It’s a real treat to enjoy the games but some of my best moments have been in the parking lot sharing the pre-game ritual with the other thousands of fan-actics there supporting their team in their own unique fashion.  There is an “art” to tailgating and my years of setting up and tearing down our makeshift outdoor kitchen, usually in a half drunken state, has blessed me with some insight on how to do it up right.  I don’t want to chastise anyone that takes part in the ritual of tailgating but there are some simple rules that if you are a real man you must follow. 

First and foremost, cigars are part of tailgating so don’t hesitate to light one while the grill is heating up.  Depending on how well your team plays that day, you may or may not be able to burn a celebratory stogie afterwards so why risk it?  You brought extra sticks so go ahead and torch one up!  Which brings me to another very key point in that first statement, GRILLS my boys, real grills are what you cook on when tailgating!  Not some George Foreman thingy or one of those hot griddles your grandmother makes pancakes on.  Fire, whether by propane or charcoal is the only way to cook a pregame feast and that is a pure and simple fact handed down to me by men who charted those waters years before my existence.  Just because some weirdo sautes bean sprouts in a white wine reduction sauce on his portable hibachi doesn’t make it right for tailgating.  Steaks, burgers, chicken wings and an endless variety of sausage is what should be searing and smoking on your grill while you guzzle cold beer and puff your cigar. 

My exception to those basic rules are of course anything that is deep fried, contains large amounts of cheese or was marinated in Jack Daniels.  I do have some amendments to my code of tailgating especially for the brutally cold winter games that we deal with here at the Frozen Tundra.  When the mercury dips into the single digits or less it’s hard to top a batch of home made chili or big bowl of chicken booyah to warm up your insides. My other option is simply to park the truck and walk into one of the many bars and let them do all the work for me.  If it weren’t for that stupid fucken statewide smoking ban that last option could possibly top all the others but since I still have to enjoy my pre-game cigars in the great outdoors, I might as well be stoking a bed of hot coals with a cold beer in hand with the rest of the real men.

Join The Brotherhood for our next Cigar Night on Tuesday September 7th at Titletown Tobacco to share a few of your best tailgating stories and talk football with the rest of the self proclaimed experts of the gridiron.  Just remember that it is a privilege to have our gatherings within the private lounge area so I really shouldn’t have to remind you guys to keep the place cleaned up after yourselves and to show your appreaciation to the guys for their generosity by picking up a few sticks from the humidor to help pay for keeping the lights on and the cable bills paid so we have such a classy place to hang out.  Hell, even better if you get a year membership that allows you 24 hour access and unbelievable deals but at least for now grab a cigar or two for the evening.

Don’t forget that I’m still offering up FREE cigars to any member that signs up a new recruit into the ranks of The Brotherhood.  Bring a guest and lets see how many new members we can get before the end of the year.  Whoever brings in the most new members will also get a grab bag of goodies for their hard work at our annual Christmas party. Man, I’m a super great guy to you bums!

One more quick thought for you guys.  As much as I enjoy my pre-game warm up in the parking lot, there are still some things you don’t want to miss inside the stadium.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend my Brothers and I’ll see you all on the 7th.

The Cigar Soldier

Now before depression sets in since most of you guys just realized that you have yet to actually enjoy the few months of bad snowmobiling weather we get here in the great white north, I have lots of event updates for you.  Before I get too far into that, don’t forget about my little contest that’s running for our club members; for every new member you sign up, you get FREE CIGARS!  That means a chance to win monthly prizes and I’ll have a nice end of the year package for the member who introduces the most new faces to the group.  You must be a paid member in good standing and you’ll receive credit once your referral is fully paid.  It’s that simple.

Here are some details on the events we have set up for the next few weeks.  Be sure to check the Events Calendar online so you don’t miss anything.

July 31 – Titletowntobacco Golf Outing

The First Annual (soon to be classic) Golf outing hosted by the great crew at Titletown Tobacco and The Lounge will be held at Royal St. Partick’s in Wrightstown.  The outing will benefit CSAW who fight tirelessly to defend our rights to enjoy cigars in tobacco shops throughout the state. Your registration includes golf, a box lunch, dinner, cigars and of course some great hole prizes.  For more information and to sign up, just check out this link for your registration form. 

August 3rd – Cigar Night

 We’ll attempt to enjoy another evening outside for Cigar Night so stock up the travel humidor, cooler and lawn chair to hang out at Brother Grampa Bear’s (Mike Lauder) for some camaraderie.  I’ll have coolers full of ice to chill down your bottles or mix up a cocktail so bring your beverage of choice and a snack to share.  Mike’s address is 153 Hilltop Drive in Allouze.  See you anytime after 5! 

August 8th – 2nd Annual Smoking Cycles Run

The Brotherhood will be taking over the highways as we take a run to “somewhere” in Door County for lunch, cigars and maybe a refreshment or two.  There is no cost to participate in the ride and this event is open to all club members or their guests.  You can ride or follow in your favorite 4  wheeled cager since I know a few of you bums have classic cars that need to be hauled out once in a while.  The caravan will leave from Titletown Tobacco around 10:00am and return late afternoon for a post ride cigar and dinner for anyone interested.  RSVP on the clubs Facebook page or email me at thecigarsoldier@cigarnightonline.com

August 21st – Rib Dinner at Titletown Tobacco

Join the shop for a rib dinner with three sides and three cigars all for $33.00.  It’s like a theme night for the number 3!  Along with a great dinner, the featured gars of the night will come from vast Rocky Patel line.  Buy 3 and 1 free but buy a box and get 7 sticks for nothing.  WOW!  Tickets are on sale now so swing buy the shop to get yours today or email Mike at mike@titletowntobacco.com to get yourself involved.

CLUB WEAR IS NOW AVAILABLE!

You’ve all been waiting for it so here is finally is!  With a little help I’ve selected a few items for you guys to pick up to show your support for not only The Brotherhood of the Leaf, but cigar smokers everywhere.  How’s that for putting some pressure on you?  I’ll be taking clothing orders once a month at Cigar Night or you can email them to me during the following week.  This will help keep the cost of shipping down cause I’m such a considerate prick I’m thinking only about you guys.  Prices shown include the club logo only so any additional embroidery will be at your expense since I’m not running a soup kitchen around here.  Check out all the cool stuff on the new Club Gear page.

That should keep you mooks occupied for a while penciling those dates into your calendars or plugging them into your Blackberry so you won’t forget.  I’ll keep the events calendar updated as best I can in case we need to make a road trip to catch some fun at one of the many brick and mortar shops throughout the state.

Not much for hot topics from The Cigar Soldier today but I wanted to get these dates out to guys so you have time to get your parent consent forms signed by the wife so she’ll let your lazy ass out of the house to attend some of them.  I can almost guarantee that no other group of cigar enthusiasts anywhere has access to as many fun gatherings as you cats so I hope you appreciate all the work that goes into pulling off these puppies.  I know that for myself and the gang at Titletown Tobacco, we do it for you guys because of our shared passion for fine cigars.  Actually it’s fun as hell also!

Enjoy the rest of the summer and smoke em up boys,

The Cigar Soldier

Already then, back to business.  Without beating a dead horse, cause Matthew Broderick is already doing that every time he lays the wood to Sarah Jessica Parker, I have to mention the fact that as of July 5th you will no longer be able to light up in your favorite pub.  The smoking ban for the great state of Bucky Badger kicks in immediately following the celebration of  Independence Day which commemorates when we  rejected the British Monarchy and decided to govern ourselves as a new country.  So just to make sure I understand this, as a collective unit the peoples of the new world were so fed up with the way they were being governed they risked their lives to take a stand against oppressive rules and regulations yet today most of the water-heads in this country are to dumb to even properly complete an election ballot?  We’ve come a long way baby! 

The smoking ban will have devastating effects on many bars and taverns in this state.  Please go grab a pen and write this down right now so you’ll be able to go back later and verify that the Cigar Soldier told you that the lies the anti-smoking crowd is telling you about the benefits of a ban are complete bullshit.  The studies being used to push this garbage are skewed to show what they want them to show, bans are actually beneficial.  HOGWASH!  We’ll see story after story on how the ban has had “no effect” on local restaurants and taverns when in fact the real statistics will never be unveiled that countless establishments will have been forced to close their doors.  See, the study will show that even after the ban hotels are still full and bars are still packed.  Sure they are, in Green Bay during Packer games! But what about in Rhinelander?  What about a family owned bar in Wausau that caters to the third shift paper mill worker who just wants to stop for a quick beer and burn a heater before going home?  They don’t have the massive influx of tourism dollars part of the year to make up the difference when the money from the locals is no longer coming in.  My point is that without looking past the bullshit and doctored numbers all you will hear is how the ban has been good for Wisconsin.  I will continue to show you throughout the rest of this year, and well into next year, it is NOT. 

Diamond Jim was giving another of his useless public image campaign appearances the other day and he actually claimed that the upcoming ban will be good because it will discourage young people from smoking.  HEY RETARD, young kids can’t go into a bar and there is already a law restricting the sale of tobacco to minors.  So what really is your stance?  Is the ban for the benefit of people in the work place or to rid the world of tobacco.  Comments like that show your true colors you fascist prick!  The ban has never been about protecting the poor worker who toils away serving you deep fried cheese and cold beer, the anti-tobacco regime wants to ban tobacco use in all forms completely.  Little tip for you tyrants, nobody is holding a gun to their head making them work in a bar!  Go work someplace with out smoke, like maybe pick apples or be a roofer so we can “take back” the jobs we Americans don’t want.  If you chose to work in a smokey environment you loose all right to bitch about it.  Sorry but that’s the rule.  It’s like working in a fish processing plant and complaining that it smells too fishy or working at a strip club and bitching cause you keep getting glitter in your eyes. Get another job you brain dead fool and stop expecting things you don’t deserve by stripping away my freedoms.

I hope that some day normalcy will prevail and the pendulum will swing back the other way on some of these issues but until then we have to keep up the fight because these movements can and will be overturned.  Unfortunately for us as pipe and cigar smokers, we are lumped into the pile with cigarette smokers who are the main target of these campaigns because they are the easiest to attack.  The broad sweeping taxes affect us all and it doesn’t take much thought to realize there is no way to fund the governments pipe dreams if we cut back or quit smoking.  We’re in this sinking boat together.

I know that many of you guys will be spending next week with the family camping or running from one festival to another enjoy the extra  day off, but make sure you show up for Cigar Night on the 6th.  Since we’ll be expecting nice weather for a while the club will be meeting at Brother Mike Suttner’s (Flounder) for a patio party.  Just bring a lawn chair, your drink(s) of choice and maybe a snack to pass.  We’ll provide coolers, cups and ice. 

235 Fairview Ave, Green Bay, WI
In case of inclement weather we’ll meet at The Lounge.

 I hope to see you all at Cigar Night next week but for now, please have a safe and Happy July 4th my friends in what ever way you choose to celebrate it. 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The Cigar Soldier