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I genuinely love cigars. They are a great source of enjoyment and relaxation for me. I truly believe that a good cigar is the one and only luxury that a real gentleman richly deserves. Hell, even if you're a slouch like me but still a good person you deserve the pleasure of a good cigar. Why do I like them so much? They make me look cool! NO! Just kidding. I smoke cigars mostly because of my Dad. He always enjoyed a good cigar (and many crappy cigars). He couldn't always afford the best stuff out there so he would rarely splurge for his favorites. He became very good at finding great values on cigars, getting the most bang for your buck. When the price was right and the budget could manage it, he'd get himself a box of Fuentes or Hoyos. Otherwise he'd be happy with his Marsh Wheelings, Dutch Masters, and even Parodis! God, those Parodis stink! But I digress. When I was a kid and a birthday or any gift-giving holiday came around, Dad would always ask for either soap-on-a-rope (the standard Dad gift!) or a box of Marsh Wheelings. It was never known if he really liked these things or if he knew that we'd be able to afford them. In any event he would often receive one of those gifts. Sometimes he'd ask for nice pipe tobacco and we (my brother and I) would march off to the Tinder Box and pick out some nice tobaccos and a few premium cigars to go with them. This was when it was still possible for a ten-year-old kid to walk into a tobacco shop and buy a gift for his Dad. Nobody ever thought we were going to smoke the stuff ourselves (I swear, if you have a politician in your state supporting that awful C.A.N.S.A. act you should just tell him to worry about our taxes and not whether school-age kids are smoking cigars! Ridiculous!). Anyway, we'd buy his gifts and over the years I became pretty good at spotting good tobaccos and cigars. I never even had a cigar of my own until I was 20 (It was a Garcia Vega English Corona. I bought that because it was a good mass-market smoke and it came in a specially priced 4 pack! Geez!). Over the years I smoked sometimes as many as 4 cigars a year! I still considered myself a cigar smoker! As the entertainment career got better and the finances improved I began to splurge more often. After Dad died in 1992 we found an unopened box of Dutch Masters in his desk. As a family we all lit up and held a stupid contest to see who could grow the longest cigar ash (Mom won, by the way). At that point I had decided that I wasn't going to deprive myself of a good cigar so long as I could afford it. Why do I like cigars so much? Mostly because whenever I light up a fine smoke I have a moment to think about my Dad.
In this section I'll be posting all kinds of information on cigars and martinis. You'll get recipes for killer drinks, great places to buy smokes, news, reviews, and much more. I encourage you to submit your own tips and suggestions, as well as your favorite martini recipes. All of Andy Land is for YOU to enjoy and I hope you'll play along and help make this one of the more entertaining sites you visit!
Cigar Home Page | Introduction |
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The Martinis? Well that's a new thing for me. My wife April bought me the COOLEST martini shaker for Christmas and all the fixins to make great drinks. (Somewhere on here will be a picture of the shaker, I promise.) I've really taken to the things. It's fun to come up with new combinations, enjoy the classics, and most of all...they go great with cigars! Actually, martinis are very similar to cigars. There are many subtleties to them. There's a lot to know and learn about their construction. Everyone who enjoys them has many theories about the perfect one. They're a great complement to my other great love, cigars. Plus, they're a helluva lot more fun than fine wines! Wine drinkers are so damn snooty it's embarrassing. Martinis are laid back and easy-going, just like me!