March 3rd: pre-Florida Trip

When I started this blog, I thought I would keep my cigar-related activities out of the blog. "I'm writing enough about cigars on www.socialcigar.com and on Facebook" I reasoned. But I couldn't keep it out of here forever.

Indeed, a friend indicated interest in hearing about my upcoming trip to Florida, and hoped that I would write while the trip is on-going. In other words, keep an online travelogue. Well, I often travelogue while I'm on a trip, but I don't usually share that with anyone. So this time I will.

So yes, two days from now, Friday March 5th, I am leaving for Tampa, FL, where I will spend a week, followed by another week in Miami. A lot of the planned activities are cigar-related - visiting cigar factories and cigar lounges and cigar stores in both cities and hanging out with lots of people who love cigars much much more than I do. But I'm also doing things like attending the Tampa Renaissance Faire, going to a Yankee spring training game and going to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. And I may even see "Avatar" (again!) in an IMAX theater in Tampa.

Needless to say, I am excited about traveling. I badly need a break - from my job, from the cold weather in New York City, from my usual routine. And I will be hanging out with some of the people I love the most! - my friends Steve and Vanessa (fellow Ren Faire lovers), my old friend Bob, my nephew Neil, and a new and very good friend Kevin - and making some new friends as I go, I am sure!

As for the cigars, well, Tampa and Miami are two of the most important cities for the manufacture and selling of cigars in the United States, if not the world. Not too much manufacturing of handmade cigars is left there, other than some in-house rollers in some of the shops, but some of the greatest cigarmakers anywhere have their retails businesses and offices there - Don Pepin and Jaime Garcia, Padron, Padilla, Perdomo, Camacho, Oliva, just to name a few. And Kevin and I, and some of our other friends who we will meet along the way, will be visiting many of these companies and sampling their wares fresh out of the roller's hands, as it were.

So keep your eyes peeled for updates on what I've been doing and where I've been going. And thanks in advance for all your interest!