Thursday is here and that means it’s Day #8 of our Anniversary contest, only one more day left tomorrow! Tony is still slacking for the rest of the week as I finish up the last few posts of this epic contest! I must say it’s been a joy reading some of the comments and seeing some of the pictures we’re getting. I definitely have to say we have an awesome group of readers and I gotta thank each and every one of you for your participation!

So for today’s giveaway we are being sponsored by our good friends over at Joya De Nicaragua! Now Joya de Nicaragua is a very well known company producing a few landmark brands that have carried them successfully through over 40 years in the cigar industry. You can see our reviews of the Antano 1970, Antano Dark Corojo, and one of my favorites, the Cabinetta Series. They also make a blend called the Celebracion as well as the Clasico which was the first Nicaraguan Puro as well as the official cigar of Nicaragua. Pretty impressive to have a national cigar, all we have here are Beavers and Moose!

Now you may have heard some news a few months ago that a well respected cigar industry veteran joined Joya de Nicaragua. That person is Jose Blanco and having had the chance to meet him I can say he is a great person to share a cigar with. I had the opportunity to take part in one of his blending seminars that he holds and I would highly recommend attending one if you can. If you think you are a know-it-all when it comes to cigars and tobacco, Jose’s sessions will definitely surprise you with his insane depth of knowledge and experience, and he still claims to be learning everyday! I can’t wait to see the impact he has on Joya de Nicaragua and I will definitely be attending his next seminar when he makes a return trip to Toronto.

So I got in touch with Jose and he generously offered up a tasty box of Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 Robusto cigars for us to giveaway. These are darn good cigars and pack lots of flavor, a definite requirement in any humidor. So now you ask, how do you win yourself this awesome box of cigars?

We’ve been having such an awesome response with our simple “Add a comment to win” method that we’ll keep that style going. All I want you to do is write a comment below detailing your best cigar moment ever. This could be about a cigar you shared with a celebrity or family member, a memorable location, a funny event that occurred, whatever! We will pick one lucky winner from the comments to take home this prize.
 

Now onto our winners from Contest Day #7 – Miami Cigars

 
Tony and I were floored by the amount of detail you all put into your stories to win a box of La Sirena cigars. There were definitely some funny ones and I have to add a few honorable mentions to highlight some of these awesome entries.

Honorable Mention 1 – Tom

A few years ago my ex-wife, best friend and all our kids were on vacation in York Beach Maine.
We went to dinner at a nice seaside restaurant, with a beautiful patio over looking the Atlantic ocean. When we arrived we were seated outside.
We had passed through a screen door that open in to the restaurant. After a fine meal I asked if I could smoke outside, the waiter and manager both said “sure!” Excited I jumped up from the table to fetch a cigar from my car. When u got to the door, I kind of hop skipped through it because it looked like the door was open!
Nope, the screen door was gone and the sliding glass door, with no markers, and perfectly clean glass was skys in place. I damn near killed myself slamming into that door. I hit the floor flat on my back laughing like hell! Why you ask? Well,, before I hit the floor, all I could see on the other side of that glass door was a lady spitting her lobster into her husbands face! I think the impact oh my 200+ pound body scared her just a bit
I did get to have my cigar and the manager Tony took care of the check and was very sorry for what happens.

I honestly cracked up laughing at this one and will still pay if you find some video! haha

Honorable Mention 2 – GICIGAR

My most embarrassing memory on vacation is probably when my wife and I visited the Amazon in Peru, just before heading out on our hike our guide stopped us at a termite mound, asked us to stick our hands on it and let the termites climb on. Then the guide instructed us to squish them to release the sweet aroma and oil of eucalyptus tree that the termites feed on, then asked us to spread the oil on any area of our bodies that weren’t covered by clothes as the smell and oil act as a natural insect repellent. I thought about the 3 hour hike that lay ahead which made me squish a considerable amount of termites thinking that it would last me the whole 3 hour journey. As we begin to hike I noticed a termite that must have escaped my death grip and I squished him. We walked a few more yards then noticed another so again I snuffed it out. Then from nowhere I felt my body starting to get Goosebumps and in a rush hundreds maybe thousands of termites invaded my body, after scrambling around and yelling like a mad man I discovered the source of the attacking hoard, my backpack, which I guess they climbed when we were at the termite mound. Embarrassing for me because we were not the only ones in the group, so I had to endure the rest of the long hike as the guy that made a scene. Till this day my wife is the only one that knew about that, and now all of you know it too.

That would drive me crazy! haha, good on you for toughing it out the rest of the hike!

Honorable Mention 3 – Jake

Vacation – 2006.
Location – South Dakota.
While standing in a Harley-Davidson store, surrounded by a HUGE amount of Harley-Davidson devotees, my then 8-year-old daughter (in her normal ‘I-HAVE-NO-INDOOR-VOICE’) asks me, “Are there really this many people that are into this stuff?” I look around, making eye contact with at least 6 people that have heard her question, and smile. “Yeah,” I tell her, “it’s a way of life for a lot of people. Some of them feel pretty strongly about it.” “Oh,” she responds, “well they just need to GET A LIFE!!”
OhmygodI’mgoingtodie.
I look around again to find that absolutely no one is still smiling as earlier. At this point I try to cover for her. “Sorry. She has Tourette’s,” I say to no one in particular, all the while heading this child towards the nearest exit.
Did I mention we were in a Harley-Davidson store?
Did I mention that said store was in STURGIS, South Dakota?
Y e a h . . .
Outside, where even more people were standing around, I tried to make her understand that these people wouldn’t be upset with her for saying things like that, but that they would be upset with her Daddy. “You wouldn’t want that, would you.” I asked. “No,” she said softly. “But all these Harley people are GAY and need to GET OVER THEMSELVES!”
YupI’mdefinitelygoingtodie.
I explained again about her Tourette’s while covering her mouth with my hand and placing her in the car where I informed her she was no longer allowed to speak until she saw a sign that said “Wyoming”.
From the mouths of babes, huh?

I’m glad to see you made it back alive, I’m sure you left a few treadmarks in your underpants! lol. Props for quick thinking on the tourettes! haha
 

And of course, here is our winner of the La Sirena Prizepack!

 
*** TODD ***

Anyone who knows me knows I love to eat. I love buffets more than John Pinette and have put four all-you-can-eat steak houses out of business. Well, I also love sushi and have even been embarrassingly “cut off” in front of my Pastor. Well, I wasn’t prepared for what happened when I learned about eating one particular type of fish! I found a place which proudly stated in it’s window that they had all-you-can-eat sushi, so I had to try it out! I went in and was thrilled to find out that they served one of my favorites, commonly called “white tuna.” Well, I hadn’t eaten breakfast and was starvin’! I normally eat about 60 pieces of sushi but this time I probably ate 100, and made about half of that “white tuna.” I was completely stuffed and decided to go shopping to walk it off. Suddenly in one of the aisles I uncontrollably let out a huge smelly “wet one,” and I noticed everyone and everything stop and stare directly at me. I then noticed while I walked faster, a strange cold wet feeling, and I decided to go the the restroom for some inspection. I was absolutely horrified and embarrassed when I looked in the mirror and saw the entire back of my shorts, (and white Polo shirt which was draped over my shorts), had a HUGE orange circle on it, like a bulls-eye on my backside! It blew through to the shirt! I tried to wash it the best I could in the sink and raced out of there, and sped home without sitting. I hurried to the computer, and after some investigation, found out that I ate escolar (it’s not tuna), and it’s even banned in Italy and Japan because it causes people to “expel yellowish-orange drops of oil” (aka keriorrhea), I still eat “white tuna” and love to see it at a buffet, but I unfortunately have to eat a whole lot less of it! Can you shed a tear for me?

The embarrassment of this alone wins the prize. Note to everyone, don’t go out for sushi with Todd! hahaha!

Congrats to Todd, please email your name, and address to “[email protected]”. Thanks again for every one who entered! Keep the entries coming!