use a Connecticut Shade wrapper.
Whoa Nelly, this sucker packs a punch! Not for the faint of heart, the panel needed to sit down while they smoked this bad boy. A perfect burn and big mouthfuls of smoke put a smile on everybody's face. While the Connecticut Shade wrapper wasn't the silkiest we'd ever seen, it really didn't make a bit of difference. It was a well-constructed cigar all around and was smokeable all the way down to the nub.
Last year a small brand from Miami was quietly one of the most popular "boutique" brands on the market. Most people hoped that the devoted followers of La Luna Cigars, appropriately called "Lunatics", would continue to keep quiet about these fantastic cigars so that there remained enough to go around. Sorry folks, but the word is now out. Gael de Courtivron, who owns La Luna, doesn't exactly have a long family history in the cigar industry. In fact, there's no history at all. Gael does have twenty years as a professional drummer behind him, though, which means he's good with his hands, making him the perfect candidate to own a cigar company. Not buying the theory, huh? Well, when you smoke this bad boy you'll know that drumming did something for Gael, 'cause these cigars are no joke.
What a beautiful cigar! Sometimes there are cigars that you know, just from looking them, are going to put a big ol' smile on your face. This is certainly one of them. A box pressed maduro with a nice oily wrapper (which was a good indication that it was well aged); this is one of those cigars that you only want to pull out on special occasions. Everyone agreed they would smoke 2 or 3 of these a day if our wives would let us.
When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, he also discovered cigars. The Mayan Indians of Central America were the first to smoke cigars and their creation is available today in Maya cigars. Maya is imported from Honduras and hand-made with Honduran, Havana-seed tobaccos, and a Connecticut-seed, Ecuadorian grown wrapper.
Holy smoke! Who picked the cigars this month? Were they trying to blow our heads off with a bunch of full-bodied cigars, strong cigars? Oh yeah, we picked 'em! A cigar that, strangely enough, smells like Tabasco sauce, it's almost as spicy and powerful as the famous red stuff. The wrapper is pristine and the draw is perfect. You're in for a real flavor packed experience!
Oliveros Gran Reserva Maestro Torpedo
Oliveros Perez, originally from Spain and founder of Oliveros Cigars, began his cigar-manufacturing career in Cuba in 1927. In 1962, Oliveros left Cuba after the communist takeover of the nation. He left behind his dreams and the country he called his second home, but he took with him selected premium tobacco seeds from his own crop to continue his work. Those seeds were planted in the Dominican Republic and cared for with the same determination and skill that characterized his personality. His work was recognized the world over and he was invited to join the Institute del Tobacco to instruct others in the process of "piloto cubano", the germination and development of Cuban tobacco seeds. Oliveros' legacy demands that tobaccos be selected and aged with care before the expert torcedors perform their mastery and create this premium cigar.
A well-constructed Torpedo that is mild to medium bodied, this is a very woody cigar with some toasty notes on the palate. As we smoked this cigar the flavors of coffee bean and nut came out, making it perfect to smoke after dinner. It is easily apparent why the major cigar magazines have all raved about this one.
Ask Murl
Dear Murl,
Is there an appropriate time to stop smoking your cigar? Do you smoke yours down to the nub or leave an inch or so? What's the etiquette, you mighty fine canine?
Tim Hayes
Irvine, CA
Yo Timmy!
Your name sounds familiar. Are you a baseball player? Rock Star? Or just an average working Joe trying to live up to your mamma's demanding expectations. No matter. I liked your name, so your question gets answered this month. What can I say, we don't have a Bingo Master to assist with the selection process, so I have to devise my own methods.
Personally, I like to smoke my favorites until my whiskers begin to singe. One evening, I even tried to find my old College roach clip to savor an exceptional Monte Cristo. I like to enjoy the entire experience of a cigar and note the changes as it picks up speed and builds in flavor at the end of the smoke. But hey, that's me, a somewhat compulsive pooch that also chews furniture to the bone as well. According to Zino Davidoff, " A smoker of delicacy does not prolong it." There are those who say once the cigar has burned down more than halfway, it is done. Others will smoke a cigar down to the width of your finger. Some cigars definitely lend themselves to being smoked to the nub and others really ought to be extinguished before they're lit. Like many subjects that revolve around the pastime of smoking, it's quite subjective and you should keep it burnin' until you ain't enjoying any more. When you do finally put it down, don't tamp or snuff it out. Simply set it down and let it burn itself out. Hope that sheds some light on it, Timski.
Woof!
Murl.
Give Your Friends FREE Beer, Wine, Cheese, Chocolate,
Cigars & Flowers!
Through our Customer Appreciation Program
Your name is worth cold hard cash to your friends, co-workers and family members! Every time a friend, family member, or anyone else you know joins any one of our clubs, [or gives a gift] for 3 months or longer, we'll give them 50 % off of their first month, but only when they mention your name. And we'll also give you 50 % off your next month too which can either be applied towards your current membership or you can try one of our other Clubs out! (We can add one more month to your order at 50% off for prepaid memberships!)
The Fine Print: Members giving gift memberships do not qualify for referral credits and you can't give yourself a gift to qualify! This Program is mutually exclusive of any other promotions.
For Members Only
Original & Super Grab Bags!
That's right babies, help us put a little bit of our humidor into your humidor at insanely cheap prices! We've got some extra smokes that need a caring home to take them in so check it out! Choose between:
The Original Grab Bag at $39.95 for an assortment of 20 Original Club smokes…OR
The Super Grab Bag at $59.95 for an assortment of 20 Select Series or Premium Club Smokes!
* Plus S&H
Discounted Box Re-orders!
Members can take advantage of our volume purchasing and re-order their favorite cigars in box quantities at just over our wholesale costs. Re-order any selection featured in box quantities of 25 cigars or order them in convenient 5 paks! Other cigar shapes and sizes not actually featured, but from a featured brand line may also be re-ordered. Call for pricing.
| Featured Cigar | Box Qty | Box Cost | 5 Pak |
| Cost | |||
| A. Avo #7 Corona | 25 | $125.50 | $30 |
| B. Cruz Real Sp. Edicion Robusto | 25 | $82.50 | $22 |
| D. La Luna Maduro Fuerte Toro | 30 | $92.50 | $20 |
| C. Maya Maduro Toro | 25 | $76.50 | $20 |
| E. Oliveros Gran Reserva Maestro Torpedo | 25 | $95.50 | $24 |
Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery and add $7.95 for S&H for your first box and $3.00 for each additional box or grab bag. S&H for 5-paks is $4.95 and $1.50 for each additional 5-pak. All reorders are sent Priority mail unless otherwise requested. CA residents please add 7.75% Sales Tax. S&H for International re-orders must be calculated on an individual basis. Prices are subject to change.
