icehog3: BOTL of the Highest Order

[ColdCuts]

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e99/davidhudec/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/931BB8B7-8138-4289-AF7E-E953FC6D1A54_zps7dodycmc.jpg (http://s37.photobucket.com/user/davidhudec/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/931BB8B7-8138-4289-AF7E-E953FC6D1A54_zps7dodycmc.jpg.html)

I'd been on the lookout for a particular clear Havana that my grandfather used to smoke back when he was still with us, La Prosa. Not an easy thing to find, as you might imagine.

Using the trusty CA search function, I discovered that icehog3 had smoked a La Prosa on New Year's Day 2012. That's a long time ago, but I reached out nonetheless. Well, he didn't have a La Prosa, but he said he'd send me a different clear Havana if I was interested.

As you can see from the pic, he didn't send one like he'd indicated, he didn't send two, Tom sent me THREE clear Havanas!

I was knocked speechless. I wanted to tell everybody that story. And I wanted to say thank you to Tom. That is all.

There will be HONEST reviews forthcoming. :tu

[Dave128]

Tom is good people.

[AdamJoshua]

Great gesture from a fairly ok guy ;)

[ColdCuts]

Tom is good people.

It's true. And there are many others on CA too. Perfect example, nutcracker just sent me a beautiful 10er of cigars complete with a chocolate bar. Really amazing smokes. They arrived yesterday. He refused payment. Told me to enjoy them and feel free to PIF. Neil, if you're reading this, thank you again. You too are a BOTL of the Highest Order. :salute:

:l

[Gabe215]

BOTL are very bad at arithmetic!!! :D nice hit!!!

[Remo]

Nicely done Admiral, you big lug!

[The Poet]

Must be nice to be old enough to own such fine antique stogies. :r


Nice job there, Tom. :tu

[pnoon]

Way to go, Tom. :)

[shilala]

Well done, Admiral!!! :tu

[yourchoice]

Tom made me :)

[shark]

:tu

[EricF]

Nicely done Admiral!!! :salute:

[ApexAZ]

Nice job, Tom :) Things like this are what make this such a special community.

[CigarNut]

Very cool, Tom!

[Adriftpanda]

He also sent your a quarter!! Isn't he the best :)

[pektel]

Nice work, Tom.

[mk05]

What year is that quarter from!

Tom is great

[bobarian]

That's why we call him "The Admiral" :tu

[massphatness]

He shoots :ih

He scores

:l

[longknocker]

Great Job, Admiral!:D:banger:tu

[WhiteMamba]

He also sent your a quarter!! Isn't he the best :)

:r :r

Great job Tom. It's great to see people really care about one another.

[icehog3]

He also sent your a quarter!! Isn't he the best :)

That made me laugh out loud.

When I was new in the cigar world, I got to try a couple clear Havanas thanks to some of the great BOTLs at Club Stogie. It's a tribute to them and an honor to be able to turn new guys on to them as well. I hope at least one of them smokes well for you, Dave. :)

[Dave128]

May I ask stupid question.....what is a clear havana?

[CdnStogie]

was thinking the same thing -

Nice hit as well.

[ColdCuts]

A clear Havana is a cigar usually machine-made in the United States using varying amounts of Cuban tobacco prior to 1962. They're legal for Americans to buy, sell, trade, and smoke. But damned hard to come by.

"The cigars were called clear Havanas because customs officials used to sit in the factories and clear the tobacco used in them through customs as it was brought up from the warehouse basement." --Brooks Whittington of Halfwheel.

[shilala]

A clear Havana is a cigar made with Cuban tobacco, but is manufactured outside of Cuba. There used to be lots of companies in the US making cigars with Cuban tobacco, mostly pre-embargo, but some lasted on stocked cuban tobacco into the 70's.
There are also bonded clears, and iirc they were made under government inspection.
A government official would unlock the factory in the morning, make sure all the tobacco was certified from cuba, okay the smokes that were rolled, and lock up at night.
Someone else might help with that.

[Dave128]

Thanks for the explanations, Dave & Scott.

[Zanaspus]

Tom started me on the darkside. Good people, expensive people, but good people.

[jjirons69]

Baller!

[bimmerguy82]

Awesome commraderie!