We’ll begin with the review, so you know just what you are going to be getting.

The Good Stuff: Most of you are already aware of Bonita Smokeshop, a great little cigar shop ran by amazing people located in Bonita Springs Florida. For those of you who aren’t, you can visit their site here for more information, or to place an order. They carry just about anything any cigar enthusiast could ask for. Bonita Smokeshop has earned a well respected place in this nations cigar community. Not only are they some of the nicest, most sincere people around, but recently they got rated #9 on Cigarcyclopedia’s National retailer ranking. To celebrate their 18th year anniversary Jackie decided it was time to produce a celebratory blend. She worked on this thoroughly and injected her excitement through onto us. The Bonita Smokeshop 18th anniversary cigar was created by the mind of Jackie and the hands of Willie Herrera of ETB Cigars and his level 9 rollers, trained in the traditional Entubado style of rolling. The Entubado method of rolling each filler leaf into a tube before bunching resulting in a much smoother and effortless draw. The blend starts with an aged Ecuadorian Sumatra Wrapper, bound by Nicaraguan tobacco, encasing Nicaraguan and Dominican filler. For more information visit Bonita’s site.

Size: 6 x 50 – Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra – Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan/Dominican

Prelight: Bonita Smokeshop’s 18th anniversary is a very heavy, beefy little stick. The Ecuadorian wrapper is a beautifully consistent, silky, milky light brown. I always that Ecuadorian wrappers were beautiful but I am always a bit weary as they always seem too delicate and prone to damage, and construction issues. This isn’t the case on any of the samples that I have. The cigar is very firm to the touch, tightly compacted, and has quite a few noticeable veins running the length of the cigar. The 18th anniversary is polished off with a traditional Cuban triple cap. I said it before, but I really don’t see why all manufacturers are triple capping their cigars. The aroma given off by the wrapper supplied me with an abundant compound of spice and tobacco paired with a nutty undertone. The foot of the cigar only escalates the aromas. The cap clipped off with ease using my trusty Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw was very fluid and left behind a very creamy and sweet tobacco taste with just a hint of spice.

First Smoke: Bonita Smokeshop’s 18th Anniversary lit up with ease using my single flame butane torch lighter. The first flavors I was hit with began with a sweet tobacco that then transitioned off to a very creamy, woodsy flavor, backed by tons of sweet spice, and just enough pepper to tease my lips and the back of my throat. The draw is effortless and produces’ a massive cloud of pleasantly cedar scented smoke. The smoke didn’t linger for too long as its 97 degrees out and I have the ceiling fans on my patio up full blast. The burline is extremely solid and consistent leaving behind a light to medium grey trail of nicely compacted ash. The ash held on for two inches before giving way.

Halfway There: The pepper faded away quickly into the second third of this Bonita Smokeshop 18th Anniversary cigar. The main flavor is this really strong, comforting, woodsy flavor complimented by a creamy and sweet spice and cinnamon. The experience is very relaxing and creamy. I’m not feeling any nicotine at this point. The burnline is still dead even and the draw is plentiful. The retrohale is very pleasant as well adding a nice woodsy prime to the pallet.

Finish: Into the final third the flavor profile hasn’t changed up much. Still smooth woodsy, with a dash of spice. There is really no noticeable harshness built up, nor am I feeling any sort of nic-kick despite the length of this cigar and faster speed in which I smoke at.. This is a smooth, well balanced experience. I never had to relight nor even touch up this cigar. It burned clean all the way though the hour and a half experience.

Overview: All in all, I like to consider myself a maduro guy. I see lighter wrappers and my crappy judgment tends to kick in as I try to convince myself that it not as flavorful as darker wrappers. No idea why I do this, but if this 18th anniversary isn’t a kick to my ego I don’t know what is. Packed with tons of flavor I can honestly say this house blend is in a league of its own.

Pairing: I decided to pair this cigar with my everyday beer. New Belgium’s Fat Tire amber ale. Fat Tire is one of those beers that can pair well with anything. Food, cigars, other beers, yard work, whatever the case may be. The biscuit and nutty flavored beer is the perfect compliment to any mild or medium cigar. This cigar would also pair well with any light wine, black coffee, or apple juice.

And now for the contest:
Casas Fumando and Bonita Smoke Shop will be giving one lucky reader not only a chance to sample the 18th anniversary blend, but a little place to store it as well.

We are giving away 5 of Bonita Smoke Shop’s 18th anniversary cigars and this beautiful 50 count, glass top humidor.

Entering is simple:
There are 3 different ways to enter. Each one counts as 1 entry and a winner will be chosen at random and notified Sunday September 12th. Sorry but this contest is limited to US residents only. Winners must be 18 or over.

1. Sign up for our newsletter. You can find the newsletter sign up on the right side navigation bar. If you are already signed up, consider yourself entered.

2. Leave a Comment on this post. Simply leave a comment on this post. No theme this time, but if you comment on how much you’d like to see Daniel in his infamous fun-manchu I’ll give you a cyber hi-five.

3. Retweet the following message: “Visit Casas Fumando and enter to win a humidor and 5pk of @bonitasmokeshop’s 18th anni. Cigars: http://tinyurl.com/2cpzljl @tonycasas” be sure to include the @tonycasas so I can track the RT’s.

That’s it! We are excited to share these with one lucky reader, so let the games begin!

Casas Fumando is putting on yet another contest sponsored by none other than the amazing people over at Bonita Smoke Shop. If you haven’t heard of Bonita, head over to their site for an AMAZING selection, unbeatable prices, and the highest quality service any smoke shop has to offer.

Now, to the good stuff. Casas Fumando and Bonita Smoke shop has teamed up to give away a full, lucky, green box of Tabacos Baez Serie SF robustos to one lucky winner!!!

Win a box of Tabacos Baez Serie SF

A bit of information about the cigar (taken from Bonita Smoke Shop):

A flavorful medium bodied cigar made by Don Pepin and honored with the name of the town he was born in. The tasting notes on the Tabacos Baez Serie SF cigars were slight spice with subtle undertones of both cocoa and coffee the Tabacos Baez SF is made with both long (70%) and short filler (30%) and burns like a dream in a lush Nicaraguan Habano wrapper. Pepin has the magic touch and it’s evident in his Tabacos Baez cigars.

And now, how to enter:

Entering is simple. All you have to do is simply post a comment on this post telling us about either a funny drinking experience you’ve had (St. Paddy’s day is all about the booze to some people, and I KNOW a lot of you have some funny stories I can blackmail you with later), a memorable St. Patrick’s Day experience you have had, or simply what you plan to do this St. Patrick’s day.

As an extra bonus, anyone who tweets “Win a lucky box of Tabacos Baez Serie SF from Casas Fumando and @bonitasmokeshop http://tinyurl.com/y95sw7b @tonycasas” will have a second bonus entry added to the list! Don’t forget to include the “@tonycasas” portion so that I will be able to track the tweets.

One lucky winner will be selected at random and announced on Thursday, March 11th 2010. I will ship these cigars out as soon as I can get that persons address to that they will be in hand, and available to enjoy this St. Patrick’s day. You must be 18 years or over to participate.

That being said, Let The Games Begin!

Ties? Cologne? Deodorant? Who needs any of that when you have fine cigars. Casas Fumando has teamed up with the amazing people at Bonita Smoke shop to offer one lucky winner a chance to get what they really want for Valentines day. A brand new box of La Gloria Cubana Serie “R” Natural #7′s!!

Win a Box of 25 La Gloria Cubana Serie "R" Natural #7

I didn’t want to open the cellophane on the box, so I used a stock image, but you get the jist of it I’m sure.

La Gloria Cubana Serie “R” Natural #7:

Size: 7x58  -  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra  -  Binder/Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan Blend

Anyway, now for the good stuff. Entering is easy!

Simply comment under this post and let me know what you plan to do for your wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, self, dog, cat, pet rock…whatever, for Valentines day! One randomly selected winner will be chosen Friday, January 29th, and will be shipped this fine box of cigars just in time for Valentine’s day!

To obtain a second entry in our drawing:

all you have to do is tweet “Win a box of La Gloria Cubana Serie “R” from Casas Fumando, check out http://tinyurl.com/ygxuq32 for details. @tonycasas” make sure to include the @tonycasas so that I can track the retweets.

Pretty simple eh?! Now get to commenting. I need ideas as I’m not the hopeless romantic my wife wishes I was! Good luck!!

And now for the winner, chosen at random…..

Mr. Ron Hollatz!

Please do me a favor and email me your address and I will try to get these out first thing in the morning! (redletterdaydesign at gmail dot com).

For everyone else… I have a TON of more contests coming soon!! Thanks again!

Corona Cigar Company was awesome enough to sponsor this contest, and sent over quite a few sticks to giveaway. A big thanks to them!

Corona Cigar Company

Now on to the Good Stuff! All you have to do to enter is simply comment on this post and tell us about the craziest new years resoloution you have ever heard. It could be anything from eating more cheeseburgers, to seeing how many girls you can get to break up with you. Just make it good.

In addition, anyone who tweets “http://www.casasfumando.com/?p=543 Casas Fumando New Years Cigar Contest @tonycasas” will tack on an extra bonus entry. Make sure to include the “@tonycasas” so that I can track them. The winner will be chosen at random, and will be posted on Monday, January 4th 2010!

The lucky winner will recive the following cigars along with a handrawn picture of godzilla, illustrated in crayon by me.

New Years Contest

New Years Contest

New Years Contest

1x Corona Cigar Gold Series – Natural – 9.25 x 48

1x Corona Cigar Gold Series – Belicoso – Maduro

1x Corona Cigar Gold Series – Robusto – Maduro – 5 x 50

1x Corona Cigar Nicaraguan Selection – Robusto - Natural – 5 x 50

1x Corona Cigar Nicaraguan Selection  10th anniversary - Toro -  Natural 6 x 50

1x Flor De Cielo - Churchill – Maduro – 7 x 50

1x Flor De Cielo - Toro – Natural – 6 x 50

1x Cielo – Eros – Sungrown - 5.5 x 44

1x Boris 11 – Connecticut – Toro – 6 x 52

1x Boris 11 – Connecticut – Robusto – 5 x 50

1x Avo Lounge Edition – Natural - Toro – 6 x 50

The rules of the game one more time: 

All you have to do to enter is simply comment on this post and tell us about the craziest new years resoloution you have ever heard. It could be anything from eating more cheeseburgers, to seeing how many girls you can get to break up with you. Just make it good.

In addition, anyone who tweets “http://www.casasfumando.com/?p=543 Casas Fumando New Years Cigar Contest @tonycasas” will tack on an extra bonus entry. Make sure to include the “@tonycasas” so that I can track them. The winner will be chosen at random, and will be posted on Monday, January 4th 2010!

I look forward to reading through some of the stuff you guys come up with! Good luck!

-Tony