I was brought up a Packers fan and recall spending Sundays with my Dad in front of the television cheering on the boys from Titletown win or lose.  Back then it was mostly lose.  Over and over and over.  But my father taught me that being a faithful fan means riding out the highs and the lows with your team and that is what I did for many years with my family and often times surrounded by lots of their friends as well.  That is where I learned that football is more than the game in Wiscosin, it is an entire day built around food and friends  I remember in college we would gather up some snacks and a make shift pot luck lunch, even though none of us had a dime to our name we had a blast.  Guys from all over the midwest who shared a passion for game day would get together just like my parents did while I was growing up.  I have carried that tradition on to this day and as important as the game is, it’s still about eating and drinking too much with some close friends all decked out in our favorite Packer gear as we pull for a win from the real America’s team.

That type of conditioning makes me  root for the Pack and I’m guessing that you have a similar story as to why you love your team the way you do.  Passions run deep with pigskin fans and  I couldn’t believe how many people I know piled on the Packers with their social media posts while the majority of them are not even Giant fans.  They just had to spout off how happy they are that the Packers lost.  Hey Bears fans, we swept your ass and your entire team was watching the game from home!  See, I can do it too.  I’m just making a point so don’t get a pissy and take it personal because when it comes to trash talking as a football fan, you better be able to take it if you plan on dishing it out.  Like many of you whose team has already hung up their cleats for the year, I’ll be putting my Packer passion on the shelf and looking forward to next season where we get to do it all over again.

The worst part about last weekends loss was not being able to light up the victory cigar I had so cautiously picked out.  If you know me at all, you are full aware that cigars and football (especially while tailgating) go hand-in-hand. Check out this post from 2010 as proof.  I guess I’ll have to hang onto those special treats for another occasion, like maybe Cigar Night.  Ah yes, speaking of Cigar Nights,  I’ve got a number of things in the works for this year and am looking forward to making it the best yet for all of you crazy fools in the club.  Just a reminder that now is the time to get those new members introduced because I’m still putting up sticks from my own stash for any new referral you bring in.  We will have both a spring and Fall “Cigars and Cycles” ride  as well as dinners, whiskey tastings,  a golf outing, a trip or two to Prime Cigars and of course Cigar Nights back at The Vault when the weather cooperates.

I’m sure you’re asking  yourself how the heck I’m going to pull all of this off this being just one man and all?  No Packer football means I’ve got a little extra spare time now to focus my passion on other things.  It’s just a game after all.

Thanks for reading!

The Cigar Soldier

Happy New Year my Brothers and Sisters!  I hope you all survived the Holiday madness with only a few traumatic emotional scars to show from spending all that “quality time” with the family.  More importantly, I hope you found time to enjoy a few cigars to celebrate the jolly ol’ fat man and christen in yet another year guaranteed to be filled with more shit than every politician I know.

In an effort to get the new year started off right, we’re going to get a bunch of guys together and jump through a hole in the ice this February.  I can hear the collective WTF from all of you already.  Here’s the scoop; The Brotherhood of the Leaf is organizing a team to participate in the Polar Plunge held on February 25th at the Watering Hole in Green Bay.  We talked about it in December after our members dinner and many of you gents said you would willing to join in.  I’m sure that the mass quantities of alcohol from that evening helped.  So we have decided to go for it and get this baby set up.  Please check out this link for event details.

Now, trust me, I have not forgotten those of you that said you would do this so I expect you will be the FIRST ones to get your registration done online right away.  To make life easy for you, I have already created our “Team Page” under The Brotherhood of the Leaf so please make sure you go there and get yourself set up to shrink your sack in the chilly waters with the rest of us.  I hope to get 6 to 8 guys to take the dip for our team and here is the best part, we’re lining up a photographer to get pictures of us jumping in with lit cigars!  (which I will provide to all team members)  Cost is minimal and if you can get  a few donation pledges then it’s nothing.  If you plan to participate, please get registered right away and then email me so I can track our numbers.  For those of you not local to the area, please take a moment to go to the team page and make a small donation to show your support of not only me being a total idiot by jumping into a frozen lake, but more importantly to help the Special Olympics and all those involved.

The members dinner was a hit and The Vault did such a great job taking care of us, we’ll be working out the details for another one pretty soon.  Once spring rolls around we can even take full advantage of the upstairs deck for CIGARS!  I hope to have a whiskey night figured out soon as well.  Stay tuned………………

I promise to get and stay caught up on the club paperwork this year so I’ll have a pile of renewal forms by our next meeting so if you think your dues are due, they likely are.  Don’t forget that I’m still offering up free cigars to anyone that brings in a new member to the group.  Our latest winner is Mike Lauder for introducing Darrell (Little Drummer Boy) to The Brotherhood.  Congratulations Mike, I’ll have your freebie at next months cigar night!  I’m also still looking for those man cave photos of your favorite smoking spot to add to our website.  Thanks to Elwood and The Cable Guy for your submissions, I’ll have a nice treat for you boys as well.

With the fight to still enjoy our cigars reaching a fever pitch with the FDA, it’s now more important then ever to do our part and show support so if you have not taken the time to check out and sigh up for the Cigar Rights of America, please look at all the great things they do and consider becoming a member.  I’ll have sign up forms next month at Cigar Night.

I think that covers it for now but I’ll have more to rant about it soon enough.  Lets make 2012 another great year by adding more new faces to the group and continuing to do all that we can to support and promote the cigar lifestyle.

Light em up fellas, it’s gonna be another long year.

The Cigar Soldier

I really don’t care if you light the Menorah, decorate the Christmas tree or have a Karamu becasue it’s really none of my business what you do in your spare time.  That is as long as you keep reading my blog.  But telling me that I need more ornaments per square foot on me tree is like saying your Hanukkah candles don’t burn long enough or you need more than Seven Principles of Blackness to really be effective.  It’s complete BS to have a retail outlet dictate what is acceptable when it comes to celebrating the way you choose to do so this season.

Did you know that many stores, including the mall in Appleton Wisconsin, will be opening their doors at Midnight on Thanksgiving in order to lure more shoppers out?  Please just come out and spend billions to show you actually care about your loved ones because without maxing out your credit cards, how will Jesus know you care about him?  I know that many stores bank on the Christmas season to make their profits so they can stay a float until next year but believe it or not there is more to the Holidays than a never ending barrage of useless gifts obtained by trampling another human just so you can get an Ipod on sale.  Spend, spend, spend and then stress out on how the hell you can afford to pay for all the shit you’re gonna buy just becasue you have to have the latest decorations and gifts you are told you should have.

I don’t want to argue the merits of Christmas because that topic gets over debated every year as to weather or not the time frame is correct and yada yada yada………. .  I love this time of year because people DO act differently towards one another and for at least a few weeks of the  year we seem to put away our differences from one another and join our fellow man. Except the Irish, nobody likes the Irish.  That feeling is something you can’t purchase in a store so why would you listen to any retailer who tells you what to buy, where to buy it or for the love of God how many ornaments your tree should have?  Every year the stores start putting out their holiday items earlier and earlier and it won’t be long until they just leave them up year round so they can continue to jam them down our pie holes the whole year through.  This way they can completely remove religion from the equation and just keep selling you plastic snowmen and fruitcakes.  Not Justin Bieber but real semi edible fruitcakes.

Like I said, I could care less what or how you celebrate “the Holiday Season” because chances are that none of us actually have it figured out properly.  Put up what ever decorations you like or don’t like and stop letting Hallmark tell you what you should or should not have on or under the tree this year.  You know what, really show them and put up a freaking cactus this year.   But before all of that nonsense, have a very happy Thanksgiving.

To all my Brothers and Sisters of the Leaf at home and abroad, have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

The Cigar Soldier