GOOD MORNING, its Sunday 6 December,2009 today is my daughters 37th birthday , & it seams just like yeasterday I was rocking her to sleep ...... so long ago , but I was a younger man then & had a life to live & today I have to say I did enjoy it so far !! it is a Bright down right COLD day here in da 'Burgh , the water in the bird feeder is frozen solid , looks like Woodstock & his friends will be sliding not drinking today !! , Hummm maybe I should add a little brandy to the water to keep it from freezing, then I can sit on the back deck & watch the drunk birds try to fly .......... big waste of brandy giving it to the birds !! Got my car back from the repair shop, & its running better than ever this last tank of gas I got close to 25 MPG , a few trips on the super slab helped bring up the mileage, , I get in the passing lane, put on my left turn signal & set the cruse at 55 , man can you piss off EVERYONE doing that hahahaha, naw i set the right foot to hold about 55 , the control is broken , , it must be in the switch as the fuse is good, or the unit has a vacume leak or just plain worn out ! what ever it is , it just dont work no more so I do it the old fashioned way, I step on the gas !!!!! havent heard much from the grandsons this week, school is taking up a lot of there time as well as piano lessons , guitar lessons, & feeding the Mastive , leaving little time for me to go out with them..... the 11year old still thinks I'm cool, but the 14 year old is now embarrised by my cigars in public , people staring & caughing, thats when I puff harder , I love going through the drive in window for coffee at CharBuck$ with a big maduro Churchill , I close the sun roof so all the smoke goes out the drivers window , caugh sputter & recoil when the blast of smoke sneeks in the den of the anti smoking brigade ,,,, siss on you pister hahahahaha ***** News Flash ****** NO pot roast today , again I repeat , NO POT ROAST AGAIN today ! , some thing must be wrong with my wife , she asked for meatloaf ,, ,,,, ,,, , , .,what should I do ? do you think I should take her to the doc & have her checked out , or just relax & go with the flow, a big disruption in the ebb & flo of the univerce , like light , gravity & air to breathe , Sunday is pot roast, , but in the past few weeks she has relented 7 asked for some thing different, hummmmm I wonder might she be developing a taste bud or 2 ? hummmmmm only time will tell ! we are drinking a holiday blend from the local coffee roaster , , no added flavorings , but a nice bright cup of java for the morning , no kona this morning , I miss it , maybe later this evening , , right now I am going to mix up the meat loaf, & head into the shop, the police & fire departments along with the EMS are getting an open house at the shop today during the Steelers game , a little treat for the guys with the badge ..... Badages we dont need no stinking badges ......... Black Friday has come & gone, Cyber monday was here & gone with out a trace, I hope the rest of the holiday season is better than the start was, but we will survive , I didnt get a lot of stuff this year for the holiday season, , I am making my own gift bags up out of stock items , hey you cant smoke the fancy box anyhow, yea they look nice but I have had it with all that BS that looks good , sit back & enjoy the cigar , I leave my "DRESSY" lighters at home, I carry a zippo with a navy logo & a gas insert & a plastic V cutter , I have my xicar cutter& lighter in the other pocket also , but I use the zippo with the gas insert a lot more that the xicar , yea the toys are nice but they just dont make a big difference in the over all quality of the smoke a good cut & light are fine if they come from a 100 buck cutter or a 5 buck cutter & lighter , its all in the smoke ! & speaking of smoke I think its time for a Don Carlos #3 , OH , I almost forgot , on last nights cigar ride I had a Kristoff maduro torp , that I had lit early in the day & got called away for a few minites that turned into a few hours, well that half of a cigar that I had almost one hour on was innthe ashtray when we went for our saturday cigar ride , well I relit it & man what a fantastic smoke , I got an other hour & a half out of that SOB !!! & it was flavorfull all the way down, no acidic taste on the relight , no flaking of the ash, just a great smoke, I wish I had a lot more of them , but the box is almost gone, looks like I need to reorder hahahaha , well its about time for me to turn on the heat in the Qtr.Deck & get ready for theopen house at the shop, looks like it will be a busy day , Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

hope every thing went well with the open house ... too bad for thr Steelers ...who are those guys wearing their jerseys ???

gmill880:

hope every thing went well with the open house ... too bad for thr Steelers ...who are those guys wearing their jerseys ???

slow at the shop, & the 6 time super bowl champions got there head handed to them on a platter, there big & there BAD, BUT not as bad as cleveland or the lions , & I hate to admit it , I have lived in both areas, , lived in Lakewood & worked in Rocky River , both subburbers of the mistake on the lake, Cleveland, & spent a lot of my childhood in Flint & Clio Michigan , got to root for the Tigers & the Indians hahahaha Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Good morning , it is Sunday 13 december,2009, a crazy weather morning here in da Burgh, we have a thin layer of ice everything, the roads are like hockey rinks , the trees dont have as much ice as the roads as the air temp is just at freezing , but the ground is colder, the rain falls & spreads out & bingo , ICE , I had plans to do a little shopping this morning but that aint going to happen, the heat is on in the Qtr.deck & the coffee has been ground & brewed, a day of sitting in the Qtr.deck with a pot of coffee ,a stack of Jazz Cd's,& a bottle of Single malt , looks like it might be a Tuff day ! hahaha , & to top it all off I have a few Pork chops defrosting , & some brown rice ready to get started, NO BEEF AGAIN THIS SUNDAY ! AMEN !!!!!! Last night I took Barb to the local mall & got her a few new bra's , first time in years we went shopping for underware together , most of the time she will go with her sister or our daughter, but last night I was Stuck with the task of Holding the Purse ......... ahhh what fun !!! This past week was the S L O W E S T in sales we have had in the past 3 years , for the first time since we opened we didnt cover the operations cost , sure some weeks were just covering the nut but even a few bucks in the black is better than a few cents in the red ...... Payday was a tad short, & I have no idea why the sales are so low, all of the regulars were in & all bought what they get week in & week out , it was the walk ins & the some time smokers that didnt show up at all , there is this one old guy who comes in every day gets one cheep cigar , a free cup of coffee & leaves me a buck tip , so every few days I never charge him for the cigar, I just put the tip in the regester evey day & still come out a few bucks ahead each week, even giving him one on Thursday ....... well he has cut back his afternoon walks & now was in just one time this week, spent his 3 bucks & got a cup of coffee left me a buck tip as per his regular operation, . But thats just the tip of the ice'burgh , Friday night about half of the guys showed up, for the BYOB , I had a little egg nog spiked with rum , brandy & a wee bit of Bourbon , a bottle of Irish whisky & a bottle of home made white wine & some GREAT PATRON OF THE SINGLE MALT GODS brought in a 15 YO Glennfiddich & a few cans of Bottingtons were seen in the fridge , lets just say I was feeling NO PAIN untill I counted the days recipts , dammmmm it was LIGHT Oh well there is next week to do it again ! I have a delemia here this morning , should i start out with the Don Carlos #3 like I do most mornings or hit this contraband Partagas series D # 4, what a wat to start the day.... will it just bring the whole day to a great start or will the next cigar be a let down.............. dammmm so many ways to look at it , so little time to think about it .... well the thinking is OVER , DC# 3 first with the Kona , Then switch coffees to a Coasta Rico Estate grown Peaberry & with a snifter of 18YO Macallen & the partagas then, but if i get any visitors the partagas will wait , dont have an other one to share , dont know how that happened , , must have smoked a few singles at different times or my brother has been in my humidors AGAIN .. dammmm he must have a key to the back door or something ........ , hahahaha , Not that i am a hard line conserative or a tree hugging liberal , BUT this Globial warming BS has my pantys all in a knot ! cap & trade, carbon footprints , carbon credits, , dammmmmm look back at the history of the world, it gets Hot & it gets cold, , the great lakes were formed when the ice cap covered most of north americia , it was called the ice age, well we have had more than one of them , hey I am no climatoligest, BUT I have a little common sence, when the Los Angles basin was first seen by Spanish explorers they were commenting about the "Smog" in the area , the car was a few hundred years in the future , Nature will take care of it self, tell algore to fill his piehole with a slice of lemon custard ......... NO Al just a slice not the entire pie, dammmm to late hahahahaha well i have a date with a pot of coffee a stack of jazz Cd's & a snifter of single malt & a few SEEGARZ, Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Hey Vince, As much as we all enjoy your weeks events, I don't think the Mrs. would appreciate you talking about her need for undergarments !! You are the one that got me started on the DC#3 , and 4's for that matter. I need to get a box one day since I only pick them up in pairs, and smoke them sparingly. Does the extra ring gauge on the Robusto size ( my favorite size) change the profile a lot in the DCs. Enjoy you week buddy, ..

its a little fuller, I do like the thin size first cigar , if they made a lancero ............. , & as far as bra shopping , dammm I love to get after the sales lady, I know the stile number,the size & the color, I just like to mess with there minds ! Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is Sunday 20 December 2009 a WHITE snow covered morin da Burgh, we got about 5 inches of the white stuff last night & it looks great all but for the removal of the snow from the cars , roads & walk ways , the pine trees are a sight to behold, tuffs of snow mixed in the tuffs of green , with red cardinals flying in & out the birds flocking to the feeder & back to the pine trees , this day is just a wonderful way to start the week,, the coffee this morning is a winter blend from Sheetz Brothers , a chain of convenance stores /gas stations /sandwich shops /gourmet coffee bar, in each shop , they never brew up the winter blend in the shop but sell the 12 ounce bag of preground coffee for 4 bucks a bag, a slight flavor of hazel nuts & pastasico nuts , with just a hint of nutmeg , I am not a flavored coffee lover , I like my coffee dark & bold but for some reason this just hits my taste buds & I do enjoy it a few pots a year at this time, now & just now, I dont want it in the summer at all, not that I would keep it till it was hot out BUT this might make a great iced coffee in the summer add a shot of Tia Maria & /or Frangelicia , a drop or 2 of Bailys Irish cream, hummmm I wonder if I will be able to hide a bag of this stuff till then ???? only time will tell, it might be gone before Easter & it might make it to the 4th of july , who knows only time will tell!! Well the earth is back in its natural rotation , there is a Hunk o' Beef ready for the cast iron oven & Barb is Happy to get her Beef again. , I am just glad that she is QUIET ~hahahaha sales at the shop have been B A D , so dammmmm slow , good thing I didnt over buy for Christmas like I did last year, , I still have a few boxes of stuff i got for last Christmas , all the small gift packs went fast but a lot of the full boxes are still there , Vega Fina & Black Pearl , are there , I have one guy buying the black pearls , he stops every few weeks & gets a few, i dont know it it will be worth re ordering them or not, he gets a mixed box of 20 & about half are black pearls , I have them marked 20% off retail, , when they were full priced he never touched them , But he likes the "bargains" , if I re order do I keep the price low or just lower the price on an other slow mover & see if he switches when I put the price back up , hummmm , thats a great idea, I should think out loud more often ! hahahaha The boys have been laying low , getting ready for the annual visit from Santa hahahaha , yea like they dont have any idea its been me all this time hahahahaha at 11 & 14 they can tell but go along with it anyway , looks like this might be the last year for a while, till the GREAT GRANDCHILDREN start to show up hahahaha da burgh lost a great voice on the radio last week Fred Honzberger a KDKA fixture of over 30 years past away while on vacation, I heard his last show on my way to work last week one day he was telling everyone he was going on his Christmas vacation, to play his tuba in the salvation army band at the red kettles arround town , Fred was 58 , there were no indications of what caused his passing , but he had been under the weather for a few years , he did have a gastric by pass , after I had mine but I guess it just didnt help him as much as it did me .... he will be missed , so Smoke one for Fred even if he wasnt a cigar smoker he was a fun guy to listen to on the radio........ Barb is out side cleaning the snow from the cars & turning on the heat in the Qtr.Deck for me Bless her heart, I will be heading out there soon , I have a Casa Fuente , & a few other PRIME sticks to fire up this afternoon, the beef will be hitting the oven soon & I will be brewing up a pot of kona to enhance the Don Carlos #3 , then the snifter of 18Yo macallen, a little Tanzanian Peaberry & the Casa Fuente , a black lable Don Peppin should carry me to the time when the hunk 'O beef is ready , & who know what I might have after that ! , Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Hey Vince Your description of that Winter Wonderland ALMOST makes me love the season. It's all beautiful from the warmth of indoors. I hate to travel in it, or have to shovel it. Have a good week.

I hate to go out in it also, great to look at but thats about it , never wanted to stay here when I retired, i wanted to go some place warm but the wife said NO WAY, so here I sit & freeze all winter , Thank God for Flannel !!! Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Good afternoon , its Sunday 27 December 2009, sorry for the late start of the day but the wife was feeling a little frisky this morning so ........ well its a bright sunny cold morning here in da burgh , the snow is all gone from all the rain we had, & that made for a lot of ice for a few days , what a mess! , well Christmas is over & the toys are all over the floor, , I better clean up my cars & dump trucks before the grandsons get here & want to play a game on the TV hahahahaha, Santa was verrrry good to me , a few bottles of single malt & a few boxes of cigars , a big tim of nuts & dry fruit , coffee & a whole lot of love & good wishes from family & friends , a veeeeeerrrry merry Christmas ................. we were a lot slower at the shop than I had hoped for , I havent run all the numbers yet but it looks like we were down about 30% from last year , & last year wasnt as good as the year before , , well so much for closing in Feb for a week in Cabo hahahahaha looks like I will be sloshing though the snow slush & cold all winter AGAIN ! hahahaha I have the day off , I dont need to cook a big slab of beef, we are having left overs, yea baby , there is Ham , & there is Ham , & there is H A M. , Champagne cooked with all the stuff that should be served with it , it is melt in your mouth tender loaded with flavor, we did have a bit of bubbly with it ,a little better stuff to drink than it was cooked in , you now i just dont get all that excited with any sparkling wine as I did 40 years ago , I guess my taste buds have turned a blind eye to the stuff, however i do enjoy a weee drammm of single malt ........, the boys had a great time opening gifts & fighting with each other as brothers are prone to do , I still argue with my brother, , BUT for the first time in our lives he out weighs me, I am a lot older than him so I was naturaly larger , as i was almost an adult when he was just getting out of diapers, , but as the years went on & I got bigger he was able to stay on course & keep the weight off, I guess all the booze & drugs help keep you thinner than you should be , well he is clean & sober now & I have had the gastric by pass, so now he is bigger than I am , what a fat ass hahahahaha .......................... I hope you all had a save & sane Christmas & that the new year brings you joy & happyness .................. see you all next year ..... Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

mmmmmm ham....

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

mmmmmm ham....

ham good. bacon better.... how about a bacon or ham truffle?

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"All things are possible through faith in The Beard."
- j0z3r 1/15/2010


pure.refreshing.bacon.

Jdorais:

kuzi16:

mmmmmm ham....

ham good. bacon better.... how about a bacon or ham truffle?

, deep fry beer batter bacon !!!!!BEST............................................................................................................................... Good morning , it is Sunday 3 Jan,2010........... 2010 yep a new year to run into the ground ..... its C O L D here in da Burgh all of 9 Degrees F , with a wind chill of MINUS 10 F , looks like the qtr.deck will be cold today , I missed the swim in the river this year on new years day , the old bones just cant take it anymore , the old saying goes , you dont stop playing when you get old, you get old when you stop playing......... well I guess I am starting to show my age , just dont play as hard or as often as I did 55 years ago , hahahaha before a lot of you guys & gals were born hahahaha ..... the winter has taken its tole on the shop, no one is comming in & sales are showing it , the Christmas rush never happened , we had a few better days , than average but no BIG block buster holiday season, so the sale signs didnt help, the regulars just scooped up the stuff at a discount & not enough new customers came in to try to UPSELL them to a more expencive line or cutter or lighter last year we were down about 20% from the year before but this time we are almost 40% below last years figures, I guess I will not be going to Hawaii for the Easter vacation hahahaha today I will be in the kitchen creating some thing from all the left overs that are falling out of the fridge & freezer, , looks like ham will be the center of the attraction, & what ever else I can find will be in the pot, , BUT no sour ***, in the dish today , the air in the house needs to clear before I start eating it again hahahaha , the boys are off with there father this weekend so dont look for the 3 of us on the news tonight at 11PM hahaha , maybe next week hahahaha new years eve was a quiet one here , we watched *** Clark count it down, , I kissed the wife & we went to bed , her in her room & me in my room, , at our age we go to bed to sleep.......... I have been sipping some great single malt scotches this winter a fine after market independent bottler McMurry David, took a 10 Y.O . Laphoraig & finished it for 2 years in a Margue wine cast, , Now I have never been a big fan of wine finished malts but for some reason this one just hit my taste buds on the money bell ! , I also was in the Irish whisky a wee bit , some fool at the spirits shop miss marked a few bottles of Bushmills , it was supposed to be on sale for 19.95 , down from the regular price of 24.95 , well it was marked only 9.95 , I got them ALL hahahahaha so I will be finishing up the last one some time in May hahahahaha , thank God for the Plastic money to take advantage of the FIND of the year , the credit card will be paid off long before all the wiskey has turned into urine , I do process it well thank you, I can turn just about any distilled spirit, wine, or beer as well as coffee & other drinks into urine in the blink of the eye , seams like the more I drink the more I pee ! hahahaha , so far so good , the prostate is doing just fine ! hahaha speaking of coffee , this mornings pot is a Costra Rican , Tarazu , or estate grown some thing or other , all I know is its NOT my Sunday Kona , the price skyrocketed just before Christmas, & I passed on it for this week, if the price drops a little I MIGHT get it for next sunday but when its this cold outside I buy it roasted as I dont want to stand outside at the grill to roast the coffee since I am not allowed to do it in the kitchen anymore , to much smoke & to much clean up for the boss , so I do it outside where there is no smoke to worry about & the wind takes care of everything , BUT its WAY TO COLD OUT ! , I might even go to the shop today just to be warm for my Sunday Morning , well afternoon Cigar , as its almost noon & I still need to get todays supper in the oven ........ Steelers at 1 PM & possable last game of the season , after loosing 5 games in a row we can kiss the SEVENTH Lombardi trophy good buy till next year ............. Big Ben wants more rings than Terry Bradshaw ..... well wanting them isnt getting them , you need to work for them & forget about the rest of the STUFF , if you want to be the best you give it your all, thats why I am here & not on the Iron Chef, I had to give more than I did to get there & I was happy were I was & am so I never sent in my tape or thought about it much since then, I like the time & place I am in my life, & why let any distraction change your or my happyness ??????? Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Good morning , it is Sunday 10 Jan,'10 , its C O L D outside here in da Burgh , we hit zero last night on my back deck, the weather service said we hit 5 above for the offical reading , hey 5 degrees here or there , its still dammm cold, we havent been above freezing since the first of the year , even with all the insolation in the Qtr.Deck its still about 55 F with the heater running at max, so I will be passing on a day in the Qtr.deck again this Sunday, looks like I will be heading for the shop later for the Sunday afternoon smoke , & I will take a big mug of kona with me , & make some thing a lot cheeper for the mooches at the shop, we have been open for 3 year & I have never charged for a cup of coffee yet, a few guys have brougt in a pound here & a pound there witch I do appricate, but most of them just drink it like its there own home, , I provide the coffee, the cups & the seat, the heat & the lights, a little enternaiment , you want cream or sugar BRING YOUR OWN, I dont use it , I just am not going to pay for it my self, , dammmmm I am in a bad mood all ready just thinking about it, well thats what I get for thinking ! hahahaha the Sunday hunk of beef is in , the stove top has a pot of ham & green bean soup simmering away , I wanted ham & pinto beans , but the boss dosent like any dry beans in any fashion, so its green beans & she is happy, & a happy wife is worth its weight in GOLD........ all you BOTL know what I am talking about ! , like the old saying goes if its got tires or mammary glans it will give you fits at some time , & speaking of tires , I had to get 2 rear tires this week, picked up a big old hunk of steel in one & hit a big iceburgh / pothole & broke the belt in the other , got 2 flats in less than 50 feet from each other , right in front of a tire shop, , Imagine that , , land mines to improve business maybe ? , like my buddy who owns a glass replacement service for autos & homes , he also sells BB guns & sling shots hahahahahaha Last night we went for a short cigar ride , & I had a San Cristobal robusto , I thought it might get me close to an hour if I took it SLOW , well joy of joys it lasted almost an hour & 45 minutes , enough time to sip 2 mugs of coffee, , I had to stop for a refill at charbuck$ as they were the only coffee shop open , micky deees had a line arround the buildingat the drive up & burgherking didnt have any coffee ready , but the lady said they would make a pot as soon as they were done cleaning it , , so I passes & ended up bitting the bulit & getting a quad expresso ............. can you say BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ? , maybe thats why the cigar lasted so long , I was BUZZED from the coffee & didnt hit the cigar as hard or as fast , but I slept like a baby, up every 2 hours to pee hahahahaha the boys have been spending time with there friends showing off the new Christmas stuff, so there isnt much to tell you about them this week, , but the weather is killing my hands & feet, the skin is breaking down at an alarming rate & I have been loading up on the hand cream, & changing sox's a few times a day, , using a lot of powder but the air is so dry ..... How dry is it, ?? why its so dry , I have been drinking my martinis in the shower & they are still dry ! I have a great cigar ready to cut , my Sunday morning smoke , a Don Carlos #3 , I will get the car started, & warm, fill my travel mug with Kona & head to the shop for a few hours, , come home in time to take the hunk of beef out of the oven & make the gravy, , , , yep its SUNDAY here in da Burgh & all is well in the land of 3 rivers , Hinze field is silent, we drove past the Mustard bowl last night on our cigar ride , no one tail gating , NO steelers in the playoffs this year , bad for the business , beer sales are off , chip sales are down , all the stuff arround the statium is at a standstill , but soon Spring traing will start & the Pirates will be filling PNC pank with a few hundred people hey if they win a few games this year ( 17 loosing seasons in a row) they might get a thousand at a game , gone are the glory years ,a world series champ a stanly cup champ & super bowl champ all in the same town all in the same year , & we did have a team in pro basket ball, the Pittsburgh ...... Pipers, I think, an aba team , won the championship one year with about 40 people in the stands, & there was the world team tennis , the Triagles , but the league folded after a few years , , Pittsburgh is a Blue collar, hard working beer drinking sports town, to bad I dont drink beer (verry little anyway ) dont watch sports & havent worked a day in my life hahahahaha , I guess thats why I love the BURGH hahahaha Enjoy, Vince

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Please pass the gravy, GO NAVY

Enjoy, Vince

Good Morning Vince... Sorry to hear about the bad start to the day - I sure couldn't be happy about those temperatures, but fortunately I live a warm part of California. Hope the rest of the day turns up for ya.

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There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless — boys and women — and I am neither one.